Jonah 2:9 ‘But I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving; I will pay that that I have vowed. Salvation is of the Lord.’

• DAILY READING; Ephesians 6; Ezekiel 17; Isaiah 46

During Idi Amin’s reign of terror in Uganda, many Christian denominations came under his attack.  At one time, Idi Amin placed a ban against twenty-seven denominations in the country. When the ban was announced, many of the churches immediately went underground, and house meetings sprang up throughout the country.

However a church in Makerere, run by the Gospel Mission to Uganda  continued to hold its meetings. Then on April 12, 1978, Amin’s wild-eyed soldiers invaded this church and begun firing indiscriminately at the 600-strong congregation. Instead of fleeing, the assistant pastor, Jotham Mutebi, who was on the platform sank to his knees in prayer.

Amid the mayhem, hundreds more worshippers also quickly dropped to their knees between the pews. With upraised arms they began to praise The Lord. Despite the hail of bullets, these people praised God even in the face of death. The result was that the church  became filled with a cacophony of incredible sound—a combination of prayer, praise and bullets. At one point, a member of the church orchestra, raised his trumpet to his lips and blew it as loudly as he could. At the blast of the trumpet, the soldiers suddenly panicked, they thought the Christians were about to counter-attack and so they quickly fled the sanctuary. Miraculously members of this congregation were preserved and survived what would have been a horrendous massacre.

Indeed God is fearful in praises.  Despite bring surrounded by bloodthirsty soldiers, members of this church knew that in praise was their deliverance. And despite the contrary situation, as they praised, God arose and their enemies were scattered.

In the midst of negative situations praise will always bring deliverance. It can be easy to praise God when on the mountaintop, but even in the valley we should praise Him still. This is what Paul and Silas did. Although thrown into jail, as they switched to praise, God  brought deliverance to them.

When Jonah was in the belly of the whale, his initial utterances in Jonah 2 were a prayer of complaints. But after about 8 verses of such complaint and seeing it was getting him nowhere, he then switched to praise.

In Jonah 2:9, he says ‘But I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving; I will pay that that I have vowed. Salvation is of the Lord.’

And when Jonah began to magnify God, the next verse says ‘And the Lord spake unto the fish, and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land.[ Jonah 2;10]

Indeed in our praise is our deliverance. When Jonah offered unto  God the sacrifice of praise, his experienced a positive change of story. Don’t allow your situation to pose as your portion, turn things around by offering unto God  a “Sacrifice” of praise, Continually judge God faithful.

Praise always precedes the victory. When you praise, God will cause whatsoever has swallowed you up  to spit you out. When you praise, God will take what was meant for your harm and use it to advance you. Instead of being a setback, it will become a setup for your comeback.

Giving God praise in the midst of contrary circumstances is what sacrifice of praise is about. A Sacrifice of praise will always get God’s attention, because it is praise that costs you something. David said ‘I will not offer unto God that which has cost me nothing.’

When we offer a ‘tearful’ offering of our substance  unto God it is an expression of the sacrifice of praise. And a ‘tearful’ seed will provoke a ‘fearful’ harvest. When we offer unto God that which costs us something, He releases unusual blessings to us.  When Abraham offered his only son Isaac, God swore a blessing over him.

In this season of fervent prayers we can turn the tides of blessing in our favor by offering a sacrifice of praise to God. Despite how difficult any circumstance,  if we can decide to bless God in the midst of it all, things will surely turn around for us. If we sincerely desire a positive change of story, a sacrifice of praise is the key to it. Indeed the altar of sacrifice is the altar of turnaround

PRAYER: Lord, I choose to bless You at all times. I choose to set the tone to receive Your favor, grace and mercy today by offering unto You a sacrifice of praise. Thank You Lord for Your continual faithfulness in my life in Jesus Name. .

QUOTE

When you obey God’s instruction you are delivered from destruction

-WORDBITE 222.