The church is full of people who want to experience the power of God’s presence in their lives. They love Him and they want to know Him more. Yet many of those people live with an awareness that something is still missing. The key to unlocking that deep relationship with their Savior seems to constantly elude them. “Just what does it take,” they ask, “to open the floodgates of heaven that the presence of God might fill our lives.”

As with all relationships, the answer usually involves several facets. However, there is one primary key that can open the door to more of God and that is the Key of Thanksgiving. The Scripture tell us that we are to, “Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise.” If we want to enter into the place where the glory of God dwells, then we will need the key that God gives us in His word, and He says that the key is thanksgiving.

We might be tempted to think that some demanding spiritual exercise is necessary, or maybe we have to achieve a certain level of spirituality before we can have a deeper experience of God’s presence. God, however, does not put those demands upon us, instead, He calls us to people of thanksgiving and praise. There is no achievement required, only a willingness to declare God’s goodness.

“Why thanksgiving,” you may ask. Well, because thanksgiving changes us. It moves us from negativity and toward something positive. It calls us away from being caught up in ourselves and to connect with God. It gets our minds and our spirits in harmony with God and His Spirit. It lifts our eyes off of our circumstances and onto the One who holds all life in His hands. As we begin declaring our thanksgiving and praise, we remember all that God has already done and we recall His unchanging faithfulness. We strengthen our faith to believe that God will continue to care for us as he always has.

The more we thank and praise, the more we magnify our heavenly Father. The more we magnify Him, the greater He becomes in our eyes and the more we can trust Him. We open our eyes to more of His presence in our midst and we anticipate what He will do next. We look for the blessing that is all around us and we see more of His wonders in our lives.

Thanks and praise leads us to become Ephesians 3:20 people… those who look for God to do exceedingly, abundantly beyond all we can ask or think. We find ourselves excited about the opportunities God is creating to show His glory in our lives and that lead us to a greater, more meaningful relationship with Him.

Thanksgiving is so much more than a holiday or a turkey dinner. It is more than something we offer at times of harvest and blessing. It is a key to living in the presence of God. It opens the door to viewing all of our life as a great blessing from God and it multiplies the opportunities for us to experience God’s glory in the land of the living.

This year, make thanksgiving a way of life and look for the encounters with God that will follow.