The Practice of His Presence

NOTE: For the rest of November, I will share Thanksgiving moments written by other authors.
Today's devotional was written by Morgan Farris.
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Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth. Worship the Lord with gladness; come before him with joyful songs. Know that the Lord is God. It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name
Psalm. 100:1-4

...Growing up in the Church, sitting in the pews was an expectation of my parents. If you grew up like I did, you probably have a few funny memories of your mother giving you the “look” when you were misbehaving. Or perhaps you remember the old hymns and the smell of the narthex. I could never have guessed as a nine-year-old sitting in that old sanctuary that the habits my parents instilled in me would become a cherished part of my adulthood.

As a teenager and young adult, church was something I did because I feared not to. Those habits my parents instilled felt like an obligation for the good part of my young adulthood, and fear was a huge motivation to show up. But I kept showing up, and by God’s grace, somewhere in my adulthood, entering His gates, coming into His presence, became the thing I looked forward to most each week.

Singing the hymns stopped feeling like a chore and started feeling like a gift. Listening to a message stopped feeling like a begrudging obligation and became a lifeline for my feeble, weary soul. I am reminded of the lyrics of one of my favorite hymns, “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing”:

Prone to wander, Lord I feel it; Prone to leave the God I love

Here’s my heart, Lord, take and seal it; Seal it for Thy courts above

My prayer with every song, in every moment, is that we would be a people who foster His presence,  cherish His Word, and rejoice in His goodness. That takes practice. It takes dedication. It takes putting Him first above all else. Somewhere along the way, that discipline breeds praise and thanksgiving. It breeds a joy rooted in Him. It breeds a heart sealed in the courts above. Indeed, it is so very good to be in the House of the Lord.

Prayer:

Lord,
         May we be a people who cherish Your House, who practice the discipline of worship, and find ourselves overcome with gratitude for Your patience with us. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.