Finding your voice in the Psalms

The Psalms are a collection of prayers that obviously availed before the Lord, and He wanted to be recorded for all time.  I believe they are one of the most important ways to learn how to pray.  Even our Lord Jesus prayed the Psalms and they were used to not only fulfill the messianic prophecies concerning Jesus, but I believe used to encourage Jesus while He was on earth in facing trials and temptations (“for He was tempted in all ways yet without sin” (Hebrews 4:15)).  I believe Jesus, even as He quoted Psalm 22 from the Cross in the anguish of being separated from the Father when He became sin on our behalf, received strength in the rest of that Psalm and in how it ends (see v.21b-31).

With half of the Psalms written by David, we should be reminded as we read the transparency of his Psalms that this is what the Lord looks for in us as well.  David was said to be a man after His own heart, and we can see this most clearly as he pours out his heart to the Lord God Almighty.

We have been given this incredible resource and treasure in the Psalms.  The Psalms have been used over and over, to articulate what often is difficult to articulate in prayer during times of trail and hardship as well as expand our vocabulary of thanksgiving and praise in times of victory and answered prayer.

Find your voice in the Psalms.  The more you do, the more it will be a part of you and your prayers intertwining with the Word of God.  The more it will build your own faith up, that You are being heard by the Lord, even in the valley of the shadow of death, even in the times of great betrayal, loneliness and deferred hope.

For the next month may I offer you a challenge?  Would you read five Psalms a day, but not just read them, pray them out loud and make them your prayers.  Maybe take three in the morning, one at lunchtime and one in the evening (see Psalm 55:17).  Or however you want to do it....

Personalize them, take a moment and by the power of the Holy Spirit lift them up as your own heart felt prayer in Jesus Name.

Include your family on some of the readings, perhaps when you read them in the evening.  Or read a psalm as a family before your meal each evening (if it’s a shorter Psalm J).

As you read them...

 Declare the praises of God through the Psalms. 

Make confession through the Psalms.

Make known what has been troubling you through the Psalms.

Understand when the Psalms talks about ones enemies that it still applies to you and I because we know the enemy is spiritual and so pray it that way (Ephesians 6:12).

Claim the promises revealed by faith as you pray through the Psalms

Pray the truths of the Psalms as you read them not only over you, but over your family in Jesus Name.

Let’s believe the Father that these prayers will truly be answered, and let’s expect to encounter Him through this time of praying the Psalms over the next thirty days or so.

As you read them, perhaps a certain name or situation will come to mind as you read a particular Psalm.  Write it down in your journal with that Psalm number next to it, and believe God for His answer in that person’s life or in that situation.  Again let the Holy Spirit bring life into the Psalms as you read them.  Read them with unction, with energy and conviction.   Where it says “He” about the Lord, say “You” as you address Him personally coming before His Throne of Grace. Pray them out loud.  Pause as you read them to reflect on the words you are saying to the Father.

Let’s begin....

Next time we’ll go into the New Testament teaching on prayer...

2 Chronicles 7:14 - A principal for revival

If you are like me, you’ve probably heard this verse used a few times in prayer meetings, “if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”

To be honest I saw the truths in this verse but I didn’t see or feel the impact until I heard of amazing testimonies of God’s response to people doing this very thing in recent times.  We were seeing the beginnings of transformation where my family and I were serving on Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, but it was in meeting George Otis Jr. and hearing his testimonies, and those places covered in the “TransforNations” documentaries through the Sentinel Group that my eyes were truly opened.

I also had the honor of meeting Walo Ani, a dear brother and church leader from Papua New Guinea with still more amazing testimonies of transformation over towns and regions as God responded to this promise of 2 Chronicles 7:14.  I now see so much more of the weight of this incredible promise.

The truth of 2 Chronicles 7:14 also lines up with what we saw earlier already with Moses and Daniel’s prayers.  It’s not God’s people engaging with spiritual entities in the heavenly places that brings revival, but rather God response to His people humbling themselves in prayer, repenting and seeking Him!

I saw this first hand on the Indian Reservation we ministered on in South Dakota.  Year after year (and it had been going on much longer even before we arrived!) people would come to “engage in spiritual warfare” by binding the principalities and so forth.  We don’t have time to go into the unbiblical aspect of this at this time, but suffice to say it would do a lot of people good to read John Paul Jackson’s book “Needless Casualties of War” on this unscriptural practice.  So many came to do this “high level spiritual warfare” or formula driven prayers and declarations, but no change.

However, the impact of what happened when the church in that reservation came together in unity (across denominations) and humbled themselves in repentance for the churches sins and asked for God to heal the land and touch the people was both immediate and undeniable in its impact.  Within weeks of this happening, one of the sun dance trees was pulled up from the ground by a whirlwind (even though the  base of the tree are buried 7 feet into the ground!) and another was struck by lightening (and disintegrated not just burned!).  There was a change in the atmosphere and more people were notably coming to the Lord or open to hear the Gospel then before.

I encourage you to see the “TransforNations” videos yourself to build your faith and see first hand how Almighty God has responded to His promise in recent times.   A clip can be found here....  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X42oZ1O8hAk&t=13s

As we stated last time, judgment begins in the household of God, not with the unbeliever.  It is the believers who are called priests.  It is the believer who is heard by God and has a responsibility to pray not only for their families, but even kings and those in authority (1 Timothy 2).  It is the believer who is called to intercede and stand in the gap in Jesus Name and for His glory.

What is Father attracted to?  What does He respond to?  Humility.

Lord, You have heard the desire of the humble;

You will prepare their heart;

You will cause Your ear to hear, - Psalm 10:17

For thus says the high and exalted One Who lives forever, whose name is Holy, "I dwell on a high and holy place, And also with the contrite and lowly of spirit In order to revive the spirit of the lowly And to revive the heart of the contrite." – Isaiah 57:17

And of course James 4:6 and 1 Peter 5:5 that God gives grace to the humble and many others...

In fact, for His glory, we are called to humble ourselves (1 Peter 5:6). 

Notice two things also in this verse of 2 Chronicles 7:14.

First we are called to actively be seeking the face of God.  There is a responsibility on our part to seek HIM.  This takes time and focus and energy and doesn’t have strings attached.

Second notice the order, it doesn’t say, “turn from their wicked ways, and seek My face...”  I believe this from the Word and from experience, that we don’t even know how blinded we are to our own compromises that God calls wicked, until we behold the light of His countenance as we seek Him.  Just like Isaiah who I’m sure was a “righteous” man in his desire to live according to the Torah, yet, when we saw God high and lifted up, he immediately recognized the sin of things he had spoken that were unclean in His eyes.

Its in seeking God that many times also the things we fill our time with can be exposed as idols or distractions.  It is in seeking God that we demonstrate our sincerity of wanting Him above all others, that I believe God then honors by drawing near and revealing His heart and His glory (which is His character, His essence).

This brings us to a place of repentance.  To the place of sincerity in our desire to turn from what is wrong and turn to what is right.  The place of genuine renewing of the mind, and a righteous anger to not return to what has not brought Him glory and honor and has grieved His Holy Spirit.  It’s time to seek the Lord.  It’s time we humble ourselves and take full responsibility for where He has placed us, and those He has surrounded us with.  May we ask for others to join together in this, and see true transformation take place in our communities, schools, cities and nation.  It starts with you and me.

Sow for yourselves righteousness;

Reap in mercy;

Break up your fallow ground,

For it is time to seek the Lord,

Till He comes and rains righteousness on you. – Hosea 10:12

Daniel - The beloved of God and his availing intercessions

I’ve been around a lot of prayer meetings, and one thing you begin to notice some times, are people praying out phrases they’ve heard from others that sounds good but if you’d ask them, “Where is that in the Bible?” They wouldn’t be able to tell you (nor could they because it’s not in the Word).  There’s also a lot of declarative prayers, declaring to the “principalities and powers” what they need to do and “binding” them over a city or country or so on.  Although a few verses will try to be used, one will not find such prayers in the Bible.  And where is all the fruit from such ongoing prayers?  Are they seeing Biblical results?

What are the prayers that moved the hand of God in the Old and New Testament?  What are prayers that move the hand of God today?  What we see are prayers of repentance.  Prayers of faith?  Absolutely, but in faith, prayers of humility and contrition. 

There’s such a presumption today in the church that you can actually hear people telling God what He is do in prayer meetings.  Or some who begin to blame God for inaction.  Where is this coming from?  I believe it’s coming from a culture that has bred entitlement, pride,  and a demanding impatient spoiled shallow spirituality.  What was God’s response to Job?  We need to teach this in our churches.  What was Paul’s response?  He quoted from the Old Testament (Psalm 51:4) when he said in Romans 3:4 that God would be found true but every man a liar that “You may be justified in Your words, and my overcome when You are judged.”

When we read Daniel’s intercession for the nation of Israel, we find a humble repentant heart that identifies with his people in confession.  We would be wise to follow His example. Isn’t this how Jesus taught us to pray?  “Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us..”

So what do we see in Daniel’s prayer of Daniel 9?  A prayer that got the attention of heaven so much he was visited by none other than Gabriel himself immediately in response with divine revelation.

We read such things as this;

v 4 O Lord, great and awesome God, who keeps His covenant and mercy with those who love Him, and with those who keep His commandments,

As we saw before, the prayers of others, like Abraham, Moses and Hannah, start with praise and an understanding of His character.  His holiness, His benevolence and His mercy.

5 we have sinned and committed iniquity, we have done wickedly and rebelled, even by departing from Your precepts and Your judgments. 6 Neither have we heeded Your servants the prophets, who spoke in Your name to our kings and our princes, to our fathers and all the people of the land.

Daniel acknowledges there are consequences to rebelling against God’s Word. There is false teaching today in churches that say there are no consequences and nothing is altered in our relationship with God if we sin or don’t sin.  Really?  When Paul said in Galatians 6 to the church, that God will not be mocked, what a man sows that will he reap.  If he sows to the flesh he will reap destruction.  Or who can say there are no consequences and judgment when one reads of Jesus’ words to the churches of Revelation?  Or His warnings in the Gospels to those who do not do what He says but only confess Him with their mouth?  Or John in 1 John stating the way we demonstrate we really know Him is obedience? (1 John 2:3,4).

Do you see the first step in a prayer of repentance here?  It is taking full responsibility.  There’s no true humility or true repentance as long as we are like Adam and Eve in the Garden, casting blame on another.  WE must take responsibility, WE must acknowledge we have strayed far from God’s plumb line as a church.  We must return to a corporate identity in our prayers, in the face of a society that has trained and conditioned so many to be individualistic and detached from the corporate church.  Again, that’s not how Jesus revealed He views it in Revelation 1-3.  He is sees the church represented in that city.

7 O Lord, righteousness belongs to You, but to us shame of face, as it is this day—to the men of Judah, to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and all Israel, those near and those far off in all the countries to which You have driven them, because of the unfaithfulness which they have committed against You.

8 “O Lord, to us belongs shame of face, to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, because we have sinned against You. 9 To the Lord our God belong mercy and forgiveness, though we have rebelled against Him.

We’re taught today you shouldn’t feel shame in many churches.  True there is wrong shame, where one may feel shameful if we’ve done no wrong.  Or being tempted to feel shame for ones faith and being set apart for Jesus.  Or continued shame when we’ve confessed our sins to the Lord and have turned from them.  Yes, we reject this kind of shame.  We are not to be ashamed of the Gospel, of our Lord. 

But there is a shame that comes when we do wrong!  And this opens our eyes and understanding to flee from compromise, from immorality and dishonoring the Name of our King!  This is what the New Testament reveals as well as the Old!  (See verses Hosea 4:18, Ezekiel, Romans 6:21, 1 Corinthians 6, 15:21, 2 Thessalonians 3:4 for examples).

This sorrow, this godly sorrow leads us to repentance, (2 Corinthians 7:10) to reject the lie to just accept status quo, or have a fatalistic attitude about our lives or our society.  No, we are to rather take personal responsibility of bringing His Kingdom around us, and humbling ourselves in prayer for anyway we’ve misrepresented God’s Name and character, and ask Him to cleanse us by His blood, and use us to glorify His Name in all the Earth!

10 We have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God, to walk in His laws, which He set before us by His servants the prophets. 11 Yes, all Israel has transgressed Your law, and has departed so as not to obey Your voice; therefore the curse and the oath written in the Law of Moses the servant of God have been poured out on us, because we have sinned against Him. 12 And He has confirmed His words, which He spoke against us and against our judges who judged us, by bringing upon us a great disaster; for under the whole heaven such has never been done as what has been done to Jerusalem.

13 “As it is written in the Law of Moses, all this disaster has come upon us; yet we have not made our prayer before the Lord our God, that we might turn from our iniquities and understand Your truth. 14 Therefore the Lord has kept the disaster in mind, and brought it upon us; for the Lord our God is righteous in all the works which He does, though we have not obeyed His voice. 15 And now, O Lord our God, who brought Your people out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand, and made Yourself a name, as it is this day—we have sinned, we have done wickedly!

 Daniel has this understanding because he knows the Law, he knows the Word of God. The more we are familiar with God’s Holy Word, the more familiar we are with Him.  His Word leads us to know His heart.  From this we have His perspective and will repudiate sin, we’ll have a deep desire to align ourselves with Him and His will.  Total submission, for He is worthy of nothing less!

16 “O Lord, according to all Your righteousness, I pray, let Your anger and Your fury be turned away from Your city Jerusalem, Your holy mountain; because for our sins, and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and Your people are a reproach to all those around us. 17 Now therefore, our God, hear the prayer of Your servant, and his supplications, and for the Lord’s sake cause Your face to shine on Your sanctuary, which is desolate. 18 O my God, incline Your ear and hear; open Your eyes and see our desolations, and the city which is called by Your name; for we do not present our supplications before You because of our righteous deeds, but because of Your great mercies. 19 O Lord, hear! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, listen and act! Do not delay for Your own sake, my God, for Your city and Your people are called by Your name.”

Again do you see the focus of Daniel’s prayers?  It’s not about him, it’s not about his demands or a self focus.  He, like Moses, is concerned with the city that is called by His Name, Daniel asks for God’s sake not his or Israel’s.   

The Bible states clearly in 1 Peter, that judgment will begin in the house of God.  Not the LGBT community, or in Hollywood, but in God’s house!  It’s time we take full responsibility of our sins, and repent.  Repent not only of our own sin, but the sin of the churches in our city.  We too, in appealing to God’s gracious character can see mercy, and His answer come quickly.  In our next time together we’ll address this in one of the most well known verses of the Old Testament....

Hannah - a humble woman whose prayers impacted a nation

As God said Himself, His ways are not our ways.  He has revealed over and over that He uses the humble, the rejected and the least expected by the worlds standard, to bring monumental change.  Paul said it as articulately as one could state by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, “But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; 28 and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, 29 that no flesh should glory in His presence (1 Corinthians 1:27, 28).

And yet, what we too often see in the church is a mirroring of the world’s standard.  Get the most charismatic personality, the most gifted, the most influential, the most educated, etc, etc.  Can these things be redeemed? Of course they can, but they must be continually laid down before the Lord, or they can soon become idols.

 What are the examples we see in Scripture?  We see Moses the one who stammers and stutters as the spokesperson for God.  We see Gideon who was cowering in the winepress, who ends up leading an army.  Then there’s David the “least of his brethren” tending the flock who ends up shepherding a nation.... or Jesus’ choice of disciples, and on and on.

We look at the life of Hannah.  She is seen as a reject by her culture, a woman who could be perceived as being “judged” by God, unable to do her “created function” of bringing forth children for her God fearing husband.  A woman mocked by her husband’s second wife, even reminded daily of her condition by her mocker’s children.  The pain is so deep, so constant so consuming, the Hebrew word used is “raam.” In 1 Samuel 1:6 he New King James translates it  that she was made “miserable” but it’s literally “to roar, to thunder, to tremble, to be violently agitated.”

It’s from this deep pain, this place of absolute humiliation, that a prayer is birthed that will impact millions of people possibly in her lifetime but beyond that, for generation to come.

I believe the key position God is revealing here in 1 Samuel is humility, and I submit to you that humility is closely linked to desperation.  Desperation is linked to a revelation of ones absolute helplessness and weakness, and from this comes the blessed place of God displaying His strength and glory in that weakness and humility.

Friend, it’s the humble who receive grace.  Our God said it Himself, repeatedly (Proverb 3:34, James 4:6, 1 Peter 5:5).

Father chose Hannah, this humble, broken woman, to be entrusted with Samuel.   Not Peninnah the mocker, the one who by man’s eyes appeared “blessed” and “favored” but Hannah.  Because man looks at the outward appearance, but God looks at the heart (1 Samuel 16:7).

We must renounce self-dependence as individuals and as a church.  We’ve relied too many times on our gifts and talents, our equipment and presentation, on... can I say it?  Money.

We see over and over from Scripture who Father’s ear is open to, it’s to the humble.  We see over and over whom the Lord chose to have revealed in Scripture as getting His attention.  The desperate.  Whether that was Bartimaus, or the woman with the issue of blood, or Jairus, or Martha and Mary, or the Syro-Phoenician woman... they were people of desperation, they were humble/ed.  The Lord was truly their only help.  If we want to be heard and be the movers and shakers He wants us to be in prayer, there must be a self examination (James 4:8-10 see context of drawing near) and the prayer of David for God to search us, and try us and see if there is any wicked way (Psalm 139).  Renounce all pride, and let us even take the proper position of worship (which in Hebrew and Greek is connecting to prostrating oneself).  Total humility!

I close with a testimony in regards to this.  When my wife and I served in Senegal, we were working with the largest unreached people group of West Africa at that time, the Fulakunda.   There were no known Fulakunda believers where we were placed.  We were told what was to be “strategic” by our well intending mission agency, go for the head of household, the men for they have the most influence.

We quickly realized the impossibility of this task in this muslim stronghold, and saw no real fruit that we could see.  We resorted to a deeper place of desperation (He knows how to bring us to that point if we’re willing!) in our prayers.  My wife’s language teacher was the last one probably anyone would say would be a person of “strategy.”  The fourth muslim wife of a man who showed no concern or care for her, sexually assaulted at a young age, full of pain and anger and a liar.

  Yet as we prayed, God was working... His way!  I had a dream one night that the well in our backyard there in Kolda, Senegal, began to overflow, and overflow, and shoot up water and flood the whole area. It was out of control!  In my dream it was going everywhere and I was nervous, until I heard the voice of the Spirit speak, “This is of Me, says the Lord, let Me have My way.”  And suddenly my nervousness turned to joy and I was exclaiming, “Yes Lord!  Let it go all over!!!”   It wasn’t but a few weeks later, with my wife in a deep place of humility herself, that she led her the first known Fulakunda muslim to Jesus, her language teacher, Ami Nango.

 The one who seemed the least likely candidate to make any impact, was Father’s choice.  Ami would go on to lead many women and men to Jesus!  She was a Hannah, a true person of humility, whose past pain and sorrow was redeemed, and her life truly testified of the yoke of heaviness being removed and the garments of praise being placed on her!  The Lord is awesome!  

Let us never forget this fundamental truth, the Lord is drawn to humility!  If you want to be heard by God you must go down, if you want to be seen by the Father, you need to pray in secret....

Hannah was heard, her child Samuel would even be named for that reason, “Heard by God” and would go on to be the final and best judge for the nation Israel before the beginning of kings. And it was because of Hannah's prayers....

In closing, look at the heart of Hannah’s praise/ prayer to the Lord in chapter two of 1 Samuel... and what she emphasizes under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, on humility....

“The bows of the mighty men are broken,

And those who stumbled are girded with strength.

Those who were full have hired themselves out for bread,

And the hungry have ceased to hunger.

Even the barren has borne seven,

And she who has many children has become feeble.

“The Lord kills and makes alive;

He brings down to the grave and brings up.

The Lord makes poor and makes rich;

He brings low and lifts up.

He raises the poor from the dust

And lifts the beggar from the ash heap,

To set them among princes

And make them inherit the throne of glory.