Psalm 100 is the song of a thankful heart, a command to worship and serve this God, who made us by entering into His gates with thanksgiving and into His courts with praise. These praises unto God must be sung from our lips and from the depths of our souls. We must praise the Lord in the place recognized by the world as His court and also within the gates of our secret lives. If there is no praise for our God, then surely our song will not be accepted.
Yes, there is a physical entering in, but it only follows when the heart already is there, seeking to please God in every thought and way.
Thanksgiving is a wonderful time for the children of God to recall all the wonderful things God has done. Go back and remember the day God saved you and made you one of the sheep in His pasture, when He called you by name out of darkness and into His marvelous light. Oh yes, be thankful for the turkey, for the home you live in and the many physical things that God has provided, but don’t stop there, for many unbelievers have received these things as well. The goodness and mercy that have followed us all the days of our lives are precious blessings, and the Father delights in hearing us say “thank you” for them.
David said, “For the Lord is good.” Has God been good? Oh yes, He has. The Lord is good and loads us daily with benefits. In Psalm 103, David said, “He forgiveth all thine iniquities, He healeth all thy diseases, He redeemeth thy life from destruction and crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies.”
This is the God we give thanks to today and every day because He not only blesses us on the last Thursday of November, but every day that our eyes open in the morning and our lungs fill with air. Every day is a day to give thanks to this good God.
Maybe you are reading these words and thinking, “I have not given my heart and life to God like that.” Friend, what better day to surrender your heart to the Lord?
Romans 2:4 tells us that the goodness of God leads us to repentance. All these good things are to show you the one who loves you and gave His life for you. He wants us to come before His presence with singing, but first He wants us to come and repent, to express sorrow for the sin in which we have lived.
In Matthew 26, the woman with her alabaster box came and broke it in worship and praise, and the thing that had been precious to her lost all its value in light of the love and forgiveness she found in Jesus Christ. Thanksgiving is indeed “thanks-living” — a new life in which we are thankful unto Him and will bless His name.

Bradeen is pastor of House of Prayer Christian Church and a member of the United Ministerial Alliance.