If we cannot go to the house of the Lord, we may go in faith to the Lord of the house!

O LORD God of hosts, hear my prayer; Give ear, O God of Jacob! Selah. Behold our shield, O God, and look upon the face of Your anointed. For a day in Your courts is better than a thousand outside. I would rather stand at the threshold of the house of my God than dwell in the tents of wickedness. For the LORD God is a sun and shield; the LORD gives grace and glory; no good thing does He withhold from those who walk uprightly. O LORD of hosts, how blessed is the man who trusts in You!
(Psalms 84:8-12 NASB)

(From Matthew Henry's Commentary) In all our addresses to God, we must desire that He would look on Christ, His Anointed One, and accept us for His sake: we must look to Him with faith, and then God will with favor look upon the face of the Anointed: we, without Him, dare not show our faces.
Let us account one day in God's courts better than a thousand spent elsewhere; and deem the meanest place in his service preferable to the highest earthly preferment. We are here in darkness, but if God be our God, He will be to us a Sun, to enlighten and enliven us, to guide and direct us. We are here in danger, but He will be to us a Shield, to secure us from the fiery darts that fly thick about us. Through He has not promised to give riches and dignities, He has promised to give grace and glory to all that seek them in His appointed way. And what is grace, but heaven begun below, in the knowledge, love, and service of God? What is glory, but the completion of this happiness, in being made like to Him, and in fully enjoying Him forever? Let it be our care to walk uprightly, and then let us trust God to give us every thing that is good for us. If we cannot go to the house of the Lord, we may go by faith to the Lord of the house; in Him we shall be happy, and may be easy. That man is really happy, whatever his outward circumstances may be, who trusts in the Lord of hosts, the God of Jacob.

Today is my favorite day!

I am happy in the Lord Jesus today. He has redeemed me and His mercy is forever surrounding me. Like refreshing raindrops replenishing a parched and dusty land, God's grace falls upon me continuously. I praise God because He first loved me. I am deeply grateful for the blessings God repeatedly showers upon me. It is all for His glory and praise.

I can only imagine what eternity will be like with no more sin to spoil the simple joys. I cannot wait to find a voice to match the joy bursting within my heart when I sing praises to my God and Savior! I cannot wait for this earthly struggle to be over. And, if my job in heaven will be to scrub the thresh-hold to God's throne room…that will be pure bliss compared to anything of value or reputation here on this earth. In the Spirit, I can sit at the feet of my Savior now…but, oh, what limitless joy when the old is burned away and the transformed me will find rest eternally face to face. None of this is because of anything I have done or earned, but only because of what Christ has done for me, to me and through me.

Today is definitely my favorite day!

Happy Thanksgiving week to you and your beloved.