“Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, and bless His name” (Ps. 100:4, NKJV).
Giving thanks is good for us. Very good for us. It brings us right through His gates, into His courts. It takes our eyes off of adversity and focuses them on Jesus. Thanksgiving helps us see Him. It helps us absorb who He is. It helps us take into the depths of our being all His glorious goodness, all His power, all His infinite depths of love. It aids us in our quest to inhabit our place sitting with Him in heavenly realms, far above all the battles taking place down below.
Psalm 95 reiterates this connection for us: “Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving” (v. 2a). Thanksgiving sensitizes our hearts to the manifest presence of God. Towards the end of this psalm, Holy Spirit draws the contrast between the thankful heart and the hard heart. The hardened, unwilling heart will not enter His rest (v. 11). The thankful, worshipful heart will. Thanksgiving brings our heart into His rest.
In the book of Philippians, Holy Spirit also points out to us the vital connection between thanksgiving and supernatural peace: “…with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus” (4:6b-7).
As we purposefully unglue our eyes from our circumstances, and set them on His beauty, we begin to stir up our spirits with the giving of thanks. We praise Him for His faithfulness. The truth of His unfailing, beautiful, steadfast character and goodness begins to flood into our souls. The power of His shalom sets up a hedge of protection around our thoughts and emotions. Suddenly, our circumstances don’t seem quite as overwhelming as they did before. Peace begins to rule our inner space.
Yes, giving thanks is very, very good for us.
This Thanksgiving, let’s be intentional about setting aside some time to tell Daddy how grateful we are to Him, from deep, deep in our hearts. Let’s be thankful to Him, and bless His name!
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What would you like to thank Daddy for today?
Feeding On Jesus 
O Jenn, we don’t have room enough to list everything we ought to be thanking Daddy God for every day!
I will gladly thank Him for once again showing the unity of Holy Spirit through believers. You wrote that we should not allow our circumstances (especially negative ones) have any bearing on our hearts of thanksgiving. I mentioned this very same thought in closing of my sermon this past Sunday!
I am also thankful that I was led to preach on the the ten lepers that Jesus healed, with only one coming back to thank Him. I used this to point out that all of us should follow the example of turning to give thanks to the Lord.
Blessings to you, my Friend,
Chuck
PS: I am thankful for you and your husband’s ministry!
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I’m still working in catching up on my blog comments! Smiling with contentment at this one too, and at Holy Spirit’s magnificent coordination of details. And I am so very, very thankful for you and Betsy too!
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Giving thanks may not change our circumstances, but it always changes our heart, because we are focused on Him!
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Absolutely right, my dear sister! Thanksgiving really makes all the difference in redirecting our focus. Thank you so much for pointing out that important truth! (The late reply is because I was on vacation — had preprogrammed the devos that came out during that time on my site. I hope you had a beautiful Thanksgiving!)
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God bless you for sharing. Indeed we need to set some time aside to specially thank God and it will surprise us what the Lord has done.
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Yes, that is so true, Bro George! When we take the time to review His faithfulness, it is surprisingly amazing! (The late reply is because I was on vacation — had preprogrammed the devos that came out during that time on my site. I hope you had a beautiful Thanksgiving!)
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How true. Thank you and let’s all thank God for His Presence with us while so many in our world without HIM, are ‘reeling’.
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I really like and appreciate that thought, Faye. The intense, intense nature of this year highlights all the more all we have to be inexpressibly grateful for as believers, that the lost have not yet discovered!
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Happy Thanksgiving Jennifer! When we view things from God’s perspective we are more thankful and life takes on a different meaning. I enjoyed reading this. ❤️
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I’m so glad you enjoyed it, Dawn! Much love to you!
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Amen. God is blessing me so much with that truth in Philippians 4 :6-7. His Peace guards our hearts and minds!
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Thank You Father, for this unfailing promise that makes our lives so much better!
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Happy Thanksgiving to you and your loved ones.
“Although Thanksgiving comes but once a year, every day should be a day of Thanks. Among all the challenges that we face as people with hearing loss there are certainly brighter moments in every day – moments that deserve to be recorded in our Gratitude Journal.”
– Monique Hammond
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Aw that blesses me, thank you so much for sharing it, Kally! This woman is truly an example. No matter what our loss, choosing thanksgiving and gratitude will make all the difference! So grateful you added this rich comment here. Bless you! (Slow in my reply because I was on vacation!)
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Awesome post…really gets to the heart of the matter! Thank you!
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Thank you, sweet Linda! ❤ 🙂 Amen!
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