The Season Of Thanksgiving
by PJ
It is the season of thanksgiving! It is the season of praise! T'hillim/Psalm 147:1 AMP says, "Praise the LORD! For it is good to sing praise to our God; For it is pleasant, and praise is beautiful.
I am a person of great praise. I praise G-d sometimes for hours in a day and sometimes days in a week and sometimes it goes on for several days without sleep. My congregation can verify this. They've seen me start praising G-d and go literally until my physical body can go no longer. Why? Because it is the place I am totally fulfilled. Yeshua/Jesus is there!
I decided long ago that being in the Presence of the Almighty G-d is highly addictive. There's nothing that compares to it. If you have never experienced it, praise is the way to get there.
I was asked a question a few years ago that, at first glance, came across very irreverent. However, it was a sincere question that made me study and meditate until I found the answer. "Why does G-d demand praise? Isn't that manipulative and controlling?" G-d loves people who honestly and sincerely ask questions like this. At least this person was trying to understand the value of praise.
Praise is the catalyst for several events. As humans, the things we desire are results of these events, but we must do something to set the process into motion. A basic example would be a light. To get light takes several things. An electric current. An open switch to allow the electric current to flow. A lightbulb. Praise is the switch that turns the flow of several things of G-d off and on. Let's look at those things.
T'hillim/Psalm 100:4 (AMP) says, Enter into His gates with thanksgiving and a thank offering and into His courts with praise! Be thankful and say so to Him, bless and affectionately praise His name! When we praise G-d, we are in His Presence. Now let me ask you a question. If you are in your Dad's presence and you need something, do you think he's going to give it to you if it's good for you and within his power to do so? Then why would you think less of your Heavenly Father? When you are in His Presence, He's going to give you every single thing you need. But to get into His presence requires something from you. Praise.
P'yilut Hashaliachim/Acts 16:25-31 (AMP) says, 25But about midnight, as Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns of praise to God, and the [other] prisoners were listening to them, 26Suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the very foundations of the prison were shaken; and at once all the doors were opened and everyone's shackles were unfastened. 27When the jailer, startled out of his sleep, saw that the prison doors were open, he drew his sword and was on the point of killing himself, because he supposed that the prisoners had escaped. 28But Paul shouted, Do not harm yourself, for we are all here! 29Then [the jailer] called for lights and rushed in, and trembling and terrified he fell down before Paul and Silas. 30And he brought them out [of the dungeon] and said, Men, what is it necessary for me to do that I may be saved? 31And they answered, Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ [give yourself up to Him, take yourself out of your own keeping and entrust yourself into His keeping] and you will be saved, [and this applies both to] you and your household as well. When we praise G-d, His power comes. When the power of G-d arrives it saves, heals and delivers us from whatever problem we've encountered. This alone is worth praising G-d.
Malachim Aleph/1 Kings 8:10-11 (AMP) says, 10When the priests had come out of the Holy Place, the cloud filled the Lord's house, 11So the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord had filled the Lord's house. When we praise G-d, His glory arrives.
I want to focus a little on the glory of G-d today. The Hebrew word for "glory" is Kabod. It means "weight." It is the substance of a person or thing. According to Mashiakim Yehudim/Hebrews 11:1 1Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. We've got some invisible substances here so let's find out a little more.
The majority of the known universe is made up of unknown substances that scientists call “dark matter” and “dark energy”. They call it dark because they can't see it or detect it with any scientific instruments but they know it is there, and it has mass, because they can see the effects of it. It is interesting that this invisible substance in the universe makes up most of the mass (weight) in the universe. It holds celestial bodies of the universe in place and it also causes the motion of stars, planets, and galaxies.
Yeshua/Jesus is called the brightness of G-d’s glory. 3He is the sole expression of the glory of God [the Light-being, the out-raying or radiance of the divine], and He is the perfect imprint and very image of [God's] nature, upholding and maintaining and guiding and propelling the universe by His mighty word of power. When He had by offering Himself accomplished our cleansing of sins and riddance of guilt, He sat down at the right hand of the divine Majesty on high,
The word "upholding" means to carry or move and it is Yeshua/Jesus that holds together and moves all things in the universe. Colossians 1:17 (AMP) says, 17And He Himself existed before all things, and in Him all things consist (cohere, are held together).
The unknown substance that holds the universe together is the brightness of G-d’s glory. Man’s natural tendency is to label the unknown and the supernatural as “dark”. When Yeshua/Jesus walked the earth many people thought that His power to heal people, and the signs and wonders He did, were accomplished by ha'satan's/satan’s power. It is still true today, as G-d’s glory is being revealed in the earth through His servants, many people are fearful of it. People are being healed, set free, and demons are being cast out; signs and wonders of G-d’s love are happening. However, many are quick to judge that these miracles are the power of evil, not manifestations of G-d’s love.
It is G-d Who positions us in Moshiach/Christ as His children. This is the place where G-d's glory is revealed and received, the place we receive manifestions and revelations of the Father's love and power. When we look to Yeshua/Jesus, the knowledge of the glory of G-d is revealed. Yeshua/Jesus promised that He would continue the works He did on Earth, and even greater works, through those who believe in Him. Yochanan/John 14:12-13 (AMP) says, 12I assure you, most solemnly I tell you, if anyone steadfastly believes in Me, he will himself be able to do the things that I do; and he will do even greater things than these, because I go to the Father. 13And I will do [I Myself will grant] whatever you ask in My Name [as presenting all that I AM], so that the Father may be glorified and extolled in (through) the Son.
How do we present all that HE IS? By understanding that the Name, Yeshua/Jesus, is the same as speaking every Word from B'resheet/Genesis 1:1 through Hagilu Natan Elohim/Revelation 22:21 at the same time. How do we know this is true? Yochanan/John 1:1-5 says, 1IN THE beginning [before all time] was the Word (Christ), and the Word was with God, and the Word was God Himself. 2He was present originally with God. 3All things were made and came into existence through Him; and without Him was not even one thing made that has come into being. 4In Him was Life, and the Life was the Light of men. 5And the Light shines on in the darkness, for the darkness has never overpowered it [put it out or absorbed it or appropriated it, and is unreceptive to it].
It's amazing when you consider how much power the Name, Yeshua/Jesus, contains. Every single written Word in the Bible is spoken at one time when we use that Name. And Yeshua/Jesus promised in Yochanan/John 14 that He will grant whatever we ask in His Name as presenting all that He is! If we stay focused on Yeshua/Jesus and His commands and move with compassion, we will manifest and reveal the glory of G-d on the Earth so that G-d will be glorified.
Malachim Bet/2 Kings 3:15-16 (AMP) says, 15But now bring me a minstrel. And while the minstrel played, the hand and power of the Lord came upon [Elisha].16And he said, Thus says the Lord: Make this [dry] brook bed full of trenches. When we praise G-d, the anointing comes. The power of the anointing is to break the yokes of ha'satan/satan.
Yesha'yah/Isaiah 58:6-8 (AMP) says, 6[Rather] is not this the fast that I have chosen: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the bands of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and that you break every [enslaving] yoke? 7Is it not to divide your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house--when you see the naked, that you cover him, and that you hide not yourself from [the needs of] your own flesh and blood? 8Then shall your light break forth like the morning, and your healing (your restoration and the power of a new life) shall spring forth speedily; your righteousness (your rightness, your justice, and your right relationship with God) shall go before you [conducting you to peace and prosperity], and the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard.
Not long ago I was leaving a medical building when a man tried to run me down in a pickup in the parking garage. The L-rd spun me around and stopped this man. The man stopped and stared at me through his window and finally just hung his head and then drove off. It was quite amazing that I had asked the L-rd that very morning to be my Rear Guard! See why it is worthy to praise G-d? *grin* WELL BLESS G-D! YOU ARE WORTHY TO BE PRAISED!
Davari Hayamim Bet/2 Chronicles 20:18-20 (AMP) says, 18And Jehoshaphat bowed his head with his face to the ground, and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem fell down before the Lord, worshiping Him. 19And some Levites of the Kohathites and Korahites stood up to praise the Lord, the God of Israel, with a very loud voice. 20And they rose early in the morning and went out into the Wilderness of Tekoa; and as they went out, Jehoshaphat stood and said, Hear me, O Judah, and you inhabitants of Jerusalem! Believe in the Lord your God and you shall be established; believe and remain steadfast to His prophets and you shall prosper. When we praise G-d, He delivers us from our enemies. (Just a side note here. If we believe and remain steadfast to G-d's prophets, we prosper.)
Finally there's the word of PJ. Praise is of value because it just shows our love for Yeshua/Jesus. This reason is enough to do it and why I do it. The results? They're just blessings on top of what I receive by being with Him. I pray it's the same for you too!
This is the season of thanksgiving and praise! There's no day like today to begin! Mashiakim Yehudim/Hebrews (AMP) 13:15 15Through Him, therefore, let us constantly and at all times offer up to God a sacrifice of praise, which is the fruit of lips that thankfully acknowledge and confess and glorify His name.
“Scripture quotations taken from the Amplified Bible."
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