“Enter his gates with thanksgiving and into his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name” Psalms 100:4
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Welcome to today's devotional/post. As a guest writer for this week, I’d love to continue
with last week’s post on gratitude.
So, what exactly does it mean to give thanks?
To give thanks means to show forth appreciation or be grateful for something. Have
we ever given it a thought that giving thanks to God is the start to everything else?
In our key text today, it says “Enter his gates with thanksgiving and into his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name”. This scripture literally is a reminder of our
responsibility to God, which means that we should offer praises and worship to his
name.
Psalm 107:21-22 states: “Oh, that men would give thanks to the LORD for His
goodness, and for His wonderful works to the children of men! Let them
sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving, and declare His works with rejoicing”
Three of the major keys why we need to give God thanks is that:
1. A thankful heart puts us in a position for blessings.
In Jeremiah 20:19-20 reads “Then out of them shall proceed thanksgiving and the voice of those who make merry; I will multiply them, and they shall not diminish; I will also glorify them, and they shall not be small. Their children also shall be as before, and their congregation shall be established before Me; and I will punish all who oppress them.”
When we give God thanks, there is always an increase and multiplication. The more we keep
thanking God the more he keeps adding to our blessings.
2. A thankful heart makes a difference in our situation.
David is one of my favorite people in the bible; and in Psalms 34:1, he says “I will Bless the Lord at ALL Times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth.
The word 'ALL' means completely, fully, entirely or totally. Notice, he didn’t say, I’ll give thanks when everything is going on well, or when life is going on as planned and I’m happy. He said I’ll bless him at ALL times and his praise shall continually be in my mouth.
3. A thankful heart opens the door for God to do more!
Personally, one thing I have come to realized is that whenever we are faced with challenges, sometimes all we have to do is to give thanks to God in the midst of that trial and remind God of the past victories he has given to you. David puts it this way “My soul shall make her boast in the LORD.” In addition, thanks giving creates an atmosphere for the supernatural and brings about inner joy. You can’t be giving thanks to God and be sad.
Thanksgiving and joy go hand in hand. In Psalm 28:7, the psalmist says, "The LORD is my
strength, my shield from every danger. I trust in him with all my heart. He helps me, and my heart is filled with joy. I burst out in songs of thanksgiving.”
Conclusion
Sometimes we just have to thank God for being God. God is the omnipotence one (all powerful). He has the authority over everything and everything goes through Him. Nothing is too much for God and he deserves praise for being Lord. There is a lot to thank God for in your life. Don’t let the devil deceive you.
The songwriter wrote: “Count your blessings, name them one by one, count your
blessings, see what God hath done! Count your blessings, name them one by
one, and it will surprise you what the Lord hath done”. As you thank Him, things
can only get better for you. Cultivate a habit of thanking God for everything.
Prayer
Dear God, thank you for Today. Thank you for being Lord of our lives and Lord of everything. Thank you for being our living hope. Thank you, God, for forgiving all our sins and wanting to bring us closer to yourself. Please give us a heart for repentance and fill us up with gratefulness for all you have done for us. Lord, we ask you to please guard our hearts and minds in you. Please help us to honor you and treasure your Word. Thank you, Lord for allowing us to praise you today and help us to always thank you no matter the circumstance we find ourselves. Please help us so that we can demonstrate a thankful, fulfilled life every other day. In Jesus' name... Amen
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