{"id":1827,"date":"2024-11-11T15:05:13","date_gmt":"2024-11-11T15:05:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/drkenrpruitt.com\/KP2\/KP2\/?p=1827"},"modified":"2023-11-16T16:28:03","modified_gmt":"2023-11-16T16:28:03","slug":"november-12-thanks-and-praise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/drkenrpruitt.com\/KP2\/november-12-thanks-and-praise\/","title":{"rendered":"November 12, Thanks and Praise!"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t<div data-elementor-type=\"wp-post\" data-elementor-id=\"1827\" class=\"elementor elementor-1827\" data-elementor-post-type=\"post\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-692aea75 elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"692aea75\" data-element_type=\"section\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-7b8349c6\" data-id=\"7b8349c6\" data-element_type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-4f2272e4 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"4f2272e4\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large is-resized is-style-default\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/drkenrpruitt.com\/KP2\/KP2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/hands-lifted-in-praise-.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1828\" width=\"335\" height=\"224\" srcset=\"https:\/\/drkenrpruitt.com\/KP2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/hands-lifted-in-praise-.jpeg 800w, https:\/\/drkenrpruitt.com\/KP2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/hands-lifted-in-praise--300x200.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/drkenrpruitt.com\/KP2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/hands-lifted-in-praise--768x513.jpeg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 335px) 100vw, 335px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Give thanks to the Lord for He is good, for His loving kindness is everlasting.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Psalm 136:1<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Give thanks to the Lord and call upon His name; make known His deeds among the people<\/strong>&nbsp;(Psalm 105:1).&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<strong>Thankfulness strengthens praise.&nbsp;<\/strong>&nbsp;May the soul become stirred to praise God in the sanctuary (calling on His name) and among the nations (make known His deeds).&nbsp;&nbsp;And, the motivation for this declaration of praise is the giving of thanks unto the Lord.&nbsp;&nbsp;Nothing motivates the genuineness of worship like the truly grateful heart.&nbsp;&nbsp;So, be thankful.&nbsp;&nbsp;And from your heart declare the praises of God.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Be steadfast in prayer, being watchful with thanksgiving&nbsp;<\/strong>(Colossians 4:2).&nbsp;&nbsp;<strong>Thankfulness strengthens prayer.&nbsp;<\/strong>&nbsp;In every opportunity, pray.&nbsp;&nbsp;Consider all Christian duties, as referenced in prior verses of the Colossian letter, to be nurtured and strengthened by continued prayer.&nbsp;&nbsp;And watch with carefulness that your mind may be in the proper spirit of prayer, which can only come about with thanksgiving.&nbsp;&nbsp;Be ceaseless in prayer and fervently thankful in heart so that your prayers become a blessed offering before God.&nbsp;&nbsp;With every petition offered to God in prayer, may there be many more voiced declarations of thanksgiving and praise unto our gracious Heavenly Father.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the father through Him&nbsp;<\/strong>(Colossians 3:17).&nbsp;<strong>&nbsp;Thankfulness strengthens obedience.<\/strong>&nbsp;&nbsp;The Apostle Paul wrote to the church in Colossae an exhortation of right conduct and proper speech as fitting for the follower of Jesus.&nbsp;&nbsp;He listed particulars for practical application into the lives of the Colossian Christians, but also safeguarded against any potentially missed topic by adding, \u201cdo everything,\u201d which expresses, \u201cwhatever you do\u201d.&nbsp;&nbsp;And with each and every act of obedience in the name of Jesus (meaning, for His glory), the encouragement is to do so in a spirit of thankfulness.&nbsp;&nbsp;So, whatever you do as an act of obedience to God and His calling on your life, do so with thankfulness.&nbsp;&nbsp;For such is the genuineness of our motivation to serve Him.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Enter His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise&nbsp;<\/strong>(Psalm 100:4).&nbsp;<strong>Thankfulness strengthens the witness of the church.&nbsp;<\/strong>This familiar exhortation among the saints recognizes the expression of worship.&nbsp;&nbsp;The \u201ccourts\u201d were literally the open spaces surrounding the temple. And it was in these spaces that worship was celebrated.&nbsp;&nbsp;The obvious witness of the temple life was indeed that of thankful worshippers.&nbsp;&nbsp;What an amazing testimony to be applied to the witness of the church: thankful worshippers gathering before their God in the name of Jesus.&nbsp;&nbsp;May this forever be the witness of the church: gathered to be thankful.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Martin Luther observed of a thankful person,&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>\u201cTo thank with all your heart is an art&#8211;an art which the Holy Spirit teaches. And you need not worry that the man who can really say &#8220;Deo gratias&#8221; (to God be thanks) with all his heart will be proud, stubborn, rough, and tough, or will work against God with His gifts.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Genuine thankfulness keeps the soul centered on God and His goodness.<\/strong>&nbsp;&nbsp;And such a fixed perspective strengthens one\u2019s praise, prayer, and acts of Christian obedience. And, such a perspective becomes the demonstrative witness of the church.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Isn\u2019t it time we make thankfulness to God in the name of Christ the first thought of each day?&nbsp;&nbsp;This promises to bring change in ways one could scarcely imagine.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Blessings.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Give thanks to the Lord for He is good, for His loving kindness is everlasting.&nbsp;&nbsp; Psalm 136:1 Give thanks to the Lord and call upon His name; make known His deeds among the people&nbsp;(Psalm 105:1).&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Thankfulness strengthens praise.&nbsp;&nbsp;May the soul become stirred to praise God in the sanctuary (calling on His name) and among the nations &hellip;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"> <a class=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/drkenrpruitt.com\/KP2\/november-12-thanks-and-praise\/\"> <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">November 12, Thanks and Praise!<\/span> Read More &raquo;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":1828,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"default","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1827","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-todays"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/drkenrpruitt.com\/KP2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1827","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/drkenrpruitt.com\/KP2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/drkenrpruitt.com\/KP2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drkenrpruitt.com\/KP2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drkenrpruitt.com\/KP2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1827"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/drkenrpruitt.com\/KP2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1827\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3178,"href":"https:\/\/drkenrpruitt.com\/KP2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1827\/revisions\/3178"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drkenrpruitt.com\/KP2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1828"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/drkenrpruitt.com\/KP2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1827"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drkenrpruitt.com\/KP2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1827"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drkenrpruitt.com\/KP2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1827"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}