Thankful

Hi Everyone!

Hope you had a good and restful Thanksgiving! Besides eating entierly too much, it was the BEST Thanksgiving ever for me. I was so overwhelmed by everything I have to be thankful for, even in seemingly bad circumstances I have a lot to be Thankful for. Wow, what a concept: be thankful even when things aren't going as planned or how I'd like them...YEP. I Thessalonians 5:16-18 says it best, "Always be joyful. Never stop praying. Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you who belong to Christ Jesus." This scripture indicates that being thankful is not only something Christians should do, it's what we absolutely, unequivocally MUST DO...because we belong to Christ. Let that simmer a bit, Selah on that baby. It sounds hard to do and it even is a bit; however, like anything else, once you start practicing (exercising that muscle) all of the sudden it becomes and easier and habitual. We need to be "habitual thankers."

I can't think of a better group this could apply to then: WORSHIPPERS! Psalm 100:4 says, "Enter His gates with Thanksgiving and His courts with praise." Perhaps we've forgotten this scripture a few times when we arrive at church on Sunday morning at 7:00am. :) I know I sure have...like a hundred times. I have to constantly remind myself what a JOY it is to enter God's presence with thanksgiving in my heart. Since we're the first to arrive at church on Sunday morning then we need to be the first to bring our Thanksgiving to God...Psalm 100:4 doesn't say we bring our praise first doest it? King David clearly writes the order in which God has ordained for us to enter: Thanksgiving first, Praise second. Maybe this isn't a deep theological unanswered question but perhaps this is a lesson we conveniently forget. You see, its easy to fake praise but you can't fake Thanksgiving. When you open your mouth and give thanks to God for who He is and what He has done; there is no limit to your praise after that. I believe our thankfulness unleashes dynamic praise. Maybe we've experienced some good praise in the past but we haven't arrived yet folks...

Let's be thankful in all things and always enter the presence of God with thankful hearts first.

love ya heaps and heaps!

Tracy