November 14th, 2020

DAY 9 - GRATITUDE IS THE ENTRYWAY

A while back, I found myself in a powerful worship encounter with some of my closest friends. Worship began like normal, but somewhere along the way, we all found ourselves completely lost in the presence of Jesus. Gratitude for him poured out of us like oil before his feet. The more we thanked, adored, and honored him, the more our hearts and minds filled with things to thank and honor Him for. We couldn’t say thank you enough. We couldn’t express our love enough. It was a beautiful exchange of communion and affection. 
At the end, we shared things that were highlighted to us during worship. One friend saw a picture of a door, resembling a gate. In the midst of our utterances of gratitude for Jesus, the door opened and we were all ushered into the presence of our King. What a powerful image!  
“Enter into His gates with thanksgiving,
And into His courts with praise.
Be thankful to Him, and bless His name.”
-Psalm 100:4, NKJV

Over the years, I’ve learned that the more I express gratitude to God in my daily life, the more I enter into a place of true joy-the type that only comes from living in His abiding presence. Psalm 16:11 says that “in his presence there is fullness of joy,” and I believe that gratitude is the glue that keeps us there. 
I want to challenge you today to think of gratitude as the entryway into His gates. As you go before the Lord in your time of worship, know that you have unlimited access to His courts with your praise. May your gratitude for Jesus overflow and increase as you draw near to the Father today! 
“Lift up a great shout of joy to the Lord!
Go ahead and do it—everyone, everywhere!
As you serve him, be glad and worship him.
Sing your way into his presence with joy!
And realize what this really means--
we have the privilege of worshiping the Lord our God.
For he is our Creator and we belong to him.
We are the people of his pleasure.
You can pass through his open gates with the password of praise.
Come right into his presence with thanksgiving.
Come bring your thank offering to him
and affectionately bless his beautiful name!
For the Lord is always good and ready to receive you.
He’s so loving that it will amaze you--
so kind that it will astound you!
And he is famous for his faithfulness toward all.
Everyone knows our God can be trusted,
for he keeps his promises to every generation!”
Psalm 100, TPT

Application: 

1. Set a timer for 5 minutes. Grab a pen & paper, and write out a song of gratitude to the Lord. 
2. Once your timer goes off, set another timer for 5 minutes. Spend the next 5 minutes singing your song to the Lord and blessing His name! 

- Nicki Tindal