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Enter His gates with thanksgiving, and His courts with praise! Give thanks to Him; bless His name! (Psalm 100:4 ESV)

As Christians, we are called to believe the unbelievable, recognize God as not a distant deity, but rather as one who invites us into close relationship with Him, and experience His presence with full invitation and expectation. We are called to think big and be big for Jesus. While this is good, perhaps sometimes we also forget the “simple” traditions we were taught when we were younger—we can forget prayer and thanksgiving. What a word, thanksgiving. We celebrate it every year, and on that certain day we all reflect on what we are truly thankful for. And yet, while this is a good tradition, why do we only seem to push into thanksgiving once a year?

Since we are God’s children, we are given full access into the kingdom of God, and experiencing His presence which offers us revival. However, often times we may find ourselves wondering, if I have full access to experiencing Jesus, why haven’t I experienced Him recently? We are desperately looking for the keys to unlock the gates of heaven and holy encounters.
God has given us the keys to His kingdom through His Word! And one “key” is thanksgiving. Thanksgiving not just on one day of the year, but a continuous grateful and thankful heart posture to God everyday! God is calling us to Him, and we can see this because He GIVES us the key to opening up the floodgates of heaven. The question, instead of being, Jesus, how do I get into your presence? Should be, Jesus, am I willing to USE the key You’ve given me to unlock heaven?

GY