November 22, 2024

Thanks Giving

November 17, 2014 by

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Be joyful always,
pray continually,
give thanks in all circumstances
for this is Gods will for you in Christ Jesus.
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

My dear sisters, anything that is God’s Will…I will do it!  For it means I have no choice but to obey.  Acts of disobedience will lead to destruction.  And, in fact in this case, thanks giving is an act of love.  As a child, you do thank your parents for buying you shoes (even when you don’t love the shoe).  You always thank them for the nice shoes as a token of your appreciation.

This is the same way we are to treat God.  Already it is His Will for us to do so.  Let us “…be doers of the Word, and not hearers only…” (James 1:22 ESV).

Thanks giving should be our lifestyle not an option.  See the following and meditate on these Scriptures.

When you have eaten and you are satisfied
praise the Lord your God for the good land He has given you.
Deuteronomy 8:10

Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise
Give thanks to Him and praise His Name.
Psalm 100:4

Let them sacrifice thanks offerings and tell of His works with songs of joy.
Psalm 107:22

Giving thanks to the Father who has qualified you to share
in the inheritance of the saints in the Kingdom of light…
Colossians 1:2

Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts.
Since as members of one body you were called to peace and be thankful.
Colossians 3:15

So being thankful is a calling; do not despise it.  Let us do it diligently always for we are called to do this.  Let us please the Heavenly Father in this, dear sisters and friends. Since it is His will we will be measured according to that.  How have we faired in this area?  Where you are and how are you doing it?  All of these matter.  Meditate on the Scriptures shared and make a choice to give thanks always…as per the calling.

 
Father, I thank You for calling me/us to this noble duty!  Father, sometimes we have not done Your Will…forgive us.  And I pray for Your grace to abide in us and cause us to do those that which You require us to do.  The grace should instill in us the spirit of thanks giving through our works, words, deeds, clothing, personality (and even those areas that I have missed).  May You do it, Lord, for You know us very well.  Thank You for what You did for us over 2000 years ago—sending Christ to die for us a shameful death and providing a rewarding life to the lost.  We give You praise and honor always!   In Jesus’ name, I pray, AMEN!

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Thankful For the Past

August 5, 2014 by

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Enter His gates with thanksgiving; go into His courts with praise.
Give thanks to Him and praise His name.
Psalm 100:4

Recently, while sitting in my room, I began to do a reflection of my current life—the relationships I have, the job(s), the decisions that need to be made, and the character flaws that need fixing.  I found myself wishing that I could go back in time and deal with the problems of previous times; you know the problems that I now know exactly how to deal with.  In that moment I laughed at myself.  Every season we enter has its benefits and its trials and seasons are constantly changing. What’s important to remember about each season of our lives is to “Enter His gates with thanksgiving; go into His courts with praise. Give thanks to Him and praise His name.”

I was informed that this devotional is the one year anniversary of the Seeking Him devotional blog.  I’m actually very surprised…it doesn’t seem like a year has passed.  Looking back, I can see how I’ve grown and changed.  I can see things in me that are still the same that I would love to change but, overall, I’m moving forward.  And I think this is what God wants us to do—move forward and be thankful while doing so.  I find it difficult to move forward when I am regretting or disappointed about something in the past. When I address the situation and let God shed light on it, I find that I am more capable of thanking Him for the learning experience.  Paul said it like this in Philippians 3:13 and 14,

But one thing I do, forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead.
I press toward the goal to win the prize
for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

We have so much going on around us and so much that we want to accomplish or to make different.  We have lives we want to live and dreams we want to come to pass.  If done correctly, the past is a good place for us to learn how to improve our present and our future.  For this reason I feel we should be thankful to God that we have a past to say that we made it through.  Without a past there is no present.  Nobody’s past is perfect.  There are things in my past that I don’t feel I should have ever had to deal with, but God says, “… if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come” (2 Corinthians 5:17).

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Lord, thank You for where I have been, because I would not be the person I am today without my past. You are an all-knowing God and You guide my future. Thank You for being so amazing!  Amen.

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Experiencing God

August 8, 2013 by

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Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise;
give thanks to Him and praise His name.
Psalm 100:4

Psalm 100 holds the key to intimacy with God. Using that key we can unlock a powerful encounter with Him, just as David was able to thousands of years ago.

The first thing to remember is that there are gates between heaven and earth. The Book of Revelation explains that each gate is made from a single pearl—the pearly gates.

The good news is that when we are saved by Jesus, God forgives our sins and adopts us as sons and daughters; He becomes our heavenly Father.  Do royal children have the right to enter the Kingdom?  Absolutely!

Remember the older brother in the story of the prodigal son? The one who stayed home and obeyed his father?  He complains that the father never even gave him a young goat but threw a great party for the wayward son.  ‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours.’  All he had to do was ask.

Here’s how to do that:

Step 1: We cause the gates of heaven to open by thanking God for all He has done. Thank Him for lots of different things, or for one thing over and over.  If nothing particular comes to mind, just say “thank You, Lord,” over and over.  Musical people can sing songs of thanksgiving.  After an hour or two (or maybe simply a couple of minutes) we stop thinking about ourselves and our problems, and find ourselves focused on eternity. The  atmosphere changes. It’s time to move onto praise.

Step 2: It is time to come into His courts and enter the very presence of God. We do this by praising Him. Again, we can praise Him for many different things—Who He is, what He has done, what He is going to do, for example.  Or we can focus on one thing and praise Him for that over and over. If nothing comes to mind, simply declare “I praise You, Lord!”  Musical people can sing songs of praise.

Step 3: At some point we will sense a powerful intimacy with God. In this place it is easy to discern what is important to Him, and just how to pray. Often we experience insights and receive strategies about Kingdom plans. Sometimes He gives us things, and not just in the spirit.

Don’t be like the older son who served his father diligently but never knew how to receive anything back. We have a generous Father who loves to give gifts to His children.

Go and spend some time with Him in His courts now.

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Dear Father,

We love to come before Your throne of grace…to thank You for how wonderful and awesome and incredible You are!  And to sing our praises from our grateful hearts!  May we never hesitate to seek You and ask our heavenly Father for the things that You have promised!  You are such a good, gracious, loving God!  In Jesus’ name, we pray and ask.
Amen.

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