Each month I try to read Proverbs daily and I couple another book or books with it. In October it was the Proverbs and the gospels. During the month of November the book of Proverbs and Psalms.
Psalms is a book that expresses the emotions of the writers and humans in general. I have noticed that one of the most important emotions that is expressed is of thanksgiving. Twenty two times the writers use the word "thanks" and eight times "thanksgiving".
This attitude of gratitude shows appreciation to God for His attributes and blessings. These attributes run the gambit from thanking Him for His mercy to thanking Him for His goodness (107:1). Thanksgiving is used to describe the needed attitude when coming to His house (100:4). It must continue to be in our hearts and mouth after we enter His house. Why? For it is the means of how we are to enter into the presence of God (95:2) once we are in His house. Thanksgiving is used as an adjective to describe our singing (147:7). It is the attitude we need to have when we testify of the Lord and His wonderful works to those who do not know Him and/or serve Him (26:7).
The command of thanksgiving that has impacted me the most is to "magnify the Lord" with thanksgiving (69:30). The writer says this "pleases the Lord" (69:31) better than any other sacrifice (69:31)! This has affected my prayer life as it has caused me to enter into prayer in a positive manner instead of the negative thinking of my circumstances and problems. As I thank Him for His goodness, mercy, and provision of the past He becomes magnified, that is literally "to grow up or become great" (Brown-Diver-Briggs Hebrew Lexicon) and powerful in my mind. This cause my faith to grow! If He provided in the past He will provide in the present and future!
Now faith grips my heart and mind! Hebrews teaches me that my faith also pleases the Lord (11:6)! My faith will cause me to seek the Lord diligently and my reward will come.
Thanksgiving and faith are tightly connected. Thanksgiving builds my faith and as my faith is built my prayers become powerful! My prayers of faith bring the blessings of God to the work of God and my family.
As we enjoy Thanksgiving today, make sure you think and speak about thanksgiving not as a special day that happens once a year but as an needed component of our every day prayer life!
No comments:
Post a Comment