Maybe you have shared your faith with someone, or many, who have appeared politely disinterested. Maybe someone even hurt your feelings after you prayerfully shared your testimony with them. We can eagerly and joyfully testify about our faith in Christ and be shot down by an unbeliever. It’s okay to be shot down; it is not okay to be shut down.

Measure the success of your witness by whether or not God spoke through you to someone else. Your success is measured by your obedience to God, not the other person’s response. Paul encouraged the witness of the church in Corinth telling them, “So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth.”

We aren’t responsible for a person’s spiritual growth. Truthfully, we can’t be responsible because we can’t judge what only God can know. That is between the person and God. We can judge whether or not we are faithfully telling others the gospel message. Our success, our accountability to God, is measured by how we step up to join the Holy Spirit in his work.

Christians have always been shot down and always will be. We shouldn’t be surprised, or even disappointed, because Jesus told us to expect that. Remember in Matthew 17 when his disciples returned from their mission disappointed? Remember when the apostle Paul preached to the men of Athens and very few came to faith? Most there mocked his words. If the apostle Paul, the great theologian of the New Testament, was mocked, we should expect to be treated the same. Paul learned not to measure his message by who didn’t believe. He measured success by those who did come to faith and by those willing to share their faith with others. 

Wisdom is joyfully sharing Christ with others. Wisdom is knowing that we will often only be there to scatter a few more seeds. God’s job is to “give the growth.” Heaven will be full of people we thought we had failed to convince. God knew better. We aren’t accountable to people who shoot us down. We are accountable to God if we allow those people to shut us down.

Zig Ziglar was a motivational Christian speaker who once said, “A goal properly set is halfway reached.” We have spent the month considering our personal calling to share Christ wisely with others. The only wrong way to end the month would be to end it with the same convictions and behaviors as we began. Do you have a new ambition about sharing your faith in Christ? Zig Ziglar would say, “You’re halfway there!”

Paul told the church in Rome, “I make it my ambition to preach the gospel.” It is safe to say that the overwhelming success he experienced changed the history of the church and the world.

But Paul made one other statement about his ambition to preach the gospel. Paul said that he wanted to preach “not where Christ has already been named.” Paul was a missionary as well as a theologian. Paul planted churches that changed the world.

I hope all of us have been inspired to share our faith with others. I hope even more that we share Paul’s ambition to share our faith with those who might not hear a testimony about Jesus from someone else. Are you willing to stretch every relationship in your life to include your testimony of faith in Jesus Christ?

Is the person who cuts your hair saved?

Is the person who cuts your grass saved?

Is the person who lives next door saved?

Is your dentist, doctor, accountant, or handyman saved?

Is your coworker, your supervisor, or your CEO saved?

There are people in your life who are yours to witness to. Quite possibly, you are the best person to serve as an effective witness in their lives.

Wisdom is joyfully sharing Christ with others. Do you wisely share Paul’s ambition to joyfully share Christ with people who have never heard the plan of salvation before? Zig Ziglar would say, “If you will share Paul’s goal, you are halfway there.”

Is any day of the year better for sharing our faith than Halloween? The world is celebrating scary things today by making the day sweeter with candy. Meanwhile, television, movies, decorations, and costumes have become evil and increasingly grotesque.

People dabble in the occult for fun. Most walk away with little damage to their soul. Some, however, continue to engage in the process that costs them their soul. We live in a culture that doesn’t often consider the reality of Satan and his love for all things dark and evil. Halloween is a good chance to live as a separate witness from the world and speak of things that are holy.

Jesus said, “If anyone serves me, he must follow me.” We will be given the chance to share our faith wisely and joyfully with others if we follow Jesus around today. What we do or don’t do can speak a loud testimony to those we know. When they ask us why we believe like we do, Jesus can answer their question through our opportunity.

Today, and all days, we can wisely and joyfully share our faith if we will “keep in step” with the Spirit of God (Galatians 5:25). If we want to serve Christ today, we must follow his leadership and serve him as our King.

Jesus said, “If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him.” We will have a good night’s sleep tonight, and every night, if we know we spent our day with the One who created it. Satan didn’t create October 31; he just refocused the day on his priorities. He can do that on any given day if we choose not to follow and serve Jesus.

Wisdom is joyfully sharing Christ with others. Halloween is a great day to walk in the wise footsteps of Jesus. If we serve Jesus, the Father will honor his servant.

Every day is blessed with circumstances only God could orchestrate in our lives. We will see God at work in our lives if we know how to look for him, see his hand, and trust his heart. Paul wrote, “Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”

This month we will talk about how wisdom leads us to be grateful for God in all circumstances, even those circumstances we wouldn’t choose. Wisdom is offering our gratitude to God. We will live a life of grateful praise when we walk in God’s wisdom. A life of obedience to God causes us to be grateful because we can know that we are living the will of God through the power of Christ Jesus.

Legions of angels are at work in this world. God’s Holy Spirit is actively guiding every life yielded to his voice of direction. Christians have been saved by grace, and we continue to live each day by God’s grace.

If we could wave a wand and become the people we could have been had we lived apart from God’s grace, we would each drop to our knees, overwhelmed with gratitude to God. He has spared us from things we cannot know, and he has blessed us with things we have not fully appreciated. God loves his children, and his grace to us is “not in vain.” 

No one’s life is perfect or perfectly easy. Paul knew that better than most. But each of us has a unique life filled with the guidance and blessings personally given to us by our perfect God. Just as he gave each of us a fingerprint, so has God given each of us a unique blueprint for our life. 

We can be grateful for all we know and understand about God’s plan for our lives, but we can also be grateful for the grace we have been given for the moments we lived contrary to his plan. 

Wisdom is offering our gratitude to God. God’s grace is uniquely at work, building and directing each of our lives through our hard work. His grace is our strength and our blessing of grace.

Old Testament believers understood that the heart was the center of life and also believed the heart was the center of a person’s passions or motivations. Consider how your heart quickly responds when excited, scared, or nervous. 

When the psalmist says “my heart trusts,” he is giving an example of what it means to set aside personal motivations and trust God’s leadership completely. He knows that is how he is helped.

The psalmist also says “my heart exults.” The word in Hebrew means to be openly joyful and filled with praise. People will notice a heart that exults when they see our reactions and our joy. The psalmist’s praise motivates his actions and causes him to openly sing a song of gratitude to God.

Our goal as believers is to abide in God’s holy Presence, trusting him to be our strength for the journey and our shield of protection. God is our help, and we should live gratefully aware that he walks with us as a protective, loving Father walks with his child.

When last was your gratitude for God’s help and blessing so overwhelming that those around you could see that your heart was exulting, rejoicing with songs of thanks? Wisdom is offering our gratitude to God. Wisdom will fill our hearts with thanksgiving because we understand that God himself is our strength and shield. Our hearts will exult with an attitude of praise so that others will know we are children of the one true and holy God.

Gratitude is not just our outward expression of praise; it is our daily sacrifice. In the Old Testament, a sacrifice was a sacred offering to God, laid on the public altar for all to see. The psalmist wrote, “The one who offers thanksgiving as his sacrifice glorifies me.” 

There are days when gratitude for God is a natural emotion. There are other days when gratitude might be more of an effort. The psalmist encourages us to order our way “rightly” and we will see the salvation of God.

Sometimes God blesses our sorrow or grief with that same joy. To order our way rightly requires us to “give thanks in all circumstances” (1 Thessalonians 5:18). That is God’s will for each of us in Christ Jesus.

Our sacrifice of praise is to glorify God in all circumstances by living with him as our “strength and our shield” (Psalm 28:7). Everything on earth can be going wrong and we can still offer God a sacrifice of praise. Christians understand that our peace and our gratitude transcend the things of earth.

Jesus made himself a sacrifice for us, and we can make our lives a sacrifice of thanksgiving to him every day, regardless of our trials. We know, and will one day experience, the salvation of God.

Wisdom is offering our gratitude to God. To praise God in the rain takes wisdom. Wisdom is also necessary to see beyond a difficult circumstance with the knowledge that God will redeem it for our good if we are called to his higher purpose. Wisdom will prompt our sacrificial praise that will bring God glory. What praise will you offer to God today?

There are many ways to worship and gratefully praise our God. How you share your worship and praise with others is worth considering. I used to tell young parents who struggled with small children in the pew to “hang in there.” Their kids were learning and receiving much more than anyone realized.

If a young child watched your worship, would they be drawn to your praise and want to know your God? Do you share your gratitude to God in a public way?

Paul told the church in Colossae to “let the word of Christ dwell” in their lives “richly” or abundantly. Does God’s voice of Scripture abound in your thoughts, filling your heart with knowledge and joy? Does your worship teach and encourage those around you? Do you exude God’s wisdom with a thankful heart?

I’ve sometimes encouraged people to be aware of their face. Are your eyes engaged, seeing the presence of God in his sanctuary? Do you sing with joy and thanksgiving? 

Does your attitude reflect your love for the Lord, your love for his people, and your thanksgiving for the blessing of worship?

Would your face engage a child’s thoughts and attention? If so, then your worship has brought God the glory he deserves. Your gratitude for his love will be contagious, and others will experience your joy. 

How can you wisely worship God with gratitude? Allow his word, and his Word, Jesus, to dwell in you richly. If someone gave you a precious gift, you would want to display it so others could see it as well. The gifts of our faith and our salvation are more precious than gold. 

Wisdom is offering our gratitude to God. Will you worship with God’s wisdom so others can experience your joyful gratitude and want to know your God?

We know our bodies have daily nutrition and exercise requirements we should adhere to if we want to remain healthy. We don’t always understand that our souls have daily requirements as well if we want to remain strong in the Lord and walk faithfully in his good purpose for our lives.

If we want to care for our souls, we need to make gratitude for God a daily vitamin. We can’t praise God without taking time to think about who he is and all he has done. Those thoughts remind us that we serve a great and mighty God. 

The Jewish people were to begin and end their day with a prayer called the Shema. Taken from Deuteronomy 6:4–5, it says, “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.” 

The psalmist wrote, “It is good to give thanks to the Lord, to sing praises to your name, O Most High; to declare your steadfast love in the morning, and your faithfulness by night.” 

If we all began and ended our day with thoughts of praise and gratitude to our Most High God, our souls would remain tethered to his steadfast love and faithfulness throughout the day.

The wisdom of the Shema wasn’t the result of repeating the words. Gratitude must come from genuine hearts so that our praise will strengthen our souls. We should declare our gratitude for God’s steadfast love and his faithfulness every day. 

Wisdom is offering our gratitude to God. Let’s begin and end each day with those words as a daily spiritual requirement. But let’s remember that unless our hearts are truly filled with sincere gratitude, we have only spoken words, not our thanksgiving. God desires us to truly praise him and remember all he has done for our souls.

What is your heart grateful for today?

You have probably learned an acronym for prayer at some point. 

-ACTS: Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, and Supplication

-PRAY: Praise, Repentance, Ask, and Yield

-The HEART method: Honor God, Examine your life, Ask for help, Request for others, and Thank God

Prayer acronyms are helpful to guide and direct our prayers. Notice that each acronym contains the need to express gratitude at some point during a prayer. So often we run to God with our needs, our concerns for others, or because we simply know we should pray about something. How does our thanksgiving help us to pray?

When we include a time of gratitude, we remember who God is and all that God has done in the past. We cannot offer thanks to God unless we pause to be humbly grateful for his work in our lives. When our thoughts of praise and thanksgiving begin our prayers, we will often pray with a holy perspective.

We might pray with confidence because we have realized all that God has already done in our lives. We may be more able to trust a loved one to our God who loves them perfectly. 

Our gratitude will cause us to remember how God has worked in the past and help us to see God at work in the present. We can miss our answers from God if we don’t stop to offer our thanks for the prayers he has already answered in our lives.

Paul urged Timothy to pray for others, reminding him to pray with thanksgiving. Wisdom is offering our gratitude to God. That prayer can begin with the words we often sing, “Praise God from whom all blessings flow.” Or, “To God be the glory, great things he has done!”

Morning will come tomorrow because God has ordained it. There isn’t a day we live on earth that is not a gift from the Lord. Every day is a day we can rejoice in God and be glad, thankful for the chance to live. God created each day for us, his children.

In Institutes of the Christian Religion, John Calvin wrote, “There is not one blade of grass, there is no color in this world that is not intended to make us rejoice.” God created the world for us to enjoy and to give us reasons to know him and be grateful for him. There is beauty in every day that can evoke our thoughts of praise:

-When a mother smiles down at her baby and the baby smiles in return

-When a squirrel runs past, ready to stash another meal in an abandoned planter

-When a storm cloud moves in with much-needed rain

-When a rainbow fills the sky with its color

-When a loved one comes home safely from school or work

-When a dog bounds across the room to greet his family

-When an elderly couple shares a glance together that needs no words

-When the sun sets in its glory and the night sky is scattered with stars

God displays his character and his love for his children every day. We can say with the psalmist, “This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.”

Tomorrow can be just another day, or it can be the next glimpse of God’s love and character. Tomorrow will come and go. How sad to allow even one day to pass without saying thank you to the One who provided it.

Wisdom is offering our gratitude to God. When we live wisely, we will see each day as a gift from our Creator, a gift he wants us to enjoy. Our gratitude is our gift to God. 

“This is the day that the Lord has made.” Have you rejoiced and are you glad in it? 

There is still time.