How To Enter In

How to Enter In

Enter his gates with thanksgiving; go into his courts with praise. Give thanks to him and praise his name. Psalm 100:4

STORY AFTER STORY IS TOLD of situations changing once the atmosphere shifts from fear, dread, or sorrow to praise and worship. People experiencing hardship gather to praise God, turning their hearts away from the problem to the problem solver, and a solution comes. A marriage in crisis turns from argument to prayer and praise, and soon the tension dissolves. A horrible disease melts away when it is surrounded by worship of the healer. It isn’t magic, it isn’t a formula, and it isn’t always instantaneous. Sometimes nothing but our perspective changes. But the stories and personal experiences are common enough and true enough to convince us. The power of heaven brings miracles when the presence of heaven fills our hearts and minds.

That’s why it’s so important to see passages like Psalm 100 and others that urge praise and thanksgiving as more than just an encouragement. Celebration, joy, praise, gratitude, adoration—these are life to us. In fact, it’s entirely possible to read today’s verse not merely as an encouragement to worship and give thanks to God but as instruction on how we are able to enter into his courts at all. In other words, we don’t just enter his gates and courts with thanksgiving and praise; we enter by them. Worship and gratitude put us there. They embed us into the heavenly environment and, we can reasonably assume, embed the heavenly environment into our lives.

Praise and gratitude reflect reality far more clearly than our discouragement, regrets, fears, and problems do. And in reflecting the ultimate reality, they bring us to a place of breakthrough—of connection with God’s heart, of awareness of his purposes and ways, of his supernatural wisdom, power, and love. They are the answer to our prayers, long before our prayers are specifically answered. They change the world within us and then change the world around us.

That’s worthy of our focus every day. Entering his gates and courts is a life-transforming experience, and here’s where it starts—with praise and thanks. Saturate your life in the environment of God and see how God changes your life.

Worship is not part of the Christian life; it is the Christian life.