BELIEVERS' ANTHEM

We just celebrated THANKSGIVNG DAY here in the United States. It's a wonderful time to gather with family and friends to fellowship, to enjoy each other, share a meal and focus on our abundant blessings from God! A lot of us have gotten in the habit of calling it "Turkey Day," but it should be so much more than just that turkey at the dinner table.

For the faithful followers of Jesus, THANKSGIVING is much more than a Day; it is a life-style! I contend that the "life-style of Thanksgiving" for Jesus' followers is really their Anthem of Praise! Since praise to God is the essence of worship, it is vital that our worship to Him is praise filled!

The Psalmist expressed the Believers' Praise Anthem, in many of his Psalms in the Scripture. Let's look at this one. It's a Psalm for Thanksgiving! "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, and bless His name. For the LORD is good; His lovingkindness is everlasting and His faithfulness to all genera-tions" (Psalm 100:1-5). According to this Psalm of Praise, we are blessed to see that Thanksgiving IS A RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD! It speaks of:

1) The unspeakable privilege of Knowing God! - vs. 3 "Know that the LORD Himself is God!" He is the "self-revealing" God! He has shown us WHO and WHAT HE IS through Scripture and through His Son, Jesus!

2) The awesomeness of Knowing Our Position In Christ! - vs. 3 "It is He that has made us. . . We are His people. . .", only through the blood sacrifice of Jesus on the cross!

3) The honor we have of Serving God With All Our Heart - vs. 2 "Serve the LORD with gladness." This is our every day Job Description!

4) The utter delight of Expressing Our Worship, Praise and Gratitude to God! - vv. 1, 2 & 4 "Shout joyfully to the LORD. . .Come before Him with joyful singing. . .Enter His gates with thanksgiving And His courts with praise. Give thanks to Him and bless His name." The key word there is JOYFUL! Are You?

5) Our Affirmation and Declaration of the Attributes Of God! - vs. 5 "For the LORD is GOOD; His LOVINGKINDNESS and FAITHFULNESS is everlasting to all generations." Let's be looking for and talking with others about the evidences of His attributes!

What a Psalm, What Truth, What Power in these words in Psalm 100; What an Anthem for true followers of Jesus! We have a definite reason and purpose to honor God!

First, WE PRAISE GOD FOR HIS GRACE! In the mind of the Hebrew Psalmist, God is the God of love, mercy and grace! "The LORD is Compassionate and Gracious, Slow to anger and Abounding in Lovingkindness. He has not dealt with us according to our sins, Nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. . ." (Psalm 103:8 and 10). Thus we worship and adore Him with thanksgiving and joyful expressions.

Second, WE PRAISE GOD FOR HIS GUIDANCE! He is our LORD, Our God and Our Shepherd (vs. 3). As sheep are led by their shepherd, we too, are led and guided by Christ in our daily lives! Jesus said, "I am the good shepherd" (John 10:11). Jesus said He is the door to the sheepfold and "the sheep hear His voice, and He calls His own sheep by name and HE LEADS them out. . ." (John 10:3-4). His sheep "will go in and out and find pasture" which the shepherd leads them to. God guides us in the midst of difficulties. "God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. . .The LORD of hosts is with us. . . ." (Psalm 46:1 and 11). God promises to guide us in all the decisions we are called upon to make every day of our lives. "I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will guide you with my eye" (Psalm 32:8). My Boston Terrier dog, Tex, is prone to watch my eyes attentively and by doing so, he knows where I am wanting him to go. I must keep watching the eyes of my Master, Jesus, since He guides me with His eye!

Third, WE PRAISE GOD FOR HIS GOODNESS! "For the LORD is good. . ." (vs. 5). I'm afraid satan tempts us to doubt the goodness of God so very often; it is one of the enemy's big plays in the play-book he uses to strategize our defeat. It is so important to realize that satan is successful operating this strategy against our faith, spiritual well-being and our general attitude toward God when we focus on our circumstances, misunderstandings, pain and discomfort, instead of focusing on God's goodness. We should read, affirm and meditate on Psalm 100:5 every single day to ward off the fiery darts of our enemy, the Devil, in his attempts to defeat us! The truth from Scripture is that God's goodness prevails over and within us in times of success, in times of personal storms, in times of sorrow, and in times of stress or adversity! You can count on it, because God's Word declares it to be the truth, and our experience affirms it!

This life is not perfect and never will be! It includes all those successes, storms, sorrows, cares, grief and times of stress. Let's choose not to complain, or be discouraged or dismayed! Let's choose to never give up, give in or give out! Rather, let's choose to be persistent in taking opportunity to Praise and Thank God for His GRACE, GUIDANCE and GOODNESS in our lives! REMEMBER, IT IS THE BELIEVERS' PRAISE ANTHEM!