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@ PastorGary
2024-10-10 02:53:17Welcome to Refinery Life Australia.
“Amen and Amen” has been the theme for the last few Sundays.
This series is a study from the Psalms, in which the psalmist gives voice to prayers that resound in our hearts today.
Today we are discussing, A Prayer of Praise and Thanksgiving.
Our Primary Text Today Is
Psalm 100:4 NKJV
4 Enter into His gates with thanksgiving,\ And into His courts with praise.\ Be thankful to Him, and bless His name.
We will also work our way through
Psalm 100 NKJV
A Song of Praise for the Lord’s Faithfulness to His People.
A Psalm of Thanksgiving.
1 Make a joyful shout to the Lord, all you lands!
2 Serve the Lord with gladness;\ Come before His presence with singing.
3 Know that the Lord, He is God;\ It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves;\ We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.
4 Enter into His gates with thanksgiving,\ And into His courts with praise.\ Be thankful to Him, and bless His name.
5 For the Lord is good;\ His mercy is everlasting,\ And His truth endures to all generations.
Introduction.
Prayer is first of all an approach to God and not the presentation of a celestial shopping list.
We come first to give rather than to take, offer rather than to request.
The psalmist described the priority of prayer, “Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, And into His courts with praise.\ Be thankful to Him, and bless His name.”
In prayer we should approach the loving Father with our praise and thanksgiving.
This is the picture true worship found in Relation 4:9-11 NKJV
The four living creatures praise the Lord and give “glory and honour and thanks to Him who sits on the throne, who lives forever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall down before Him who sits on the throne and worship Him who lives forever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying:
“You are worthy, O Lord,\ To receive glory and honor and power;\ For You created all things,\ And by Your will they exist and were created.”
- Praise and thanksgiving acknowledge the nature of God.
To pray with praise and thanksgiving is to acknowledge God’s holiness and majesty.
Remember He is the Lord, Psalm 100: 3 says, “Know that the Lord, He is God;\ It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves;\ We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.”
In prayer we affirm our dependence on the Lord.
We adore Him and express our reverent praise for His steadfast love and faithfulness.
Jesus taught us to approach the Father with praise and adoration.
Matthew 6:9 NKJV In this manner, therefore, pray:
Our Father in heaven,\ Hallowed be Your name.
To hallow the Lord’s name means to regard Him as holy and seperate and to respond with awe and reverence.
Thus we are to enter in with praise and thanksgiving.
2. Praise is an action of the will.
A problem in our prayer life is the vacillation of our emotions.
Sometimes we do not feel like praying.
If we let our emotions determine our prayer life, we will certainly fail.
With the will, we must decide to pray.
Emotion frequently limits the meaning of prayer, but we can still will to praise and thank God.
Paul instructed in, 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18, Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
God does not tell us to always feel grateful.
He does, however, command us to give thanks always.
Even when we do not feel emotionally grateful, we can still choose to give thanks and praise to God.
Psalm 34:1, I will bless the Lord at all times;\ His praise shall continually be in my mouth.
Psalm 43 reflects the depressed emotions of one caught in difficult circumstances.
Yet, with a decision of the will, he determines to praise God.
Our feelings do not alter the Lord’s loving presence and powerful nature.
3. Some encouragements for praise and thanksgiving.
The will is prompted to praise by various encouragements.
Recollection of God’s nature, His creative power, His personal presence, His steadfast love, and His abundant mercy, will bring praise to our lips.
The memory of blessings encourages praise.
Count your blessings and name them one by one is good advice for praise.
Ten lepers met Jesus and sought healing of their disease, they were all cleansed, but only one came back to offer thanks.
Luke 17:11-19, Ten Lepers Cleansed
11 Now it happened as He went to Jerusalem that He passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee.
12 Then as He entered a certain village, there met Him ten men who were lepers, who stood afar off.
13 And they lifted up their voices and said, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!”
14 So when He saw them, He said to them, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” And so it was that as they went, they were cleansed.
15 And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, returned, and with a loud voice glorified God,
16 and fell down on his face at His feet, giving Him thanks. And he was a Samaritan.
17 So Jesus answered and said, “Were there not ten cleansed? But where are the nine?
18 Were there not any found who returned to give glory to God except this foreigner?”
19 And He said to him, “Arise, go your way. Your faith has made you well.”
This one leper then received full communion with the Lord through faith.
Failure to offer thanks can clog the channel of blessings.
Count your blessings and praise the Lord.
Praise is encouraged through the use of God’s Word.
Meditate on Scripture.
The words will become your own expression of praise and thanks.
Put yourself in the place of the author, feel his experiences of deliverance, joy, and spiritual blessings.
Praise and thanksgiving will erupt.
The psalmist used joyful songs to praise and thank the Lord.
Christ placed a new song in the heart of the redeemed.
With music we, too, can praise God from whom all blessings flow.
Conclusion.
Entering into prayer with praise and thanksgiving brings the results we pray for.
Until next time
Stay in the Blessings
I really want to encourage you to be diligent with your Bible study time, because God has so much more for us than we can get from just going to church once or twice a week and hearing someone else talk about the Word.
When you spend time with God, your life will change in amazing ways, because God is a Redeemer.
Theres nothing thats too hard for Him, and He can make you whole, spirit, soul and body!
You’re important to God, and you’re important to us at The Refinery.
When it comes to prayer, we believe that God wants to meet your needs and reveal His promises to you.
So whatever you’re concerned about and need prayer for we want to be here for you! Or even if you just want to say Hi, you can contact us at www.refinerylife.org
2024 IS A YEAR OF DECISIONS AND OPEN DOORS
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