“Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name! “
Praise and thanksgiving comes from Heaven . Complaint and criticism comes from hell.
It is from a place of knowing our need and how utterly desperately we need God that we yield to our greatest place of gratitude and praise.
Our need is not only to fix our circumstances but more so to fix our inner self.
Our trials and tribulations in circumstances offer us a greater opportunity to partner with Him.
They present the occasions for Jesus to walk closely with us and for Him to renew our minds and thoughts to unite with His and reform us.
Times of renewal or of our initial transformation are cause for celebration and for creating memorials of. Such markers can then be the sign posts for others and the return place for us to relocate ourselves from when we are lost again.
We can actually grieve the Holy Spirit when we too readily forget and revert to negative complaint. When we only sing worship songs and don’t really offer thankfulness and gratitude and honour God in celebration of all He is, has been and will be.
We like the early Israelites, easily forget. We don’t record and fill our diaries with all those miracles, prayers answered , gifts, blessings etc.
We don’t create markers or memorials to remind us on our journey and others on their journey. Such as the Boulder monument left by Jacob at Bethel or when Samuel erected the Ebenezer stone to remind Israel of her victories.
Dates denoting the crisis are more likely to be recorded. Not God’s manifestations and actions.
I love the concept of the Eternal Wall to be built in the heart of Britain near Birmingham this year and completed next, of bricks commemorating people’s testimony of God’s miracles in their lives to offer both gratitude and hope to future generations. ( photo and info included at the bottom))
Corporate remembering of the goodness of God is so needed to strengthen our faith and to encourage evangelism and our dependence on God not ourselves.
Our success even in our own body is not measured in our gifting which are supernatural and the anointing of the Holy Spirit.
Not in our character that stems from discipline and good choices.
But from our vulnerability and our need for our relationship with Jesus.
The core of us being the acknowledgment that I lack and He is everything. Our deepest gratitude then becomes in our very own weakness.
Our knowledge of our need for Him is our true gratitude for I am weak but you are strong.
“But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.”
Our awe and our trust come only from our real knowledge of the heart of Jesus. Reflecting God’s heart. Us knowing that all that is good and Holy in us comes from Christ and therefore cause for our deepest gratitude, worship and thanksgiving.
We then can thank god in the midst of anything. We stand apart and are not of the world but in it. We prosper as we look up over and beyond and are overcomer. We host God and are part of the kingdom of heaven here on earth. We receive all with thanksgiving.
The illustration shows praising in gratitude in the midst of all things. Acknowledging total need for Jesus for His strength and our weakness bringing light into the darkness.
Five Scriptures that come to mind:
“Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name! For the Lord is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations.”Psalm 100:4-5 ESV
“For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.”Romans 14:17 ESV
“give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”1 Thessalonians 5:18 ESV
“Do all things without grumbling or disputing, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world,”Philippians 2:14-15 ESV
“But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.”2 Corinthians 12:9 ESV
The song Goodness of God. Bethel
https://youtu.be/-f4MUUMWMV4
Lessisgreater 