THANK OFFERINGS
17th Aug 2022
The time of waiting for our prayers to be answered can be frustrating and very trying. We shared last week that we have found a home to move to having sold our house where we have lived for the past 34 years. The past months of looking at Rightmove and wondering when a suitable property was going come on the market has not been easy.
We were talking about this with friends who are in exactly the same position as we were, when Joyce spoke out this directive, “This is when thank offerings are so important.”
The key verse is Psalm 50:23, “He who sacrifices thank offerings honours me, and he prepares the way so that I may show him the salvation of God.”
Whenever we are waiting for answers to prayer it is so important to fill our hearts and mouths with “thank offerings”. The word “offerings” may seem strange, but at these times the last thing with might feel like doing is to speak out prayers of thanksgiving. But it is thanksgiving that unlocks the door to release the answer to our prayers.
When I use that verse from the psalm, I speak out my thanksgivings and picture a pathway where the answer to my prayer is being carried by God up that road and arriving exactly where I need it.
The very same principal is included in Philippians 4:6, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving present your requests to God.” Notice that key phrase “with thanksgiving” in the middle of that verse.
So whatever is going on in your life at this moment, all the challenges and unanswered prayers, do not neglect “thank offerings”, they are a vital key to receiving. When we have received promises from God, and have the assurance that they are what is vitally needed, and we are seeking to follow God with all our hearts and yet nothing seems to happen; it is the time for a fresh outflow of “thank offerings” and those answers will soon be walking up the pathway bringing the peace and joy of receiving from God.
by Charles Sibthorpe
