"The Lifestyle of Thanksgiving"

Scripture: "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; his faithfulness continues through all generations." -Psalms 100:4-5, NIV

As we enter into this Thanksgiving holiday on Thursday, this was one of the few times where people come together and talk about what they are thankful for. People will mention that they are thankful for their jobs, cars, family, friends, homes, bank accounts, and other things. Being thankful for those things are find and good, but why wait until Thanksgiving to say that you are thankful? Every day is a day of thanksgiving, so it should not be just one day for Thanksgiving, Thanksgiving should be EVERYDAY! In the mists of being thankful for family, cars, jobs, and other things, we, as believers, have learned to be thankful for a God who loves us and cares for us, thankful for our life, health, and strength, thankful that we can worship Him in spirit and in truth, thankful that we can provide for our families and bless others through the abilities God gave us, and other things. Since we are thankful for these things, we ought to portray this thankfulness everywhere we go and every time we can. Today's text provides further clarity on why Thanksgiving should be a lifestyle and not just one day out of 365 days.

Psalms serves as the book of focus on today. As most of us know, Psalms is the longest book not only in the Old Testament, but in the entire Bible. Psalms is divided into 5 books and today's main scripture is located within the third book of the five. Psalms 100 is considered a psalm for giving thanks unto God. If truth were told, we ought to give God praise! We ought to worship Him! We ought to do these things without being stirred or provoked by a deacon or preacher! Many of us get off in praising God because we were stirred to do so! If we think about the goodness of Jesus and all that He has done for us, our souls ought to cry Hallelujah, and thank God for saving us! God wants His people to thank Him and praise Him because He's deserving and worthy!

The writer begins today's main scripture by saying, "Enter His gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise". As I fore stated in the previous paragraph, many of us come into the church house waiting to be stirred or provoked by something the preacher/deacon/trustee or whomever said to get our praise on. But the text tells us otherwise. It tells us that we ought to enter into His gates with thanksgiving and enter His courts with praise. In other words, we should come with thanksgiving and praise as the main agenda of our worship experience! We ought to come thanking and praising God for the little things as well as the big things!

The text continues with saying that not only should we enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise, we are to "give thanks to Him and praise His name". King James says "Give thanks unto Him and bless His name". In the mists of coming into His gates with Thanksgiving and into His courts with praise, Thank Him and bless His name! Exalt His name! Worship His name! Give Him a Shabach praise! Give Him a grateful praise! Bless His Holy name! Bless His name for being so good to you! Bless His name for sparing the lives of your children! Bless His name for sparing your life! Bless His name for sparing your job! Bless His name for being able to drive! Just bless His name!

Brother Writer, why should we make thanksgiving a lifestyle? This final piece of scripture should clarify the house and your mind with a bonafied answer. The text concludes by saying, "For the LORD is good and His love (King James says mercy) endures forever; His faithfulness continues (King James says endures) through all generations." Ladies and gentlemen, when you think about God, what He has done in your life is good! How He has protected your life is good! How He loves us beyond measure is good! How He cares about you when you don't care about yourself is good! Even if none of these things popped off in your life, God is still GOOD! Not only is He good, but His mercy endures forever. Think about the time where you should've been fired, it was God's mercy! Think about the time where a disease should've killed you, it was God's mercy! Think about when you should be by yourself and not married, it was God's mercy! Think about how the words of people should have stopped your praise, it was God's mercy! Because of God's mercy, you are here! Because of God's mercy, you ought to make thanksgiving a lifestyle! Just in case that was not good enough, God's faithfulness endures through all generations. When you live life long enough and you get to see generations on top of generations, you ought to be reminded and thank God that though you may not see all of your family's generations, that God will be there for them! His faithfulness will be there for them! He will cover them and love them just like He is doing for you and has done for your parents, grandparents, and those before you!

In closing, be sure to give God praise and thanksgiving everyday and make it a lifestyle, not just on Thanksgiving Day! Though I know practically all of us do it, I encourage you, my brother, and you, my sister, to encourage someone else to make Thanksgiving a lifestyle! Aren't you glad about God's mercy? Aren't you glad that His faithfulness endures through all generations? Aren't you glad that you can give Him thanks and praise? If you are glad about all of these things, before your day ends, take time and give Him a praise!