Praying, and God answers

When I can turn to God and find expected relief, I find myself expecting even bigger things and doubt does not seem to be part of my journey. It would seem that as I experience the power in God to help me when I am weakest, I find that there is ample space in my life for Him to help. I have learned, like the Psalmist, to wait patiently – believing, hoping and praying.

I waited patiently for the Lord’s help;

    then he listened to me and heard my cry.

He pulled me out of a dangerous pit,

    out of the deadly quicksand.

He set me safely on a rock

    and made me secure.

He taught me to sing a new song,

    a song of praise to our God.

Many who see this will take warning

    and will put their trust in the Lord.

Happy are those who trust the Lord,

    who do not turn to idols

    or join those who worship false gods.

You have done many things for us, O Lord our God;

    there is no one like you!

    You have made many wonderful plans for us.

I could never speak of them all—

    their number is so great! – Pslam 40:1-5 GNT

I love that God answered his prayers – there is a confidence that the Father heard him always.

Prayer the Churches banquet, Angels age,
Gods breath in man returning to his birth,
The soul in paraphrase, heart in pilgrimage,
The Christian plummet sounding heav’n and earth;
Engine against th’ Almightie, sinners towre,
Reversed thunder, Christ-side-piercing spear,
The six-daies world transposing in an houre,
A kinde of tune, which all things heare and fear;

Softnesse, and peace, and joy, and love, and blisse,
Exalted Manna, gladnesse of the best,
Heaven in ordinarie, man well drest,
The milkie way, the bird of Paradise,
Church-bels beyond the starres heard, the souls bloud,
The land of spices; something understood.


Taken from George Herbert: 100 Poems, edited by Helen Wilcox (Cambridge University Press, 2016).

Pray for them and for me when desperate

I am reading about David trying to prove to King Saul that he has nothing against him. It reminds me how I ought to pray for others who I find turning against me.

You can see for yourself that just now in the cave the Lord put you in my power. Some of my men told me to kill you, but I felt sorry for you and said that I would not harm you in the least, because you are the one whom the Lord chose to be king. Look, my father, look at the piece of your robe I am holding! I could have killed you, but instead I only cut this off. This should convince you that I have no thought of rebelling against you or of harming you. You are hunting me down to kill me, even though I have not done you any wrong. May the Lord judge which one of us is wrong! May he punish you for your action against me, for I will not harm you in the least. – 1 Samuel 24:10-12 GNT

I ran across this poem that speaks right into this message.

Vengeance will not be mine
Even though they come against
To them I give my prayers
Their fate now to the Lord
For He is judge and deliverer
And here I pray for them
That they may find in Him
The peace in this heart I hold

With this gift of prayer it is as if I have become a watchman for others.

“Mortal man,” he said, “I am making you a lookout for the nation of Israel. You will pass on to them the warnings I give you. – Ezekiel 3:17 GNT

Obviously not just for those who are against me, but for my brothers and sisters in Christ. I do find myself enjoying the task of discipleship – watching for their safety, preaching for their edification and praying for their eternal welfare.

I believe I enjoy it because I myself have established my walk with God by faith and prayer – God communicates to my spirit and that is what gives me strength of spirit and life in my words I choose to use – it is only by His Spirit that they become bread from heaven.

I have spent time, like David, asking God to take away my sin first, and then following that up with my ask to remove the troubles that have come against me.

Don’t punish me any more! I am about to die from your blows. – Psalm 39:10 GNT

One thing I know, I must not stop praying. I am also resigned to pray for the removal of trouble or trials. It is in my heart to pray for deliverance and when I have sin in my life I notice that is not so.

I added the word trials to my description of troubles because sometimes I do feel it is the hand of God correcting my ways. As I set my relationship right with Him it is there that I can pour out my heart and pray for relief.

Hear my prayer, Lord,

    and listen to my cry;

    come to my aid when I weep.

Like all my ancestors

    I am only your guest for a little while.

Leave me alone so that I may have some happiness

    before I go away and am no more. – Psalm 39:12-13 GNT

All I ask is that God will hear my prayer. It is here in this prayer that I see a witness to God’s understanding of how I need to speak when I am desperate.

Here are two verses from a hymn written by William Cowper that speaks into this.

SOMETIMES A LIGHT SURPRISES

1. Sometimes a light surprises
The Christian while he sings;
It is the Lord Who rises
With healing in His wings:
When comforts are declining,
He grants the soul again
A season of clear shining,
To cheer it after the rain

2. In holy contemplation
We sweetly then pursue
The theme of God’s salvation,
And find it ever new;
Set free from present sorrow,
We cheerfully can say,
Let the unknown tomorrow
Bring with it what it may.

David’s conversation with God

There is an account in 1 Samuel chapter twenty-three where David has some conversations with God that are particularly sensitive to obtaining direction and purpose. Lives were at stake.

The first conversation dealt with a battle plan. A town of Israel was being attacked by the Philistines. David wanted to save them and God agreed. His men of war, however, we tired of fleeing from enemies and did not want to create another one with the Philistines. David had to re-engage God to confirm the blessing of moving out. Having done so, it was his passion, desires and need to defend this town, with the blessing of God, that persuaded his men to join him in battle. Sometimes it is our passion, as leaders, that draw and inspire people to follow us. Passion is usually a sign that I am connected with God and I, myself, believe that what I heard from God was true. That is usually enough for others to follow. Leadership sometimes is not consensus but that cannot be really determined unless I am spending time asking God to confirm the way.

The second occasion was quite different. David would have loved to stay at Keilah, the town he saved, because they were sheltered, fed, and comfortable. Then news, maybe gossip, reached him that Saul was coming after him. He begged God, through the instrument of the ephod from the priest, to answer him. God was simple and clear and David and his men left immediately. I am sure other leaders would have sent some spies out to see if the rumour was true. Practical and doable but I have to admit I love the example of David going to God to get an understanding of people. He wanted to stay but if the people turned him over to Saul … God said they would – that was the decisive factor not whether Saul was coming or not.

What a confidence to me to pray looking to God for direction on my desires, my troubles and the convictions of others.

In any case—pray no matter what. Praying is rowing, and sometimes it is like rowing in the dark—you won’t feel that you are making any progress at all. Yet you are, and when the winds rise again, and they surely will, you will sail again before them. – Timothy Keller

Bursting into prayer confirming beyond question

Lamentations records quite a journey and something wonderful happens by chapter five. The people respond by bursting into prayer. Even if the prayer is a complaint, what matters most is that they are praying – talking to God. The channels of communication are open and therein lies the indications that healing has begun.

The prayer opens with an urgent, passionate and desperate plea.

Remember, O Lord, what has happened to us. Look at us, and see our disgrace. – Lamentations 5:1 GNT

There is no intention of impressing God, they only desire for God to hear and respond.

I am comforted to know that whenever I encounter trouble – God sees, considers and remembers what has happened to me. All I need to do, when I pray, is to recommend my situation to His gracious and compassionate consideration.

Then I follow with a prayer for restoration.

Bring us back to you. Lord! Bring us back! Restore our ancient glory. Or have you rejected us forever? Is there no limit to your anger? – Lamentations 5:21-22 GNT

I am sure that if God is not the author of my repentance, I will not properly repent. When I pray “I repent” – that is a good prayer. This one here might be a better way to pray – “Bring us back!” – asking God to give me the gift of true repentance.

“In a last brief and yet forceful word, he prayed Jehovah to turn the people unto Himself. This he introduced by a declaration of his confidence in the perpetual enthronement of Jehovah. It was a cry which recognized the last helplessness of man, namely, his inability even to repent.” – Morgan

It is a prayer for sure targeting those of us who have backslidden or seen our relationship with God decline. My prayer for repentance is so that my relationship can be restored.

It is this ability to pray that confirms beyond question that God has not and will not reject His people and His anger does not last forever.

You see, then, that the grace of the one Spirit is common to every writer and all the books of Scripture, and differs in its expression only as need requires and the Spirit wills. Obviously, therefore, the only thing that matters is for each writer to hold fast unyieldingly the grace he personally has received and so fulfil perfectly his individual mission. And, among all the books, the Psalter has certainly a very special grace, a choiceness of quality well worthy to be pondered; for, besides the characteristics which it shares with others, it has this peculiar marvel of its own, that within it are represented and portrayed in all their great variety the movements of the human soul. It is like a picture, in which you see yourself portrayed, and seeing, may understand and consequently form yourself upon the pattern given. Elsewhere in the Bible you read only that the Law commands this or that to be done, you listen to the Prophets to learn about the Saviour’s coming, or you turn to the historical books to learn the doings of the kings and holy men; but in the Psalter, besides all these things, you learn about yourself. You find depicted in it all the movements of your soul, all its changes, its ups and downs, its failures and recoveries. Moreover, whatever your particular need or trouble, from this same book you can select a form of words to fit it, so that you do not merely hear and then pass on, but learn the way to remedy your ill. Prohibitions of evil-doing are plentiful in Scripture, but only the Psalter tells you how to obey these orders and abstain from sin. Repentance, for example, is enjoined repeatedly; but to repent means to leave off sinning, and it is the Psalms that show you how to set about repenting and with what words your penitence may be expressed. Again, Saint Paul says, Tribulation worketh endurance, and endurance experience, and experience hope, and hope maketh not ashamed [Rom 5:3, 5]; but it is in the Psalms that we find written and described how afflictions should be borne, and what the afflicted ought to say, both at the time and when his troubles cease: the whole process of his testing is set forth in them and we are shown exactly with what words to voice our hope in God. Or take the commandment, In everything give thanks. [1 Thess 5:18] The Psalms not only exhort us to be thankful, they also provide us with fitting words to say. We are told, too, by other writers that all who would live godly in Christ must suffer persecution;[2 Tim 3:12] and here again the Psalms supply words with which both those who flee persecution and those who suffer under it may suitably address themselves to God, and it does the same for those who have been rescued from it. We are bidden elsewhere in the Bible also to bless the Lord and to acknowledge Him: here in the Psalms we are shown the way to do it, and with what sort of words His majesty may meetly be confessed. In fact, under all the circumstances of life, we shall find that these divine songs suit ourselves and meet our own souls’ need at every turn. – Athanasius

Praying against opposition as part of my prayer form

When it comes to praying against those who oppose me, I take a strong stand as to the language I will use. There is a place for praying in this form so I want to take another look at it again.

Oppose those who oppose me, Lord, and fight those who fight against me! – Psalm 35:1 GNT

The reflection of God involved as a mirror surrounding me and having curses, opposition and direct contact with force reflecting off me and rebounding on to those who are creating the curses, opposition and contact with force is a common prayer I heard growing up. In fact, I know, that until recently, I prayed the same way. I suddenly realised one day, that my brothers and sisters in Christ were my enemies I was praying about and knew I had to change my language.

So I think there is a place for this prayer, just not a prayer that I can pray all the time. I would rather pray that God would disrupt the agendas of those who come against me. It helps me not to fall into the trap of seeking revenge or vindication and maybe even worse, expecting God to enact vengence.

If I truly am expecting joy and gratitude to be the outcome of an answered prayer, where God’s own timing and His unique way of accomplishing His purposes are carried out, then, like other forms of prayer, the end result should have God being glorified, He should be seen as the God who saves.  

Pray each of the meditations – adoration, confession, petition, and thanksgiving for Jesus and his salvation. Pray for your needs and pressing concerns. Take a final moment just to enjoy him and his presence. Timothy Keller