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.
The Bible speaks about how we can put on a “garment of praise” in Isaiah 61:3. Praise and thanksgiving are superpowers 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.
Colossians 2:6-7 reminds us that “As you therefore have received Jesus Christ the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him, established in the faith as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving.”
What a beautiful picture– to live a life abounding in thanksgiving. A heart that is ablaze with gratitude, faith, and strength comes from the pure joy of our salvation flooding our soul every day, no matter what the circumstances.
That kind of a heart can be established firmly in us by taking “praise breaks” during the day. We may stop throughout the day to take coffee breaks to be refreshed, but how much more will a praise break revive our soul. Praise and thanksgiving work like a magnifying glass. It causes what you are focusing on to get bigger. When you put on a garment of praise, you put on hope and joy as you are reminded that God is bigger than any situation. And joy fills you! The Joy of the Lord becomes your strength.
As we put on our Garment of Praise, we confidently take our seat at the table God has prepared for us.
In many families at the Thanksgiving meal, there are often two tables: the “Big table” and the ”Kiddy table.” That’s what I knew growing up! The Big table has fine linen, china and fancy stemware. The kiddy table has the everyday plates and the small tumblers. I remember my daughter was waiting in anticipation for when she could sit at the “Big table.”
We all start at the kiddy table. And what a beautiful place to start. The kiddy table is where our heart opens to a place of thanking and praising God as we remember all of the things he has done in our lives. It’s a place where God gets magnified and glorified and thanksgiving abounds in our hearts!
As we faithfully put on our garment of praise and take our praise breaks, our hearts become ablaze with God’s glory, and we are catapulted to a whole new place of thanksgiving and praise, and then time has come to sit at the big table – the banquet table.
We get to that place of… “I will be Thankful– Even Though…”
Psalm 23:4-5 “Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me. Your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil. My cup overflows.” We are thankful and filled with praise that comes from being in his presence.
Even Though we may be going through difficult circumstances and we are in the Valley, we can still say ”All is well with my soul.”
I can’t help but think of the Apostle Paul who, while in prison, wrote the most joyful book in our Bible. Although in a dingy prison cell surrounded by his enemies, all was well with his soul. Why? Because he put on his garment of praise. He rejoiced in the Lord! He wrote in Philippians 4:4-5 “Rejoice in the Lord always. I say it again, rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near.”
Even though Paul was in prison his heart was overflowing with praise because the presence of God was with him. The Lord was near.
It’s the same with David when he wrote:
(Psalm 23:1-3) “The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He restores my soul. He guides me along the right paths for his name’s sake.”
Our hearts are filled with joy, praise, thanksgiving in the presence of God. We take a seat at the banquet table. Paul wrote “God prepares a table before us in the presence of our enemies.” Our enemy can take many forms, some of which are confusion, insecurity, addiction, fear, but we are anointed, we are empowered, and our cup overflows.
Even Though my enemies surround me, “All is well with my soul.”
We take a seat at the banquet table, and we turn the table on our fears, we turn the tables on our confusion, we turn the tables on our insecurities as we trust in God.
As we daily put on our Garment of Praise we will know what it is to be Thankful—Even Though