November, 2000 "A Thankful Heart"

November 2000 "A Thankful Heart"

"Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise; give thanks to Him and praise His name. For the Lord is good and His love endures forever; His faithfulness continues through all generations." (Psalm 100:4-5)

The Psalmist is very clear about the best way to enter into the presence of God. We do it with a thankful heart and a spirit of praise. The wonderful thing about this instruction is that it is not just a command - something we must obey through our sheer determination, but He gives us the very reason for our thanksgiving and praise. It is because God is good. And He is a God of love and faithfulness. And His goodness and love and faithfulness endure forever!

Wow! Now I can get excited about that! And knowing my own sins and weaknesses and failings makes me all the more grateful for God's precious love.

That was just a very refreshing reminder to me. I don't know about you but I occasionally need to be encouraged to be thankful. It is too easy for me to see the negative side of things. I often pray to God and ask Him to take out His garden tools and cultivate those areas in my heart that have gotten hard or forgetful or insensitive.

I've been thinking about my own level and awareness of thankfulness because of two special days that we have this month in November here in America.

The first is election day. What a privilege and a blessing to live in a country of freedom and liberty. We need to turn our thankfulness to God for this nation into an act of responsibility by voting and praying for the elections. I am asking you to pray not only now for those whom God would place in positions of governmental authority (according to Romans 13:1), but to daily pray for our leaders - whether we agree with their politics or not.

Let me share from 1 Timothy 2:1-4. "I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone - for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth."

So let's be thankful for our leaders and lift them up in prayer so that we can continue to live in peace and with godliness.

The second special day that reminds me of our blessing as a nation is our holiday - Thanksgiving. Too often, in my life and yours too I would guess, it has become a day of food preparation, eating and football. Let's get back to the basics of the holiday, which is to celebrate that we are one nation under God and that God sovereignly called and preserved us as a people of freedom so that we could carry that freedom in Christ to all nations of the world.

Use your table time at Thanksgiving to remember the mighty acts of God on behalf of our nation. Review with your family and friends the continuous flow of the kindness and mercy of the Lord upon your lives. Rehearse with the younger generation the great events of God that led the parents and grandparents throughout their lives.

Give opportunity for each one, old and young alike, at your table to express a sentence of thanksgiving and praise to God for a specific thing. And then with great anticipation expect to find yourselves in the very presence of God Himself…just as we read in Psalm 100.

For Jesus Himself said in Matthew 18:20, "For where two or three come together in My name, there am I with them."

So enter into the presence of Jesus as you gather together to give thanks and praise to His name.

Don't forget to pray and vote and, by the way, do enjoy that turkey, pie, and football!

Giving thanks for all of you,
Patty

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