Enter His Gates with Thanksgiving
God is always doing things for us. We just might not recognize it.
I have a son who is currently a two-year-old toddler. He's at the stage right now where my wife and I are teaching him to have good public manners. Greeting people with a "hi" and leaving by saying "bye." Learning to be gentle with other people. Asking for something with the word "please." Saying "thank you" when something is done for him. It's a struggle at times, but I'm sure he will get there one day. One can only hope.
But now that I think about it, I, myself, struggle with saying "thank you"—especially to God. I'm sure others do too. I often take things in life for granted and I fail to recognize God's many blessings. And if I don't recognize God's blessings in my life, I fail to thank Him for it. I would like to cultivate a better posture of gratitude in my life.
The Bible tells us to enter into God's presence with a thankful posture. The book of Psalms declares these words:
Enter his gates with thanksgiving
and his courts with praise;
give thanks to him and praise his name.
(Psalm 100:4 NIV)
This Psalm draws an awesome picture of a person walking through God's magnificent gates with thanksgiving on their lips. And when they arrive at God's wonderful courts, they're praising Him. Launching into my prayer times with the Lord is like walking through God's gates. Being in God's presence through prayer is like standing in His very courts. I must learn to express my thankfulness to God and praise Him whenever I go before Him in prayer.
It's nice to be acknowledged for something you've done for another person. God is always doing things for us. We just might not recognize it. But we don't want to continue overlooking what God is doing. Instead, we want to give him the praise and honor that is due to Him. This requires some observation on our part. We need to observe how God is working in our lives and observe how He's providing blessings so that we can thank Him for these things in the end. May we learn to start our times of prayer to God with much praise and thanksgiving on our lips.
Barnabas the Monastic
Servant of Christ. Husband. Dad. Modern Monastic. I have a wild ambition in life: get as close to the Lord Jesus Christ as I can while on earth. I explore and integrate ancient Christian monk wisdom in modern everyday life. Lives in Canada.
