Thinking back to one of our verses on prayer...Hebrews 4:16, "Therefore, let us approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us at the proper time."
When I read this week's verse, it made me think of approaching God's throne, coming through His gates and into His courts. Even though we don't live in Jerusalem and go to a physical temple, we enter God's temple whenever we approach His throne through the gift of prayer.
So how often do we enter His gates with thanksgiving and go into His courts singing His praise? More often than not, I approach His throne with my list of things that I need God to fix in my life, or a list of others for whom I am seeking His blessings. Those are things that we are supposed to bring before God, and that He wants us to, but I think our entry should probably be different...I think our entry should be a little less "me" focused and a lot more "God" focused.
"Enter His gates with thanksgiving...." thanking Him for every good and perfect gift that He has given us. All of the tangible things that we enjoy, our friends and our families, but also those gifts that we have dwelt on a bit...the gift of Scripture, the gift of prayer, the gift of His assurances...the ultimate gift of our salvation through Jesus Christ our Savior.
"His courts with praise..." praising Him for all that He is...all powerful, all knowing, the absolute existence of perfect love. He is our Creator and our Savior. He is the Alpha and the Omega, who was and is and is to come!
Just as we, as parents, don't want the first words out of our children's mouths to be "Get me this..." or, "Do this for me...", but would rather have some sign of gratefulness from them, words of affection and acknowledgement of who we are in their lives, I think God appreciates the same.
I think I usually wrap my prayer time up pretty well...but I may just need to do some work on my entry!
When I read this week's verse, it made me think of approaching God's throne, coming through His gates and into His courts. Even though we don't live in Jerusalem and go to a physical temple, we enter God's temple whenever we approach His throne through the gift of prayer.
So how often do we enter His gates with thanksgiving and go into His courts singing His praise? More often than not, I approach His throne with my list of things that I need God to fix in my life, or a list of others for whom I am seeking His blessings. Those are things that we are supposed to bring before God, and that He wants us to, but I think our entry should probably be different...I think our entry should be a little less "me" focused and a lot more "God" focused.
"Enter His gates with thanksgiving...." thanking Him for every good and perfect gift that He has given us. All of the tangible things that we enjoy, our friends and our families, but also those gifts that we have dwelt on a bit...the gift of Scripture, the gift of prayer, the gift of His assurances...the ultimate gift of our salvation through Jesus Christ our Savior.
"His courts with praise..." praising Him for all that He is...all powerful, all knowing, the absolute existence of perfect love. He is our Creator and our Savior. He is the Alpha and the Omega, who was and is and is to come!
Just as we, as parents, don't want the first words out of our children's mouths to be "Get me this..." or, "Do this for me...", but would rather have some sign of gratefulness from them, words of affection and acknowledgement of who we are in their lives, I think God appreciates the same.
I think I usually wrap my prayer time up pretty well...but I may just need to do some work on my entry!
1 comment:
Thanksgiving and Praise let's God know that we know He is working and is present in our lives. We reassure Him of our love and He assures us with eternal life. We give Him thanks for His Blessings. When we are thankful, we are acknowledging what Christ has done for us. I always ask for forgiveness when I approach God, and I most often close with words of thanksgiving. We need God so much to support us and love us as we face each day. Praise His Name - the most powerful name. Enter His presence with bold words of thanksgiving and praise. He will give to us our needs.
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