Enter His Gates with Thanksgiving

Thanks to my sweet Aunt Deanna for inspiring me to get back on my blog this morning. I was reading her heartfelt post (which I do often), and this morning it finally struck me that I started a blog a long time ago and that I should start that up again. Haha! It's only been 2 years! In looking back at my last post, (from March of 2009), it occurred to me that just about everything in my life has changed between then and now. (Maybe that's why I haven't posted much...I've been BUSY!) Anyway, as we approach this Thanksgiving season, I wanted to share something with you all.

A few weeks ago, I went to a women's conference at my church. The conference was called "One Night with the King" and, as you may have guessed, the story of Esther was the theme. During the conference, the first speaker was talking about how, like Esther, we have been called to the Palace to have intimacy with OUR King, Jesus. She was talking about how we get there...how do we find that special place of nearness with Him? Then she said something that will forever change the way I approach God.

Psalm 100:4 says to "Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name."

Okay, I have had this verse memorized since I was a child. (I even could sing it to you in a song!) But, never has it impacted me the way it has been lately.

Consider a palace, and King Jesus is in the throne room at the center of the palace. How do we get into that throne room, where we can lay our hearts at His precious feet. How do we approach this Holy God of ours in a way that both honors Him as the Perfect Being that He is, and yet grants us intimate access to speak to, and hear from Him. We start from the outside and work our way in. We enter His gates with Thanksgiving.

This time of year, Thanksgiving comes naturally to me. Maybe it's the romance of the months of November and December. Maybe it's because others are talking so much about what they are thankful for. For whatever reason, I have no trouble giving thanks on the Wednesday before Thankgiving. (And, it's a perfectly wonderful time to do so.) However, I don't want to ONLY give thanks at this time of year. And, I don't want to give thanks only when others around me inspire me to do so. I want the CONTINUAL GOODNESS of the Lord to be what inspires me to offer Him thanks...on a day-by-day, moment-by-moment basis. I want to begin each day thanking Him for His mercies. They are new every morning...(Lamentations 3:22-26) Shouldn't my thanks be new every morning as well??

So, I'll begin today with a new habit. Starting my day in the right spot...on the outside of the palace, ready to come in and lay my heart before Him. I'll begin, not by offering Him all my cursory "God bless us, everyone" type prayers, but by truly having a thankful heart for what He has already done. Then I will move into His courts by praising His Character (more on that in another post). After that is when I should lay my requests before Him. I know that I will probably fail more times than I will succeed at this model of intimacy in my prayer life. But, I know that with the Holy Spirit's gentle reminder, I can certainly try.

So, today, I am thankful for the warm house I woke up in. I'm thankful for the precious child whose smile I have already witnessed (at 5 AM!). I'm thankful for my sweet, hardworking husband who is already up and ready to work hard and provide for our family. I'm thankful for my health, as I consider a friend who is in the hospital this morning. (Praying for you, my precious Wendy.) I'm thankful for all the things that I have packed up, and the family we are going to be with this weekend.

I am thankful for all these things, and so much more, Lord...please help me remember to have gratitude each day for all that You have given. You are good, and every good and perfect gift comes from You.

Happy Thanksgiving, today and everyday.