my cry

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.

Pray for others in my prayer time

prayer-for-beginners-g13leaiz

Sometimes desperate situations that we have put ourselves in rob us of our faith to believe that God will do anything gracious to us. Sometimes, in those moments, we need others who seem to be in right standing with God, to make that prayer for us. Such was the case with Moses. The people knew their complaining was not to Moses, but directed at God. When He struck them, they knew exactly why. In this very real moment they did not ask for a golden calf, they knew the answer laid in the saving work of God.

The people came to Moses and said, “We sinned when we spoke against the Lord and against you. Now pray to the Lord to take these snakes away.” So Moses prayed for the people. – Numbers 21:7 GNT

God’s remedy was not necessarily simple to put together from Moses’ perspective but it was simple for the people to receive their healing. It took a little while to be organized and put together so more people died while waiting for the plan to take shape, but when it was completed all they had to do was look and live.

It is what we all hope for when we pray – that God would listen and hear as we call out to Him.

Hear my cry, O God;
    listen to my prayer!
In despair and far from home
    I call to you! – Psalm 61:1-2 GNT

Crying out is what I do when I am not content in expressing my need but an actually need for heaven to hear and for God to help. And while I may hope that my prayer is heard I want more. I want God to listen to it so that in His wisdom He may see fit as to how He will answer it. I do not believe that God is ever hardened against the cries of His own children. For whatever reason God does not act on our behalf in the way we think He should, praying is never something we do in vain.

I can only imagine how much this description can fit me when I am in a depressed or melancholy frame of mind – far from home. While I may be diminutive in my calling out, David continues to call out.  David knew that there is no place in the world unsuitable for prayer. What he is sure of is that some circumstances require resolve and it helps sometimes to call them out. Is it not true that when I fail to pray that it becomes the end of myself – despair takes over. I love that David sought no one else but God.

Am I not ashamed when I find myself praying with selfish motives after listening to such an honest prayer?

And when you ask, you do not receive it, because your motives are bad; you ask for things to use for your own pleasures. – James 4:3 GNT

I sometimes amaze myself when I think about how much I am not like God in how I think and act. When I drop the mask and really look at my motives when I pray, I believe I find much more self-centredness than I would hope to find.

At the end of the day, God has not called me to walk in comfort, but to live for Him in a world that does not actually like me – maybe I should be ready for the day when it will hate me. How much more important is my prayer time and to set aside time for others, like me.

It is a glorious divine manifestation of God unto the soul, shedding abroad God’s love in the heart; it is a thing better felt than spoken of: it is no audible voice, but it is a ray of glory filling the soul with God, as He is life, light, love, and liberty, corresponding to that audible voice, ‘O man, greatly beloved’ (Dan. 9: 23); putting a man in a transport with this on his heart, ‘It is good to be here.’ (Matt. 17: 4.) It is that which went out from Christ to Mary, when He but mentioned her name– ‘Jesus saith unto her, Mary. She turned herself, and saith unto Him, Rabboni, which is to say, Master.’ (John 20: 16.) He had spoken some words to her before, and she understood not that it was He: but when He uttereth this one word “Mary”, there was some admirable divine conveyance and manifestation made out unto her heart, by which she was so satisfyingly filled, that there was no place for arguing and disputing whether or no that was Christ, and if she had any interest in Him. – William Guthrie, The Christian’s Great Interest