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STEPPING STONES TO SUCCESSFUL PRAYER

STEPPING STONES TO SUCCESSFUL PRAYER And Other Devotional Addresses to Encourage and Motivate You to Pray to the God of the Bible

THE PRAYING THROUGH THE BIBLE SERIES Volume 6

DANIEL WHYTE III

Stepping Stones to Successful Prayer: And Other Devotional Addresses to Encourage and Motivate You to Pray to the God of the Bible (The Praying Through the Bible Series: Volume 6)

by Daniel Whyte III Cover Design by Atinad Designs. Š Copyright 2015 TORCH LEGACY PUBLICATIONS First Printing, 2015 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owner, except for brief quotations included in a review of the book. ________________________________________________________________________ All Bible quotations in this volume are from the King James Version of the Bible.

The name TORCH LEGACY PUBLICATIONS and its logo are registered as a trademark in the U.S. patent office.

Printed in the U.S.A.

Acknowledgements For the Glory of God, and to my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ who taught us how to pray; And to the memory of E.M. Bounds who God used to motivate me to pray.

To my favorite prayer partners: my wife, Meriqua, and my children: Danni, Daniel IV, Danita, Danae, Daniqua, Danyel Ezekiel, and Danyelle Elizabeth; And especially to my oldest son, Daniel Whyte IV, whom I have had the privilege of training in the ministry ever since he was a little boy when he said he wanted to be a preacher. He assisted me by doing most of the research for the messages included in this book.

And to all people around the world who want to be encouraged to pray more effectively and see God answer their prayers and bless their lives for His glory. —Daniel Whyte III

Contents Introduction 1. The Importance of Praying for the Authority Figures in Your Life 2. If Christianity is Dying, How Then Should We Pray?

3. Praying to God Outside of the Box 4. Stepping Stones to Successful Prayer 5. Praying Your Way Through the Depths of Despair 6. 3 Things to Consider When it Seems Like God is Silent 7. Should We Pray for God to Punish Our Enemies?

8. Four Prayer Requests that God is Certain to Hear 9. Why We Should Pray for the Peace of Jerusalem 10. Prayer for the Pure Life 11. A Prayer from the Original Man Cave 12. How to Stay Positive in Perilous Times

Introduction “And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint.”

—Luke 18:1 “All who call on God in true faith, earnestly from the heart, will certainly be heard, and will receive what they have asked and desired.”

—Martin Luther I am convinced that most people do not need to learn how to pray; they need to Just Pray! Prayer is like any other important discipline in the Christian life. If you don’t do it, you won’t reap the benefits and blessings that God wants you to have. If you want to reap the benefits and blessings of prayer, then you need to simply Just Pray! This is what The Praying Through the Bible Series of devotional messages is all about: exploring each of the over 500 verses and passages in Scripture concerning prayer, from Genesis to Revelation, so that you can be encouraged and motivated to pray to the God of the Bible.

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The Praying Through the Bible Series began after the Lord led me to put together a little devotional book titled, The Prayer Motivator, which was followed later by the Prayer Motivator Devotional Bible. The Lord leading me to do The Prayer Motivator Devotional Bible was a complete surprise because I had never dreamed of doing a themed Bible in my life. In this Bible, we highlighted each of the over 500 verses and passages on prayer in the Bible.

Following the publication of that project, the Lord led me to begin preaching a series of messages on each of those passages on prayer. To my knowledge, preaching solely on every passage concerning prayer in the Bible had not been done before. By the grace of God, this series of messages— each of which was preached on a Wednesday night to a live audience—has been a blessing to thousands as I have shared brief, devotional principles from God’s Word concerning the matter of prayer. (In most cases, the preached version of each of these messages is quite different from what is given in this series of books — and probably better. If you want to listen to any of the messages in this series, you can do so online at www.prayingthroughthebible.com.)

This is a series that every Christian can read and benefit from. This series will inspire, encourage, and motivate you to pray daily and throughout the day so that you can receive the benefits and blessings of a prayerful life. Prayer to God has been the center and highlight of my life ever since God used a series of books by E.M. Bounds to open my eyes to the importance and power of prayer. In spite of myself, God has been very good to me and to my family in many ways, but the

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thing that stands out the most to me are the thousands of answers to prayer over the past thirty years of full-time ministry and twenty-seven years of marriage with a family of nine. I want you to experience the same benefits and blessings of a prayerful life.

If you are a pastor, please feel free to use these short, devotional messages in your mid-week prayer services. You do not need to contact us to ask for permission; that is what these messages are for. We know of pastors who have taken these messages and adapted them for their congregation, so please feel free to add to and take away from them as God leads you for the needs of your people, and I am sure that you will do a better job than I have done.

These messages are not deep, theological expositions; other men of God who are scholars of the Word have already done that. These are simple, devotional messages that are designed to actually get people to just pray to the God of the Bible in faith believing in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.

The Lord led me to put them together with the assistance of my son who is an undergraduate student and still in training.

Most pastors can take the little effort that we have put forth here and make these messages far better.

Additionally, if you are a pastor, I want to encourage you to consider the following things: 1. If you have a weekly prayer meeting at your church, actually make it about prayer—pray and preach a short message on prayer to encourage the people to pray for

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you, for the church, for themselves, and for souls to be saved. This series can provide the basis for those short messages.

2. If you do not have a mid-week prayer meeting at your church, I encourage you to start one. In my humble opinion, it is a shame that most churches do not take the mid-week prayer meeting seriously anymore. Some churches have abandoned the prayer meeting altogether.

Christianity Today told the story of East Indian evangelist K. P. Yohannan who visited America and attended a well-known megachurch one Sunday morning. Over 3,000 people were at the church services that morning, where it was announced that the mid-week prayer meeting would be held in a chapel on the church campus. Yohannan was fired up by what he had experienced, and determined to attend the prayer meeting as well. However, when he arrived for the prayer meeting a few days later, he was shocked to find that the chapel—which had a capacity of 500—was entirely empty. He sat down and waited for a few minutes and eventually seven people arrived. They sat down and made small talk. About forty-five minutes later, one of the leaders of the church walked in, prayed, and gave a brief Bible study.

The article goes on to say: "In all his travels here, Yohannan saw the same pattern repeated over and over again in hundreds of midweek prayer meetings. Almost

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anything happens but prayer. There are announcements, singing, homilies, and a few prayers offered, but usually only by the leader—and that's in the churches that actually have prayer meetings in their schedules. Many more make no pretense even to have a church prayer meeting. There seems to be time for everything else— to study, to fellowship, to preach, but not to pray."

It appears that many pastors and churches have forgotten that the church was born at a prayer meeting in an “upper room.” Pastor, make sure that your church makes time to pray.

3. Consider establishing daily prayer meeting times at your church and throughout your congregation around the city. For example, put someone in charge of holding a prayer meeting at five or six in the morning, twelve o' clock noon, and seven in the evening. Encourage your people to come to the church to pray together as much as possible. I know of a church that has a beautiful prayer room where the door faces a side street. The church members have a key so they can go in to pray at any time. You might recall that Jesus Christ said, "My house shall be called a house of prayer."

4. Encourage your church members to pray without ceasing whether they feel like it or not. One way they can do this is by whispering a prayer for themselves, praying for someone else, and quoting a verse from Scripture at the top of every hour. If you pray a short prayer (based on the model prayer of our Lord in

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Scripture), this will only take about one minute every hour.

Down through the years, as I have preached in prayer meetings and revival meetings across the U.S. and around the world, I have had pastors to admit to me privately that they are not as strong in prayer as they would like to be and as they should be. The truth of the matter is, we all have our different gifts and callings, and just because a pastor does not emphasize prayer does not mean that he is not spiritual.

Pastors are the general practitioners of the church. They are multi-gifted individuals and have the ability to manage and oversee many different ministries and outreaches at the same time, whereas an evangelist is focused on two to three things: evangelism, prayer, and revival. His job is to encourage pastors and the saints to do the work of an evangelist and to evangelize, to pray, to confess and repent of sins so that they can be used by God to see souls saved and brought into the Kingdom. The pastor is not more spiritual than the evangelist; the evangelist is not more spiritual than the pastor.

We just have different callings, gifts, and purposes as it pertains to the church. The evangelist needs the pastor and the pastor needs the evangelist. Even though my calling is to be an evangelist, the truth of the matter is, without my pastor and my pastor friends counseling, advising, and fellowshipping with me on a regular basis, there is no way I would be where I am in my ministry. I thank God for my pastor friends. When there is a family crisis, nobody can outdo a great pastor as far as ministering to that situation. On the other hand, when it comes to taking more territory for God's kingdom through evangelism, and the spiritual warfare involved in doing that,

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no one can do it better than a godly evangelist. So, we need one another in the body of Christ, and we need to get back to recognizing that. We are not enemies, we are brothers serving the same Lord and King.

It is my prayer that this series will inspire all of God's people to pray daily and throughout each day so that you can receive the benefits and blessings of a prayerful life. This series was put together to inspire action on your part. It is designed to motivate you to pray based upon the Word of God by faith in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. If I can just encourage you to pray in faith believing, I believe all sorts of wonderful things will begin to happen to you, in you, and for you, your family, and whatever God has called you to do.

The simple purpose of this series is to encourage and motivate you to get off the ball regarding prayer, and take the little faith you may have and Just Pray to the God of the Bible in the name of Jesus Christ! The Praying Through the Bible Series is designed to help you get over spiritual inertia, your sinful flesh, the devil and his demons, doubt and unbelief, your busy life and the world, so that you can hit “pray dirt” and God will do the rest. Just open your mouth and start praying to the God of the Bible. JUST PRAY! and watch God do things beyond your wildest imaginations.

—Daniel Whyte III Dallas, Texas

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1 The Importance of Praying for the Authority Figures in Your Life TEXT: Psalm 72:15 And he shall live, and to him shall be given of the gold of Sheba: prayer also shall be made for him continually; and daily shall he be praised.

Psalm 72 is a psalm composed by King David for the coronation of his son Solomon. As you might recall, when David was getting old and had to spend most of his time in bed, one of David’s other sons tried to set himself up to be king after his father died. This prompted Bathsheba, David’s wife, and the Prophet Nathan to go and remind David of his promise that Solomon was to be king after him. David affirmed this promise to them both, and shortly thereafter, a ceremony was held crowning Solomon as the next king of Israel. This psalm was written for that occasion and, as you can see from the final verse, is very likely the last psalm that David ever wrote.

However, many Bible scholars see a double meaning in

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this psalm: not only does it apply to King Solomon, but it applies to the Messiah as well. C.I. Scofield, the man who put together the notes on the well-known Scofield Reference Bible writes that “the Psalm as a whole forms a complete vision of Messiah’s kingdom so far as the Old Testament revelation extended. All David’s prayers will find their fruition in the kingdom [of the Messiah].”

In this psalm, David asks God’s blessings on the reign of his son. While we will draw on the entire psalm, we are going to focus on verse 15. There are three things that we can learn from David’s psalm regarding how we should lift up the leaders in our lives in prayer. I believe that these lessons not only apply to governmental leaders, but leaders in all arenas: pastors, bosses, husbands, mothers, fathers, and teachers. If you are under some form of authority — and all of us are at some point in our lives — the Bible has something to say to you about how to pray for the leader or leaders who are over you.

We ought to ask God to give our leaders judgment.

In verses 1 and 2, David says, “Give the king thy judgments, O God, and thy righteousness unto the king’s son. [That] he shall judge thy people with righteousness, and thy poor with judgment.” You probably recall how God came to Solomon in a dream and asked him what he would like to be given as king of Israel. Solomon famously requested wisdom instead of riches, prosperity, and victory over the nation’s enemies. However, we see from this passage that David, Solomon’s father, asked God to

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give Solomon His judgment even before he became king.

Judgment and wisdom go hand in hand. As Solomon wrote in Proverbs 1:3, the reason why he put together that book of wisdom is so the reader would “receive the instruction of wisdom, justice, and judgment, and equity.”

The Hebrew word used for “judgment” is mish-pat. It means “justice, right, rectitude...proper, fitting.” In short, it means to do the right thing or make the right decision.

The Hebrew word used for “wisdom” is sa-kal. It means “to be prudent, to be circumspect, to look at or upon, to have insight, or comprehension.”

David, even though he was lying on his death bed at the time, had the foresight to pray for Solomon to have God’s judgment as he took over the kingdom. He asks for God to give Solomon “thy judgments.” No matter how smart, gifted, or educated someone is, they will never be as successful as they could be if they lack wisdom and judgment from God. My friend, one of the worst things you can experience is being under the authority of someone who does not have judgment. If you are a person who is in tune with God, you will be continually frustrated with the state of affairs in your particular situation. It is like being on a ship with a captain who does not know how to pilot the ship, or being on an airplane with a pilot who does not know how to fly the plane.

K. J. Kehler said, “Even if we compiled all the wisdom and knowledge of everyone in the world and measured it against God’s wisdom, it would still be almost nothing.”

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Truly great leaders have a divine measure of judgment and wisdom that they can get from no one else but God, whether they choose to acknowledge Him or not. The reason why Martin Luther King, Jr., successfully led the Civil Rights movement is because Martin Luther King took the principles of loving your enemies and nonviolent protest directly from the teachings of Jesus Christ. God’s wisdom will trump human wisdom every time.

So, let us pray for our leaders to have judgment and wisdom.

We ought to pray consistently for our leaders.

In verse 15 David says, “prayer also shall be made for him [Solomon] continually.” David is expressing his desire for the people to pray for Solomon throughout his reign. There is no greater form of support you can give to someone beyond praying for them. The simple reason why is because you are putting God in the mix, and as Billy Graham said, “one with God is a majority.”

Five young college students were spending a Sunday in London, so they went to hear the famous Charles Spurgeon preach. While waiting for the doors to open, the students were greeted by a man who asked if they would like to be shown around the building. After showing them auditorium, the classrooms, and the galleries, the man said, “Would you like to see the heating plant of this church?”

The college students were not particularly interested because it was a hot day. But they didn’t want to offend 22

their guide, so they consented. The young men were taken down a stairway, and a door was quietly opened.

Their guide whispered, “This is our heating plant.” The students were surprised by what they saw: 700 people with their heads bowed in prayer, asking God’s blessings on Spurgeon who would be preaching in the services about to begin in the auditorium above.

When asked the secret of his success, Spurgeon said very simply: “My people pray for me.”

We as Christians have a mandate to pray for our leaders.

1 Timothy 2:1-3 says, “I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour.”

If an authority figure in your life is doing something that you know is wrong, it is not your place to correct him or her unless the Lord especially leads you to do so in a humble, respectful manner. You have a far better recourse, and that is the recourse of prayer. Proverbs 21:1 says, “The king’s heart is in the hand of the Lord, as the rivers of water: he turneth it whithersoever he will.” God can change the heart and mind of any person in authority because all people are under God’s authority. You just pray and do your part, and let God handle the leader.

So, we see that we ought to pray for our leaders to have judgment and wisdom, and we ought to pray consistently

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for our leaders...

We ought to ask for the favor of God and man upon our leaders.

David’s third desire for Solomon is recorded here as well: he says, “and daily shall he be praised...” In verses 9-11, David also says, “They that dwell in the wilderness shall bow before him; and his enemies shall lick the dust. The kings of Tarshish and of the isles shall bring presents: the kings of Sheba and Seba shall offer gifts. Yea, all kings shall fall down before him...”

David wants Solomon to have peace and favor with all of Israel’s neighbors. David had been a man of war; he had established Israel’s strength and might in the eyes of the other nations in the region. There were probably more than a few kings who did not like David very much and were glad to see him passing off the scene. But, David prays that his son would find favor in their eyes — that they would willingly bring him gifts and bow down before him.

I can testify that finding favor in the eyes of men is indeed a wonderful thing. I have had experiences in my life where I will meet total strangers, but God, in His mercy and grace, will allow me to find favor in their sight. And even though I may not look the part, even though I may not have the best financial situation, even though I may not be who they were expecting me to be, God will cause everything to go smoothly simply because He has caused them to show me favor.

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But, one cannot find favor with men without finding favor with God. This is why immediately following verse 11 which we just read, in verse 12, David says, “For he [Solomon] shall deliver the needy when he crieth; the poor also, and him that hath no helper. He shall spare the poor and needy, and shall save the souls of the needy. He shall redeem their soul from deceit and violence: and precious shall their blood be in his sight.” Solomon would gain God’s blessings on his life by doing the right thing, by making sure that the law was administered justly in the nation, and by protecting the poor and needy.

God’s favor will not rest on a leader who is not righteous, just, and obedient to Him. To that end, we must pray for our leaders to walk in the right paths in order to have God’s blessings and favor not only on themselves, but on all who are under their leadership. The reason why Christians in this nation and in every nation must speak out against the evils done by government leaders is because the leader acts as the representative of that nation. He or she is the one in charge. If they lead the nation wrong, God’s judgment will fall on the entire nation. That is why we must remain committed to praying for our leaders — because we want God’s blessings and favor, and the favor of others to rest on our leaders. When they are blessed, the entire nation, the entire church, the entire business, the entire family, or what have you, is blessed. And nothing beats the blessings of God. Just as David saw fit to pray for his son Solomon as he was about to assume leadership of the most influential nation on earth at that time, we ought to pray consistently for our leaders as well — that God would give them

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judgment and wisdom, that they would take heed to that judgment and wisdom; and that they would find favor in the sight of God and man.

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2 If Christianity is Dying, How Then Should We Pray?

TEXT: Psalm 80:1-7 1 Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, thou that leadest Joseph like a flock; thou that dwellest between the cherubims, shine forth.

2 Before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh stir up thy strength, and come and save us.

3 Turn us again, O God, and cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved.

4 O Lord God of hosts, how long wilt thou be angry against the prayer of thy people?

5 Thou feedest them with the bread of tears; and givest them tears to drink in great measure.

6 Thou makest us a strife unto our neighbours: and our enemies laugh among themselves.

7 Turn us again, O God of hosts, and cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved.

A couple of years ago, Pastor Mark Driscoll hosted his Resurgence Conference, centered around the question: Christianity is dying. Will we have a funeral or a future?

Statistics indeed show that Christianity in America is on

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the decline. As many as 3,000 churches close their doors each year. And, many of those that remain open, are filled with Christians who are spiritually dead and who are not impacting their communities. They are just taking up space. Frankly, we are in a desperate state of affairs.

Something drastic must take place in order for the church to become vibrant and vital again.

I believe that part of the problem is the lack of prayer in our churches. And, I believe that much of the solution to our problems will be found and implemented through prayer. So, from the Word of God, let’s ask and answer the question, “if Christianity is dying, how then should we pray?”

Psalm 80 is a prayer of desperation by the people of Israel.

This passage comes from the heart of those who have seen and experienced God’s presence and power in the past, but who are no longer having those same experiences. Realizing the terrible change in their circumstances, they long to get back into fellowship with God. They long to experience the power and presence of God as they had before.

Let’s look at this prayer as a model for the church. I believe we need to adopt these words as a prayer of our own if the church is to have a future, and not a funeral. So, how then should we pray?

We must pray for revival.

This psalm starts out by saying, “Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, thou that leadest Joseph like a flock; thou that 28

dwellest between the cherubims, shine forth. Before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh stir up thy strength, and come and save us. Turn us again, O God, and cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved.”

The Psalmist refers to the days of the past when he remembers God leading the children of Israel like a shepherd leads a flock of lambs. He asks God to “shine forth” — to hold up a guiding light for His people — that they may follow in His path. He is admitting that the children of Israel have lost their way. They are stumbling around in the darkness.

Like the children of Israel, many churches have lost their way as well. We are ineffective and spiritually dead. We need to be revived. The word “revive” means to be made alive again. Just as the children of Israel were revived when they turned back to God, the church today will be revived when we return to following God in every way.

The writer of this Psalm mentions the tribes of Ephraim, Benjamin and Manasseh. These three tribes were the first three tribes that followed immediately behind the Ark of the Covenant when the children of Israel journeyed in the wilderness. The Ark of the Covenant was a symbol of God’s presence with His people, and as long as the children of Israel followed God, His light would shine on them and show them the way that they needed to go.

A.T. Pierson said, “From the Day of Pentecost, there has not been one great spiritual awakening in any land which has not begun in a union of prayer, though only among two or three; no such outward, upward movement has

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continued after such prayer meetings have declined.”

We need God to shine on us today. We need to return to following after Him like sheep follow their shepherd. We desperately need to be revived, and we ought to make it our business to pray for revival.

We must pray in repentance.

Listen to how the Psalmist prays: “O Lord God of hosts, how long wilt thou be angry against the prayer of thy people? Thou feedest them with the bread of tears; and givest them tears to drink in great measure. Thou makest us a strife unto our neighbours: and our enemies laugh among themselves. Turn us again, O God of hosts, and cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved.”

We see here that the psalmist is acknowledging God’s punishment of His people for their sins. How is God punishing them?

1. He is not answering their prayers. That is why the psalmist asks, ‘How long will thou be angry against our prayer? How long will you refuse to hear our petitions?’

God will not answer prayers of a people who are in sin.

2. There is much sorrow in the nation. They ‘eat the bread of tears and drink tears in great measure.’ Perhaps the people are grieving over loved ones whom they have lost or over the general state of affairs in the nation.

3. They have been shamed among their enemies.

Whereas Israel was once a proud and prosperous nation, 30

now they have been brought low, and their enemies laugh at them behind their backs.

All of these sorrows cause the Psalmist to cry out, “Lord, turn us again.” The word repent simply means to turn around. It means to stop going in the direction in which you are going. And, here we have an interesting prayer for repentance. Instead of promising to turn themselves around, the psalmist asks God to turn them around. He is saying, “Lord, YOU turn us away from what we have been doing. YOU restore us to what YOU want us to be.” This prayer is given in a spirit of total surrender — a spirit that says, “Not my will, but thine, O Lord.”

Charles G. Finney said, “Repentance is a change of willing, of feeling and of living, in respect to God.” If the church wants to be restored today, we have to repent of our sins wholeheartedly. We have to turn from what we are doing which brings down God’s punishment. We have to stop holding on to our sins and let God turn us back to Himself.

We have to be totally surrendered and committed to Him. When we are willing to say, “turn us again, O God of hosts” then God’s face will shine on us and we will be restored.

So, the dying church must pray for revival, and we must also pray in repentance.

We must pray in righteousness.

The Psalmist goes on to say, “Let thy hand be upon the man of thy right hand, upon the son of man whom thou madest strong for thyself. So will not we go back from thee: quicken us, and we will call upon thy name. Turn us 31

again, O Lord God of hosts, cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved.”

The Psalmist focuses on one who sits at the right hand of God. Who is this “man of God’s right hand”? Scholars differ on the identity of this man, but many believe that it is a reference to Jesus Christ. We know from the New Testament that Jesus Christ sits on the right hand of God in Heaven. Adam Clarke writes, “The only person who can be said to be at the right hand of God as intercessor is Jesus the Messiah. Let him become our Deliverer... By Him alone can we find mercy; through Him alone can we ever be reconciled to God.” To pray in righteousness means to be covered in a right standing with God. And the only way to be in a right standing with God is through Jesus Christ. It is not our righteousness which we are striving for. Our righteousness only leads to legalism and pharisaism. We have too much of that in the church today. We must place our focus on the righteousness of Christ which He gives to us when we accept Him as Savior, because our righteousness — the good we do within ourselves — is as filthy rags.

Praying with righteousness is praying in the name of Jesus, praying the same way Jesus would pray, resolving against sin, resolving never to turn away from God again.

We must put the focus on the cross in our preaching, in our worship, in our serving, and in our praying. For it is only at the cross where we will find true righteousness which will lead to revival and God’s blessings returning upon us. It is only by the cross that we will draw sinners into the fold of God.

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I believe that Christianity in America can be revived. To answer Mark Driscoll’s question, I believe God intends for His people to have a future, and not a funeral. But, it is only through true prayer, true repentance, and true revival that we will get there.

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3 Praying to God Outside of the Box TEXT: Psalm 84:8-9 8 O Lord God of hosts, hear my prayer: give ear, O God of Jacob. Selah.

9 Behold, O God our shield, and look upon the face of thine anointed.

In Canada, there is a village along the Rideau Lake system. This village now only has a population of about a hundred people, but it was once a bustling town centered around a series of rapids flowing between two lakes.

Because of the difference in elevation between the lakes, a dam and a lock had to be built in this town. The dam held back the water and created a fast-flowing series of rapids that provided the energy to run mills. Farmers from miles around came to the town to use these mills, and it grew, quickly becoming one of the most important towns along the Rideau.

The importance of the town was inseparable from the dam. It was this dam that held back the water, confining it and then allowing it to be released with the power to drive 35

the mills. Without the dam, the town would have been no more important than any of the others along the canal.

Many Christians, whether we admit it or not, whether we actually realize it or not, have dammed God up. We have erected barriers around who we believe God is and what we believe God can do. And, it is this tendency that causes us not to pray big prayers or to pray and not really expect our prayers to be answered.

When we pray, we need to see God, not for Who we have made Him out to be or for Who we feel comfortable praying to, but as the God Who the Bible says He is — God outside of the box.

We must see God as the eternal Creator.

The authors of this psalm are identified as “the sons of Korah.” They are the descendants of the third son of Aaron, the head of the priestly tribe of Levi. During the reign of king David, they became great leaders in choral and orchestral music in the Tabernacle and later in the Temple during the reign of King Solomon.

Three of the “sons of Korah” mentioned by name in Scripture were Heman, who was a singer, Asaph, who wrote several of the psalms, and Ethan. These individuals played an important role in the celebrations when the Ark of the Covenant was brought to Jerusalem. Through the sons of Korah, David set up an elaborate organization for song and instrumental music. The sons of Korah wrote 25 of the Psalms.

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In verse 8 of this psalm, they address God as the “LORD God of hosts” and ask Him to “hear my prayer.” This name for God implies God’s role as creator of the universe.

The first Hebrew word, Jehovah, means “the eternally existing One.” “Jehovah” is God’s proper name, and out of respect for the holiness of this name, the Jews never used it in verbal speech, and when they wrote it down, they wrote down only the consonants. So, we really don’t know how it is pronounced. But, this name essentially defines God as the only being who exists without the aid or assistance of any other being or substance. God alone can claim this status.

You and I depend on other things for our existence. For example, we would not have been born without our mother and father. We have a beginning and an end. According to LiveScience, humans can survive without food for only three weeks, without water for only three days, and without air for only three minutes. We depend on these things to survive. But, God depends on no one and nothing to sustain His existence.

When we pray to God, we must see Him as the selfexistent Creator who is not bound by anyone or anything.

He is the “Lord” — the eternally existent One. He is not bound by time and space. He is the Master of it. He can answer our prayers in extraordinary ways.

The second name used for God is “Elohim.” This is translated as “God” in our English Bibles, and it means “ruler” or “judge.” Not only is God “Jehovah” — the eternally

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existent One — but, He is also “Elohim” — the one who is in control of all things. Nothing happens without God’s knowledge or permission. If you are in a bad situation, you can rest assured that God already knows about it. If you are going to get out of that bad situation, you can rest assured that it is only going to happen with God’s authority and permission.

Through prayer, we must recognize God as the One who is in control. When things do not go our way, we do not need to get angry at God. We do not need to try to bend His will to ours. As we seek solutions to our problems through prayer, we must not fall into the trap of putting limits on God. We may want God to answer our prayer one way, but He may have a totally different outcome planned, and we must learn to be content with that. We must learn to be content with God outside of the box. We must come to terms with God as the eternal Creator who is in control of all things.

We must see God as the committed Covenantor.

The sons of Korah pray, “O Lord God of hosts, hear my prayer: give ear, O God of Jacob.” They address God as the “God of Jacob.” Jacob was one of the patriarchs of the Hebrew race. Some in the Old Testament often prayed to God as the “God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.” What did it mean for the sons of Korah and others to refer to God as the “God of Jacob”?

When they said, “God of Jacob,” they were identifying God as a committed Covenanter. You see, all the way back in Genesis, God had made a promise to Abraham, Isaac, 38

and Jacob — that He would be their God and that He would bless them and protect them and their descendants.

When the sons of Korah prayed to the “God of Jacob”, they were reminding themselves that God keeps His promises and that God does not lie.

When we pray, we ought to make a habit of reminding ourselves of the promises that God has made in Scripture.

Much has been said and written about ‘praying God’s promises’ in order to increase our faith and confidence in Him. Renee Swope wrote in her bestselling book, “A Confident Heart”: “One way God tells us that confidence will come is when we ask Him for what is already part of His will. ‘And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask anything according to his will, he heareth us.’ We can be confident we are praying God’s will when we pray God’s Word. When we pray God’s words, the Holy Spirit engraves them on our hearts and writes them in our thoughts. We internalize God’s truth and our faith grows as we are transformed from the inside out!’

In the Bible, God says, “Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and show thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.” He says, “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.” He also says, “What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.”

These are promises that God has made to believers.

When we pray, we ought to remind ourselves of these promises and of God’s role as a committed Covenantor.

When He makes a promise, when He enters into a

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Covenant with His people, we can rest assured that He will keep His promises. Not only is He the eternal Creator, but He is the committed Covenantor.

We must see God as our personal protector.

In verse 9, we read, “Behold, O God our shield, and look upon the face of thine anointed.” The sons of Korah have shifted the focus of the prayer from a broad perspective to a very specific perspective. First, they addressed God as the creator and controller of the universe, then they addressed God as the committed covenantor of the children of Israel, now, they address God as the personal protector of “thine anointed.” The ‘anointed’ one referred to in this verse is likely King David or King Solomon. The psalmists are asking God’s protection upon the king.

Prayer becomes real to us when we begin to view God in personal terms. We must begin to say that God is my protector, my provider, my strong tower, my refuge, and my strength. It is easy for most of us to think about God in historical or biblical terms — as a divine force who worked on behalf of the saints of the past. But, as the sons of Korah do, we must begin to see God as being in the midst of our present circumstances.

Just as He worked for the saints of the Bible, He is available to work on our behalf as well. He is available to provide for us and protect us. We must learn to pray to Him with the knowledge that He is near to us. Verse 11 states, “For the Lord God is a sun and shield: the Lord will give grace and glory: no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly.”

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When we fail to see God on a personal level, we are more likely to give in to fear and give up on prayer. Brownlow North said, “If people believed that there was a real, existing, personal God, they would ask Him for what they wanted, and they would get what they asked. But they do not ask, because they do not believe or expect to receive.�

When we go to God in prayer, we are asking a personal God for personal desires, and we ought to expect a personal answer.

This psalm challenges our view of God. Have you put God in a box? Do you have a limited perspective of who God is and what He can do? Is your lack of belief in God hindering your prayers from being answered? Are you praying small prayers expecting small things instead of praying big prayers and expecting big things from God? As we close, I want to challenge you to pray to God outside of the box. Pray to God who is the eternal creator. Pray to God who is the committed covenantor. And pray to God who is your personal protector. He can and will answer your prayers.

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4 Stepping Stones to Successful Prayer TEXT: Psalm 86:1-7 1 Bow down thine ear, O Lord, hear me: for I am poor and needy.

2 Preserve my soul; for I am holy: O thou my God, save thy servant that trusteth in thee.

3 Be merciful unto me, O Lord: for I cry unto thee daily.

4 Rejoice the soul of thy servant: for unto thee, O Lord, do I lift up my soul.

5 For thou, Lord, art good, and ready to forgive; and plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon thee.

6 Give ear, O Lord, unto my prayer; and attend to the voice of my supplications.

7 In the day of my trouble I will call upon thee: for thou wilt answer me.

From this psalm of David, we can gain three insights into how to pray to get our prayers answered. These insights are not means by which we bargain with God. God does not operate that way. As C.S. Lewis expressed in his Reflections on the Psalms, ‘If we have any sort of bargain

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in mind, any idea that we could somehow put God in our debt, this idea must be expunged from our minds.’ God owes us nothing. We owe God everything.

So, we are not going to try to remind God of his promises, but we are going to remind ourselves of God’s promises as a means of building up our faith and trust in Him. When we pray, the devil will whisper lies about God’s character to us to try and make us not believe God’s promises.

So, here are the three stepping stones to prayer success.

The first stepping stone to successful prayer is realizing that you are poor and needy.

This is the first thing David says in his prayer. “Bow down thine ear, O Lord, hear me: for I am poor and needy.” You have to admit that you are a person in need.

Often, we come to God with a proud spirit. We act as though we deserve something from God or as though He owes us something. But, the fact of the matter is, we are poor and needy, and God has what we need.

He owns the cattle on a thousand hills. As the song says, “He’s got the whole world in his hands.” Whatever you need, God has it. God is not trying to keep things from you. As Paul wrote in Philippians 4:19, “My God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.”

In its early days, Dallas Theological Seminary was in critical need of $10,000 to keep the school going. One 44

day, during a prayer meeting, renowned Bible teacher Harry Ironside, who was a lecturer at the school, prayed, “Lord, you own the cattle on a thousand hills. Please sell some of those cattle to help us meet this need.” Shortly after the prayer meeting, a check for $10,000 arrived at the school, sent days earlier by a friend who had no idea of the urgent need or of Ironside’s prayer. The man simply said the money came from the sale of some of his cattle!

God wants to provide for your needs. If we look down in verse 5, David says, “For thou, Lord, art good...” God is good, gracious, and merciful. He only requires that we ask Him for our daily needs. We must truly realize that we are nothing without Him. If we cannot live unless He continues to allow us to breath, how can we expect to live without asking Him for what we need?

The first stepping stone to success in prayer is to humble ourselves and realize that we are poor and needy.

The second stepping stone to successful prayer is being a godly servant.

In verse 2, David prayed, “Preserve my soul; for I am holy:..”

“Holy” simply means godly. All of the children of Israel were called to live a life that was consecrated and set apart unto God. David was living such a life — so much so that God called him “a man after God’s own heart.” Once again, David is not trying to guilt trip God into giving Him what he wants by saying, ‘Lord, I have faithfully served you, so I deserve this answer to prayer.’ For David, this is simply a statement 45

of fact. He is on God’s side. He is on God’s team. He is not a perfect man, but his heart is in the right place.

Now, if David was living in sin at the time when he wrote this Psalm, he would not have been able to say, “I am holy.” Why? Because if you have sin that you are continuing to do in your life, God will not hear your prayers. If you are living in rebellion to God, God will not hear your prayers.

Those issues must be dealt with first before we can have a successful prayer life.

How do we deal with those things? Well, very simply, we confess them as sin and forsake them. We let God know that we are sorry for the wrong things that we have done and that we want to get into a right relationship with him. If we look down at verse 5 of this passage, we will find that God is “ready to forgive; and plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon” Him. David found that out. Many saints of the past and present can testify to that.

God wants to bless us in ways we have never dreamed of. However, we must realize that we need his help, and we must be godly servants to Him.

The third stepping stone to successful prayer is consistency.

Let’s look at verse 3; it says, “Be merciful unto me, O Lord: for I cry unto thee daily.” Notice the word, “daily” This tells us that David was not inconsistent in his prayer life. He had an ongoing conversation with God. He is not like so many of us who only come running to God when things are going bad. If we read through the psalms, we will find 46

David talking to God when things are going bad and when things are going good.

John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, spent two hours in prayer every day. Martin Luther said, “I have so much business to do I cannot get on without spending three hours daily in prayer.” The question for you and I today is, are you consistent in prayer? Are you one of those who cries out daily to God? In Luke 18, Jesus Christ told the story of the unjust judge and the persistent widow who kept crying out for justice.

Day after day, the widow came until the judge said, “Though I fear not God, nor regard man; Yet because this widow troubleth me, I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me.” The point of this parable is not to say that God is like the unjust judge — stingy and unwilling to give.

Rather, it is to show that WE ought to be like the widow and that God is NOT like the unjust judge. As verse 5 of our passage states, “God is plenteous” — overflowing and abundant — in His mercy.

Consistency is one of the stepping stones to answered prayers. I would encourage you to get on a prayer schedule. Set a time, or several times, a day where you will stop everything else that you are doing and pray to God. If you are married or if you have children, then I would encourage you to make it a time of family prayer. Whatever the case, make a committment to spending time with God every day.

In closing, these are three stepping stones to a successful prayer life. If you have these three things in order, I believe

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you can expect an answer from God. David was confident that God would answer his prayers. He said, “Give ear, O Lord, unto my prayer; and attend to the voice of my supplications. In the day of my trouble I will call upon thee: for thou wilt answer me.” David is certain about it. He is not unsure or hesitating. He says, ‘in the day of trouble, I know You will answer me.’

Right now people around the world are experiencing days of trouble. In the Philippines, thousands have died and thousands more have lost everything they owned due to tsunamis. They have experienced a day of trouble. In Vietnam and South Africa, flooding from storms has left thousands of people homeless and in shelters. They have experienced a day of trouble. During an outbreak of tornadoes in the Midwest, hundreds of people had all that they owned taken away from them. They experienced a day of trouble. And you and I have experienced or are experiencing days of trouble right now.

How do you deal with a day of trouble? First, you realize that you are poor and needy; you need something from God. Second, you must be an obedient servant of the Lord. Your day of trouble is not an excuse to abandon a godly lifestyle. Third, you must be in consistent communication with God every day. If you have these three things in order, you can have confidence like David and you can be certain that God will hear and answer your prayers.

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5 Praying Your Way Through the Depths of Despair TEXT: Psalm 88 1 O lord God of my salvation, I have cried day and night before thee: 2 Let my prayer come before thee: incline thine ear unto my cry; 3 For my soul is full of troubles: and my life draweth nigh unto the grave.

4 I am counted with them that go down into the pit: I am as a man that hath no strength: 5 Free among the dead, like the slain that lie in the grave, whom thou rememberest no more: and they are cut off from thy hand.

6 Thou hast laid me in the lowest pit, in darkness, in the deeps.

7 Thy wrath lieth hard upon me, and thou hast afflicted me with all thy waves. Selah.

8 Thou hast put away mine acquaintance far from me; thou hast made me an abomination unto them: I am shut up, and I cannot come forth.

9 Mine eye mourneth by reason of affliction: Lord, I have called daily upon thee, I have stretched out my

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hands unto thee.

10 Wilt thou shew wonders to the dead? shall the dead arise and praise thee? Selah.

11 Shall thy lovingkindness be declared in the grave? or thy faithfulness in destruction?

12 Shall thy wonders be known in the dark? and thy righteousness in the land of forgetfulness?

13 But unto thee have I cried, O Lord; and in the morning shall my prayer prevent thee.

14 Lord, why castest thou off my soul? why hidest thou thy face from me?

15 I am afflicted and ready to die from my youth up: while I suffer thy terrors I am distracted.

16 Thy fierce wrath goeth over me; thy terrors have cut me off.

17 They came round about me daily like water; they compassed me about together.

18 Lover and friend hast thou put far from me, and mine acquaintance into darkness.

During the Fall and Winter seasons, many people experience feelings of depression and gloom. Doctors call it “seasonal affective disorder” or SAD. According to the Mayo Clinic, people begin showing “symptoms of this disorder in the fall and may continue into the winter months, sapping their energy and making them feel moody.” This seasonal depression is also attributed to the fact that the amount of sunlight during the day is declining. Because our side of the earth is now tilted away from the sun, the sun takes longer to rise and is quicker to set.

Consequently, there is more darkness during this time of the year.

Some other reasons why people have these kinds of 50

feelings during this time of the year are: 1. Many people are remembering family members whom they have lost either by death, or by divorce, or by separation. For some reason or another, their family is not together.

2. Many people are truly lonely. They simply don’t have anyone to share the holidays with. They don’t have anyone to give gifts to or anyone who will give gifts to them. They see other people rushing home to be with family members and friends, and they have no one to rush home to.

3. Many Christian people do not have their hearts right with God, and they are pretending to be joyful and happy.

They are not truly joyful in their hearts because of sin in their lives.

All of us are familiar with feelings of depression, sadness, grief, and loss. Sometimes, we get to the point of utter despondency. The word “despondent” means “in low spirits from loss of hope or courage.” This is the type of feeling we get from the writer of Psalm 88.

This writer is identified as a man named He-man (HEmen). According to the Jewish Encyclopedia, Heman (HEmen) was the grandson of the prophet Samuel. He is identified as “the singer”. He was one of the three chief Levites appointed by David to oversee the musical service in the Tabernacle. He had fourteen sons, all of whom assisted in the choir under their father.

Psalm 88 is a lament — it begins and ends on a note of

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sadness. Derek Kidner writes, “There is no sadder prayer in the Psalter. Here, as with other laments, the reader’s part need not be that of spectator, whatever his current mood, but that of companion in prayer to the depressed or outcast people whose state of mind the psalm puts into words: words which are for use.”

We do not know the reason why Heman was in the depths of despair. Some have suggested that Heman contracted leprosy and had to live outside of the city — away from his family and his work as a servant of the Lord. However, this Psalm is categorized as a “Maschil” (MAS-KILL) — a psalm meant for instruction. Heman does not want us to just mourn with him, but to learn a lesson from his experience in the depths of despair. In this Psalm, there are three lessons that I believe God wants us to learn.

Sometimes, God allows us to descend to the depths of despair.

As he begins his lament, Heman cries out: “O Lord God of my salvation, I have cried day and night before thee: Let my prayer come before thee: incline thine ear unto my cry.”

Whatever he is asking God for, it seems as though he has asked over and over again, day and night, and has not received an answer. Have you ever felt that way, where you pray day and night, hour after hour, and yet it feels as though the prayers you send up are getting returned to you marked as “Undeliverable”? Even though you believe what the Bible says — that God hears our prayers — it does not feel that way.

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Instead, like Heman says in verse 3, life is “full of troubles.”

It feels as though your life is “drawing nigh unto the grave.”

Why does God allow us to feel this way sometimes? My friend, I can’t answer that question. Heman does not give an answer to that question in his psalm, but it is good to know that we are not alone when we are in the depths of despair.

After Elijah had called down fire from Heaven, and had killed all the false prophets of Baal, he got word that Queen Jezebel was determined to kill him by sundown the next day. Elijah was afraid. Yes, this great man of God, who had just done wonders by the power of God, was shaking in his boots. He thought for sure that he was going to be killed. So, he ran for his life. He ran for a whole day until he reached the southern-most location in Israel — the town of Beersheba. He left his servant there and he ran for a day into the wilderness. By that time, he was so tired and despondent that he slumped down by a juniper bush and the Bible says, “he requested for himself that he might die.” He said, ”It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life.” Elijah — God’s prophet — had reached the depths of despair.

Elijah is not the only one. Naomi felt as though she was in the depths of despair when she lost her husband and both of her sons. David felt it when he and his men returned to Ziklag and found that their wives and children had been kidnapped and the city burned to the ground. Hagar experienced it when she was kicked out of her home by Sarah and sent out into the wilderness alone with her young son. Solomon experienced it when he looked around and saw that life was futile. And Jesus Christ — who was “in

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all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin” — experienced the depths of despair in the Garden of Gethsemane.

When you experience the depths of despair, don’t make the mistake of thinking that God is finished with you or that God has abandoned you. That is what the devil wants you to believe. Understand that God is at work as He has always been. He is allowing you to go through a period of darkness for a reason.

The loneliness of separation ought to draw us closer to God. Heman says in verse 4: “I am counted with them that go down into the pit: I am as a man that hath no strength.”

When we are in the depths of despair, we will feel separated from all that we know and enjoy.

First, Heman felt separated from life itself. He said in verse 5, I am “forsaken among the dead”; I am “like the slain that lie in the grave, whom thou rememberest no more.”

Heman was living and breathing, but he felt as though he were as good as dead.

Heman felt separated from his friends and family. He said in verse 8, “Thou hast put away mine acquaintances far from me; thou hast made me an abomination unto them: I am shut up, and I cannot come forth.” This man’s family and friends did not want to have anything to do with him.

They had abandoned him.

Thirdly, and perhaps, most devastating, Heman felt 54

separated from the favor of God. He felt as though God’s hand of punishment was on him. In verse 7 he said, “Thy wrath lieth hard upon me, and thou hast afflicted me with all thy waves.” In verse 9, he once again laments the fact that his prayers are going unanswered. He says, “Mine eye mourneth by reason of affliction: Lord, I have called daily upon thee, I have stretched out my hands unto thee.”

Of all the ways one can feel separated, this third way — being separated from the favor of God — has to be the worst that one can experience. But, even when we feel the loneliness of separation, we must choose to rest on God’s promises and not on our feelings. And what does God promise us?

Romans 8:38-39 says, “Neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” That is a promise. It is not based on our feelings of despair and despondency. It is not even based on our feelings of happiness and joy. It is a promise that is true no matter how we may feel at any particular time.

Another promise we must keep in mind is found in Jeremiah 33:3. God says, “Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.”

God could be allowing you to be in the depths of despair right now. You may feel like you are separated from life itself and separated from family and friends. But, you do

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not have to feel separated from God. Cling to His promises. Allow your loneliness and separation to draw you closer to Him. As someone once said, “You never know God is all you need until God is all you have.”

Understand that there is always light at the end of the tunnel.

In verse 13 of this psalm, we see a glimmer of hope in the midst of his despair. Heman has not given up crying out to God even though he has yet to receive an answer, and in verse 13 he says, “But unto thee have I cried, O Lord; and in the morning shall my prayer prevent thee.”

Don’t let that word “prevent” trip you up. Heman is not saying his prayer will keep God from coming to rescue him. The Hebrew word for “prevent” is “ka-dam”. It means “to meet, to come, or to be in front of.” Heman is saying, “Lord, no matter what happens, in the morning my prayer is going to be right in front of you. My prayer is going to meet you. I’m not going to give up praying. I’m going to keep crying out to You. Lord, I’m going to keep on praying.

I’m not going to give up.”

In the midst of his despair, his negative feelings, and his separation from family and friends, Heman finds a way to cling to life. He finds a way to continue living through the depths of despair. He saw a light at the end of his tunnel.

There was an old archaeologist who was exploring the ruins of an ancient city. One day, he left his team to go and explore a part of the ruins that they had not explored yet.

As he was climbing over the crumbling stone walls, he 56

lost his footing, and fell into a very deep well. The well was so deep that it was dark at the bottom. The well was so deep that when he yelled for help, nobody heard him. So, he thought to himself, ‘they will realize I’m missing by dinner time and they will come looking for me.’ So, he sat and waited.

Pretty soon, the sun set and the darkness around him increased. He started worrying that everybody had forgotten about him. But, after a few more hours, he heard footsteps among the ruins. The members of his team were yelling his name. They were looking for him. He yelled out to let them know where he was.

Finally, they located his position, and dropped a rope ladder down into the well. The rope swung around and around the well until it smacked the man in the face. He grabbed hold of it and started to climb. It seemed like it was taking a long time to get to the top. His arms got weaker. He began to pant for breath. Finally, he yelled up, “I can’t go any further.” His team said, “You’re almost there.

Keep coming.” The man said, “I can’t see anything. It’s too dark down here.” So, one of the team members got a flashlight and shined it down into the well. To the old archaeologist it looked like a speck of light, no larger than his fingernail. But it was enough.

He kept climbing. And, little by little, the light got brighter and stronger. And then he reached the top. He was able to continue his journey out of the depths of the well because he saw a light at the end of his tunnel.

That is what you and I need to understand today. No matter

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how we feel, no matter how dark our situation may be, no matter how lonely and separated from life, from others, or from God we think we are, we must find a rope to cling to and a light to fix our eyes upon.

Prayer is that rope. God is our light. Prayer is our lifeline to God. Like Heman, even though we may be in the depths of despair, we must never, never give up on prayer to God.

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6 3 Things to Consider When it Seems Like God is Silent TEXT: Psalm 102 1 Hear my prayer, O Lord, and let my cry come unto thee.

2 Hide not thy face from me in the day when I am in trouble; incline thine ear unto me: in the day when I call answer me speedily.

3 For my days are consumed like smoke, and my bones are burned as an hearth.

4 My heart is smitten, and withered like grass; so that I forget to eat my bread.

5 By reason of the voice of my groaning my bones cleave to my skin.

6 I am like a pelican of the wilderness: I am like an owl of the desert.

7 I watch, and am as a sparrow alone upon the house top.

8 Mine enemies reproach me all the day; and they that are mad against me are sworn against me.

9 For I have eaten ashes like bread, and mingled my drink with weeping.

10 Because of thine indignation and thy wrath: for

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thou hast lifted me up, and cast me down.

11 My days are like a shadow that declineth; and I am withered like grass.

12 But thou, O Lord, shall endure for ever; and thy remembrance unto all generations.

13 Thou shalt arise, and have mercy upon Zion: for the time to favour her, yea, the set time, is come.

14 For thy servants take pleasure in her stones, and favour the dust thereof.

15 So the heathen shall fear the name of the Lord, and all the kings of the earth thy glory.

16 When the Lord shall build up Zion, he shall appear in his glory.

17 He will regard the prayer of the destitute, and not despise their prayer.

18 This shall be written for the generation to come: and the people which shall be created shall praise the Lord.

19 For he hath looked down from the height of his sanctuary; from heaven did the Lord behold the earth; 20 To hear the groaning of the prisoner; to loose those that are appointed to death; 21 To declare the name of the Lord in Zion, and his praise in Jerusalem; 22 When the people are gathered together, and the kingdoms, to serve the Lord.

23 He weakened my strength in the way; he shortened my days.

24 I said, O my God, take me not away in the midst of my days: thy years are throughout all generations.

25 Of old hast thou laid the foundation of the earth: and the heavens are the work of thy hands.

26 They shall perish, but thou shalt endure: yea, all of them shall wax old like a garment; as a vesture shalt

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thou change them, and they shall be changed: 27 But thou art the same, and thy years shall have no end.

28 The children of thy servants shall continue, and their seed shall be established before thee.

The reason why I say “it seems like” God is silent is because as we will see, God is never really silent. He is simply trying to communicate with us in a different way. In other words, there is a reason for the “silence.”

When you find yourself in tragic circumstances, some of the best words you can hear is someone sincerely saying, “I know how you feel.” When you know someone else is suffering, sometimes, the best thing you can say is simply “I know how you feel”, if you truly do know how they feel — that is, if you have actually been where they are in life. It is amazing to realize that even today, with all of our technological advancement, with all of the knowledge we have gained from studying psychology, theology, and philosophy, we can still look at the pages of Scripture written thousands of years ago and find that the Word of God speaks to us today. It is as if the writers of the Bible are saying, in part, “I know how you feel.” Psalm 102 is one of those passages.

This passage is described as a lament — “a prayer of the afflicted when he is overwhelmed, and poureth out his complaint before Jehovah.” Have you ever felt overwhelmed by your circumstances? Then you can understand where the writer of this psalm is coming from.

We can identify with him and he with us.

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The only thing worse than feeling as though we are drowning in our circumstances is feeling as though we are drowning and that God is not responding to our cries for help. That is the predicament that we find this psalmist in. He is praying for help, he is calling for God’s assistance, but he is not receiving a response. It is like calling 9-1-1 and not getting an answer. This psalmist raises his lament because it seems as though God is silent.

Notice, however, that though this is a lament, it is not a complaint. The psalmist is not throwing in the towel; he is not giving up on God. Jason Jackson of The Christian Courier notes that “While laments of a similar structure can be found in Babylonian literature, the laments of the Psalms are inspired. They are not to be construed as rambling complaints, but the songs are from-the-soul prayers to God. Their writers seek for divinely approved solutions in the management and resolution of real problems.”

With that in mind, I want us to look at this passage and consider briefly three things that we ought to consider when we are faced with what seems like the silence of God.

God’s silence ought to serve as a reminder that God is sovereign.

After several verses of lament, the psalmist turns his focus from his own real life problems to what he knows about God. In verse 10 he says, “Thou hast lifted me up, and cast me down... but thou, O Lord, shall endure for ever.”

The psalmist notes his own fragility as opposed to God’s 62

strength. He contrasts his own temporary life with God’s permanent, eternal existence. The psalmist is saying, ‘God is God, and I am not. I am not in control. He is.’ When it seems as though God is silent, when it seems as though God is not answering our prayers, this is an important thing to remember. God does not work by our clocks. He is not our genie in a bottle. He will speak when, where, and how He chooses, and not just whenever we ask for it.

The psalmist says, “Of old hast thou laid the foundation of the earth: and the heavens are the work of thy hands. They shall perish, but thou shalt endure... Thou art the same, and thy years shall have no end.” In the midst of his lament, in the midst of his prayer to God, in the midst of his grappling with the silence of his Creator, the psalmist affirms the sovereignty and eternality of God. He knows that God is in control and can resolve his situation whenever He chooses to do so.

John Piper said, “God delights in our prayers because it reflects the dependence of His creatures upon Him.” We need God. He does not need us. What seems like God’s “silence” sends a message blaring into our minds that we are not in control.

If you are one of those who gets a feeling of hopelessness when it seems like your prayers are not being answered, that feeling ought to make us realize that we cannot control even the most earthly of affairs. Thus, we must acknowledge what the Psalmist acknowledges and that is that God is the one who lifts us up and casts us down.

But, he Himself, will endure forever. He is sovereign.

God’s silence ought to serve as a reminder of 63

God’s presence.

Just because God is silent, it does not mean that God is absent. The psalmist goes on to say, “This shall be written for the generation to come: and the people which shall be created shall praise the Lord. For he hath looked down from the height of his sanctuary; from heaven did the Lord behold the earth.”

Just because you may not hear God’s answer to your prayer at a particular time, it does not mean that God is not present. God is always present. He is everywhere at all times. He cannot help but be present. In the very next verse, the psalmist goes on to tell us the reason why God is present — why God is looking down “from the height of his sanctuary.” That reason is, “To hear the groaning of the prisoner; to loose those that are appointed to death.”

In other words, God is present to listen to and to work on behalf of those who need His help.

Through God’s silence we are often reminded of His reality.

You see, when everything is going well in our lives, we can easily get caught up in the flow of people and relationships and forget about God. Right now, we are in the midst of the Christmas holiday season. It is easy to get caught up in the hustle and bustle — going here and there, connecting with family and friends, making travel arrangements, squeezing in the last few hours of work before the holidays, worrying about what to buy for this person or that person, worrying about what somebody else will buy for us. In all that is going on, many people overlook the real reason for the season, and that is our celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ. It is during these 64

times that we take the presence of God for granted, and when we realize that we need Him, it seems as though He is nowhere to be found.

After the death of his wife, C.S. Lewis wrote a book titled, A Grief Observed. In the first chapter, he talked about the experience of feeling God’s presence when it seems like you don’t need Him and then not feeling God’s presence when it seems like you need Him the most. He said: “This is one of the most disquieting symptoms. When you are happy, so happy that you have no sense of needing Him, so happy that you are tempted to feel His claims upon you as an interruption, if you remember yourself and turn to Him with gratitude and praise, you will be — or so it feels — welcomed with open arms. But go to Him when your need is desperate, when all other help is vain, and what do you find? A door slammed in your face, and a sound of bolting and double bolting on the inside. After that, silence. You may as well turn away. The longer you wait, the more emphatic the silence will become.”

C.S. Lewis went on to say that he asked a friend about this matter, and his friend reminded him that “the same thing seems to have happened to Christ.” While hanging on the cross, Jesus cried out, ‘My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me?’ At that moment, Jesus — who proclaimed “I and my Father are one” — did not feel the presence of God the Father.

So, you see, it may indeed seem as though God is absent when He is silent, but God never pushes us out of His mind. He is always present. He is always “looking down from Heaven to behold the earth.” He promised to “never

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leave us nor forsake us.”

In those moments when we are expecting to hear from God, we must choose to allow His silence to actually be a reminder of His presence. You and I do not miss things that are not real. We do not long for things that do not exist. Thus, the reason why it is so painful when it seems as though God is silent is because we realize that we need His presence in our lives. The “silence” is a reminder that we long for Him, that we hunger for Him, that we thirst for Him. When God is silent, we must choose to believe that He is sovereign, and that He is present.

God’s silence ought to serve as a reminder that we need to pay attention to God’s voice.

You see, sometimes, the problem is not that God is not speaking, but that we are not listening to Him. In verses 21 & 22, the psalmist gives another reason why God looks down from Heaven. That reason is “To declare the name of the Lord in Zion, and his praise in Jerusalem; When the people are gathered together, and the kingdoms, to serve the Lord.”

If you are a parent or a teacher, you likely have had the experience of trying to explain something to your child or student, and even though they were standing right there in front of you hearing the words you were speaking, you realized that they were not “getting” what you were saying.

Either their mind was wandering and they were not paying attention to you, or they were unable to understand and 66

comprehend what you were saying. You see, hearing something is not the same as listening to something.

We hear thousands of sounds each day, but we only listen to those sounds that we intend on listening to, that we perceive to be important or of some use, or that we are naturally attuned to listen out for.

In verse 21, God looks down from Heaven to declare His name in Jerusalem. The word “declare” means to “talk of, to rehearse, or to recount” some action or some attribute.

As God is proclaiming His name in Jerusalem, notice where the “people” are: the “people and kingdoms” are gathered together “to serve the Lord.” The people are in a position that is in tune with God. They are in step with God’s action. While God is speaking in Jerusalem, they are in the act of serving Him. They are on the same page.

Many people simply don’t hear God’s voice because they are not in tune with Him. If you feel as though God is silent — as though He is not responding to your prayers — you must consider that you may not be in tune with His voice.

You may not be really listening to Him. In the late nineteenth century, a young Native American boy was attending Dartmouth College. Over Christmas vacation, his roommate invited him to come to his family’s home in New York City. The Indian boy, who had been raised on the frontier, had never been to such a big city before. One day they were walking down 5th Avenue, and he was just amazed at the hustle and bustle of the crowds, the carriages and the horses, and the big city sounds. But then all of the sudden the Indian boy stopped and said, “Listen. Do you hear that? It’s a cricket.” His roommate

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looked at him like he was crazy, wondering how he could hear the sound of a cricket chirping above all the big city noise. But the Indian boy ran across the street, ran up a flight of steps in front of an apartment building, leaned over into a flower box; and sure enough, there was a cricket. He was able to hear the cricket chirping because his ear was tuned to the frequency of nature.

Friend, the question today is, is your ear tuned to the frequency of God’s voice? Is your heart prepared to hear what God has to say, or is your heart set on only what you want? God does not always answer our prayers the way we want them to be answered, and if we are not prepared to receive whatever God’s answer is, then the fault lies with us when it seems that God is silent.

The question then becomes, how do we tune in to God’s voice? The answer is that we must make sure we are in the will of God. Just as the people of verse 22 are serving God and doing His will, we must make sure we are in the will of God ourselves — we must be serving Him and doing His will. God will not answer the prayers of one of His children who is persistently disobedient.

Additionally, you and I must get into the Word of God. As we do this, we will learn how God answered prayers in the past. We will see that sometimes He gave people what they desired in the way that they expected. We will see that at other times, He gave people what they desired in a way that they did not expect. And we will see that at still other times, He gave people something that they did not ask for entirely, or He gave them nothing at all.

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When God is silent, we must consider whether the real problem lies with us not listening to God’s voice. We must choose — in the midst of our despair, our questions, and our difficulties — to remember that God is sovereign and that God is present. In His “silence” He is truly trying to communicate with us.

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7 Should We Pray for God to Punish Our Enemies?

TEXT: Psalm 109:1-7 1 Hold not thy peace, O God of my praise; 2 For the mouth of the wicked and the mouth of the deceitful are opened against me: they have spoken against me with a lying tongue.

3 They compassed me about also with words of hatred; and fought against me without a cause.

4 For my love they are my adversaries: but I give myself unto prayer.

5 And they have rewarded me evil for good, and hatred for my love.

6 Set thou a wicked man over him: and let Satan stand at his right hand.

7 When he shall be judged, let him be condemned: and let his prayer become sin.

This passage is one of the great conundrums of Scripture.

It is one of those passages that makes us pause and consider what we think we know of God and the Bible.

The reason why is because, to put it simply, David is praying to God for trouble, for harm, for calamity to fall on

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others. This seems to go against all that we know about Biblical teachings and the Christian faith. We are more familiar with such words as, “love your enemies,” “bless those who curse you,” and “turn the other cheek.”

C.S. Lewis called this psalm an “unabashed hymn of hate.”

Charles Spurgeon said of Psalm 109, “Truly this is one of the hard places of Scripture, a passage which the soul trembles to read.” Yet, God, in His providence and wisdom allowed this psalm to be preserved for us today. As Spurgeon goes on to say, “it is a Psalm unto God, and given by inspiration, it is not ours to sit in judgment upon it, but to bow our ear to what God the Lord would speak to us therein.” Let’s see what the Lord would have us to take away from this passage.

The late South African leader, Nelson Mandela, could have very well prayed this prayer or one similar to it. He could identify with David. After being unfairly imprisoned for 27 years, Mandela could have become angry, bitter, and hateful to those who had put him in jail. He could have come out seeking revenge for what had been done to him. That would have been a very natural and human thing to do.

In this passage, David cries out to God about how his enemies are treating him. Scholars have suggested that this Psalm was one of those written while David was on the run from King Saul. Saul had been unjust in his dealings with David. He was jealous of God’s favor on David’s life and the favor that David found in the eyes of the people. He viewed David, who had never done him any wrong, as a threat and wanted to eliminate him. That

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is the kind of situation we are dealing with here.

In light of that, I want us to use three key words that will help us grasp and grapple with this difficult text.

The first key word that we will use to understand David’s prayer is “focus.”

Notice verse 1: “Hold not thy peace, O God of my praise...”

This verse tells us where David’s focus is.

Yes, his enemies have surrounded him. His enemies have rewarded the good that he has done to them with evil. His enemies are lying on him and slandering his name.

However, David is not focused on any of that. His focus is on God. He says, “O God, hold not thy peace. O God, speak.”

David wants to hear God’s voice amidst the clamor of those who hate him. For David, God’s word is like an anchor in the midst of the stormy seas of circumstance.

God’s word is a rock that He can cling to when times are tough. How many of you want to hear God speaking in the midst of your situation?

We see that before David even gets to what is called the “imprecatory” part of his prayer — the part in which he begins asking God to judge his enemies — David’s focus is not on his enemies. His focus is on God, and that is the right place for it to be. If you are focused on your enemies, you will only continue to grow more angry, afraid, spiteful and vengeful towards those who are against you.

However, if your focus is on God — on Someone who is 73

at the same time involved in and outside of your situation — you will begin to see your enemies the way He sees them. And God’s perspective just might be vastly different from yours. It all depends on where your focus lies.

When Nelson Mandela was released from prison, he chose to focus on doing good for the nation of South Africa, bringing the people of his country together, and moving them forward from the era of apartheid. He had his eyes on something bigger than getting back at his enemies.

That is why we remember him today. What you choose to focus on can and will make a big difference in your perspective on life.

David chose to focus on God’s voice in the midst of his troubles.

The second key word that we will use to understand David’s prayer is “foundation.”

As the false words of the wicked assail David’s character, as they continue to attack David without cause, David says in verse 4, “For my love they are my adversaries: but I give myself unto prayer.”

Not only does David have his focus on God’s word, but he is also in communication with God during this time.

His listening to God and talking to God are the basis for all that he does in this situation. That is his foundation.

David’s prayer for the punishment of the wicked is not a spur-of-the-moment, angry outburst. It is not a demand.

David has an ongoing relationship with God. He is a man of prayer and praise. He has praised God when things 74

were going well, and he has prayed to God when things were not going so well. He has a lifetime of petition to God on which to draw from.

William McGill said, “The value of consistent prayer is not that God will hear us, but that we will hear Him.” David is able to draw on God as his source, as his strength, and as his foundation. He is able to say, ‘I have consistently been a man of prayer.’

Another thing that forms the foundation of this type of praying in David’s life is not only his relationship with God, but his relationship with men. He says, “For my love they are my adversaries.” In other words, ‘even though I have shown love to them, they have become my enemies.’ Verse 5 says, “they have rewarded me evil for good, and hatred for my love.”

David had killed Goliath, had defeated the Philistines many times, and he had earned the respect and love of the nation of Israel. Yet, Saul hated him. On top of that, twice when David had the opportunity to kill Saul, he refused to do so. And, yet, Saul still hated him. Have you ever been in such a situation where no matter what good thing you do for someone, they still hate you?

Because of how David treated those who turned out to be his enemies, he was able to ask for God’s judgment on his enemies with a clear conscience. You see, you cannot pray this kind of prayer if you have been going tit-for-tat with those who are your enemies. If you are trying to fight back, if you are trying to ruin someone who has harmed you, then you cannot pray this prayer because you have

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already taken matters into your own hands.

David, however, left everything up to God. He knew that God was on the side of those who are right. Saul had an entire army, well fed and well trained, hunting him down.

David had a few hundred men holed up in a cave on the run. But he knew God blessed and protected those who stood for what is right David’s prayer regarding the punishment of his enemies is not based on feelings, fear, or fury. His prayer is founded simply in God’s character and his righteousness. God’s character is to defend those who are right and who depend on him. Throughout Scripture, we see God’s concern for “the fatherless and the widow.” God’s character is to bring justice into situations where there is injustice such as slavery, Jim Crow, apartheid, Russian communist oppression, etc. God’s character is to defend His servants who are committed to obeying Him as David was in this situation.

So we understand, as David is praying this prayer calling for God’s judgment on his enemies, he is praying from a place where he has the right focus — his focus is on God. God is the one Whom David wants to hear from during this time. So we see that David is also praying from a place where he has the right foundation — his foundation is his relationship with God that has been going on long before the current crisis. It is a relationship of prayer, righteous living, and love for those who have turned out to be his enemies. So, David is justified in calling for the punishment of the wicked.

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The third key word we will use to help us understand David’s prayer is “final act.”

Now, we move into the outcome of the matter. David prays for specific judgments upon his enemies. He says, “Let his days be few; and let another take his office. Let his children be fatherless, and his wife a widow… As he loved cursing, so let it come unto him: as he delighted not in blessing, so let it be far from him.” For 14 verses, David goes on asking God to punish his enemies. Then, we come to verse 20. This verse says, “Let this be the reward of mine adversaries from the Lord, and of them that speak evil against my soul.”

Once again, David returns his focus to God and away from his enemies. He has no desire to bring these calamities upon his enemies by his own hands. He is not seeking vengeance; he is asking for justice. He is not seeking personal retribution; he is seeking the removal of the wicked for the greater good.

Notice how David makes this request: He says, “Let this be the reward of mine adversaries from the Lord.” David leaves everything in God’s hands. That is the difference between David and some of us: When we pray, we have a will about things; when David prays, he expresses his desires, but he ultimately leaves everything up to God’s will.

There is nothing wrong with telling God truthfully how you feel. David — as shocking as it may seem to us today — apparently was having these feelings towards his enemies. If you were in his position, you would likely have 77

similar feelings. However, he knows that his feelings do not run the world, his feelings do not motivate God, and his feelings should not run his own life. Thus, his final act is to leave everything in God’s hands. If such punishment is meted out to his enemies, then it will be done by God, in His will and way. If it is not meted out, then David is willing to accept such a decision in obedience to God. We learn three things from this difficult psalm: (1) No matter what our enemies are doing, no matter what is going on around us, our focus should be on God. We ought not to allow our enemies to come between us and our relationship with God. We ought to want to talk to Him and hear from Him. (2) Our dealings with our enemies should be based on the foundation of God’s character and His willingness to defend those who depend upon the Lord and who are right. We also ought to live a lifestyle that is characterized by kindness to our enemies. We should never make the mistake of taking matters into our own hands.

(3) Our final act ought to be to place everything in God’s hands. Yes, through prayer, we can express our true feelings and desires to God — He already knows what they are anyway. But, we ought to do as David did and place everything in the Lord’s hands. We must be willing to say, “Let Your will be done.”

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8 Four Prayer Requests that God is Certain to Hear TEXT: Psalm 119:170-176 169 Let my cry come near before thee, O Lord: give me understanding according to thy word.

170 Let my supplication come before thee: deliver me according to thy word.

171 My lips shall utter praise, when thou hast taught me thy statutes.

172 My tongue shall speak of thy word: for all thy commandments are righteousness.

173 Let thine hand help me; for I have chosen thy precepts.

174 I have longed for thy salvation, O Lord; and thy law is my delight.

175 Let my soul live, and it shall praise thee; and let thy judgments help me.

176 I have gone astray like a lost sheep; seek thy servant; for I do not forget thy commandments.

Psalm 119 is the longest psalm in the book of Psalms.

Psalm 119 is also the chapter with the most verses in the Bible. As you may know, this psalm is in the form of an

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acrostic poem. An acrostic poem is one in which each line or each stanza begins with a letter of the alphabet.

Well, each of the stanzas of this psalm include eight couplets that begin with the same letter of the Hebrew alphabet. This is repeated 22 times for each letter of the Hebrew alphabet.

This is a very deep and detailed psalm. Charles Spurgeon wrote 400 pages of commentary on this psalm alone.

Thomas Manton, a Puritan preacher and writer, wrote a three-volume work on Psalm 119. Each volume is between 500 and 600 pages. Some great people have memorized this whole Psalm and found great blessing in doing so.

Among them are: John Ruskin, the 19th century British writer; William Wilberforce, the British politician who led the movement to abolish the slave trade in England; Henry Martyn, the pioneer missionary to India; and David Livingstone, the pioneer missionary to Africa.

If we were to look at this entire psalm, we would find that the overall theme of the psalm is God’s word or God’s law. The author of this psalm deems the Word of God most important. He wants us to understand that God’s Word should be the top priority in our lives.

For faithful Jews, the Law that God had given to Moses and the prophetic word that God gave through the prophets was paramount. If we were to look at this emphasis on God’s Word from a New Testament perspective, we must contemplate the fact that Jesus Christ is called “the Word” in John chapter 1. In Hebrews, we are told that the Word of God is like a living thing — “quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged

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sword.” Paul commands us to use the Word of God as an offensive weapon to resist the onslaught of Satan.

Furthermore, in the book of Revelation, John reveals that when Jesus Christ returns to earth to defeat the antichrist and the rebellious nations, he comes on a white horse “clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God.” The Word of God is very important. The late writer and professor Neil Postman famously pointed out in his classic treatise, Amusing Ourselves to Death, that the prohibition of graven images in the Ten Commandments suggests that the Judeo-Christian God is one who is to be known through rational, abstract language — the Word! As writer and Liberty University professor Karen Swallow Prior notes, ‘Christianity is a Word-centered faith. That term — “Word” — takes on layers of significance, all of which are meaningful and relevant to our faith. Because Christ is the Word and the Bible is God’s revealed Word, it is clear that Christians have a special calling to the understanding of the Word.’

Very briefly, I want us to look at four prayer requests that God is certain to hear from the last stanza of Psalm 119.

And, as we will see, the reason why God is certain to hear these prayer requests is because they are based on His Word.

The first prayer request that God is certain to hear is the prayer request for understanding according to His Word.

In verse 169, the psalmist says, “Let my cry come near 81

before thee, O Lord: give me understanding according to thy word.” Here, the psalmist’s request is for God to give him understanding.

The Hebrew word for understanding means to have discernment, knowledge, insight, or intelligence. The psalmist does not just want any kind of understanding. He wants understanding according to God’s Word. He wants the understanding and wisdom that he can only get from God. This is a prayer that you and I ought to pray more often because we are frequently faced with situations that are beyond our capacity to handle. Some things are above our pay grade. But, if we have God’s wisdom and understanding, we will be able to identify with this psalmist who declared in verse 99 of this psalm, “I have more understanding than all my teachers: for thy testimonies (thy Word) are my meditation.”

Not only do we need God’s understanding to face situations in our lives, but we need God’s understanding to interpret the Bible. Sometimes, we face the dilemma of trying to apply Biblical principles to real life situations. It is at these times when we need to ask God for His wisdom so that we will know how to rightfully divide the Word of truth and apply it to our lives because a wrong application of Scripture is just as dangerous as not applying it at all.

This is a prayer request that God will answer because it involves His Word. God wants us to understand His word.

God wants us to have wisdom based on the application of Scripture to our lives. That is why James said, “If any of

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you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.”

Do you want understanding of God’s Word? Do you want the wisdom to apply it to your life? Then ask God for it.

That is a prayer request He will certainly hear.

The second prayer request that God is certain to hear is the prayer request for deliverance according to God’s Word.

In verse 170, the psalmist prays, “Let my supplication come before thee: deliver me according to thy word.”

Once again, the psalmist makes a request, and once again, we find that it is tied to God’s Word.

The psalmist asks for deliverance from his predicament.

We do not know what his predicament was, but we do know that he only wanted to be delivered from it if that deliverance was consistent with God’s Word and God’s will. He was wise enough to understand that whatever He was going through, God may have a larger purpose in allowing him to go through it.

John Bridges notes in his commentary that the “Psalmist’s faith is feeding the flame of his supplication. Every petition is urged upon the warrant of a promise — according to thy word.” You can boldly ask God for anything as long as it is based on a promise from His Word. You can ask Him for deliverance, you can ask Him for healing, you can ask Him for strength, you can ask Him to supply your every need if you know that that request is in line with God’s Word and God’s will.

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Praying for an answer according to the word of God takes humility and faith. It takes your being able to say, ‘Not my will, but thine be done.’ That is a prayer request that God will certainly hear.

The third prayer request that God is certain to hear is the prayer request of one who has chosen to obey God’s Word.

In verse 173, the psalmist says, “Let thine hand help me; for I have chosen thy precepts.” Here again, the Psalmist asks for help from God, but the help he requests is contingent on something else. It is contingent on his choice for God’s “precepts.”

The Psalmist feels as though he can boldly ask for God’s help because he has chosen to love the precepts of God. “Precept” is simply another word for law. The psalmist had chosen to obey God’s law, and because of his obedience he had a humble expectation that God would bless him and answer his prayer.

Today, probably more than ever before, we live in a pluralistic, buffet-style society. Recent polling data shows that less people in this country believe in God today as compared to just a few years ago. People have the choice to follow a diverse array of belief systems and lifestyles.

Even the church of Satan has been in the news recently — and people are actually taking it seriously. Atheists are becoming bolder, putting up billboards telling people that they don’t need God in their lives — that they don’t need Christ in Christmas. Recently, the “Dear Abby” advice column published a letter from a young woman who was 84

seeking advice because she wanted to choose her own spiritual beliefs separate from the rest of her family who are Catholics.

What I’m saying is that, today, probably more than ever before, you have more choices as to what you believe and who you obey. When you place your faith and trust in God — when you choose to honor His Word, love His Word, and obey His precepts like the psalmist did — then, and only then, can you expect God to hear and answer your prayers.

The fourth prayer request that God is certain to hear is the prayer of one who is returning to His Word.

Verse 176 says, “I have gone astray like a lost sheep; seek thy servant; for I do not forget thy commandments.”

Despite his commitment to God’s Word, the psalmist admits that sometimes he does go astray. Even though he desires to do the right thing, sometimes, like Paul said in Romans, “For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.”

The psalmist says that even when he goes astray, even when he sins, he has not forgotten God’s Word. God’s Word brings conviction to his heart and it reminds him that he needs to return to obedience to God. So, he invites the Lord to seek him, to come and look for him, to not give up on him. Like a shepherd who goes to look for a lamb that has gone astray, the psalmist asks God to bring him back into the fold.

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This is a prayer that we all can pray at some time in our lives, and it is a prayer that God is certain to hear.

Based on this passage, there are four prayer requests that God will certainly hear: (1) the prayer request for understanding based on God’s Word; (2) the prayer request for deliverance according to God’s Word; (3) the prayer request of a person who has chosen to obey God’s Word; and (4) the prayer request of someone who has sinned and desires to return to obedience to God’s Word.

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9 Why We Should Pray for the Peace of Jerusalem TEXT: Psalm 122 1 I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the Lord.

2 Our feet shall stand within thy gates, O Jerusalem.

3 Jerusalem is builded as a city that is compact together: 4 Whither the tribes go up, the tribes of the Lord, unto the testimony of Israel, to give thanks unto the name of the Lord.

5 For there are set thrones of judgment, the thrones of the house of David.

6 Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: they shall prosper that love thee.

7 Peace be within thy walls, and prosperity within thy palaces.

8 For my brethren and companions’ sakes, I will now say, Peace be within thee.

9 Because of the house of the Lord our God I will seek thy good.

There are many reasons why we as Christians have a

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special regard for the land of Israel. The land of Israel is the birthplace of our faith. Most of the writers of the Bible lived at some time in the land of Israel. And, at this time of year, we remember that Jesus Christ was born in the land of Israel in the little town of Bethlehem.

This passage is a call to prayer for the city of Jerusalem, the capital of Israel. Most scholars agree that this psalm was written by David, the first king of Israel, who established the city of Jerusalem as the capital of the nation.

In this psalm, we are specifically called to “pray for the peace of Jerusalem.” The Hebrew word for peace is “shalom”. It is often used as a greeting in Israel. It is interesting to note that the name Jerusalem means “teaching of peace.” Ironically, Jerusalem has been anything but peaceful from Bible times until now. David took the city from the Canaanites who lived there, after that, it has been ruled by the Babylonians, the Persians, the Romans, the Muslims, the Turks, the British, the Jordanians, and now, it is back in the hands of the Jewish people. But the status of the city is still contested. Palestine says it wants Jerusalem for its capital, and many nations of the world have yet to recognize Jerusalem as the official, permanent capital of Israel.

Today, the call to pray for the peace of Jerusalem is more relevant than ever. This city, which was meant to be an example of peace — a teaching of peace — to the world, is in need of prayers from the rest of the world for its peace.

Of course, Psalm 122 was not written to a Christian

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audience. But, in this psalm, we find at least three reasons why we as Christians ought to pray for the peace of Jerusalem.

We ought to pray for the peace of Jerusalem because it is a place of God’s special presence.

David says in verse 1, “I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the Lord.” When David captured the city of Jerusalem and made it the capital of Israel, one of the things he was eager to do was bring the Tabernacle and the Ark of the Covenant, which symbolized the presence of God, into the city.

You might recall that David and the people were so eager to bring the Tabernacle and the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem that one man made a mistake and reached out to steady the Ark of the Covenant when the oxen, who were carrying it in a cart, stumbled. God’s anger was kindled because He had specifically commanded that no one except the Levites be allowed to touch the Ark of the Covenant. That first attempt to bring the Tabernacle and the Ark to Jerusalem was called off. However, later on, David made certain that everything was done right, and the Tabernacle and the Ark of the Covenant were brought into Jerusalem with great joy and dancing.

At that time, God blessed Jerusalem with his holy presence. Later on, when Solomon built the Temple, the Bible tells us that the glory of God filled the Temple. David and Solomon glorified God by bringing the symbols of His presence to Jerusalem, and God blessed Jerusalem with His holy presence.

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For many years, the Jews gathered from all parts of Israel and went up to Jerusalem to worship God and to celebrate the numerous feasts that God had set up as a part of the Mosaic law. These were joyous occasions where the people worshiped God, prayed, confessed sin, and asked for God’s blessings. As David testifies in verse 4, “the tribes go up, the tribes of the Lord, unto the testimony of Israel, to give thanks unto the name of the Lord.”

We as Christians ought to pray for the peace of Jerusalem because the Bible tells us that one day the special presence of God will once again abide there. Zechariah 8:20-22 tells us that during the Millennial Reign of Jesus Christ on this earth, “It shall yet come to pass, that there shall come people, and the inhabitants of many cities: And the inhabitants of one city shall go to another, saying, Let us go speedily to pray before the Lord, and to seek the Lord of hosts: I will go also. Yea, many people and strong nations shall come to seek the Lord of hosts in Jerusalem, and to pray before the Lord.” During that time, not only the Jews, but Gentiles will go up to Jerusalem to worship the Lord.

Our prayers for Jerusalem are representative of the hope that we have for the glory of God to fill that city once again.

Psalm 68:16 says that God has desired the mountain of Zion “for His abode” and that He intends to “dwell there forever.” Psalm 132:13-14 contains a similar promise: “The Lord has chosen Zion; He has desired it for His habitation. ‘This is my resting place forever; here I will dwell, for I have desired it.’”

Jerusalem, as God’s holy city, will be a place where not

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only the Jewish people, but all of God’s children will be gathered. In fact, if we look at the book of Acts, we will see that God’s presence came down to dwell permanently with the first believers of the New Testament era when the saints were gathered in an upper room in no other place but Jerusalem. Every Christian who is filled with the Holy Spirit has a connection to Jerusalem. It is a place of God’s special presence and we ought to pray for the peace of that city.

We ought to pray for the peace of Jerusalem because it is a place of God’s special power.

Verse 5 of this passage states, “For there are set thrones of judgment, the thrones of the house of David.” The word “thrones” denotes political power or judgment. Today, we sometimes refer to the building where government officials meet or the city where that building is located as “the seat of government.” The “seat” of government is representative of that nation’s power. David’s throne was of course literally set in Jerusalem, thus it was the seat of government for the nation of Israel. God invested power in David and his descendants to rule from Jerusalem.

In First Kings chapter 9, God reminds Solomon of his promise to David. He says, “I will establish the throne of thy kingdom upon Israel for ever, as I promised to David thy father, saying, There shall not fail thee a man upon the throne of Israel.” God has invested special governmental power in the city of Jerusalem. Many people have called Jerusalem the most contested piece of real estate in the world. Walter Laqueur, in his book Dying for Jerusalem:

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The Past, Present, and Future of the Holiest City, notes that according to the Book of Daniel, “He who controls Jerusalem controls the world.” That is why there is a constant struggle over who controls Jerusalem.

David’s throne was established there. And, based on God’s promise, a descendant of David will one day rule there, in peace and justice, once again. From New Testament passages, we know that this descendant of David will be the Messiah, Jesus Christ, who will reign when he returns to earth. We see here that what happens to Jerusalem is closely tied to the Second Coming of Christ. When Jesus returns, God’s presence will fill Jerusalem and God’s power will be in Jerusalem as Jesus Christ rules from the holy city.

How does this tie in with our prayers for the peace of Jerusalem? Well, when we as Christians pray for peace to reign in Jerusalem, we are praying for the second coming of Jesus Christ. Dr. David Reagan of Lamb & Lion Ministries said, when we “live praying for the peace of Jerusalem, we must realize that in doing so we are really praying for the return of the Lord, for Jerusalem will never experience true peace until the Prince of Peace returns.” Right now, as they have been doing for decades, the United States, the EU, and the UN are trying to get the Israelis and the Palestinians to make peace. But there will never be permanent peace in Jerusalem until Jesus Christ is seated on the throne of David. That is why we pray for the peace of Jerusalem; that is why we pray for the Second Coming: because we desire to see God’s power on display in this earth once again.

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We ought to pray for the peace of Jerusalem because it is the place of God’s special people.

In verse 8, David says, “For my brethren and companions’ sakes, I will now say, Peace be within thee.” David promises to pray for the people who live in Jerusalem and who come to Jerusalem regularly. As a king, he asks God for peace for the sake of the children of Israel. We ought to pray for the peace of Jerusalem and specifically for peace for the children of Israel.

God promised to give the Jews a permanent place in present-day Israel. But, if we look at Jewish history, we find that the Jews have been some of the most mistreated, abused, and maligned people in the history of the world. It seems as though everything that could go wrong on a national level has gone wrong. But, make no mistake, God’s hand is still upon His special people.

H.W. Charles, in his book The Money Code: Become a Millionaire With the Ancient Jewish Code said, “Jews are estimated to be less than 1% of the world’s population yet approximately 25% of the world’s billionaires are Jewish.” Everytime the Jews have been knocked down — by slavery in Egypt, by being carried away captive to Babylon, by extermination in Nazi Germany, by the constant threat of annihilation in Palestine — they have always bounced back. And God promises, right here in this psalm, that those who love the Jews will prosper.

The least we can do is pray for God’s chosen people.

They are a special people who have been a blessing to the world. One day, their struggle in the Promised Land 93

will be over. When Jesus Christ returns to reign on this Earth, He will give them all the land that He promised to Abraham, with Jerusalem as its capital.

As Christians, we have a special calling to pray for the peace of Jerusalem. Our own destiny as believers is intertwined with the destiny of the Jewish people. God’s presence dwelled with them as His Holy Spirit dwells with us. God’s power was invested in Jerusalem just as it will one day be invested in the New Jerusalem. And the Bible tells us that, as Gentile believers, we have been grafted into the house of Israel. When we pray for the peace of Jerusalem, we are praying not only for the blessing of the children of Israel, but for our own blessings as well.

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10 Prayer for the Pure Life TEXT: Psalm 141:1-5 1 Lord, I cry unto thee: make haste unto me; give ear unto my voice, when I cry unto thee.

2 Let my prayer be set forth before thee as incense; and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice.

3 Set a watch, O Lord, before my mouth; keep the door of my lips.

4 Incline not my heart to any evil thing, to practise wicked works with men that work iniquity: and let me not eat of their dainties.

5 Let the righteous smite me; it shall be a kindness: and let him reprove me; it shall be an excellent oil, which shall not break my head: for yet my prayer also shall be in their calamities.

We all remember King David as the person whom God said was a man after His own heart. Yet, when we think about David, most of us probably remember his transgressions more than we remember his victories. But, the reason why God blessed David is because He knew that David had his heart in the right place. Despite his failures, David desired to live a pure life that was pleasing to God. 95

This desire is reflected in many of David’s prayers recorded in the Psalms. He says in Psalm 51:10, “Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.” He also wrote, “Purify me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.” This desire for living a pure life is also shown in Psalm 141. We see in this psalm three prayer requests that David made that reflected his desire to live a life that was free from sin and evil. These are requests that we ought to make for our own lives. Let’s examine the prayer for the pure life.

David desired communication with the Lord.

In verse 1, David says, “Lord, I cry unto thee: make haste unto me; give ear unto my voice, when I cry unto thee.”

David was a man who was in communication with God. Through prayer, he talked to God, and he listened to God. Prayer has a purifying effect on the soul. When you pray, you are stepping into God’s holy presence, and you are inviting God into your life. When you pray, God will bring to your mind unconfessed sin in order for you to get it right so that the answers to your prayers will not be hindered. A person cannot be in sin and pray effectively. As John Bunyan said, “Prayer will make a man cease from sin, or sin will entice a man to cease from prayer.”

When you pray, you are coming face-to-face with God. And, as we all know, if you are lying to someone, hiding something from someone, or trying to do something that you know they will not approve of, it is hard to look them in the eye. It is the same way with God. It is hard to pray to God if you are living in sin.

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So, prayer itself has a purifying effect on one’s life. David says in verse 2, “Let my prayer be set forth before thee as incense; and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice.” David wants his prayer and his worship to be as incense — that is, a sweet aroma — to God. Throughout Scripture, and particularly in the Old Testament, God expresses His desire to smell a sweet savour from His people. This sweet savour is caused by their obedience and their worship. When the people are disobedient, God declares in Isaiah, “These people are a stench in my nostrils.”

If we want our prayers to be sweet in the sight of God, we must commit to being obedient to Him. And, if you want to live a pure life — a life that is free from sin — you must desire communication with the Lord as David did. If you are committed to a consistent habit of prayer to God, you will find that it will be very difficult to sin.

David desired wisdom from the Lord.

In verse 3 he says, “Set a watch, O Lord, before my mouth; keep the door of my lips.” David asks God to give him wisdom in how he uses his tongue. You can imagine a guard standing at the door of David’s life watching what goes in and goes out. David wants only pure things to go out of his mouth and out of his life.

How can you choose to have only pure things going out of your life? Well, what you put into your life is what comes out of it. That is why David prays in the very next verse, “Incline not my heart to any evil thing, to practise wicked 97

works with men that work iniquity: and let me not eat of their dainties.” David does not want any evil thing to be in his heart, because if it is not in his heart, it will not come out of his life. We ought to only allow pure things to enter our hearts and minds. If pure things are in our hearts and minds, then only pure things will come out of our mouths and our lives.

How do we determine what is pure and what is not pure?

Well, we do as David does and we ask God for wisdom through prayer. James 1:5 says, “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God who giveth to all men liberally and upbraideth not and it shall be given to him.” What is wisdom? Someone once said, “Wisdom is the ability to see life as God sees it and then respond as He would.”

David wants to live a pure and godly life, so he asks God for wisdom.

1. He asks for wisdom in his words: “set a watch, O Lord, before my mouth.”

2. He asks for wisdom in his heart: “incline not my heart to any evil thing.”

3. He asks for wisdom in his actions: he does not want to “practise wicked works.”

4. He asks for wisdom in his relationships: he wants to stay away from “men that work iniquity.” He does not even want to sit down for a meal with them, so he says, “let me not eat of their dainties.”

The wisdom we can get from God helps us determine 98

what is and is not pure. We will be able to speak, think, and act in a Godly manner if we have God’s wisdom. And, the only way to get that wisdom is to pray and ask God for it.

If we want to live a life of purity, we must be in communication with God through prayer, and we must ask God for wisdom in how we live our lives.

David desired friends from the Lord.

In verse 5 David says, “Let the righteous smite me; it shall be a kindness: and let him reprove me; it shall be an excellent oil, which shall not break my head: for yet my prayer also shall be in their calamities.” We saw in verse 4 how that David does not want to be associated with the wicked, however, we see here that David does not wish to walk the path of purity alone either. He wants “righteous” companions to accompany him on this journey, and he asks God to give him those companions.

What kind of qualities do these righteous friends have?

The main thing we see from this request is that David wants friends who will rebuke him when he needs to be rebuked. He says, “Let the righteous smite me...let him reprove me.” Though he is the king, David does not see himself as being above the law or above correction. In fact, he says that when he is rebuked, he will see it as a “kindness” and as “excellent oil” upon his head. He knows that their rebuke will only help him become more faithful to living a life of purity before God. When Nathan came to David and said, “Thou art the man,” 99

David immediately began the process of confession and repentance. He realized that he needed Nathan’s rebuke because he was not making the situation right on his own.

How many friends do you have who are not afraid to get on you from time to time? If you do not have any, you need to pray and ask God to put those kinds of people in your life. You also must make up your mind to respond to their rebuke as David did. Understand that they are there to help you along in your walk with God. God wants us to live a life that is pure and holy. Like David, we ought to want to live this kind of life. From David’s example, we have seen three things that we can pray to God about that will help us get on track and stay on track on the road to a life of purity. (1) We must remain in communication with God in order to keep sin out of our lives. (2) We must ask for God’s wisdom in order to determine what is pure and what is impure. (3) We must ask God to give us righteous friends who will rebuke us from time to time and who will help us stay on the straight and narrow road.

The life of purity can be yours if you will go to God in prayer.

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11 A Prayer from the Original Man Cave TEXT: Psalm 142 1 I cried unto the Lord with my voice; with my voice unto the Lord did I make my supplication.

2 I poured out my complaint before him; I shewed before him my trouble.

3 When my spirit was overwhelmed within me, then thou knewest my path. In the way wherein I walked have they privily laid a snare for me.

4 I looked on my right hand, and beheld, but there was no man that would know me: refuge failed me; no man cared for my soul.

5 I cried unto thee, O Lord: I said, Thou art my refuge and my portion in the land of the living.

6 Attend unto my cry; for I am brought very low: deliver me from my persecutors; for they are stronger than I. 7 Bring my soul out of prison, that I may praise thy name: the righteous shall compass me about; for thou shalt deal bountifully with me.

The superscript of this psalm informs us that it is a maschil or contemplation of David — a prayer when he was in the

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cave. There was a period in David’s life when he spent a lot of time in caves. When he was on the run from Saul, he had to take refuge wherever he could. Sometimes, he took refuge with the aid of friends such as Saul’s son, Jonathan, and the priest Ahimelech. Sometimes, he found refuge with the aid of strangers, such as Abigail whom he eventually married. Sometimes, he found refuge with the enemies of Israel, such as the Philistine king Achish. But, sometimes, David and his men could turn to no one, and they had to flee to the wilderness and the caves.

Scholars mostly agree that Psalm 142 was written while David was in the Cave of Adullam. This cave of Adullam, which was close to a town by the same name, was actually a frequent hideout of bandits — robbers — who lived in the wilderness to swoop down on unsuspecting travelers and take their money and goods. However, while he was in this cave, David carried himself with integrity despite his situation. Twice, he refused to kill Saul when he had the opportunity. And he gained such a reputation that while he was in this cave, “every one that was in distress, and every one that was in debt, and every one that was discontented, gathered themselves unto him; and he became a captain over them: and there were with him about four hundred men.”

The Bible has a considerable amount to say about people who go through “cave” experiences. When Lot fled Sodom and Gomorrah, he fled to a cave. During the period of the judges, when the Midianites oppressed Israel, the Bible tells us that the children of Israel made homes “in the mountains, and caves, and strongholds.” When the Philistines attacked Israel during Saul’s reign as king, I

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Samuel says, “the people were distressed, then they did hide themselves in caves…” When the prophet Elijah was on the run from Jezebel, he fled to a cave.

Have you ever felt the desire or need to just get away from a difficult or dangerous situation? Have you ever been in a “cave” experience? How did David get through the cave experience? How did he deal with the depressing, distressing conditions of the cave?

He talked it out.

In verse 1, David says, “I cried unto the Lord with my voice; with my voice unto the Lord did I make my supplication.”

David may have been in a cave, but he wasn’t silent in the cave. He may have been unable to reason with Saul, but that didn’t mean he had nobody to talk to.

God was there with David in the cave, and David made it his business to talk to God. He cried unto the Lord. This ‘crying out’ means to ask for help or to summon aid. David was in a tight spot where he knew that only the Lord could help him, so he made his supplication — his earnest petition — unto the Lord.

David goes on to say in verse 2, “I poured out my complaint before him; I shewed before him my trouble.” David says, “I made my situation known to God in the plainest way possible.” The Hebrew word for “poured out” is the same word used to describe shedding blood. David engaged in passionate prayer in which he poured out his heart and soul to God. He held nothing back. He talked it out.

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When you are in a cave situation, the best thing — and sometimes the only thing — you can do is talk it out.

Psychologists tell us that “talking therapy” is a good way to lift the mental and psychological burdens of life. Just sitting down and talking with someone about your problem can make you feel better and provide clarity in your situation. That is what David does while he is in the cave.

He talks it out with God. Have you talked out your situation, dear friend? There is no one better to talk it out with than God through Jesus Christ, who is interceding for us in Heaven and who was “in all points tempted like as we are” when He was on this earth. If anybody knows what you are going through, it is Jesus Christ. And, as the song says, sometimes “just a little talk with Jesus makes it right.”

So, talk it out.

What else did David do while he was in the cave?

He walked it out.

In verse 3, David says, “When my spirit was overwhelmed within me, then thou knewest my path. In the way wherein I walked have they privily laid a snare for me.” Before David found himself in the cave, he was a man on the move.

At one time, he was a young man on the move for his father — he tended to the flock of sheep, guiding them to green pastures. After that, he was a man on the move for king and country — serving Saul faithfully and leading the Israelites to victory over the Philistines. But, then Saul turned 104

on him, and David had to get on the move for his life.

The pressures of running from his former boss began to get to David. He said his spirit was “overwhelmed.” He felt as if he were drowning under the pressure, and he was almost ready to give up. Yet, he continued walking because God knew His path. David was able to continue moving forward, to continue doing what needed to be done because God was watching over him. His enemies secretly laid traps in his path, but David kept moving forward. He said, “I looked on my right hand, and beheld, but there was no man that would know me: refuge failed me; no man cared for my soul.”

Notice those words: “no man… no man.” No man cared for David, but God cared for David. When people forsake you and turn against you, you have to lean on God alone and keep moving forward. David was able to continue walking the path from shepherd-boy to king of Israel because he had God who “knew his path.” God knew all about the traps that his enemies had set for him. And God knows all about the difficulties and negativities that you face and the traps that people set for you.

While David was in the cave, he still made progress. First Samuel 22 informs us that God sent David’s family members and over 400 men to David’s side while he was in the cave. David would come out of the cave stronger than he was when he went in. One man went into the cave, but David came out of the cave with over 400 men who supported him and stood by him.

While David was in the cave, he was still moving forward.

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He was walking out the plan God had for his life. God had anointed him to be king, and he trusted God to bring it to pass.

While you are in the cave, don’t give up on the visions and dreams that God has given you. Don’t abandon your goals.

Don’t stop living right. Even though there may be obstacles in your path, just keep walking it out. God is at your side.

While he was in the cave, David talked it out and David walked it out.

He found a way out.

In verse 5, David says, “I cried unto thee, O Lord: I said, Thou art my refuge and my portion in the land of the living.”

David was able to rise above his circumstances because he was not looking to this world for his deliverance. He was not depending on anything he could see and touch.

He found a way out of his troubles by looking to God alone.

He said to God, “Thou are my refuge.” In other words, even though I am in this cave because my life has been threatened, I am really looking to you for my protection and deliverance. He also says that God is his “portion in the land of the living.” That word “portion” is interpreted as “inheritance.” An inheritance is something that you gain in life — normally money or material possessions. Many young people in Bible times looked forward to receiving their inheritance for many years.

However, David is saying that he is not living for man or for money. He is living for God. God is his inheritance. If 106

he lives or dies, if his enemies harm him or leave him alone, his focus is on God. As one commentator said, “When everything else is lost, when we are abandoned by our human friends, we have a heritage in God; we have still a heavenly Father to trust and love, and a holy service to render. We have fellowship with God.” How did David find a way out of his cave experience? He found a way out by focusing on Someone who was above and beyond the cave experience. God was in the cave with David, but God was not having a cave experience.

God was still sovereign and almighty, and David was still His chosen servant.

Being in the cave does not mean that God has abandoned you. God may very well have a purpose for you while you are in the cave. You, too, can find a way out of the cave experience by looking beyond what you can see. Focus on the light beyond your prison bars. Focus on God who is above, beyond, and in control of your situation. Then, you can say like David, “Bring my soul out of prison, that I may praise thy name: the righteous shall compass me about; for thou shalt deal bountifully with me.”

If your relationship with God is intact while you are in the cave, you can determine to praise God even before you leave the cave. Remember these three principles of praying while you are in the cave: (1) Talk it out: the best thing you can do is talk to God about your situation. This will bring clarity to your mind and help you realize that God has a plan for your situation. (2) Walk it out: Do not sit down and give up when you are in the cave. Continue on the path God has laid out for you. (3) Find a way out:

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Choose to focus on God who is above and beyond your situation. Don’t focus on the cave; focus on God who can deliver you from the cave.

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12 How to Stay Positive in Perilous Times TEXT: Psalm 143 1 Hear my prayer, O Lord, give ear to my supplications: in thy faithfulness answer me, and in thy righteousness.

2 And enter not into judgment with thy servant: for in thy sight shall no man living be justified.

3 For the enemy hath persecuted my soul; he hath smitten my life down to the ground; he hath made me to dwell in darkness, as those that have been long dead.

4 Therefore is my spirit overwhelmed within me; my heart within me is desolate.

5 I remember the days of old; I meditate on all thy works; I muse on the work of thy hands.

6 I stretch forth my hands unto thee: my soul thirsteth after thee, as a thirsty land. Selah.

7 Hear me speedily, O Lord: my spirit faileth: hide not thy face from me, lest I be like unto them that go down into the pit.

8 Cause me to hear thy lovingkindness in the morning; for in thee do I trust: cause me to know the way wherein I should walk; for I lift up my soul unto thee.

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9 Deliver me, O Lord, from mine enemies: I flee unto thee to hide me.

10 Teach me to do thy will; for thou art my God: thy spirit is good; lead me into the land of uprightness.

11 Quicken me, O Lord, for thy name’s sake: for thy righteousness’ sake bring my soul out of trouble.

12 And of thy mercy cut off mine enemies, and destroy all them that afflict my soul: for I am thy servant.

When we think of the book of Psalms today, most people see it as a book to turn to when they are in need of encouragement. The Psalms are a place where we find identity and refuge during the difficult days of life. The Psalms let us know that we are not alone when trouble comes our way. And, the Psalms remind us that even God’s greatest servants such as David had to go through hard times.

During such difficult times, it is easy for one to become depressed and downcast about life. However, one of the thing we learn from David is how to maintain a spirit of hope during hardship, how to remain positive when you are in the midst of negativity - how to be positive during perilous times. How does David show us this?

During perilous times, David cries out to God. He says, “Hear my prayer, O Lord, give ear to my supplications.” When every other door is closed to you, the gates of Heaven are always open. You can cry out to God at anytime, from anyplace, and for anything. David cries out to God with the expectation that God will hear Him and answer Him.

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However, even though he is going through perilous times, David does not presume that he deserves to be answered. So he does not pray based on his own goodness. He says, “in thy faithfulness answer me, and in thy righteousness.” David expects to be answered because God is faithful and righteous.

David knows that he is a sinner who does not deserve the blessings of God. But, he goes to God’s throne, he cries out to God, seeking mercy, not judgment. He says, “enter not into judgment with thy servant: for in thy sight shall no man living be justified.” Sometimes when we go before God, we have to say, ‘Lord, I know I deserve your judgment, but please have mercy.’

God’s mercy is a reason for us to remain positive in perilous times. We know that even though a situation may be bad, if it were not for the grace and mercy of God, it could be worse. We may not be handling the situation as well as we want to handle it, but because of the grace and mercy of God, we are still alive, we are still breathing, we still have the ability to cry out to God.

During perilous times, David remembers the blessings of the past.

In verse 5, David says, “I remember the days of old; I meditate on all thy works; I muse on the work of thy hands.”

What we choose to think about helps to determine our attitude and outlook on life. During perilous times, we can choose to dwell only on the negativity of our current situation. Or, we can also choose to think about the good times of the past.

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David decides to remember the “days of old.” He recalls God’s blessings and the miracles that God performed for him in the past. He says, “I muse,” or ponder, — he is amazed — at the “work of thy hands.”

Often, when we get into trouble, we forget all about the good times of the past. We allow the devil to make us think that God is out to get us, that God has forgotten us, or that God is deliberately making things hard for us.

However, we must adopt the perspective of Job, when he said, “Shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil?” God may have allowed trouble in our path to teach us a lesson, to get us to turn back to Him, or to punish us for wrongdoing. Either way, God knows what He is doing, and we can trust Him to work out the situation for our good if we are His children.

In the midst of his trials, David longed for the days of God’s presence and blessing. He says, “I stretch forth my hands unto thee: my soul thirsteth after thee, as a thirsty land.

Selah.” David sees God’s blessings and presence as essential for his life. He does not want to go on living without God’s hand on him. By remembering the good times of the past, David is able to maintain hope that the storm will pass and the sun will shine down on him bright and clear as before.

As we go through perilous times, looking back over our lives and remembering the good times, remembering the blessings, remembering the miracles that God worked on our behalf will help us keep a positive outlook on our situation.

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In perilous times, we cry out to God, and we remember the blessings of the past.

In perilous times, David looked for God’s lovingkindness.

David continues praying, “Hear me speedily, O Lord: my spirit faileth: hide not thy face from me, lest I be like unto them that go down into the pit. Cause me to hear thy lovingkindness in the morning; for in thee do I trust.” David agonizes in his prayer. He feels like giving up. He feels like God is about ready to turn his back on him. He feels like he is about to be counted as one of the dead — “one of those that go down to the pit”, that is “sheol” or the grave.

Yet, David still proclaims his trust in God. He asks God to save him from his situation not based on anything else but His mercy or “lovingkindness.” Lovingkindness is a very important word. It comes from he Hebrew word “hesed”, and is defined as “the idea of faithful love in action.” W.E. Vine wrote in his commentary, “In general, one may identify three basic meanings of this word, and these three meanings always interact — strength, steadfastness, and love. Any understanding of lovingkindness that fails to suggest all three inevitably loses some of its richness. Love by itself easily becomes sentimentalized or universalized apart from the covenant.

Yet strength or steadfastness suggests only the fulfillment of a legal (or similar) obligation.”

Basically, David cries out to God to act based on His love for David. It is one thing to say you love somebody, but it is another thing to jump in front of a speeding train to push 113

them out of the way. Another commentator wrote, “God’s lovingkindness is His persistent, unconditional tenderness, kindness, and mercy, a relationship in which God seeks after man with love and mercy.”

Lovingkindness is the reason why God delivered David many times in his life. Lovingkindness is the reason why God has delivered you and me from perilous situations many times in the past. Lovingkindness is the reason why God sent Jesus Christ to die on the cross for our sins. So, when we pray during perilous times, we can stay positive if we pray for God’s loving kindness.

In perilous times, David sought God’s leadership.

Not only did David cry out to God, remember the things of the past, and look for God’s lovingkindness, but he also sought God’s leadership. He says in verse 10, “Teach me to do thy will; for thou art my God: thy spirit is good; lead me into the land of uprightness.” During perilous times, we often try to take matters into our own hands. We think that God is not moving fast enough , so we try to resolve matters on our own. Unfortunately for us, we normally end up only making matters worse.

During his times of trouble, David seeks God’s guidance and leadership, not necessarily to find out what to do regarding his present situation, but to find out the lessons that God wants him to learn in his present situation. Our goal ought to be the same as well. We can let God handle the negative situations that we face in life, we just need to focus on learning the lessons that God is trying to teach us from the situation.

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Perhaps if we stop trying to get out of our perilous situation, and focus on learning what God is trying to teach us, we can get out of the perilous situation faster. When a child in grade school fails a grade, he is held back and has to take that grade again because he has not learned the lessons he was supposed to learn in that grade. That is how things work with God as well. If we do not learn the lessons we are supposed to learn, our time of trouble, trial, and testing will be longer.

Difficult times are when we need to seek God’s guidance and increase our reliance on Him, not run away from Him. We see in this psalm and in many psalms how David repeatedly turned to God in perilous times. Even when he sinned, David turned to God. God has allowed the perilous situation in your life for a reason. He wants to see you come out with a stronger faith in Him having learned spiritual lessons that you can take with you throughout the rest of your life. We can have a positive outlook in the midst of a perilous situation if we follow David’s example of crying out to God, remembering the good times of the past, looking for God’s lovingkindness, and seeking God’s guidance.

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The Sinner’s Prayer If you are reading this book and you do not know the Lord Jesus Christ as your Saviour, your first prayer needs to be what we call the Sinner’s Prayer.

Please understand that you are a sinner and that you have broken God’s laws just as I have. The Bible says in Romans 3:23: “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” Please understand that because of our sins, we deserve eternal punishment in hell.

Romans 6:23 says “the wages of sin is death...” This includes both physical death and spiritual death in hell.

That is the bad news.

The good news is found in John 3:16 which says, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

If you believe that Jesus Christ died on the cross for your sins, was buried, and rose from the dead, and you want to trust Him for your salvation today, please pray this simple prayer and mean it from your heart:

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Holy Father God, I realize that I am a sinner and that I have done some bad things in my life. For Jesus Christ sake, please forgive me of my sins. I now believe with all of my heart that Jesus Christ died for me, was buried, and rose again. Lord Jesus, please come into my heart and save my soul and change my life today. Amen.

If you just trusted Jesus Christ as your Saviour, and you prayed that prayer and meant it from your heart, based upon the Word of God, you are now saved from Hell and you are on your way to Heaven.

Welcome to the family of God! Congratulations on doing the most important thing in life and that is trusting Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour.

For more information to help you grow in your newfound faith in Christ, go to www.GospelLightSociety.com and read “What To Do After You Enter Through the Door.”

Jesus Christ said in John 10:9, “I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.”

May God bless you as you begin your new life with Him.

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You can listen to Daniel Whyte III preaching any of the messages in this book online at www.PrayingThroughtheBible.com.

Tune in to The Prayer Motivator Devotional Broadcast/Podcast www.PrayerMotivatorDevotional.com and

The Prayer Motivator Minute www.PrayerMotivatorMinute.com These broadcasts/podcasts will inspire, encourage, and motivate you to pray every day so you can live your best life now.

Based on The Prayer Motivator book

by Daniel Whyte III. Both of these broadcasts are available on: iTunes Google Play (Android) Stitcher Radio BCNN Radio 7 Live365 Radio Gospel Light World Radio BlogTalkRadio.com Buzzsprout.com FeedBurner BlackBerry Podcasts and many other podcast outlets