Think on These Things: Positive thoughts in a negative world…
To worship God means we admire, adore, esteem, exalt, venerate, honor, glorify, respect, revere, pray to, invoke, supplicate, sanctify, and extol Him.
Why do we worship God? Is it so God will be pleased with us? Do we feel if we worship God, He will be happy with us and give us favor? Not really, because God has already accepted us.
We worship God because He is our Creator, Sustainer, and Redeemer. We worship out of gratitude for who God is and what He has done. Worship acknowledges God’s greatness, His kingship in our lives, and our willingness to have Him rule over us.
Here are just a few reasons to worship God:
- God is our Creator.
- God is our Sustainer.
- God is our Redeemer.
- God loves us.
- God is with us.
- God will never leave or forsake us.
- God is good.
- God will deal with those who have done us wrong.
- God does not condemn us.
- God is for us.
- God will supply our needs.
- God understands us.
- God hears our prayers.
- God loves us enough to not give us everything we want.
- God answers our prayers.
- God is our Comforter.
- God extends His love and grace to us.
- God is our friend.
- Jesus paid the penalty for our sins.
- Jesus rose from the dead.
- Jesus is our Savior.
- God gave us the gift of salvation.
- God has a plan for us.
- God desires a relationship with us.
- God cares about us.
- God has only our best interests in mind.
With Thanksgiving approaching, meditating on these reasons to praise God becomes even more meaningful because thanking God is another way to worship Him. Thanking God means we are appreciative and grateful for all the things listed above—and so much more!
God desires an intimate relationship with us, so try this little experiment. On Thanksgiving Day, take a little time to repeat the list above to yourself, but put the words “I’m thankful that” in front of each phrase. To really make it personal, replace words like “us,” “we,” and “our” with “me” or “my.” Looks like we have a lot more to be thankful for than just a turkey dinner and football.
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“Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.” ~Philippians 4:8 (KJV)
