It’s always so wonderful whenever we experience the Lord do something mighty in our own personal life, the life of someone we love, or in the life of the church body we attend. Whenever we experience the Lord do a mighty work in our personal lives or in the lives of someone else, feelings of such great joy so overwhelms us that at times we can’t contain ourselves.

Whenever I have personally witnessed the Lord miraculously heal someone, it was simply amazing at what I personally felt when that took place. It was even more exciting as I watched how those had been miraculously healed by the Lord reacted to the mighty move of the Lord in their life. We’ve all experienced times when the Lord miraculously provided either the exact funds or provided something we needed and the joy that overflowed our hearts was indescribable. We serve an awesome God who looks to bless His people!! David writes in Psalm 5:12 “For surely, O Lord, You bless the righteous; You surround them with Your favor as with a shield.”

In those times when after we either personally experienced a mighty move of the Lord’s hand in our life or in the life of someone else, I have personally said or thought to myself or heard others say, “What’s the next step Lord.” If we were miraculously healed by the Lord of something, we would want to know what the Lord would want us to with our healing. If we experienced a mighty provision by the Lord of funds or of something physical, our natural tendency is to think, “What do I do next Lord?” 

In Luke 17:11-19 we read when Jesus had come into a village, 10 men who had leprosy met Him. Leprosy is a highly infectious disease and in Jesus’ time if anyone personally came into contact with a leper, just like the one who had leprosy, they too would be considered unclean. Those with leprosy were forbidden to have any human contact. One commentator says: “Leprosy was also considered as the outward and visible sign of the innermost spiritual corruption.” Because these 10 men had leprosy, they stood at a distance and cried out to Jesus in a loud voice saying, “Jesus, Master, have pity on us.” Jesus instructed the 10 men with leprosy to go and show themselves to the priests, which in itself would have taken a huge step of faith on their part to do this. As they went, we read they were healed of their leprosy.

One can only imagine the overwhelming joy these 10 healed men must have felt. They had been cleansed of such a horrible disease and now they could mingle with the rest of the people. The shame of being considered, ‘unclean‘ by everyone had been taken away. They could now visit their loved ones, go into the marketplace and be a functioning part of society. The list goes on and on of what these 10 men could now do because they had been healed and by what we read, that is exactly what 9 of the men did. Yet there was one man, that when he immediately realized he had been healed, did exactly what the next step that should have been taken by all ten men.

I’m sure this one man could also hardly wait to see his loved ones again. I’m sure he too could hardly wait to experience what it felt to be a functioning part of society. I’m sure he too could hardly wait to enjoy this new lease on life, but he decided to first do the right and proper thing. We read this one man went back to find Jesus, praising God with a loud voice and when he found Him, he threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked Him. We read this man healed by Jesus was a Samaritan and Samaritan’s did not associate themselves with Jews; Jesus being a Jew. Yet this man was willing to be considered as acting very improperly by the other Samaritans as he fell at the feet of Jesus and thanked him for healing him; that was the proper next step for him to take!!

Often we get so excited because of the mighty move of the Lord’s hand in our life, we focus so much on what our next step should be that we forget to take care of the first step and that is to thank Jesus for what He did in our lives. Psalm 100:4 “Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise; give thanks to Him and praise His name.” 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 “Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”

We have been meeting as church for the last 12 years in a public school and we have longed for the day when we would have our own place to meet so we could do more for the Lord. Before I go on, as Pastor I want to first express how thankful I am to the Lord for providing a place for us to even meet these last 12 years. Next, as Pastor, I would like to publicly express how thankful I am to the Lord for now providing our own place for us to meet.

Everyone in my leadership team, eagerly anticipates what the Lord is about to do next with us having our own place. Yet, just like the Samaritan man who was healed, we can’t worry about our next step will be if we haven’t made sure we have taken care of the first step and that is to thank the Lord with all that is in us, for what He has done.

I ask you my friend, have you taken the time today to thank the Lord for all that He has done your life or are you more concerned about what the Lord would want you to do next? The Lord will show what your next step will be as long as you are first and foremost thankful for what He has already done. Let’s not forget the words of David in Psalm 35:18 “I will give thanks in the great assembly; among throngs of people I will praise You.” Let’s determine be a thankful people 🙂