Part 2, Chapter 7
At the end of the prayer, we need to bring the prayer to conclusion. TOP (Thanksgiving, Oblation (offering), Petition) is part of are concluding act. It is a way to wind down the prayer and to help us to start to move on.
T
Thanking God for the time of prayer, what He has done in the prayer, and for the way He has moved your heart and helped you to make a resolution is a good thing. It reminds us that God has brought us to this time, that He has desired it and that He has graced us. Prayer is God’s gift to us and a call to a deeper life with Him. Giving thanks to Him at that end helps us to keep centered on Him. Think about a top spinning, if we are centered on the Lord and all is going the way it should, the top goes round and round with no wobble. Thanksgiving helps us to keep our center of gravity in its right place and helps us to spin ever closer to God.
O
Oblation or offering to God is the second part of TOP. It is a great reminder to us that God has given us this resolution. Now we need to offer it to Him because than we are bringing Him into the resolution. We are entering into the conversation with Him. The offering helps us to be united to God.
P
We are all beggars before the Lord, and we need His help. We need His grace to do what we have resolved to do. Hence, we petition Him for help. God wants to help us, it is His desire, yet He also wants us to ask for the help. Petitioning at the end of the prayer here keeps us focused on God. Notice that the petition in this case is for ourselves to live up to the resolve, this is not normally a time for petitioning for others; petitioning for others can be done at another time.
TOP really is one step that has three parts but could be done together. For example “Father, thank you for this time of prayer where you have called me to be more patient with my family. I give you Father my desire to want to be more patient and I am going to need your grace to do it. Please give me the virtue of patience. Amen.”