Thanksgiving - The Basis for Praise



by Nathan Howard

"Enter His gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to Him and praise His name. For the Lord is good and His love endures forever; and His faithfulness continues through all generations" - Psalm 100:4,5 (NIV)

Each person on the face of the earth has a diffent way of communicating. Each of us have sort of "protocols" that we prefer to stick to because that's what we like. For example most of us like to be acknowledged when we enter a room by a nod of a head, or a 'Hi' depending of course upon the social circumstances at the time (ie whether it is a meeting room, social gathering, church meeting or whatever). Another example is that some of us may not be able to go to sleep at night unless we have 'said goodnight' to everyone in the family. In some cultures it is considered rude to belch after a meal, where other cultures consider it rude if you don't belch after a meal. So each of us has a preferred method for 'interfacing' with other people. In the same way God has a preferred method (and in some cases a required method of interfacing to people. For example if I were to write a "Nathan's bible" I would write the above passage something like this:

Enter my flat by pressing the buzzer and enter my front door by pulling the handle, climbing the stairwell and calling my name.

What's the password?

So God's method of coming into His gates is by thanksgiving. I like the way the 'Message' bible puts it: "Enter the password: Thanks". To get into the 'Gods Presence' database it must be with the password 'thanks'! What an awesome way to describe it! The only way you are going to enter Gods presence is with thanksgiving. In the Old Testament, Israel was commanded to come into the temple with thanksgiving, joyful songs and praise. This was a PHYSICAL MOVEMENT into the place of His presence. In the New Testament, we ourselves are the temple (1Peter 2:5) and thanksgiving and praise is a SPIRITUAL MOVEMENT into His presence.

Thanks is the foundation

If you can't thank God for what he has done then you are not going to be able to praise Him for it. For example if someone did me a favour then I would probably thank them for it. If they did it well then I would probably praise them for it, either to their face or praise them to others. But unless I am thankful in the first instance, I will never praise them for what they did for me.

Where do we begin?

OK. So thanks is the basis of praise. Some may say what do we have to thank Him for? Well you can start by thanking Him for creating you:

"Know that the Lord is God. It is He who made us, and we are His;" - Psalm 100:3a (NIV)

And then you can start thanking Him for recreating you. When you gave your life to Jesus you became a new creation in Christ. Effectively you were what Jesus called 'Born Again' (John 3:5,6,7).

"...if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!" - 1Cor (NIV)

You can then go on to thank Him for His ongoing work in you (see 2Cor 3:18). Be thankful for what He does in you everyday and don't let your thanks depend upon how you feel or your life circumstances (See 1Thess 5:18).

Perhaps you have no idea how to thank Him enough for what He has done and thanking Him for 'things' seems a little empty at times. Instead of just thanking Him for what he has done, you can thank Him for who He is! (ie God's attributes). Here is a (very small) list of God's attributes:

The majesty of God: Ps 93:1,2; 1 Chron 29:11-12; Ps 45:3,4,6; Ps 29:3,4
The might of God: Zeph 3:15-17; Eph 1:19,20; 2Cor 10:3-5; Isa 9:6
The steadfastness of God: Deut 31:6,8; Josh 21:43-45; 1Chron 28:20
The love of God: Ps 63:3; 1John 4:18; Romans 8:37-39; John 3:16

Oh HALLELUJAH! Surely the Lord is good and worthy of praise!!!

In fact the bible says to give Him thanks continuously:

"Therefore by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name" - Hebrews 13:15 (NKJV)

I encourage you to start each day, just in those waking moments when you are sort of half asleep and half awake, to thank God for your salvation. Say to Him "Thank you Lord for saving my soul! Thank you Jesus for dying for me on the cross. Thank you for purchasing me! My Lord I give YOU praise FIRST today!"

Give thanks with a greatful heart
Give thanks to the Holy One
Give thanks because He has given Jesus Christ His Son
And now let the weak say: "I am strong"
Let the poor say: "I am rich"
Because of what the Lord has done
Give Thanks.

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