“Enter his gates with thanksgiving; go into his courts with praise. Give thanks to him and praise his name.” – Psalms 100:4
When you’ve had a terrible day it is so hard to lift up thanksgiving. One of those Sunday when you’re running late, the dog runs out the door and down the street in the rain. Upon catching him, his muddy paws end up leaving prints on your freshly white pressed shirt. After getting a new shirt and pants, you finally make it to church, only to spill your coffee as you are getting out of the car, and left the umbrella by the door as you walked out of the house. Determined you put it behind you, walk towards the church and as your foot hits the first step, something clicks and a peace comes over you. Sure, your shirt is wet with a large brown stain, your hair is dripping and clinging to your head, but as you ascend those few steps, it all seems to vanish. Bill greets you with a smile and a warm handshake, “I am so glad you decided to brave the weather and come out this morning. They’re just finishing the second song, go on in and join them.”
Opening the door to the sanctuary the words ring out, “…and I know there’ll be days when this life brings me pain, but if that’s what it takes to praise you, Jesus bring the rain.” Mercy Me, Bring the Rain, 2006 (listen here) Closing my eyes I left the music envelope me for just a moment before moving to find a seat. God was speaking right into my heart. There is no way around the message from Him that morning. He deserves our thanksgiving in everything. We are so caught up in feeling sorry for ourselves and our circumstances we often look right past the blessings that surround us every day of our life. Face it, we focus on the negative as a society and have difficulty bringing the positive to the forefront and into the limelight.
Every night at dinner we have a tradition at our home. Perhaps you can find value in it in your home as well. As the food is being passed around and the eating begins we go around the table answering 2 questions. ”What was your high for the day?” followed up with “What was your low?” The rules are simple you must have at least one high, and you cannot have more lows than highs. Finally, they must be something that happened that day, not something that will happen or something that happened in the past. The highs are lifted up as praises and the person is honored and celebrated for the moment. The lows become actionable prayers for that night’s bedside.
God is good always. His love never changes for you, even when it’s raining and the dog has run away. If you find nothing else to be thankful for and to lift up in worship and praise today, be thankful for that. You don’t deserve His love. Your sinful life is filthy in His eyes, but by the grace of His Son dying on that cross and being resurrected from the grave your sins are wiped clean and God sees you as the perfect image of His Son. There is nothing we can do to deserve His love, He freely gave it for our redemption. This is worthy of thanksgiving every day, every hour, every minute.
Opening the door to the sanctuary the words ring out, “…and I know there’ll be days when this life brings me pain, but if that’s what it takes to praise you, Jesus bring the rain.” Mercy Me, Bring the Rain, 2006 (listen here) Closing my eyes I left the music envelope me for just a moment before moving to find a seat. God was speaking right into my heart. There is no way around the message from Him that morning. He deserves our thanksgiving in everything. We are so caught up in feeling sorry for ourselves and our circumstances we often look right past the blessings that surround us every day of our life. Face it, we focus on the negative as a society and have difficulty bringing the positive to the forefront and into the limelight.
Every night at dinner we have a tradition at our home. Perhaps you can find value in it in your home as well. As the food is being passed around and the eating begins we go around the table answering 2 questions. ”What was your high for the day?” followed up with “What was your low?” The rules are simple you must have at least one high, and you cannot have more lows than highs. Finally, they must be something that happened that day, not something that will happen or something that happened in the past. The highs are lifted up as praises and the person is honored and celebrated for the moment. The lows become actionable prayers for that night’s bedside.
God is good always. His love never changes for you, even when it’s raining and the dog has run away. If you find nothing else to be thankful for and to lift up in worship and praise today, be thankful for that. You don’t deserve His love. Your sinful life is filthy in His eyes, but by the grace of His Son dying on that cross and being resurrected from the grave your sins are wiped clean and God sees you as the perfect image of His Son. There is nothing we can do to deserve His love, He freely gave it for our redemption. This is worthy of thanksgiving every day, every hour, every minute.
Prayer:,
Heavenly Father,
You have provided grace for us, though we are unworthy and will always be You have provided a way for us to enter into Your presence because of grace. We lift up our hands to You today and praise Your holy name before all creation. You deserve so much more than I am capable of giving, so I give all that I have. In Your name we pray – Amen
http://www.10minutereader.com
Heavenly Father,
You have provided grace for us, though we are unworthy and will always be You have provided a way for us to enter into Your presence because of grace. We lift up our hands to You today and praise Your holy name before all creation. You deserve so much more than I am capable of giving, so I give all that I have. In Your name we pray – Amen
http://www.10minutereader.com
©Sondove Enterprises, 2011
Thank you for helping me to remember that no matter what is happening in my life, He loves me. Through the good times and the bad times, His love is faithful.
ReplyDeleteWhile caring for my ageing father who was suffering from age related dementia, I found myself being irritated by his forgetfulness; he would forget his medications, he would leave the key in the door, things that he couldn't help, he just forgot. So one day instead of acting on my irritation and scolding him, I decided we would thank God that I came along and found those keys there before someone else did and that I was just a block away and could visit to check up on him regularly. We would then laugh at these little things and in doing so, I found that he would laugh also, and although that did not change the forgetfulness, it did relieve the fear he was experiencing over his forgetting, something I had not realized he was experiencing until then. "Give thanks with a grateful heart"