Thanksgiving – the first step in true worship
The American holiday of Thanksgiving is a wonderful holiday. Most businesses close so families and friends can spend time together.
In addition to all of the Thanksgiving festivities, there’s the cooking, cleaning, friends, family. And the flurry of activity continues to the Retail Madness of Black Friday. In the midst of all this busyness, do we spend time thanking the Creator for His abundant gifts?
Thankfulness and gratitude are key elements to worship. True worship begins with a heart of gratitude. Think for a moment: how do you feel when you do something for another, and they don’t respond? On the other hand, how do you feel when someone shows you how much they really appreciate what you’ve done? In the first scenario, most of us feel hurt, 
slighted, or offended. However, when we’re appreciated, our relationship with the individual is enhanced. So, it is with God. The more we are truly grateful for what He has done/for Who He is, the deeper our relationship becomes. Out of a heart of thanksgiving comes true worship.
In Psalm 100, King David tells us how to enter into the LORD’s presence. First, when we come to His gates, we are to have thanksgiving in our hearts. Then, we enter His courts with praise.
I love the way observant Jews daily pray, “We thank Thee, O LORD, for Thy miracles which are daily upon us and for Thy continual marvels.” And I’m challenged by the Jewish tradition of thanking God a 100 times a day. They say a blessing (in Hebrew, brachah) or to give thanks to our Creator. I continue to marvel at being that thankful! I desire that my heart is that appreciative and thankful to our Heavenly Father. (If you want to do a ‘gratitude’ checkup, count how many times you thank the Lord today. If you find you are a little short of 100, check out Ari Lesser’s video of “Giving Thanks “ at www.FaithfulStewardship.org )
For what are you thankful? What has the Lord done for you this past year? This month? This week? Today?
- “Enter His gates with thanksgiving, And His courts with praise. Give thanks to Him; bless His name,” Psalm 100:4, NASB.
Prayer:
“Holy, righteous God. You, Who have given us everything, we worship You. Thank You for Your amazing intervention into our lives. We bless You. We pray that You will touch the hearts of Americans, help our nation to look to You during this Thanksgiving season. Thank You for having given us this blessed country. We pray Your comfort for all who are emotionally struggling now. For protection for all our soldiers, for Israelis, for Yerushalmis (Jerusalemites). For healing for those who are ill or hurting. Bring families together. In Your most awesome Name, we pray.”
IMMEDIATE Prayer Requests:
- Pray for Israel!
- Protection of the persecuted church.
- Prayer for wisdom to squelch ISIS; protection of the believers
- Prayer for the USA
- Pregnant daughters (Les’a & Don’s, etc): prayer that the babies and mothers will be healthy
- Family gatherings during Thanksgiving
- Sarah (Tracy’s friend): protection, reconciliation, forgiveness, love
- Nell (Tracy’s great aunt): peace
