{"id":10285,"date":"2013-03-09T00:01:20","date_gmt":"2013-03-09T05:01:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/?p=10285"},"modified":"2013-03-08T11:17:03","modified_gmt":"2013-03-08T16:17:03","slug":"seeking-him-thankfulness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/2013\/03\/09\/seeking-him-thankfulness\/","title":{"rendered":"Seeking Him &#8211; Thankfulness"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>We are continuing to look at one of the joys of a relationship with our heavenly Father\u2014our \u2018quiet time\u2019 with Him.\u00a0 Each Saturday in our current series,<i> <b>Seeking Him<\/b><\/i>, we have been considering some of the more important aspects of a dedicated, purposeful, intentional, devoted quiet time.\u00a0 Over the past few weeks we have thought about a few of these aspects, such as:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>reading the Scriptures<\/li>\n<li>singing our praises<\/li>\n<li>being intentional\u2014seeking Him<\/li>\n<li>physically expressing ourselves: cry, kneel, raise hands, etc.<\/li>\n<li>speaking out our \u2018love\u2019<\/li>\n<li>praying<\/li>\n<li>quietness<\/li>\n<li>having a quiet heart<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>This week we are remembering the importance of being <strong><em>thankful<\/em><\/strong> and expressing our gratitude to our Father.\u00a0 Truly, can you think of anything else that can so change your heart\u2019s attitude more than being <strong><em>thankful<\/em><\/strong>?\u00a0 <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Websters 1828 Dictionary<\/span> (one of my favorite references) defines <strong><em>thankful<\/em><\/strong> as \u2018grateful; impressed with a sense of kindness received, and ready to acknowledge it.\u2019\u00a0 Hmmm, sounds vaguely familiar&#8230;similar to a praise the Psalmist wrote:<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">Praise the Lord! (Hallelujah!) O give <strong><em>thanks<\/em><\/strong> to the Lord, for He is good;<br \/>\nfor His mercy <i>and<\/i> loving-kindness endure forever!<br \/>\nWho can put into words <i>and<\/i> tell the mighty deeds of the Lord?<br \/>\n<i>Or<\/i> who can show forth all the praise [that is due Him]?<br \/>\nPsalms 106:1 and 2<\/p>\n<p>I think\u00a0 Mr. Webster\u2019s definition clearly shows that <strong><em>thankfulness<\/em><\/strong> is <em>both<\/em><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong> thought<\/strong>\u00a0and <strong>action<\/strong><\/span>\u2014you \u2018sense\u2019 being blessed AND you \u2018acknowledge\u2019 it.\u00a0 Here\u2019s a great example:<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all you lands!<br \/>\nServe the Lord with gladness!<br \/>\nCome before His presence with singing!<br \/>\nKnow that the Lord is God!<br \/>\nIt is He Who has made us, not we ourselves [and we are His]!<br \/>\nWe are His people and the sheep of His pasture.<br \/>\nEnter into His gates with <strong><em>thanks<\/em><\/strong>giving<br \/>\n<i>and<\/i> a <strong><em>thank<\/em><\/strong> offering and into His courts with praise!<br \/>\nBe <strong><em>thankful<\/em> <\/strong><i>and<\/i> say so to Him,<br \/>\nbless <i>and<\/i> affectionately praise His name!<br \/>\nFor the Lord is good;<br \/>\nHis mercy <i>and<\/i> loving-kindness are everlasting,<br \/>\nHis faithfulness <i>and<\/i> truth endure to all generations.<br \/>\nPsalm 100<\/p>\n<p>The Psalmist was confessing\u2014remembering\u2014just a few things he was grateful for, AND voicing his gratitude.\u00a0\u00a0 To remember is \u2018&#8230;to bear in mind; to keep, consider, meditate.\u2019 We can\u2014we should\u2014do the same!\u00a0 We have oh-so-very-much to be<strong><em> thankful<\/em> <\/strong>for, amen?\u00a0 We have so very many memories of God\u2019s abundant goodness to us, true?\u00a0 We can sing&#8230;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">I will <strong><em>thank<\/em><\/strong> Yahweh with all my heart;<br \/>\nI will declare all Your wonderful works.<br \/>\nPsalm 9:1<\/p>\n<p>Listen to the some of the things that David remembers the Lord did for him and the beautiful way\u00a0he voices his <strong><em>thankful<\/em><\/strong>ness here in Psalm 30:<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">I will extol You, O Lord, for You have lifted me up<br \/>\nand have not let my foes rejoice over me.<br \/>\nO Lord my God, I cried to You and You have healed me.<br \/>\nO Lord, You have brought my life up from Sheol (the place of the dead)<br \/>\nSing to the Lord, O you saints of His, and<br \/>\ngive <strong><em>thanks<\/em><\/strong> at the remembrance of His holy name.<br \/>\nBy Your favor, O Lord, You have established me as a strong mountain;<br \/>\nYou hid Your face, and I was troubled.<br \/>\nI cried to You, O Lord, and to the Lord I made supplication.<br \/>\nHear, O Lord, have mercy <i>and<\/i> be gracious to me! O Lord, be my helper!<br \/>\nYou have turned my mourning into dancing for me;<br \/>\nTo the end that my tongue <i>and<\/i> my heart<br \/>\nand everything glorious within me<br \/>\nmay sing praise to You and not be silent.<br \/>\nO Lord my God, I will give <strong><em>thanks<\/em> <\/strong>to You forever.<\/p>\n<p>In your quiet time (but not\u00a0ONLY in your quiet time!), tell Your Father how very grateful you are for His goodness, for His protection, for His healing, for His deliverance, for His provision, for His admonition, for His guidance, for His love, grace and mercy!\u00a0 And give Him much <strong><em>thanks<\/em><\/strong>!<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=LIIyteDj9Wc&amp;feature=share&amp;list=AL94UKMTqg-9C-EDJmkbADvooPEeYisXsC\">http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=LIIyteDj9Wc&amp;feature=share&amp;list=AL94UKMTqg-9C-EDJmkbADvooPEeYisXsC<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Keep <b>seeking Him<\/b> and enjoy your quiet time with your Lord!\u00a0 As you <b>seek Him<\/b>, He will be found&#8230;He promises!<\/p>\n<p align=\"CENTER\">Jeremiah 29:12,13<br \/>\nThen you will call upon Me, and you will come and pray to Me,<br \/>\nand I will hear <i>and<\/i> heed you.<br \/>\nThen you will <strong>seek Me<\/strong>, inquire for, <i>and<\/i> require Me [as a vital necessity]<br \/>\nand find Me when you search for Me with all your heart.<\/p>\n<p>Praying for each of you!\u00a0 I know that the Lord will answer your heart\u2019s cry as you are <b>seeking Him <\/b>with all your heart!<\/p>\n<p>\u2665\u00a0 coleen<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>We are continuing to look at one of the joys of a relationship with our heavenly Father\u2014our \u2018quiet time\u2019 with Him.\u00a0 Each Saturday in our current series, Seeking Him, we have been considering some of the more important aspects of a dedicated, purposeful, intentional, devoted quiet time.\u00a0 Over the past few weeks we have thought [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":10295,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[8],"tags":[2000,235,307,1287,425,1999,2006,2002,2004,2005,2003,861,1290,1057,2001],"class_list":["post-10285","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-womens","tag-action","tag-coleen-hayden","tag-devotional","tag-gch","tag-girlfriends-coffee-hour","tag-gratitude","tag-jeremiah-2912-and-13","tag-psalm-100","tag-psalm-1061-and-2","tag-psalm-30","tag-psalm-91","tag-quiet-time","tag-seeking-him","tag-thankful","tag-websters-1828-dictionary","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/07.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p39pHp-2FT","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10285","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/20"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10285"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10285\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10289,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10285\/revisions\/10289"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10295"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10285"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10285"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10285"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}