With Thanksgiving
Is there ever a reason not to enter into God’s presence with thanksgiving? I am reminded today to have a heart of thanksgiving simply because the Lord is God and I belong to Him.
Psalm 100:1-5 (NET)
Shout out praises to the Lord, all the earth! Worship the Lord with joy. Enter his presence with joyful singing. Acknowledge that the Lord is God. He made us and we belong to him, we are his people, the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise. Give him thanks. Praise his name. For the Lord is good. His loyal love endures, and he is faithful through all generations.
I am actively engaged with the God of the heavens and the earth when I come before Him with thanksgiving in my heart. He bends down and He sees me. He responds without fail. But if I let anything stop my praise to Him, I allow the enemy space in my heart.
Hebrews 12:15 (NIV)
See to it that no one falls short of the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many.
The Lord is always worthy of praise. Even when I am tired, He is the God who picks me up. Even when I am scared, He is the God who assures me. Even when I am confused, He is the God who gives me promises that will come true. Even when I am fed up, He is the God who gives me patient endurance. Even when I stand alone, He is with me. Even when I sin, He is the God who forgives me.
He is the God who has established me in His Kingdom, and I am thankful. He is the God who gives me authority to walk with assurance in Him, and I am thankful. He is the God who ministers to me in my weakness and sadness, and I am thankful. He is the God who carries my household and never lets us go, and I am thankful. He is the God who knows the way forward, because I cannot see like He does, and I am thankful.
Hebrews 12:25-28 (NLT)
Be careful that you do not refuse to listen to the One who is speaking. For if the people of Israel did not escape when they refused to listen to Moses, the earthly messenger, we will certainly not escape if we reject the One who speaks to us from heaven! When God spoke from Mount Sinai his voice shook the earth, but now he makes another promise: “Once again I will shake not only the earth but the heavens also.” This means that all of creation will be shaken and removed, so that only unshakable things will remain.
He is the God that shakes what needs to be shaken from my life, so that what remains is unshakable, and I am thankful.
Hebrews 12:28 (NIV)
Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our “God is a consuming fire.”
Take a few moments to express your heart to God, with thanksgiving.
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