Prayer opens the door to conversation and relationship with God. Prayer is personal time shared with God. When we pray, we know God hears. Beginning prayer by focusing on God and not the self is the way to enter His gates. Enter with praise and thanksgiving. Begin the prayer by thanking God for His steadfast love and forgiveness.
Will God not care for us? Will God not show His goodness to us, whom He saved and loved? Is this reason enough to enter His gates with thanksgiving? The author of Psalm 100 seems to think so, and I believe we can too.
Dear LORD, let me shout with the earth your praise. I am filled with joy because you are good. I worship you with gladness and come before you with a joyful song. A song that was born with tears is now bursting forth in joy. For you have made me glad in the joy found in you. I know that you are God. And you are the one who has made me, and I am yours. I belong to You and you love me. I am your beloved and you are mine. Let me enter your gates with thanksgiving and your courts with praise. I will give thanks to you and praise your name. For you are indeed god and your love endures forever. Your faithfulness continues throughout my entire life. In Your name, amen.
Our houses of worship often host special services. My local church has one the Sunday night before the Thanksgiving holiday. Most churches that I know will celebrate this incredible theme, on point with millions together in our nation. We truly are a blessed nation and blessed to live here in America! It is a special opportunity to pray and sing this month with Thanksgiving on our lips and in our hearts.
I enter the gates
With nothing but thanks
I want to magnify Your worth
I want to bring You more than words
I enter the gates
Come reckless with praise
I'll bring a heart that wants You first
All for Your glory
Daily prayer: Father, we enter Your gates with thanksgiving in our heart and Your courts with praise, for You have made this day. You satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing love, that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days. Therefore, we will rejoice and be glad in your steadfast love, for You have seen our affliction. You have known the distress within our soul, and You have made a way of escape through Your powerful presence, Your mighty intervention and through the companionship of Your Holy Spirit. We rejoice gratefully for who You are and all that You do on our behalf. Amen.
Enter His gates with thanksgiving
Come into His courts with praise
Enter His presence rejoicing
Singing great and mighty is His name
Praise Him with
The sound of the trumpet
Praise Him with
The timbrel and harp
Let every creature
In Heaven and earth
Lift a sound of praise
Sing with all their heart
For the Lord is good(For the Lord is good)
For the Lord is good(For the Lord is good)
For the Lord is good
And His mercy Endures forever
For the Lord is good(For the Lord is good)
For the Lord is good(For the Lord is good)
For the Lord is good
And His mercy Endures forever
For the Lord is good
And His mercyEndures forever
Jesus the Son is exalted
Maker of everything
Come now and bow down
Before Him
Lift your voice to sing
For the Lord is good
And His mercy endures forever
6. Singing in my church choir and in other Christian choirs has implanted incredibly profound messages within my heart and soul through the lyrics of the songs that I have been able to sing.
Fill not your hearts with pain and sorrow, / but remember me in every tomorrow. / Remember the joy, the laughter, the smiles, / I've only gone to rest a little while. / Although my leaving causes pain and grief, / my going has eased my hurt and given me relief. / So dry your eyes and remember me, / not as I am now, but as I used to be. / Because, I will remember you all / and look on with a smile. / Understand, in your hearts, / I've only gone to rest a little while. / As long as I have the love of each of you, / I can live my life in the hearts of all of you.
Take my hand and walk with me / Across the sands of time. / Hand in hand and heart to heart / Together, friend of mine. / We will share the solitude / And walk in quiet peace / For my heart hears what your heart says; / It listens when yours speaks. / The years have brought us to this place / Across the sands of Time And we will walk here til the end / Together, friend of mine.
Feel no guilt in laughter, he knows how much you care. / Feel no sorrow in a smile that he's not here to share. / You cannot grieve forever, he would not want you to. / He'd hope that you can carry on, the way you always do. / So talk about the good times and the ways you showed you cared, / The days you spent together, all the happiness you shared. / Let memories surround you, A word someone may say. / Will suddenly recapture a time, an hour, a day, / That brings him back as clearly as though he were still here, / And fills you with the feelings that he is always near. / For if you keep these moments, you will never be apart. / And he will live forever locked safe within your heart.
We little knew that morning, / God was going to call your name. / In life we loved your dearly, / In death we do the same. / It broke our hearts to lose you, / You did not go alone, / For part of us went with you, / the day God called you home. / You left us beautiful memories, / Your love is still our guide / And though we cannot see you, / You are always by our side. / Our family chain is broken / And nothing seems the same / But as God calls us one by one / The chain will link again.
Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands. Serve the Lord with gladness: come before his presence with singing. Know ye that the Lord he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name. For the Lord is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations.
For if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.
You have heard the tolling of 11 strokes. This is to remind you that with Elks, the hour of 11 has a tender significance. Wherever Elks may roam, whatever their lot in life may be, when this hour tolls upon the dial of night, the great heart of Elkdom swells and throbs. It is the golden hour of recollection, the homecoming of those who wander, the mystic roll call of those who will come no more. Living or dead, an Elk is never forgotten, never forsaken. Morning and noon may pass him by, the light of day sink heedlessly in the West, but ere the shadows of midnight shall fall, the chimes of memory will be pealing forth the friendly message, "To our absent members."
When God calls little children to dwell with Him above. We mortals sometime question the wisdom of His love. For no heartache companies with the death of one small child who does so much to make our world seem wonderful and mild. Perhaps God time of calling the aged to His fold, so He picks a rosebud before it can grow old. God knows how much we need them, and so He takes but few to make the land of Heaven more beautiful to view. Believing this is difficult still somehow we must try. The saddest word mankind knows will always be "Goodbye," so when a little child departs, we who are left behind must realize God loves children. Angels are hard to find.
We thought of you with love today, but that is nothing new. We thought about you yesterday, and days before that too. We think of you in silence, we often speak your name. All we have are memories, and your picture in a frame. Your memory is our keepsake, with which we will never part. God has you in His keeping, we have you in our hearts. A million times we`ve wanted you. A million times we cried. If love could only have saved you, you never would have died. It broke our hearts to lose you. But you didn`t go alone. For a part of us went with you... the day God called you Home.
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