Psalms: Christ’s Prayer Manual Pt. 11 Scripture: It’s Value

I had no Idea how valuable the Bible was, GOD HAD TO TEACH ME. The more time I spent learning from and learning about God’s Word the more I understood what a valuable gift it is. The more I valued it the more I made it the standard for how I looked at EVERYTHING! I came to realize that eternity with my Creator was worth EVERYTHING. TO BELONG TO CHRIST IS WORTH EVERYTHING!

And the Bible carries that information to us. Our Lord explained to His followers how valuable Eternity as His possession is in Matthew 13:44-46.

“The Kingdom of Heaven is like a treasure that a man discovered hidden in a field. In his excitement, he hid it again and sold everything he owned to get enough money to buy the field.” “Again, the Kingdom of Heaven is like a merchant on the lookout for choice pearls. When he discovered a pearl of great value, he sold everything he owned and bought it!”

  • How did the man know the value of what he had found?
  • What standards did he use to decide that the value of the treasure was greater than everything else he ‘owned’?
  • Why not just take the treasure? (God’s Way: Thou shall not steal…)
  • How did the merchant know what made some pearls more valuable than others?
  • What made the merchant so sure about the value of that ONE pearl being more than everything else he had?

The Treasure and The Pearl represent ‘The Kingdom of Heaven’ AKA ‘Eternal Life’…Biblical Salvation, Christ’s Church, a redeemed relationship with God

Where is The Treasure located?

How do you know the ‘Pearl of Great Value’ when you see it?

How do you discover & learn about the value of a redeemed relationship with God?

What standards do you use to determine what THIS relationship requires of you?

The place to find the answers to these questions is: Scripture / Holy Writ / The Bible / God’s Word

God’s Word, illuminated by God’s Holy Spirit…at 1st leading you THEN indwelling you. The all powerful creator / ruler of the Universe has given us these writing to: teach us & lead us & admonish us & focus us & convict us & set us apart.

One of the things God teaches us with Scripture is how to pray. True prayer is a must for a Christ follower. We are to learn to pray by God’s Word, praying to Him in agreement with HIS Word, making The Scriptures our standard of what The Kingdom of Heaven entails and how it’s inhabitants live.

Portions of Psalm 119

1 Blessed are those whose way is blameless, who walk in the law of the Lord!

2 Blessed are those who keep His testimonies, who seek Him with their whole heart.

  • When God / Jesus talks about blessed, it is in regard to eternity
  • Walking in the ‘Law of the Lord’ means daily life application (not talk or ‘Hobby’)
  • Keeping Testimonies: Placing High Value on what HE say!
  • The blessing of eternity require whole hearted seeking of Him (How?)

9 How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to Your word. 10 With my whole heart I seek You; let me not wander from Your commandments! 11 I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.

15 I will meditate on Your precepts and fix my eyes on Your ways. 16 I will delight in Your statutes; I will not forget Your word.

  • Young people, not just men
  • Using God’s word as a standard for your thoughts & actions
  • Repetition of being wholehearted regarding God / relying on HIS grace
  • Our part is to know HIS view on things (store it up) so we don’t miss HIS mark!
  • The focusing of our attention on HIS will, HIS way…by knowing His Word

18 Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of Your law. 19 I am a sojourner on the earth; hide not Your commandments from me!

27 Make me understand the way of your precepts, and I will meditate on your wondrous works. 29 Put false ways far from me and graciously teach me your law!

  • ‘Spiritual Illumination’ accomplished by God’s Holy Spirit
  • We need God to enable us to understand how awesome His Word is
  • We have only so long in this life…we are dependent on God to teach us
  • We can sit under His teaching…just by opening The Bible
  • As we learn we can discern what is His way and that everything else is wrong

36 Incline my heart to your testimonies, and not to selfish gain! 37 Turn my eyes from looking at worthless things; and give me life in your ways.

  • The reality of what God does makes His people focus on Him, not themselves
  • Life is in God’s way, we have a guide to that wisdom
  • We need God to turn us from the things we want to what HE want for us

57 The Lord is my portion; I promise to keep Your words. 58 I entreat Your favor with all my heart; be gracious to me according to Your promise. 59 When I think on my ways, I turn my feet to your testimonies 60 I hasten and do not delay to keep Your commandments.

  • As His child, God is all we need and the realization of that inspires obedience
  • The more we know Him the more we need His Grace
  • The recognition of my sin (Conviction) leads me to God…deeper and deeper

81 My soul longs for Your salvation; I hope in Your word. 82 My eyes long for your promise; I ask, “When will you comfort me?”

93 I will never forget your precepts, for by them you have given me life. 94 I am yours; save me, for I have sought Your precepts.

  • Salvation is defined by God’s Word, it is the standard of our hope for eternity
  • His Word is who HE is…our hope in HIM is defined by His Word
  • His Word is our source of life
  • The submission to God’s will & belonging to Him flow from Him by His Word

101 I hold back my feet from every evil way, in order to keep Your word. 102 I do not turn aside from Your rules, for You have taught me.

105 Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.

  • The keeping of God’s Word requires us to deny our natural impulses (flesh)
  • God’s Word teaches us to not compromise HIS Standards
  • HIS standards are the guidance we need to become and grow as His kids

71 It is good for me that I was afflicted, that I might learn Your statutes.

124 Deal with Your servant according to Your steadfast love, and teach me Your statutes. 156 Great is your mercy, O Lord; give me life according to Your rules.

  • According to Scripture, submitting to God’s will involves being disciplined
  • Making the most of being teachable we trust God knows what is best for us
  • Because His mercy is so great we trust that Real Life is found obeying HIM

174 I long for Your salvation, O Lord, and your law is my delight. 175 Let my soul live and praise you, and let Your rules help me. 176 I have gone astray like a lost sheep; seek your servant, for I do not forget your commandments.

  • God’s Spirit builds the connection between delight in God’s Word and Salvation
  • The total embrace of all that is found in Scripture is how we find our help
  • Humbled by our need, we figure out how to do our best (study)

Prayer Guidance From Psalm 119:

Ask God to show you how to walk in the ways of His Word.

Ask God to guard your purity through seeking and focusing on His Law.

Ask God to lead you to memorize, meditate and look to HIS Word with wholehearted delight.

Ask God to illuminate His Word by HIS Spirit.

Ask God to build understanding upon understanding.

Ask God to expose falsehood regarding HIS Word as He teaches you with grace.

Ask God to draw you to HIM and away from selfishness, worthless things.

Ask God to enable you to live by His Word, in humility and trust in Him not yourself.

Ask God to speak to your soul by HIS Word, bringing assurance that you are HIS.

Ask God to keep you from evil and instead guide you based on HIS Word.

Ask God to help you learn from the ownership of your mistakes, trust HIS discipline is for your eternal best!

Ask God to connect the value of HIS Word with the value of eternity with HIM.

Ask God to keep you mindful of your acknowledged need to be shepherded by HIS Word.

Pray that we increase how we value Scripture. That we would value it as much as Jesus The Christ did! Pray that we make Scripture, as it has been interpreted for 2000 years by Christ’s Church, our Standard for every aspect of life!

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Search Me, O God

Psalm 139

Omniscience: O LORD, you have searched me and known me! You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar. You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O LORD, you know it altogether. You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high; I cannot attain it. (v.1-6)

Omnipresence: Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there! If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me. (v.7-10)

Omnipotence: For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. (v.13-14)

David’s first request: Oh that you would slay the wicked, O God! O men of blood, depart from me! They speak against you with malicious intent; your enemies take your name in vain. (v.19-20)

David’s second request: Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting! (v.23-24)

Summary points:

-David knew there were evils, secret lusts, lurking in his own heart.

-He did not want to hide his thoughts from God. He opened them up for God’s inspection.

-He prayed the Lord would lead his inward thought life and his outward public life. That both would please the Lord.

-He could not escape the Lord; he had no desire to escape the Lord.

-What a great time now to approach the Lord’s table.

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Psalms: Christ’s Prayer Manual Pt. 10 ‘The End’

At The End there are two groups of people…

The Treasure is The Gospel, The Field is Scripture!

The span of our life is seventy years, or if we are strong, eighty; yet at best it is toil and sorrow, over in a moment, and then we are gone. Who grasps the power of your anger and wrath to the degree that the fear due you should inspire? So teach us to count our days, so that we will become wise. ~ Psalm 90:10-12

When these prayers were written and collected the revelation of God to His people was yet to reach the ultimate revelation of God: Jesus Christ! And with the revelation of Christ came clarity on ‘The End’. What we know is that the end comes when Jesus returns.

Beginning with the writing of Moses all the way trough the Book of Revelation we get pictures of the end. And consistent in all the Scripture about the end is one thing: At the end there is only two groups of people. There is a clear division of all humanity into two groups at the end of this world. Over and over again in Scripture we see that there is always only two groups: God’s People and His Enemies. There is no other group!

Jesus Christ only spoke of two groups:Sheep & Goats / Wheat & Tares / Those I know and those who never knew Me. Jesus repeatedly in his teaching and preaching spoke of how all humanity would be in one of two groups. Scripture is clear: You either belong to God or you are against Him. THERE IS NO 3rd Group!

Psalms as prayers: This Psalm will only be prayed by those who God has placed His Eternal Spirit into, only they can truly desire this day to come.

Psalm 9 (103 Cross References in 20 verses)

1 I will give thanks to You, Lord, with all my heart; I will tell of all Your wonderful deeds. 2 I will be glad and rejoice in You; I will sing the praises of Your Name, O Most High.

  • The beginnings of Psalms can serve as a call to worship & a declaration of faith
  • Can you thank God with all of your heart?
  • Do you see your life as what you have done or what HE has done?
  • Do you rejoice in God or the things God has given you?
  • ‘Sing The Praises’ & ‘Your Name’
  • Does your life ‘Testify to what The Eternal God of Scripture stands for?

3 My enemies turn back; they stumble and perish before You. 4 For You have upheld my right and my cause, sitting enthroned as the righteous judge. 5 You have rebuked the nations and destroyed the wicked; You have blotted out their name for ever and ever. 6 Endless ruin has overtaken my enemies, You have uprooted their cities; even the memory of them has perished.

  • Why would God be taking on my enemies? Upholding my cause?
  • The only way this is possible is if my cause is HIS cause!
  • God calls and we surrender to the call
  • Echoing throughout Scripture is the message that there are only two sides…
  • The Wicked VS God & His People
  • We get a view of the fate that is in store for those opposed to God
  • With HIM or against HIM

The eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms. He will drive out your enemies before you, saying, ‘Destroy!’ ~ Deuteronomy 33:27

7 The Lord reigns forever; He has established His throne for judgment. 8 He rules the world in righteousness and judges the peoples with equity. 9 The Lord is a refuge for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble. 10 Those who know Your name trust in You, for You, Lord, have never forsaken those who seek You.

  • This is a vision of eternity…this is not the fallen world we live in
  • This is the beginning of revelation of what the end will be like
  • Here we see the second of two groups mentioned in scripture at the end
  • Here we see the refuge of those who know and trust in Christ…who seek GOD

This is part of the beginnings of what we learn about the end from Scripture… And now we know that at the end all humanity will we be judged, by God’s standard

I saw a large, white throne and the one who was sitting on it. The earth and the sky fled from his presence, but no place was found for them. I saw the dead, both important and unimportant people, standing in front of the throne. Books were opened, including the Book of Life. The dead were judged on the basis of what they had done, as recorded in the books. ~ Revelation 20:11-12

Psalm 9:11 Sing the praises of the Lord, enthroned in Zion; proclaim among the nations what He has done. 12 For He who avenges blood remembers; He does not ignore the cries of the afflicted. 13 Lord, see how my enemies persecute me! Have mercy and lift me up from the gates of death, 14 that I may declare Your praises in the gates of Daughter Zion, and there rejoice in Your salvation.

  • This continues to describe the relationship between God & His chosen people
  • Knowing God will decide your eternity, THE response to sing HIS praises
  • The affliction we share as humans is the affliction of sin.
  • Persecution by 3 enemies (God’s Enemies): My flesh, The World, The Devil
  • Only God can save us from eternal death
  • Daughter Zion is messianic imagery
  • Salvation was won for us at the Gates of Daughter Zion by the Son of God
  • How does the reality of what Christ did on the cross impact your day to day?

15 The nations have fallen into the pit they have dug; their feet are caught in the net they have hidden. 16 The Lord is known by his acts of justice; the wicked are ensnared by the work of their hands. 17 The wicked go down to the realm of the dead, all the nations that forget God.

  • People from every ethnic group are included in God’s enemies (Redeemed too)
  • Absolute agreement with God’s justice
  • Those who belong to God trust and believe in HIS judgment
  • The evidence against the wicked is what they do, what they value
  • The fate of all who ‘forget’ God
  • In order to forget something you must be exposed to that thing
  • All people have the chance to know God:

For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities – his eternal power and divine nature – have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse. ~ Romans 1:20

Psalm 9:18 But God will never forget the needy; the hope of the afflicted will never perish. 19 Arise, Lord, do not let mortals triumph; let the nations be judged in your presence. 20 Strike them with terror, Lord; let the nations know they are only mortal.

  • Needy here is compatible with those Jesus called the ‘poor in Spirit’ who are BLESSED!
  • We each have to become needy of God: in our need we have hope
  • Are you good to say: ‘Go ahead God you know where I stand, judge away!’
  • Are you ready for the end of this life? Good to either die or have Jesus return?

“When the Son of Man returns, it will be like it was in Noah’s day. In those days before the flood, the people were enjoying banquets and parties and weddings right up to the time Noah entered his boat. People didn’t realize what was going to happen until the flood came and swept them all away. That is the way it will be when the Son of Man comes. “Two men will be working together in the field; one will be taken, the other left. Two women will be grinding flour at the mill; one will be taken, the other left. ~ Matthew 24:37-41

SUMMARY:

There is an end to this age / world coming. It could be today…

You are either in a redeemed relationship for eternity or you are in an enemy relationship for eternity With The Eternal God of all Creation.

For we will all stand before God’s judgment seat. It is written: “‘As surely as I live,’ says the Lord, ‘every knee will bow before me; every tongue will acknowledge God.’” So then, each of us will give an account of ourselves to God. ~ Romans 14:10b-12

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Psalms: Christ’s Prayer Manual Pt. 9 Praying Through Suffering

Suffering God’s Way

General comments about this sermon series:

Written as model prayers for God’s people, by God’s people under control of H.S.

These prayer instructions presuppose God’s Spirit being involved.

They teach attitude and heart as well as content and fact (emotion & reasoning)

Today:Psalms of Lament…Why in God’s Word do we read of human suffering so much? Living in a fallen world, suffering is unavoidable. God’s Word addresses every aspect of this life. Psalms teach us how to commune with ‘The Lover of Our Souls’ in the midst of anguish, doubt and despair. They give us a road map / guide for the healthy dealing with loss and pain, in God’s presence, by His Spirit.

The prayer instruction in Psalms regarding suffering has 3 key elements we are to imitate.

#1. The healthy expression of emotion in response to the troubles of this life, intense vulnerability before God. Our perfect example is Christ on the cross.

#2. Using our reasoning capabilities we assent to God’s will and trust in the relationship HE has established. Again we look to Christ as our Model.

#3. Yielding to God’s Spirit leading us to a balance between emotion and fact based reason that results in glorifying God.

Emotion and Reason…The Head and The Heart…We truly glorify God when we relate to Him intimately with both! This can happene because we have two massive blessings that the original audience of these writings didn’t have: The Incarnate Christ; Jesus of Nazareth: Virgin Birth / Sinless Life / Sacrificial Death / Bodily Resurrection / Existing praying with us and for us eternally. The Comforter / God’s Indwelling Holy Spirit: All who surrender their life to the Lordship of Jesus The Christ are eternally and irrevocably united with God by Him LIVING INSIDE US! So let us be teachable before God’s Word and learn how to pray as God would have us, so He can lead us to a place where our emotions and reason work together to process and overcome suffering. To The Glory of The Father, Son and Holy Spirit!

Psalm 42 (77 Biblical References in 11 verses)

1 As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for You, my God. 2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.

  • Single-mindedly the deer pursues what it needs more than anything
  • We were created to be united in redeemed relationship with our creator
  • It is what we need more than anything else!
  • We were built for intimacy with the ‘Living God’ / Christ in resurrected Glory!

When can I go and meet with God? 3 My tears have been my food day and night, while people say to me all day long, “Where is your God?”

  • He is expressing the idea that he needs to do something, initiate contact
  • The psalmist is being real about ‘feeling’ separated from Yahweh
  • The accuser says: ‘Where is your god?’ (Emotional manipulation is demonic)

4 These things I remember as I pour out my soul: how I used to go to the house of God under the protection of the Mighty One with shouts of joy and praise among the festive throng.

  • Now comes a moment of reflection on how it has been previously with God
  • While in this place of lament the writer recalls how his spiritual life used to be:
  • Confidently trusting in the God of Israel, worshiping freely in unity & security
  • We are starting to see the real suffering comes from the severed relationship

5 Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise Him, my Savior and my God. 6 My soul is downcast within me; therefore I will remember You from the land of the Jordan, the heights of Hermon—from Mount Mizar. (‘Little Hill’)

  • This is the writers frontal cortex telling his limbic system: quite feeling and think
  • Yes we have doubts, yes we fail, yes we sin, yes we ‘feel’ apart from God
  • My experience of God’s presence doesn’t control the reality of God’s presence
  • We need to process the loss and the pain… we were made to do it WITH God
  • When God’s Spirit lives in us, our spirit is renewed and is being renewed
  • Because we have relinquished our lives to the God we trust, we can praise
  • In that place of suffering we can connect to ‘The Suffering Servant’
  • And the way followers of Christ deal with suffering is to connect in that pain

7 Deep calls to deep in the roar of your waterfalls; all Your waves and breakers have swept over me. 8 By day The Lord directs his love, at night His song is with me—a prayer to the God of my life.

  • Here the writer surrenders to the reality of his place with God
  • He acknowledges the soul connection of a redeemed relationship with God
  • He acknowledges the reality of God’s love initiates

9 I say to God my Rock, “Why have You forgotten me? Why must I go about mourning, oppressed by the enemy?” 10 My bones suffer mortal agony as my foes taunt me, saying to me all day long, “Where is your God?”

  • The writer is being real about how he is misled by his feeling & the enemy
  • He recounts how it seems that God has somehow ‘forgotten him’
  • This is using your limbic system instead of your frontal cortex

11 Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise Him, my Savior and my God.

  • As if the writer is coaching himself up: Holy Spirit speaking to flesh
  • It’s as if he tells his soul: ‘I am gonna praise God until you get out of that funk’
  • Hope comes from remembering Yahweh IS my savior & my God
  • NO MATTER HOW IT FEELS RIGH NOW

God is there to help us with our suffering, but we have to treat Him as God and not as some person who has let us down: He is the solution, not the problem!

Psalm 13 (37 Biblical References in 6 verses)

How long, Lord? Will You forget me forever? How long will You hide your face from me?

  • One of the most painful things is to not know when the pain will end
  • We can withstand a lot if we know when it is going to end
  • So we are to be honest with god about what we are experiencing
  • We can ask Him to change the experience (Enable me to see Your face)

2 How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and day after day have sorrow in my heart? How long will my enemy triumph over me?

  • Why can’t I overcome these thoughts I don’t want to think
  • This is in some ways describing what depression is like ‘sorrow in my heart’
  • People experiencing this are vulnerable to the attacks of the enemy
  • Feeling defeated is different than being defeated…(emotional only response)

3 Look on me and answer, Lord my God. Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death, 4 and my enemy will say, “I have overcome him,” and my foes will rejoice when I fall.

  • The writer looks to God and no one else as the solution
  • Without God showing up the writer knows he can’t stand up to the enemy

5 But I trust in Your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in Your salvation. 6 I will sing the Lord’s praise, for He has been good to me.

  • Our emotions and reason in balance together result in glorifying praise
  • Jesus said HIS followers would worship in ‘Spirit and In Truth’
  • This is how we were meant to relate to God with both our head and our heart.

Prayer Instruction From God’s Word:

Yahweh invites us to pray with urgency, desperation and hunger… brutal honesty When we feel apart from Christ we are to seek Him in absolute vulnerability.

As a response to suffering we are to pray expressing awe and surrender because we KNOW how God has worked, is working and will work in our lives.

People who do not know Christ will want you to join them in doubting His existence. It is ok to express how hard that is to endure that, but we must also act on what we know.

We may ‘feel’ forgotten by God, we may ‘feel’ as though He is ignoring us yet we must act /pray based on what we know about Yahweh.

Prayers of remembrance can help us overcome our doubt regarding God. Ask God (H.S.) to take you back to a moment when you had no doubt that you were HIS child.

We can pray with our reason that our emotions would not be manipulated by the enemy and that we would know what is true.

We are to ask God’s Spirit to enable our reason to overcome our emotions that lie to us and declare the reality of God in our life.

We are to believe and feel that God is the answer to our suffering, and through the suffering of Christ He will one day end all of His people’s suffering.

God wants us to pray with our head and our heart that He would be fully glorified.

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Psalms: Christ’s Prayer Manual Pt. 8 Prayer against Enemies

Siding With God Against HIS Enemies

The writers of these Psalm are praying to God about opposition they face. These kind of Psalms are often called ‘Imprecatory Psalms’. An Imprecation is a calling down of destruction upon someone or a group. In various ways these Psalms call on God to identify, judge and punish enemies they face. In short: God smote so and so…

If we agree Psalms are instruction as to how God wants us to pray, we have a problem. Christ on the cross prayed for His enemies… He taught His followers to ‘pray for those who persecute you’… not against them… Are we supposed to use these Psalms as a guide to call down the wrath of God.

YES, but the heart behind that desire is what is critical. The enemies we are to pray against are not our enemies. The Enemy (Satan) is not our enemy. He is God’s enemy. Those we are asking God to ‘smite’ are those who declare themselves (by word and deed) to be enemies of God and what He stands for. What He stands for is often summarized by the phrase: HIS NAME.

We are being taught by these Psalms how to pray in agreement with God’s will for HIS enemies (we have tons of other Scripture to see HIS will toward HIS enemies). So these are prayers not for our cause to be upheld, but rather God’s Cause / Name.

‘The prayer for the vengeance of God is the prayer for the execution of His righteousness in the judgement of sin.’ ~ D. Bonhoeffer

These Psalms teach us how to pray against the enemies of the cause of Christ. We are to learn how to pray IN AGREEMENT with the revealed will of Yahweh found in the consistent, historical interpretation of Scripture.

Prayers that come from a heart that says: ‘Because I belong to You and You have made me Yours, I stand opposed to those who oppose YOU.’ ‘I leave all justice to you. I seek no revenge. I trust your control of the outcome.’ ‘Lord I ask you to do what you have said you will do’. There is no place for our getting revenge or settling the score or being vindicated.

These are Prayers that draw a line. These are Prayers that make you take a side. Only someone who is truly innocent can leave ALL the vengeance to God. The only way any of us are innocent is to be ‘In Christ’… This is defined by Christ as having surrendered your life to Him and The Gospel. We pray these Psalms ‘In Christ’, agreeing with God’s will & with an attitude of trust. We are going to look at all of psalm 5 and most of psalm 55 to see these principles.

Psalm 5 (72 cross references in 12 verses)

1 Listen to my words, Yahweh, consider my lament. 2 Hear my cry for help, my King and my God, for to You I pray. 3 In the morning, Yahweh You hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before You and wait expectantly.

  • The most important thing we can do in prayer is approach God with humility
  • This is a declaration of wanting God to recognize the need for help
  • This is a statement of belief that God is worth praying to
  • This is a statement of expectation that God will hear and answer
    • Where does assurance of God hearing and answering prayer come from?

4 For You are not a God who is pleased with wickedness; with You, evil is not welcome. 5 The arrogant cannot stand in Your presence. You hate all who do wrong; 6 You destroy those who tell lies. The bloodthirsty and deceitful You, Yahweh, detest.

  • We are to pray to God recognizing where He stands regarding evil & arrogance
  • We are to pray to God understanding what He hates and detests
  • We are to pray to God knowing how much the truth matters to Yahweh

Each of us is evil, arrogant and tells lies. How can we ever be welcomed by God?
7 But I, by Your great love, can come into Your house; in reverence I bow down toward Your holy temple. 8 Lead me, Yahweh, in Your righteousness, because of my enemies—make Your way straight before me.

  • We can be like the writer, and by God’s great love come into His presence
  • We can approach with reverence knowing that God welcomes us in Christ!
  • We ask Him to lead us His way, by His righteousness, overcoming His enemy
  • Because His enemy is MY enemy
  • Verse 8 is is a great prayer all by itself!

9 Not a word from their mouth can be trusted; their heart is filled with malice. Their throat is an open grave; with their tongues they tell lies. 10 Declare them guilty, O God! Let their intrigues be their downfall. Banish them for their many sins, for they have rebelled against You.

  • When you are opposed to God you are basically opposed to the truth
  • When you are opposed to God the driving force of your life becomes malice
  • The author then asks God to judge & sentence them based on their rebellion

11 But let all who take refuge in You be glad; let them ever sing for joy. Spread Your protection over them, that those who love Your name may rejoice in You. 12 Surely, Lord, You bless the righteous; You surround them with Your favor as with a shield.

  • This is plea to be included in ‘all who take refuge in God’
  • This is asking God to give the experience of ‘The Joy of Salvation’
  • Those who ‘Love God’s Name’ love & live out all that God stands for
  • When You love all that Yahweh stands for your Joy is found in HIM!
  • When you love all that God’s stands for you join Him in opposing His Enemies
  • Those He makes righteous…that is the blessing, being made righteous
  • It is known as ‘Grace’ God’s undeserved favor… He surrounds His people in it
  • And this is our protection from enemies…in this life and forever…

Psalm 55 1-11 & 22-23 (85 cross references in 23 verses)

1 Listen to my prayer, Elohim, do not ignore my plea; hear me and answer me. 2 My thoughts trouble me and I am distraught 3 because of what my enemy is saying, because of the threats of the wicked; for they bring down suffering on me and assail me in their anger.

  • It seems like the author is being demanding… ordering God around
  • But He is only speaking what God said He would do
  • Troubled thoughts: God’s enemies use physiological warfare & threats
  • When people attack us in anger it is discouraging and causes suffering

4 My heart is in anguish within me; the terrors of death have fallen on me. 5 Fear and trembling have beset me; horror has overwhelmed me.

  • An anguished heart describes a hurt emotional state (deep emotional pain)
  • Facing death is terrifying, even if you know you have ‘eternal security’
  • Fear is one of Satan’s favorite ways to try to alienate us from God

6 I said, “Oh, that I had the wings of a dove!I would fly away and be at rest. 7 I would flee far away and stay in the desert; 8 I would hurry to my place of shelter, far from the tempest and storm.”

  • This is an expression of wanting to have peace, to avoid the conflict
  • The writer is looking to be delivered from the situation

9 Adonai, confuse the wicked, confound their words, for I see violence and strife in the city. 10 Day and night they prowl about on its walls; malice and abuse are within it. 11 Destructive forces are at work in the city; threats and lies never leave its streets.

  • This is a cry for God to use His power to confuse and disrupt established evil
  • The confluence of population in cities leads to a gathering of evil forces
  • This is ‘Spiritual Illumination’: evil has always multiplied in population centers

The middle of this Psalm deals with being betrayed, crying out to God, trusting Him to move, citing His unchanging nature, and identifying common enemies. And then this is how it ends…

22 Cast your cares on Yahweh and he will sustain you; He will never let the righteous be shaken. 23 You my God, will bring down the wicked into the pit of decay; the bloodthirsty and deceitful will not live out half their days. But as for me, I trust in You.

  • It is guidance and encouragement to ‘The Righteous’
  • We become ‘The Righteous’ by casting our cares / surrendering our life to God
  • If He has made You His, you can expect to be sustained through any attack
  • If He has made you righteous He will not allow the enemy to change that
  • We can be confident that those who oppose God will face HIS judgement
  • We can trust in God because like the author, His Spirit assures us

Do you remember earlier when I asked; Where does the assurance of God hearing ans answering prayer come from? It is the Christ-given, indwelling Spirit of God in us!

Prayer Pointers: How God’s Word Teaches Us to Pray

Begin from humility, ask God to listen, hear, consider and answer your prayer.

Have an expectation He will answer without presupposing what that answer will be.

Be honest, real, emotional & open with Him about Your situation.

Fully agree with what Scripture says about Jesus Christ & His enemies.

Ask God to disrupt the evil His enemies do in our community.

Ask God to help you live more devoted to Him because of the surrounding evil.

Ask God to enact HIS will upon those who oppose Him.

Ask God to give you spiritual insight as to the evil that coalesces in cities.

Ask God to sustain you through attacks you suffer for HIS Name, and trust He will.

Ask God to teach you how to love His name and to find the shalom that brings.

Agree that your righteousness comes from trusting Christ, with everything!

Ask Christ to help you trust in His protection as your only protection.

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Psalms: Christ’s Prayer Manual Pt. 7 Prayer Dealing With Sin

How God wants us to pray about our sin

This message is the most important in all the Psalms messages I will do because it is the ‘Gateway’ message. The only true prayer we do comes as a result of being real with God about sin. Sin is the thing that stands between us and God. In the Psalms we have clear instruction as to how God wants us to deal with it in our relationship with Him. Because we are created in God’s mage we have an inborn need to be one with Him. The only way this happens is HIS way… by having our sin forgiven.

Bonhoeffer: ‘Most Psalm presuppose complete assurance of the forgiveness of sin. That may surprise us. But even in n the New Testament the same thing is true… There is such a thing as the confident leaving behind of sin for the sake of Christ.’

Those moved by God’s Spirit to write and compile the Book of Psalms knew God! They knew Him well enough to know His forgiveness; which is an unchanging aspect of the character of the Triune God of Scripture. So in knowing Him they understood forgiveness, but also we see an understanding of how we are to be as God’s people, they way we are to relate to God regarding our sin. Various Psalms teach us a posture, an attitude and actions known as repentance! Repentance is the doorway to forgiveness of our sin. It is also part of what enables us to be sensitive to our sin and as we grow to despise it. So in prayer dealing with a Holy, All Knowing, All Loving God we practice repent. What does repentance entail? Awareness of Sin / Ownership of Sin / Contrition for Sin / Belief in the absolution of Sin (God given forgiveness) / Intention to not Sin / Desire for God’s Will.

Today’s text works out the process of getting to that place. Of forgiveness. It evokes all the emotion around the need we have to be forgiven, the need we have to seek God for that. Each sentence is instruction on how we are to relate to God and speak to Him about our sin and guilt. Each sentence tells us how God wants us to do it…so we better listen! We believe David wrote this Psalm after being confronted by Nathan the Prophet regarding His adultery with Bathsheba and the murder of her husband Uriah The Hittite. It is important to remember that even though God forgives even the most vile sin, there is consequence: the child dies and there is forever division in the house of David.

Psalm 51: (47 cross references in 19 verses)

1 God, have mercy on me according to Your faithful love. Because Your love is so tender and kind, wipe out my lawless acts. 2 Wash away all the evil things I’ve done. Make me pure from my sin.

  • Because we know God, His character, His essence… we can receive mercy
  • Admission of: lawless acts, evil things…SIN

3 I know the lawless acts I’ve committed. I can’t forget my sin. 4 You are the one I’ve really sinned against. I’ve done what is evil in Your sight. So You are right when You sentence me. You are fair when You judge me.

  • Honest self evaluation is essential
  • No matter how we sin it is ultimately rebellion against our Creator
  • Being ‘In Christ’ means we trust God’s justice / we believe HE knows best

5 I know I’ve been a sinner ever since I was born. I’ve been a sinner ever since my mother became pregnant with me. 6 I know that You wanted faithfulness even when I was in my mother’s body. You taught me wisdom in that secret place.

  • Recognition of our ‘Sin Condition’
  • From the moment God creates us we are willfully rebellious
  • Yet even from conception we know right from wrong
  • Life begins at conception and so does the influence of the ‘Life Giver’

7 Sprinkle me with hyssop, then I will be clean. Wash me, then I will be whiter than snow. 8 Let me hear You say, “Your sins are forgiven.” That will bring me joy and gladness. Let the body You have broken be glad. 9 Take away all my sins. Wipe away all the evil things I’ve done.

  • Hyssop was used in ceremonial cleansing
  • The idea is God can make it happen
  • And God can and does make it clear to us that HE can make us clean

10 God, create a pure heart in me. Renew my spirit making it faithful to You. 11 Don’t send me away from You. Don’t take Your Holy Spirit away from me.

  • This is asking to be transformed
  • Through the work of God’s Spirit in us we can be different!
  • He wants to make us faithful to Him, He wants us to desire purity & holiness

12 Give me back the joy that comes from being saved by You. Give me a spirit of willful obedience, so that I will keep going. 13 Then I will teach Your ways to those who commit lawless acts. And sinners will turn back to You.

  • It is asking God to reconnect us with the assurance we belong to Him
  • It presupposes a life that has been surrendered to Christ (Gospel)
  • The idea is that we need God to constantly renew our desire to follow Him
  • Part of this kind of life is being public with what you believe about God
  • There’s a connection between biblical salvation & effective evangelism

14 You are the God who saves me. I have committed murder. God, take away my guilt. Then my tongue will sing about how right You are no matter what You do. 15 Lord, open my lips so that I can speak. Then my mouth will praise You.

  • Trust in God’s ability and willingness to save souls… no matter how bad the sin
  • When we know this we have an attitude of praise and we sing and speak it

16 You don’t take delight in sacrifice. If You did, I would bring it. You don’t take pleasure in burnt offerings. 17 The sacrifice You want is a broken spirit. God, You will gladly accept a heart that is broken because of sadness over sin.

  • This is a clear recognition that empty religious rituals are not what God wants
  • This is a confession: I know what you want God, me to be real about my sin
  • This is the goal of repentance: brokenness that drives our lifestyle

18 May You be pleased to give Zion success. May it please You to build up the walls of Jerusalem. 19 Then You will delight in the sacrifices of those who do what is right. Whole burnt offerings will bring delight to You. And bulls will be offered on Your altar.

  • This is now asking for favor for the people of God
  • And that favor will make their heart align with God

Prayer Lessons: How Yahweh / Christ wants us to pray about sin & guilt

We are to ask God to have mercy on us based on His covenant love.

We are to pray believing He can and does completely forgive us.

We are to honestly and fully confess our sin and acknowledge that it is rebellion.

We are to agree with God that all sin is against Him.

We are to pray that we submit to His justice.

We are to take ownership of sin and admit we know it is not what God has taught us.

We are to ask that God to forgive and to assure us of His forgiveness.

We are to enjoy the assurance of salvation, let it heal us, and trust it is complete.

We are to ask The Holy Spirit to give us godly desires and to renew our faithfulness.

We are to ask God to let us know He is with us and to fill us with His Spirit.

We are to ask God to enable us to recapture the joy of our salvation.

We are to ask God to make us want to be obedient so that we can persevere.

We are to ask God to enable us to demonstrate His reality to those who would repent

We are to assert our trust in His saving us. No matter what we do or what God does.

We are to pray prayers of praise to the God who saves.

We are to ask God to give us a broken spirit; we know that is what He truly wants.

We are to ask God for His favor to be shown to His people.

We are to ask Christ to protect His Body so they can lay down their lives in worship.

APPLICATION: Prayer from Psalm 51

Father I ask for Your mercy that flows from faithful love. The depth of Your love wipes out my sin. I ask You to purify me; spiritually cleansing me of the evil I have done.

I am in agreement with You about my sin. I desire to deal with the reality of it. I confess that it is You personally I have sinned against. Sin is yours to define and I have done what You call evil, so I am under Your judgement regarding my sin. I submit to your will.

I acknowledge my lifetime of sin that began when I was conceived. Even then Your Spirit influenced me so that I knew You wanted holiness. Thank You for giving me the wisdom that allows me to know You!

You can make me clean by desiring it, wash me as only You can. Personally tell me that You have forgiven my sin. That is my source of joy, it heals the wounds sin has given me because it is a complete forgiveness. In Your love You erase the record of my rebellion against You.

Yahweh I ask you to recreate my heart & soul, spiritually renew my faithfulness to You. Lord, teach me to obey Your will. I ask you to allow me to experience Your constant presence, don’t let my sin separate us in any way. Lord fill me with Your Holy Spirit.

Father please reignite the joy I have had in knowing I am Yours. By Your Spirit, give me a spirit of willful and persevering obedience. As You teach me I will display and proclaim Your ways to those who do not honor You so they may turn to You and abandon sin.

I believe that You are the Lord who redeems me, no matter the depth of my sin and guilt. You forgive it, just as You forgave David. Because I know Your infinite love I trust You, no matter what You do or what I can perceive. From that faith I will have a song in my heart that praises You.

Father, Son, Holy Spirit; I want to give You what You desire from me as Your child: a repentant attitude that yields a lifestyle of brokenness about my sin. May I plant repentance and reap brokenness regarding my sin against You Lord. I know this is what you want from my life as I surrender it to Christ.

Lord Jesus Christ please give Your Body favor, may You be pleased to protect it and guide it’s member to do what is in agreement with Your will by Your Spirit. AMEN!

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Psalms: Christ’s Prayer Manual Pt. 6 ‘Worship & The Word’

WORSHIP AND THE WORD

Psalm 95

Come, let us sing to the Lord! Let us shout joyfully to the Rock of our salvation. Let us come to him with thanksgiving. Let us sing psalms of praise to him. For the Lord is a great God, a great King above all gods. He holds in his hands the depths of the earth and the mightiest mountains. The sea belongs to him, for he made it. His hands formed the dry land, too.

Come, let us worship and bow down. Let us kneel before the Lord our maker, for he is our God. We are the people he watches over, the flock under his care. If only you would listen to his voice today! The Lord says, “Don’t harden your hearts as Israel did at Meribah, as they did at Massah in the wilderness. For there your ancestors tested and tried my patience, even though they saw everything I did.
For forty years I was angry with them, and I said, ‘They are a people whose hearts turn away from me. They refuse to do what I tell them.’ So in my anger I took an oath: ‘They will never enter my place of rest.’”

“O come. let us sing to the Lord, let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation. Let us come into His presence with thanksgiving, let us make a joyful noise to Him with songs of praise. For the LORD is a great God and a great King above all gods.” (v. 1-3)

“O come, let us worship and bow down, let us kneel before the LORD our Maker. For He is our God, and we are the people of His pasture and the sheep of His hand.” (v. 6-7a)

“Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah, as on the day at Massah in the wilderness, when your fathers tested Me, put Me to the proof, though they had seen my work. For 40 years I loathed that generation and said, ‘they are a people who go astray in their heart, and have not known My ways.’ Therefore I swore in my wrath, ‘they shall not enter My rest.'” (v. 7b-11)

Summary Points:

-We praise Him; we look up to Him

-We worship Him; we bow down before Him

-We praise and worship Him when we heed His Word

-We treat the God of the Word the same way we treat the Word of God

-Beware unbelief (God can do it, but won’t for me). That attitude damages your heart

Prayer inspired by Psalm 95

Lord I want to approach You with a song in my heart. I want to join with Your people in a shout of joy to Yahweh, The Rock of my salvation! Together with Your people I desire to enter Your presence by being thankful, my soul erupts with joy to You and I sing Your praises.

I worship You because You are a great God, far surpassing all other so called gods. You hold the depths of the earth in Your very hands, each mountain peak is Yours. You made the sea, You control it. Your hands shaped the earth. Lord I come before You in reverence, humbly bowing before You in worship.

I want to show You my submission, kneeling before You my Creator. I declare You my God, knowing that as one of Your people my eternal soul is in Your care and protection. Please cultivate gratitude in my heart today for all You have done.
Lord enable me to hear Your voice calling to me today, don’t let my heart be hard and rebellious like the Israelites in the wilderness. Lord help me to fully believe all Your words I have heard. Lord may I believe today!

Our spiritual ancestors disbelieved You, even after they saw Your awe inspiring miracles. You loathed that generation and recognized their disloyalty to You. They did not truly know You. Lord give me a desire to truly know You today.

You swore an oath against that generation that they would not enter the Shalom You offered. Lord make me different. Give me a soft and humble heart. Cause me to obey You as I submit my life to Your Lordship this day and every day.

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Psalms: Christ’s Prayer Manual Pt.5 Praying in Agreement With HIStory

Prayer Recognizing Miraculous Deeds of Yahweh

Today we are going to look at Psalms 105 & 106. Both of these Psalms begin with a call to honor God by agreeing with what HE says He has done. We are instructed to worship Him by venerating the stories of His miraculous care for His people. Then both Psalms recount parts of biblical history and end with declarations of how it should be with God and His people despite the history of our rebellion.

Psalm 105 (200 cross references in 45 verses)

1 Give thanks to the Lord and proclaim his greatness. Let the whole world know what he has done. 2 Sing to him; yes, sing his praises. Tell everyone about his wonderful deeds. 3 Exult in His holy name; rejoice, you who worship Yahweh.

  • We begin with gratitude to God based on His greatness
  • As His people we are to proclaim what he has done and lift up who He is

4 Search for the Lord and for His strength; continually seek Him. 5 Remember the wonders He has performed, His miracles, and the rulings He has given, 6 you children of his servant Abraham, you descendants of Jacob, his chosen ones.

  • We are encouraged to seek God’s strength because we believe in it
  • As the spiritual children of Abraham God has chosen us to believe in Him

7 He is the Lord our God. His justice is seen throughout the land. 8 He always stands by his covenant—the commitment he made to a thousand generations. 9 This is the covenant he made with Abraham and the oath he swore to Isaac. 10 He confirmed it to Jacob as a decree, and to the people of Israel as a never-ending covenant: 11 “I will give you the land of Canaan as your special possession.”

  • Who He is describes what He has done
  • We are to declare His faithfulness to redeem those HE makes His
  • The recounting of HIStory begins with the Patriarchs

42 For He remembered His sacred promise to His servant Abraham. 43 So He brought His people out of Egypt with joy, His chosen ones with rejoicing. 44 He gave His people the lands of pagan nations, and they harvested crops that others had planted. 45 All this happened so they would follow His decrees and obey his instructions. Praise Yahweh!

  • The key idea is that God keeps His covenant promises.
  • By leading Israel out of Egypt and into the Promised land He blessed them
  • He revealed Himself to them so they would obey His instructions & commands
  • It was the perfect set up! Hallelujah!

Psalm 106 (170 cross references in 48 verses)

1 Praise Yahweh! Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! His faithful love endures forever. 2 Who can list the glorious miracles of the Lord? Who can ever praise Him enough?

  • Notice the approach
  • We are to respond to the demonstration of mercy and grace by God with praise
  • The attitude is that we can’t do it enough… (opposite of checking it off a list)

3 There is joy for those who deal justly with others and always do what is right. 4 Remember me, Lord, when You show favor to Your people; come near and rescue me. 5 Let me share in the prosperity of Your chosen ones. Let me rejoice in the joy of Your people; let me praise You with those who are Your heritage.

  • Doing things God’s way results in the joy of being HIS!
  • Being His only comes from His favor
  • There is the hope of prosperity, fellowship and an inheritance

6 Like our ancestors, we have sinned. We have done wrong! We have acted wickedly! 7 Our ancestors in Egypt were not impressed by the Lord’s miraculous deeds. They soon forgot his many acts of kindness to them. Instead, they rebelled against him at the Red Sea.

  • Direct association with the people God chose, loved then watched rebel on Him
  • Their downfall and ours: FORGETTING
  • They lost the ‘Awe’

44 Even so, he pitied them in their distress and listened to their cries. 45 He remembered his covenant with them and relented because of his unfailing love. 46 He even caused their captors to treat them with kindness.

  • Even after all of the time His people rebelled, He had mercy
  • Yahweh perfectly remembers His covenant with Abraham and us
  • God’s unfailing love is stronger than generations of rebellion, including ours

47 Save us, O Lord our God! Gather us back from among the nations, so we can thank your holy name and rejoice and praise you. 48 Praise the Lord, the God of Israel, who lives from everlasting to everlasting! Let all the people say, “Amen!” Praise the Lord!

  • The plea for Yahweh to return the Israelites from exile
  • The declaration that He is ‘our God’
  • It ends with His eternal character being the focus of our praise

5 PRAYER LESSONS:

Approaching God in Prayer: We approach him in praise for who He is and What He has done. The truth about the God of our Bible is to be declared in the aggregate and in specifics. In these postures we are humbled.

Prayer to Remind Us of Our Faith Heritage: We are called to do so and it is for our own well being that we never minimize Yahweh’s actions that created our faith.

Prayer as Confession of Our Condition: We pray in agreement with God’s account of human history and the rebellion that we are part of. We need God to enable our relationship.

Prayer as Recognition of God’s Mercy: We recount how when faced with human rebellion The God of Scripture time and again displayed unfathomable grace as He does to us in Christ Jesus.

Prayer as Expression of Hope for Shalom: Because of these truths and so much more we can hope for an eternal relationship with Yahweh, with through surrendered Spirit Following of Christ.

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Psalms: Christ’s Prayer Manual Pt. 4 ‘Life’

PRAYERS OF LIFE

A prayer from Psalm 37

I Hope in the Lord and keep his way.

I will be still before the Lord and wait patiently for Him.

The salvation of the righteous comes from the Lord;

He is my stronghold in time of trouble.

I will refrain from anger and turn from wrath;

I do not fret—it leads only to evil.

I trust in the Lord and do good;

I dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture.

The mouths of the righteous utter wisdom,

and their tongues speak what is just.

The law of their God is in their hearts; their feet do not slip.

I take delight in the Lord, He gives me the desires of my heart.

The Lord makes firm the steps of the one who delights in Him;

though he may stumble, he will not fall,

for the Lord upholds him with His hand.

I commit my way to the Lord; I trust in Him.

He makes my righteous reward shine like the dawn,

my vindication like the noonday sun.

I am humbled from being immersed in this collection of poetic prayers.Today we take on the category of Psalm about ‘Life’… When we use the term ‘life’ when talking to God it covers this life and eternal life

GOD CONTROLS BOTH. Praying the Psalms you will find many petitions for life, health, peace and provision. Model prayers that are about our well being; everything from food to heaven.

Christ has called HIS followers to live a sacrificial life, to lay down their earthly needs… So does that mean we should not ask God for anything that has to do with this life, whether it be physical or spiritual? Bonhoeffer says if we do that, we are trying to be more spiritual than Jesus / God Himself. Our Lord Jesus Christ called HIS followers to in the world but not of the world. The fact that you art here right now means HE has chosen to have you live this day. So how do we live it is the question. When we recognize God for who HE is we then look to him to provide for this life, as Christ prayed; ‘give us this day our daily bread’. Our Lord also taught us we are to pray that Yahweh’s will be done here on earth that means good things for us!

Jesus Christ also taught us to pray about what determines the next life. We are to pray for our spiritual life as well as our physical life. That we would be forgiven, and would become conduits of the grace we have received. We are to ask God to keep us from both the temptation to initiate evil and the effects of evil. Because HE can and He will!

As we pray through Psalms we discover there is a constant use of terms that can have both material meaning and spiritual meaning. Talking about this life and the next at the same time. This life is a shadow of the life to come, and the things that give us physical pleasure are but a taste of what we will find in eternity with Christ

Psalm 23 (14 Scripture references in 6 verses)

1 Yahweh is my shepherd; I lack nothing. 2 He has me lie down in grassy pastures, He leads me by quiet water.

  • The declaration is one of humble submission…admitting you are as a sheep
  • Yet in the giving up of everything those ‘In Christ’ need nothing but Him.
  • This is about how this life can be experienced knowing our Shepherd has us
  • A shepherd take the sheep where it is best for them
  • This is about peace in this life flowing from peace about eternity

3 He restores my inner person. He guides me in right paths for the sake of his own name.

  • Each of us has an eternal soul that has been degraded by sin
  • Only the creator of your soul can restore your soul
  • He does that by call you and making you HIS for the glory of HIS NAME
  • He takes HIS sheep where HE know it is best, not where they want to go
  • WE need god to take us HIS way

4 Even if I pass through death-dark ravines, I will fear no disaster; for You are with me; Your rod and staff reassure me.

  • ‘The valley of the shadow of death’… not the best rendering of original Hebrew
  • It is about darkness and lowness: low places & dark places
  • As you walk through these times in life we don’t have to expect the worst
  • We can ask God to teach us to trust HIM
  • We can Ask God to reassure us with HIS presence
  • We can ask God to use HIS people & HIS Word & HIS Spirit to encourage us

5 You prepare a table for me, even as my enemies watch; You anoint my head with oil from an overflowing cup.

  • ‘A Table’ speaks to physical needs & to something like the ‘Wedding Feast’
  • We can trust that even though we are in the midst of opposition God provides
  • Oil has both the understanding of earthly need and spiritual need

6 Goodness and grace will pursue me every day of my life; and I will live in the house of Yahweh for years and years to come.

  • The best prayer you can pray, is to pray that God would choose to pursue you
  • Grace and goodness emanates from a single source
  • This is a pray to be in God’s presence now and into infinity

Psalm 16: (27 scripture references in 11 verses)

1 Keep me safe, my God, for in You I take refuge. 2 I say to the Lord, “You are my Lord; apart from You I have no good thing.”

  • The need for security: The idea of a ‘Safe Space’ is very appealing to humans
  • We need security in this life & to be secure in our eternal life
  • Here we are given to key to both kinds of security: ‘Lordship Salvation’
  • Biblical salvation is often refereed to as Lordship salvation
  • It means absolute & singular loyalty to the one you make your Lord
  • It means you live for your Lord, Christ calls HIS followers to make HIM Lord
  • It is black and white: All that is about Christ is Good, everything else is bad

3 I say of the holy people who are in the land, “They are the noble ones in whom is all my delight.” 4 Those who run after other gods will suffer more and more. I will not pour out libations of blood to such gods or take up their names on my lips.

  • This is about the who you associate with and share values with
  • Who do you model your life here on earth after?
  • What things do followers of CHRIST separate themselves from?

5 Lord, You alone are my portion and my cup; You make my lot secure. 6 The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; surely I have a delightful inheritance.

  • When HE is your Lord HE is all you need
  • When this becomes your story then the place you have for eternity is the best!
  • What you get from your father (inheritance) is eternity with HIM!
  • But there is no half way in this… Lord, YOU alone are my identity & provision

7 I will praise the Lord, who counsels me; even at night he instructs my heart. 8 I keep my eyes always on the Lord. With him at my right hand, I will not be shaken.

  • Humility to praise God for all the right things I think and learn
  • This is a commitment to not get complacent as a disciple
  • Knowing that you walk daily with Your Lord gives you confidence now & forever

9 Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will rest secure, 10 because You will not abandon me to the realm of the dead, nor will You let Your faithful one see decay.

  • Because of this confidence…we rejoice!
  • The ultimate security of your person for eternity can be know
  • This promise applies to Christ and to all who give up their life for Him
  • This is a prayer born of relational confidence: Know God & Know Eternity!

11 You make known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in Your presence, with eternal pleasures at Your right hand.

  • There is one path, this is singular ‘THE’ path of life
  • Jesus said HE is The Way & The Truth & The Light … THE LORD
  • The ultimate joy is the presence of God
  • This life we can have partial and indirect experiences of God’s presence
  • Heaven is the full out, intimate pleasure of His total presence FOREVER

WAYS TO PRAY:

Ask Yahweh to make you a sheep in His flock.

Ask Yahweh to enable you to lay down everything so you can lack nothing.

Ask Christ Jesus to give you peace in this life that flows from the peace He gives you about eternity.

Ask Jesus Christ to restore your soul to relationship with Him.

Ask Yahweh to make you an instrument of HIS glory.

Ask Christ that in low and dark times HE give you the confidence and reassurance of His presence.

Ask Yahweh to provide for you physically and spiritually in the midst of this world’s sin.

Ask Jesus Christ to pursue your soul and make you His.

Ask Yahweh to be your only shelter.

Ask Christ that He would make you undivided in your loyalty to Him.

Ask The Lord to give you the influence of the Body of Christ and it alone. Ask Him to give you total disdain for the worship of all idols.

Ask Christ to be everything for you and to give you contentment with whatever that is today.

Ask Yahweh to teach you HIS ways, to learn to always look to His will. Ask Him to teach you how to rejoice and praise Him.

Ask Christ to give you the assurance of your eternity and confidence of His presence forever.

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Psalms: Christ’s Prayer Manual Pt. 3 ‘Creation’

PRAYING TO THE ONE WHO CREATES IT ALL

Psalm 19
The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they tell the story; night after night they reveal knowledge. They have no speech, they use no words; no sound is heard from them. Yet their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world. In the heavens God has pitched a tent for the sun. It is like a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, like a champion rejoicing to run his course. It rises at one end of the heavens and makes its circuit to the other; nothing is deprived of its warmth.
The law of the Lord is perfect, refreshing the soul. The statutes of the Lord are trustworthy, making wise the simple. The precepts of the Lord are right, giving joy to the heart. The commands of the Lord are radiant, giving light to the eyes. The fear of the Lord is pure, enduring forever. The decrees of the Lord are firm, and all of them are righteous. These are more precious than gold, than much pure gold; they are sweeter than honey, than honey from the honeycomb. By them your servant is warned; in keeping them there is great reward.
But who can discern their own errors? Forgive my hidden faults. Keep your servant also from willful sins; may they not rule over me. Then I will be blameless, innocent of great transgression. May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer.

Praying to God based on the glory displayed in His Creation. This Psalm is a poetic look at the incredible complexity of our universe. It also identifies the author of our universe: YAHWEH! The universe testifies to HIS greatness and power; it reveals who HE is!

Romans 1:20
For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.

I have heard people argue you can be a Christian and not believe in what the Bible says about the creation of the world… I don’t think you can be a ‘Biblical Christian’ if you don’t believe that the Bible is true!

Memorial Day: We honor the ultimate sacrifice of those who served in this country’s armed forces. What we are going to do today is memorialize the universe God has created and sustains. We are going to take HIS word about it and we are going to see what HE says about it and we are going to honor HIM based on what HE made.

DO you want to learn how to pray? The basis of prayer is the belief, the absolute conviction that Yahweh / Jesus Christ is who He says He is. He says He created everything knowable.

Why should we pray about Creation? Does it matter to The One True God what we believe about creation? The essential element of True Prayer is the willful and specific agreement with the will of Yahweh / Christ as revealed through Scripture and The Holy Spirit.

Psalm 104

1 Bless Yahweh, my soul! Yahweh, My Elohim, You are very great; You are clothed with glory and majesty, 2 wrapped in light as with a robe. You spread out the heavens like a curtain, 3 You laid the beams of Your palace on the water. You make the clouds Your chariot, You ride on the wings of the wind. 4 You make winds Your messengers, fiery flames Your servants.

  • We are to recognize our soul’s need for the blessing of it’s creator
  • We are to recognize His surpassing greatness, His indescribable splendor…
  • We acknowledge His complete control of all of creation
  • We affirm that all creation serves His will (our understanding is not important)

5 You fixed the earth on its foundations, never to be moved. 6 You covered it with the deep like a garment; the waters stood above the mountains. 7 At Your rebuke they fled; at the sound of Your thunder they rushed away, 8 flowing over hills, pouring into valleys, down to the place You had fixed for them. 9 You determined a boundary they could not cross; they were never to cover the earth again.

  • We believe Yahweh, The Self-Existent God of The Bible, created this planet
  • We believe He divided the land from the water by His Word
  • Poetic rendering of Genesis 1 and Genesis 7, post flood at the same time

10 You make springs gush forth in the valleys; they flow between the hills, 11 supplying water to all the wild animals; the wild donkeys quench their thirst. 12 On their banks the birds of the air build their nests; among the branches they sing. 13 You water the mountains from your palace; the earth is satisfied with how You provide!

  • Not only intelligent design, but inspired design…the ultimate in creativity!
  • Talk about sustainability!
  • The interconnectedness of ecosystem into ecosystem
  • Mind boggling complexity… yet not one single thing is unnecessary
  • Each aspect of creation is perfectly cared for…by the Provider of all things

14 You grow grass for the cattle; and for people You grow the plants they need to bring forth bread from the earth,15 wine that gladdens the human heart, oil to make faces glow, and food to sustain their strength.

  • Things naturally complement each other
  • Everything part has a purpose; infinite wisdom has planned it all
  • Ultimately all of creation is under the dominion of humans
  • Dominion is stewardship and proper use…but sin can prevail in a fallen world

16 Yahweh’s trees are satisfied — the cedars of the Lebanon, which He has planted. 17 In them sparrows build their nests, while storks live in the fir trees.18 For the wild goats there are the high mountains, while the badgers find refuge in the rocks.

  • Creation is content…every second everything does what it was made to do
  • Except Humans… we are made in God’s image (the only thing)
  • No other thing in all creation rebels against the creator,

19 You made the moon to mark the seasons, and the sun knows when to set. 20 You bring darkness, and it is night, the time when all forest animals prowl. 21 The young lions roar after their prey and seek their food from God. 22 The sun rises, they slink away and lie down to rest in their dens; 23 while people go out to their work, laboring on till evening.

  • God says He controls interstellar bodies, their orbits and such
  • God says He controls the habits of creatures

24 What variety there is in your works, O Yahweh! How many of them there are! In wisdom you have made them all; the earth is full of Your creations. 25 Look at the sea, so great, so wide! It teems with countless creatures, living beings, both large and small. 26 The ships are there, sailing to and fro; Leviathan which you formed, frolics there.

  • The categories of life are unfathomable and then there is complexity within that
  • The forethought to design such detail of interconnectedness is WISDOM
  • If something exists, Yahweh made it…That is what HE says

27 All of them look to You to give them their food when they need it. 28 When You give it to them, they gather it; when you open your hand, they are well satisfied.

  • Everything in all creation is dependent on Yahweh (Made & Sustained)
  • All creation is satisfied with how Yahweh treats it / them… except some humans

29 If You hide Your face, they vanish; if You take away their breath, they perish and return to their dust. 30 If you send out Your Spirit, they are created, so You renew the face of the earth.

  • With out His care…there is nothing (Hell)
  • Everything in our world enjoys some aspect of God’s presence
  • If Yahweh does not provide HIS presence things do not exist
  • There is no reality without HIM…He defines reality

31 May the glory of Yahweh last forever! May Yahweh rejoice in his works! 32 When He looks at the earth, it trembles; when He touches the mountains, they pour out smoke.

  • Yahweh is to be given all the glory, all the time BECASUE of creation…
  • HE perfectly rejoices in what HE creates (We get to rejoice in that with Him!)
  • Absolute Sovereignty is what HE says He has… over everything

33 I will sing to Yahweh as long as I live, sing praise to My Elohim all my life. 34 May my meditations be pleasing to Him; I will rejoice in Yahweh. 35 May sinners vanish from the earth and the wicked be no more! Bless Yahweh, my soul!

  • Singing and praising The I AM, making Him MY God is for all eternity
  • Making Him ‘My God’ means I want to think about EVERYTHING as HE does!
  • It means I rejoice in Who HE Is! It means I agree with EVERYTHING He says!
  • God has declared what verse 35 says about ‘The Wicked’ & ‘Sinners’
  • I believe what He says, what He says He is going to do, and I rejoice in all of it!

Questions:

Do you fully believe what Scripture says about the beginnings of our world?

Do you fully believe what Scripture says about the flood?

Do You fully believe our world is as old as God says it is?

Do you fully believe God is in control of our climate / environment?

Do you fully believe that as Jesus Christ’s church we’re to be stewards of God’s creation?

If you believe what Yahweh / Jesus Christ has said about creation and His control of the physical universe we know… then this can be your prayer guideline. Otherwise I suggest you ask God to reveal Himself to you

If we use this psalm correctly, using the truth in it to pattern out thoughts we would pray a prayer like this:

My Lord: Father, Son and Holy Spirit; My soul was made to bless You in Your Self-Existence, in Your being MY God. Your greatness is without limit, Your control of the universe is complete, all reality is shaped by YOU! The only way to begin to describe you is through the majesty of Your creation. Your universe is an amazing monument to Your greatness

You have designed all of creation to be interdependent and to operate within creative and wise ways that YOU establish. It reveals who and what You are. From atoms to planets, You have not only created everything, you continuously sustain everything, every microsecond for all eternity. You provide and creation is content, all things ultimately honor YOU!

You have willed each and every aspect of the universe into being and you sustain each thing in ways that satisfy what you have created. All creation results from YOUR Wisdom. Only YOU spoke all things into existence, You made them what they are and placed them where they are.

Yahweh, Jesus Christ, Holy Spirit; Each and every organism looks to You to provide life, only You can breathe the breath of life into things. Only You measure out death by withdrawal of Your Spirit.

Because of the Universe You created, I worship The I AM and live for You as MY God. I desire to believe in and follow Your will, your Word and Your ways. I willfully choose to think only in ways that please You Lord. I fully rejoice in everything about You Yahweh. I believe You will do everything You say You will do, and my soul will be blessed by it!

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