Thanksgiving is so much more than turkey and football. When you praise and thank God, you invite God’s glory and presence into your heart and into the room.
Jesus’s words in Isaiah 61:3: “Put on a garment of praise!!!” Praise and thanksgiving are a superpower that will release God’s glory and presence into your life so that no matter what your circumstances are, your heart will be ablaze with gratitude, faith, and strength from on high.
That kind of heart can be established firmly in us by taking praise breaks throughout the day. We stop throughout the day to take coffee breaks to be refreshed, but how much more will a praise break revive our soul?
As we put on our Garment of Praise, it’s a cloak of power that releases God’s glory and presence into our lives, and it spills out and touches all that is around us.
Psalm 100:4 says it so clearly:
“Enter into His gates with thanksgiving and into His courts with praise. Give thanks to Him and praise His Name.”
We now live in a time where to have access to so many things, we need a password, or we do not have access to it.
The word “Thank you” is truly the password that gives God access to our hearts.
That’s why David said, “Enter His gates with thanksgiving” that’s the first point of entry as we focus on what we have to be thankful for. That opens the door, and then praise starts to rise up out of us, and our heart opens up even more.
A thankful heart is soft and yielding and ready to receive all God has for them. A thankful heart is filled with faith because they remember all God has done in their life.
Being thankful is a choice we make. Our minds can be focused on all the good we have in our life, all that we have to be grateful for, or it could be all that we don’t have that is wrong.
It is developing a habit of thanksgiving.
It’s a habit of dwelling on and remembering all you have to be thankful for. The beauty of it is the more you are thankful, the more you become aware of all the things big and little you have to be grateful for.
A grateful heart is nurtured through prayer and relationship, and a scripture that cultivates that is found in Philippians 4:6-8: “Be anxious for nothing but in all things by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be known to God, and the peace of God will guard your heart and mind through Christ Jesus. Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any value, if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things.”
That is the key that unlocks a heart overflowing with gratitude is prayer.
As we pray and continually thank Him along the way, a heart of thanksgiving is developed in us, and peace will fill us to depend more and more on God the more we realize how much we have to be grateful for.
It’s a mindset, so we choose to focus on the good.
Philippians 4: “Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any value, if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things.”
It’s the mindset we choose to think on these things.
Gratitude isn’t a feeling; it’s an expression. As we express gratitude and fill our minds with all we have to be grateful for, our emotions will follow.
It is so easy for me to find things to be grateful for. I’m grateful for my salvation, that I am a born-again child of God, and that I have an intimate relationship with Jesus. I’m grateful for my husband, Jim, who is kind and loving and is my best friend. I’m grateful for Jesus’s supernatural healing touch on his life through this season in our lives.
I’m grateful for my child Dawn and that she is married to a wonderful man who is a great husband and father to my grandchildren.
I’m grateful for my grandchildren, each and everyone who brings so much joy to my life. I’m grateful for my sister and brother and all my nieces and nephews. I’m grateful I am surrounded by a loving, supportive family.
I’m grateful for my church family. I’m grateful for all the support and prayers we have received during this challenging year of Jim’s health. I’m grateful my life has a purpose, and my life is filled with joy as I step out in that purpose each day.
I could fill pages with all I have to be grateful for.
“Thank-You” truly is the password that gives God access to our hearts and will fill us with peace and joy, and love.