Imagine if on the news tonight someone was claiming that after years of searching, they had found the “ancient key” that will give them access to heaven. Imagine the hysteria.
Well guess what? We have this key!
Psalm 100:4 tells us in that “we enter His gates with thanksgiving”. Just as you need a key to unlock the front door to your house, thanksgiving is the key that opens the door to God’s presence.
Because of this reality, the devil hates it when we are thankful. He knows that if thanksgiving opens the door to God’s presence, ungratefulness and grumbling is what will lock that door. The enemy would have us criticize, be negative and complain, rather than view all things through the eyes of thanksgiving. No one wants to be like the 2 old guys (Statler & Waldorf) off the Muppet Show, being critical, negative and toxic.
Thanksgiving is used to translate the Hebrew word “yadah” in the Old Testament. Yadah means to acknowledge or to declare publicly. It is also often translated as “praise.”
Vine’s Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words calls thanksgiving “the expression of joy Godward,” and reckons it to be a fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5.22).
Here are a few things that having a heart of thanksgiving does:
1) Thanksgiving leads us into the presence of God (Psalm 95.2, Psalm 100.4)
2) Thanksgiving magnifies God instead of our problems. (Psalm 69.30).
3) Thanksgiving makes God famous. (Psalm 105.1).
4) Thanksgiving prepares the way for answered prayer. (John 11:33-41.)
5) Thanksgiving paves the way for blessing in our lives and the lives of others. (John 6.1-13).
6) Thanksgiving prepares the way for the peace of God. (Philippians 4.6,7).
7) Thanksgiving makes you happier. (Isaiah 61:3).
We have alot to be thankful for. God has done some incredible things this year. I encourage you to finish 2011 and start 2012 with a renewed passion for thanksgiving. Remember it is the key, to unlocking God’s presence in your life.
Much love,
Benaiah
