“You who answer prayer, to you all people will come. When we were overwhelmed by sins, you forgave our transgressions.”

I can praise you O God because you are one who hears prayer. The first step to know salvation is faith to believe that God hears prayers to all who come to Him. People don't know much about what God is like, but at least they know that if He is really God, He answers prayer.

We know that God hears and that we can come to Him whenever we want. Imagine a situation where God takes a holiday from hearing prayers, where He announces: "Next week, I will not be available to hear your prayers."  What! No one to turn to in our hour of need. No one to calm our anxious fears. No one to intercede to help our loved ones. How different our lives would be if God cancelled prayer for a week or would we just roll on by ourselves without much change?

I realize there are times in our lives, and in my life, when it doesn’t feel as if God hears our prayers. I know there are times when we have prayed a special request over and over and over again and nothing seems to happen. Some people say prayer does no good. There is a lot about God we do not understand and there is a lot about prayer we do not understand, but it is a divine communication system, which in the days of David required sacrifice of animals to cover sin in order to talk with God in a personal and corporate way.

Dear people, there are other things for which we can do to be thankful, such as through our offerings of money and food at our Thanksgiving service, not animals for a priest to kill and set on fire in order for God to hear your prayers. Why? Because God chose to bring you unto Himself and into His presence through salvation by sins atoned for, not by the blood of animals but by the blood of His own son.
 
Man comes to God as needy. God did something about sin. He forgives it. In the Old Testament it cost the life of an animal. Now we can clap our hands, sing and know we are saved, if we have put our trust in Jesus Christ who was the sacrifice, whose blood was shed in order for us to be forgiven to become part of God’s family.
 
“As many as received him he gave the right to become the children of God. to those who believe on his name”  “He who has the son has life, who does not have the son of God does not have life.”1 Jn 5:12 or I Jn 4:10 “This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.” 

Rev 3:10 “Behold I stand at the door and knock if anyone hears my voice and opens the door I will come in.” God doesn’t lie. Either He means it or He doesn’t. If He means and you mean it, He keeps His word, whether you keep yours or not. Rom 5:8 says “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

Who has reason to sing God's praises like those who have had their sins forgiven? If love has conquered us, the love that the Spirit of God has shed abroad in our hearts. How can we not sing to Him who loved us and washed us from our sins by Christ’s blood? 

Application: This Thanksgiving, praise God for His salvation, for hearing prayer, for forgiving sin and for  bringing you into His family.

Prayer: Thank you, God, for always being present to hear our prayers, and answering them in Your time, as You see fit. Help us to trust in Your plan.

Dale