Enter His Gates With Thanksgiving | A reminder to be grateful:
- Dasia
- Nov 21, 2023
- 7 min read
How can you demonstrate gratitude to God? Is your initial response to problems self-pity or thankfulness? What are ways in which the Lord protects you? What are you grateful for? Are you content in this season of your life? Who are some people that have blessed your life? What areas of your life affect your gratitude? What are you taking for granted? .. These are all reflection questions to ask yourself before continuing to read this blog. I suggest you do some journal, prayer, and/or meditation on God’s goodness. Oh and Happy Thanksgiving!
What is Thanksgiving?:
Thanksgiving is the expression of gratitude, especially to God. The Hebrew verb for giving thanks is yadah (יָדָה). Frequently, it also means to confess. And rightly so, because in the Old Testament, when Israel thanks God, often that thanksgiving consists of confessing, in detail, exactly what he's done—and continues to do—for his people. In America, thanksgiving is an annual national holiday that includes a traditional meal, gratitude, and a turkey. This originates back to 1621 where the harvest festival was celebrated by the pilgrims.
1 Thessalonians 5:18 Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
The Bible states in 1 Corinthian 23:31 “So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” For those who are in Christ, thanksgiving isn’t just once a year it is everyday in our lives, because the goodness of God is everywhere and it is enough to be thankful for.
Your Worship toward Yahweh Matters:
Did you know, since the beginning satan was always after “the worship”, the Isarelties for example worshiped other false gods and idols.
Hence, in today’s world people idolize so many things and worship things that don't have any true power. Satan himself wanted to have some of “God’s glory” to be worshiped. That is why most of the music industry is demonic and run by satan. Look at the world we live in. People love praise. However, throughout the Bible we see God shares His glory with no one. We aren’t meant to handle that level of praise, that’s why some people become famous and they “change”. Thankfully, Satan’s rebellion against God is futile. Satan is in no way comparable to God because God’s power has no match, and He has no equal. He is the perfect King and governs the universe with righteousness and love (Mark 10:18; Isaiah 28:28; Romans 11:33; Psalm 100:5; 1 John 4:8). God is the only High power, the true God, who can be worshiped without changing.
Hebrews 13:8 says, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, and today, and forever.” If Satan can abrupt your worship to the Lord and savior Jesus Christ then he can wreck everything else. It is in our pain and suffering where our worries turn to worship. There is something about turning on your favorite worship song in awe of God’s presence. Worship is designed for God.
Thanksgiving isn’t license to be a glutton:
Glorify God this thanksgiving by expressing gratitude to Him, repentance, and forgiveness. Don’t get so caught up in the turkey and stuffing your bellies as a glutton. Don’t glorify that but glorify God! Yes, indeed glutton is a sin among others. It is one that is not talked about. Thanksgiving day is not a license to commit gluttony. It is not a license to walk in the flesh by eating 3-4 plates of food. Food can become an idol if you let it. An idol is simply anything you put before God. Gluttony is simply an over-consumption of something. Gluttony is a sin because it gives too high a priority to physical desires. Self-control and discipline is something we must operate in (1 Corinthians 9:27, ESV). Believers are not to “indulge the flesh” (Galatians 5:13). In contrast to Paul’s commitment to exercise control over his body, the enemies of the gospel give free rein to their appetites: “Their god is their stomach” (Philippians 3:19). Do not get distracted.
Remember the enemy will do anything to steal your praise and worship. Philippians 3:19 “Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things.”
Encountering God Through Gratitude:
Expressing gratitude to God has a way of changing our hearts. Take some time before the busyness of this holiday to sit in God’s presence with thanksgiving.Psalm 100:4 “Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name!” Thanksgiving is a gift, and the bible states in James 1:17 that every good and perfect gift is from above. There are so many reasons to give thanks to our Lord. He sent his precious son (Jesus Christ) to die on the cross for all of our sins and that is so much to be grateful for. It’s so easy to get caught up in life’s circumstances to shift our focus off the one who can truly work everything out for our good.
May you be empowered and filled with joy as you engage in continual thanksgiving every single day.
Bible Verses Regarding Gratitude:
1 Thessalonians 5:18 Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
Psalm 107:1 Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever!
Colossians 3:15 And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful.
Colossians 4:2 Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving.
Psalm 50:14 Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving, and perform your vows to the Most High
Psalm 100:1-5 A Psalm for giving thanks. Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth! Serve the Lord with gladness! Come into his presence with singing! Know that the Lord, he is God! It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name! For the Lord is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations.
Hebrews 13:15 Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name.
10 people in the Bible who remembered to Thank God:
Miriam, the older sister of Moses and Aaron, gave thanks to God while playing her tambourine and dancing with joy with the other women whom God saved from the Egyptians after they crossed over the Red Sea (Exod. 15:20-21).
Hannah gave a long prayer of thanks to God in 1 Samuel 2 because God granted her petition for a son. Once Samuel was weaned, Hannah and her husband, Elkanah, brought him to Eli the priest to be dedicated to the Lord (1 Sam. 2:1-10).
David gave thanks to God after winning his battle against the Philistines (2 Sam. 22:1-51).
King Solomon thanked God for all he had done to provide for Israel in his prayer of dedication for the temple (1 Kings 8:14-21).
The Author of Psalm 111 of this beloved psalm begins with the following words: Praise the Lord! I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart in the company of the upright, in the congregation. Psalm 111 is filled with praise for God's wondrous works. The psalmist ends by reminding people that God's praise endures forever.
Elizabeth, the mother of John the Baptist, was thankful that God took away her reproach among the people of Israel (Luke 1:24-25). Before becoming pregnant with John, Elizabeth was barren and long beyond child-bearing age.
Mary, in a beautiful song of praise known as the Magnificat, gave thanks to the Lord for being chosen to bear the incarnate Son of God (Luke 1:46-55).
Jesus gave thanks to God before distributing the bread and fish to five thousand people who came to hear him teach (John 6:11).
The Leper Whom Jesus Healed, Ten lepers came to Jesus and asked him to heal them. Jesus sent them to the priests, and they were all healed along the way. Only one of the ten healed people returned to thank Jesus, and that person was not even a Jew. He was a Samaritan who was considered to be a foreigner in Israel's sight (Luke 17:11-19).
Paul gave thanks to God for the believers in Philippi because of their partnership with him in the gospel (Phil. 1:3-11).
Quick Testimony:
Over the course of my life, God has done amazing things. In 2022, I went through an eviction and 6 months later by God’s grace He gifted me with an even better place. During those 6 months, I had to move back in with my mom, I was depressed, isolated, dropped out of college and just was doubtful of God. Honestly, I don’t deserve His goodness and faithfulness but because of His character of being a loving Father He saw past my doubts and blessed me not because I deserve it but because of who He is.
Giving is in God’s nature, thanking Him should be in our nature. Together that makes Thanksgiving.
Things to be grateful for based on Psalm 103:
He forgives us our sins and heals our diseases
He redeems us from death and crown us with love and tender mercies
He fills our lives with good things
Our youth is renewed like the eagles
He gives us righteousness and justice when we are mistreated
He reveals his character and deeds to us
He is compassionate and merciful toward us, slow to anger
His unfailing love is as great as the heigh of the heavens
He has removed our sins as far as the East is from the west
He is a father to us
“My soul, bless the Lord, and all that is within me, bless his holy name. My soul, bless the Lord, and do not forget all his benefits.”Psalms 103:1-2 CSB
Prayer:
Meditate on the importance of thanksgiving. Find a scripture that correlates to this topic.
Take Time to give thanks to God
Play a worship song
Share His goodness
Journal about the effects of thanksgiving on your heart and mind.. Have your desires, concerns and perspectives shifted? What do you need to improve on? Go back to the beginning of the blog for more questions to ask yourself
Dear Lord, I thank you for all you’ve done, your faithfulness and goodness will never run out. I will praise you all the days of my life. I will lift your name up High. I rebuke anything that tries to come up against my praise and worship toward you. I choose to be grateful not just on this day but everyday. In Jesus Name Amen.
Resources:
What’s your favorite thanksgiving food?
turkey
baked mac & cheese
ham
collard greens
You can vote for more than one answer.
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