Thanksgiving Day is just around the corner. What a golden opportunity to show our love and thankfulness to God for all His spiritual and material blessings. Let it be a “thank you God day” rather than an “asking day.”
Some see Thanksgiving Day as a day for family gatherings, turkey, pie and football. Ok, it may well be that none of the above mentioned activities appeal to you. Maybe you would rather have a rib-eye steak, pudding, and no football. However you spend the day, I pray that you rise up early, not just on this special national holiday, but every day, to call upon God to assist you and every other Disciple of Christ to become points of light beckoning others to turn and obey. Yes, call upon God to “revive us again”. Ask Him to help His blood bought church see the need to return to a bolder spiritual vision.
Hear the psalmist, “Will You not revive us again, that Your people may rejoice in You” (Psalm 85:6)? Why a revival? It seems the church and the nation have lost their way. So, as we pause to ask God to “revive us again” and bless His church, let us also pray for the spiritual health of our nation. Maybe, this Thanksgiving Day will be the catalyst for a return to a time when we were a thankful, grateful nation. Maybe, just maybe, some will find again that seeking and obeying God is eternally essential.
The Psalmist’s love for God prompted him to “Shout joyfully to the LORD, all the earth. Serve the LORD with gladness; Come before Him with joyful singing. Know that the LORD Himself is God; It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves; We are His people and the sheep of His pasture. Enter His gates with thanksgiving, and His courts with praise. Give thanks to Him; bless His name. For the LORD is good; His loving kindness is everlasting, and His faithfulness to all generations” (Psalm 100:1-5). As disciples of Christ, we enter God’s gates with thankful, obedient hearts, because this is the only faithful response to His faithfulness, love, and mercy. We enter His gates with a thankful attitude, because no other response is fitting. Especially, since He cares for us, and “…leads us to green pastures, beside still waters, and He restores our souls, and leads us in pathways of righteousness” (Psalm 23).
Yes, we enter His gates to renew our love and longing to see God and the fairest Lord Jesus. We also enter accepting the fact that our fondest desire must be to share Jesus with loved ones, friends and the lost. Only then will we understand true happiness—for true happiness can only be found in serving others.
Happy Thanksgiving!