Read:
Psalm 100 is only five verses long, and it was likely sung by people walking up to the temple to worship. Verse 4 tells them how to come in: "Enter his gates with thanksgiving; go into his courts with praise" (Psalm 100:4, NLT).
That order matters. Most of us come to God the opposite way. We show up with a list of what we need, what's going wrong, and what we want him to fix. God invites us to bring all of that. But this psalm shows there's value in starting somewhere else—with gratitude.
Gratitude resets our perspective. Verse 3 reminds us that God made us and we belong to him, and verse 5 gives the reason for thanks: he is good, his love never fails, and he stays faithful from one generation to the next. When you start with who God is, the things you're about to ask him for tend to look different. They don't get smaller, but you see them next to someone bigger.
Today, try walking through the gate the way this psalm describes. Start with thanks.
Reflect: What's one thing you can thank God for right now, before asking him for anything?