David's prayers' secrets: praying to maturity

Today we read how prayers can lead us to spiritual maturity: David’s prayers. I took the first and last psalms with the phrase “hear my prayer” for our reading here. Note the similarities and differences between the two incidents. (Note: Bold highlights added by me.)
My brief notes: in Psalm 4 David was rather sure of his own effort to remain godly and righteous and ability to carry out God’s laws. In Psalm 143 he humbled himself and declared that no one was righteous before God! Note how David had matured spiritually in his walk with God. It is important to note that he mentioned his spirit fainting and failing and needed God’s Spirit to lead him! In both psalms we see one common factor: David always prayed. He put his hope in God and not in man. A marked change in spiritual maturity is his becoming God-focus (instead of self-focus) in Psalm 143 prayer.
Psalm 4 (ESV) Answer Me When I Call
To the choirmaster: with stringed instruments. A Psalm of David.

1 Answer me when I call, O God of my righteousness!
    You have given me relief when I was in distress.
    Be gracious to me and hear my prayer!

² O men, how long shall my honor be turned into shame?
    How long will you love vain words and seek after lies? Selah
³ But know that the Lord has set apart the godly for himself;
    the Lord hears when I call to him.

⁴ Be angry, and do not sin;
    ponder in your own hearts on your beds, and be silent. Selah
⁵ Offer right sacrifices,
    and put your trust in the Lord.

⁶ There are many who say, “Who will show us some good?
    Lift up the light of your face upon us, O Lord!”
⁷ You have put more joy in my heart
    than they have when their grain and wine abound.

⁸ In peace I will both lie down and sleep;
    for you alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety.

_____________

Psalm 143 (ESV) My Soul Thirsts for You A Psalm of David.

143 Hear my prayer, O Lord;
    give ear to my pleas for mercy!
    In your faithfulness answer me, in your righteousness!
² Enter not into judgment with your servant,
    for no one living is righteous before you.

³ For the enemy has pursued my soul;
    he has crushed my life to the ground;
    he has made me sit in darkness like those long dead.
⁴ Therefore my spirit faints within me;
    my heart within me is appalled.

⁵ I remember the days of old;
    I meditate on all that you have done;
    I ponder the work of your hands.
⁶ I stretch out my hands to you;
    my soul thirsts for you like a parched land. Selah

⁷ Answer me quickly, O Lord!
    My spirit fails!
Hide not your face from me,
    lest I be like those who go down to the pit.
⁸ Let me hear in the morning of your steadfast love,
    for in you I trust.
Make me know the way I should go,
    for to you I lift up my soul.

⁹ Deliver me from my enemies, O Lord!
    I have fled to you for refuge.
¹⁰ Teach me to do your will,
    for you are my God!
Let your good Spirit lead me
    on level ground!

¹¹ For your name’s sake, O Lord, preserve my life!
    In your righteousness bring my soul out of trouble!
¹² And in your steadfast love you will cut off my enemies,
    and you will destroy all the adversaries of my soul,
    for I am your servant.

_________Keys to effective prayers:

1. be Spirit-led
2. be God-focus
   

 

(Revised 11/29/13) Christmas visions and dreams of green trees, my little brother,Isaiah 61

Further notes on 11/29/2013: Times passes. We each have an appointed time. Many of us left home after the first few years of our lives. But the Lord brought back our loved ones to us one in His seasons for each of them. Our paths crossed. Appointed. The Lord’s Visitations too. Don’t miss yours. Lives are too short on earth for us to miss the Lord’s appointments.
Notes on 11/29/2013: This post was originally written on December 27, 2009. Today this emerged as I looked at this website. Yesterday I posted the 1111th of my posts. Today I looked at this compilation of dreams and visions and realized how many of them had come to pass! One event was about my little brother. In the dream he was very young and I had to hold his hand and together we walked through pitched darkness in the open field (like wilderness), crossed the ditch (like the River Jordan), and entered into light (like the promised land). A year after this dream, my brother came back to Jesus, a broken and tired, worn man. He repented and spent one year plus completely restored to fitness in a country home with a group of brethren, living a physically, mentally and spiritually healthy and godly lifestyle, worshiping God, reading the Bible, praying and praising God day and night, doing farm work in the afternoon and eventually resuming his long forsaken profession as a cook. On the day of his sudden journey to go back to his home in heaven he led the morning worship, led the brethren (old and young) singing 8 favorite praise songs all God-Jesus focus. After the worship he listened to the pastor’s preaching God’s words. He then took a rather long nap, during which he spoke to his younger friends who shared the living quarters that he did not need lunch. In the afternoon, he passed on peacefully to be with the Lord. When we looked through his note books we realized how closely he had walked with the Lord Jesus during that last year on earth! Like Enoch he merely walked on with the Lord…
Read on: http://kzlam36.wordpress.com/2009/12/27/chapter-fifty-eight-christmas-visions-and-dreams-of-green-trees-and-isaiah-61/

"Let us" hold fast the promises of God

Today's faith in action is "Let us" align with the perfect purpose of our God.

Hebrews 4:1

[ The Promise of Rest ] Therefore, since a promise remains of entering His rest, let us fear lest any of you seem to have come short of it.

Hebrews 4:1-3 (in Context)  Hebrews 4 (Whole Chapter)  Other Translations

Hebrews 4:11

[ The Word Discovers Our Condition ] Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience.

Hebrews 4:10-12 (in Context)  Hebrews 4 (Whole Chapter)  Other Translations

Hebrews 4:14

[ Our Compassionate High Priest ] Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.

Hebrews 4:13-15 (in Context)  Hebrews 4 (Whole Chapter)  Other Translations

Hebrews 4:16

Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

Hebrews 4:15-16 (in Context)  Hebrews 4 (Whole Chapter)  Other Translations

Hebrews 6:1

[ The Peril of Not Progressing ] Therefore, leaving the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ, let us go on to perfection, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God,

Hebrews 6:1-3 (in Context)  Hebrews 6 (Whole Chapter)  Other Translations

Hebrews 10:22

let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.

Hebrews 10:21-23 (in Context)  Hebrews 10 (Whole Chapter)  Other Translations

Hebrews 10:23

Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.

Hebrews 10:22-24 (in Context)  Hebrews 10 (Whole Chapter)  Other Translations

Hebrews 10:24

And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works,

Hebrews 10:23-25 (in Context)  Hebrews 10 (Whole Chapter)  Other Translations

Hebrews 12:1

[ The Race of Faith ] Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,

Hebrews 12:1-3 (in Context)  Hebrews 12 (Whole Chapter)  Other Translations

Hebrews 12:28

Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear.

Hebrews 12:27-29 (in Context)  Hebrews 12 (Whole Chapter)  Other Translations

Hebrews 13:13

Therefore let us go forth to Him, outside the camp, bearing His reproach.

Hebrews 13:12-14 (in Context)  Hebrews 13 (Whole Chapter)  Other Translations

Hebrews 13:15

Therefore by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name.

Hebrews 13:14-16 (in Context)  Hebrews 13 (Whole Chapter)  Other Translations

Chanukah — the eight-day festival of light

The festival falls on Thursday, November 28 this year of 2013, same day as the Thanksgiving Day to be celebrated in US and Canada.
The following is an excerpt quoted from http://www.chabad.org/holidays/chanukah/article_cdo/aid/102911/jewish/What-is-Hanukkah.htm
Chanukah — the eight-day festival of light that begins on the eve of the 25th of the Jewish month of Kislev — celebrates the triumph of light over darkness, of purity over adulteration, of spirituality over materiality.
More than twenty-one centuries ago, the Holy Land was ruled by the Seleucids (Syrian-Greeks), who sought to forcefully Hellenize the people of Israel. Against all odds, a small band of faithful Jews defeated one of the mightiest armies on earth, drove the Greeks from the land, reclaimed the Holy Temple in Jerusalem and rededicated it to the service of G-d.
When they sought to light the Temple’s menorah (the seven branched candelabrum), they found only a single cruse of olive oil that had escaped contamination by the Greeks; miraculously, the one-day supply burned for eight days, until new oil could be prepared under conditions of ritual purity.
To commemorate and publicize these miracles, the sages instituted the festival of Chanukah. At the heart of the festival is the nightly menorah (candelabrum) lighting: a single flame on the first night, two on the second evening, and so on till the eighth night of Chanukah, when all eight lights are kindled.
On Chanukah we also add the Hallel and Al HaNissim in our daily prayers to offer praise and thanksgiving to G-d for “delivering the strong into the hands of the weak, the many into the hands of the few… the wicked into the hands of the righteous.”
Chanukah customs include eating foods fried in oil — latkes (potato pancakes) and sufganiot (doughnuts); playing with the dreidel (a spinning top on which are inscribed the Hebrew letters nun, gimmel, hei and shin, an acronym for Nes Gadol Hayah Sham, “a great miracle happened there”); and the giving of Chanukah gelt, gifts of money, to children. (Click here for the complete story of Chanukah)

Journey to see God: how He treats our tears...

God will wipe away every tear from your eyes

2 Kings 20:5

1. Turn back and tell Hezekiah, the leader of My people, Thus says the Lord, the God of David your [forefather]: I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears; behold, I will heal you. On the third day you shall go up to the house of the Lord.
   2 Kings 20:4-6 (in Context) 2 Kings 20 (Whole Chapter) Other Translations
2. Esther 8:3
   And Esther spoke yet again to the king and fell down at his feet and besought him with tears to avert the evil plot of Haman the Agagite and his scheme that he had devised against the Jews.
   Esther 8:2-4 (in Context) Esther 8 (Whole Chapter) Other Translations
3. Job 16:20
   My friends scorn me, but my eye pours out tears to God.
   Job 16:19-21 (in Context) Job 16 (Whole Chapter) Other Translations
4. Job 31:38
   For if my land has cried out against me and its furrows have complained together with tears [that I have no right to them],
   Job 31:37-39 (in Context) Job 31 (Whole Chapter) Other Translations
5. Psalm 6:6
   I am weary with my groaning; all night I soak my pillow with tears, I drench my couch with my weeping.
   Psalm 6:5-7 (in Context) Psalm 6 (Whole Chapter) Other Translations
6. Psalm 39:12
   Hear my prayer, O Lord, and give ear to my cry; hold not Your peace at my tears! For I am Your passing guest, a temporary resident, as all my fathers were.
   Psalm 39:11-13 (in Context) Psalm 39 (Whole Chapter) Other Translations
7. Psalm 42:3
   My tears have been my food day and night, while men say to me all day long, Where is your God?
   Psalm 42:2-4 (in Context) Psalm 42 (Whole Chapter) Other Translations
8. Psalm 56:8
   You number and record my wanderings; put my tears into Your bottle—are they not in Your book?
   Psalm 56:7-9 (in Context) Psalm 56 (Whole Chapter) Other Translations
9. Psalm 80:5
   You have fed them with the bread of tears, and You have given them tears to drink in large measure.
   Psalm 80:4-6 (in Context) Psalm 80 (Whole Chapter) Other Translations
10. Psalm 116:8
    For You have delivered my life from death, my eyes from tears, and my feet from stumbling and falling.
    Psalm 116:7-9 (in Context) Psalm 116 (Whole Chapter) Other Translations
11. Psalm 126:5
    They who sow in tears shall reap in joy and singing.
    Psalm 126:4-6 (in Context) Psalm 126 (Whole Chapter) Other Translations
12. Isaiah 16:9
    Therefore I [Isaiah] will weep with the weeping of Jazer for the vines of Sibmah. I will drench you with my tears, O Heshbon and Elealeh; for upon your summer fruits and your harvest the shout [of alarm and the cry of the enemy] has fallen.
    Isaiah 16:8-10 (in Context) Isaiah 16 (Whole Chapter) Other Translations
13. Isaiah 25:8
    He will swallow up death [in victory; He will abolish death forever]. And the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces; and the reproach of His people He will take away from off all the earth; for the Lord has spoken it.
    Isaiah 25:7-9 (in Context) Isaiah 25 (Whole Chapter) Other Translations
14. Isaiah 38:5
    Go, and say to Hezekiah, Thus says the Lord, the God of David your father: I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears; behold, I will add to your life fifteen years.
    Isaiah 38:4-6 (in Context) Isaiah 38 (Whole Chapter) Other Translations
15. Jeremiah 9:1
    Oh, that my head were waters and my eyes a reservoir of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people!
    Jeremiah 9:1-3 (in Context) Jeremiah 9 (Whole Chapter) Other Translations
16. Jeremiah 9:18
    Let them make haste and raise a wailing over us and for us, that our eyes may run down with tears and our eyelids gush with water.
    Jeremiah 9:17-19 (in Context) Jeremiah 9 (Whole Chapter) Other Translations
17. Jeremiah 13:17
    But if you will not hear and obey, I will weep in secret for your pride; my eyes will weep bitterly and run down with tears, because the Lord’s flock has been taken captive.
    Jeremiah 13:16-18 (in Context) Jeremiah 13 (Whole Chapter) Other Translations
18. Jeremiah 14:17
    Therefore [Jeremiah] you shall say to them, Let my eyes run down with tears night and day, and let them not cease; for the virgin daughter of my people has been smitten with a great wound, with a very grievous blow.
    Jeremiah 14:16-18 (in Context) Jeremiah 14 (Whole Chapter) Other Translations
19. Jeremiah 31:16
    Thus says the Lord: Restrain your voice from weeping and your eyes from tears, for your work shall be rewarded, says the Lord; and [your children] shall return from the enemy’s land.
    Jeremiah 31:15-17 (in Context) Jeremiah 31 (Whole Chapter) Other Translations
20. Lamentations 1:2
    She weeps bitterly in the night, and her tears are [constantly] on her cheeks. Among all her lovers (allies) she has no one to comfort her. All her friends have dealt treacherously with her; they have become her enemies.
    Lamentations 1:1-3 (in Context) Lamentations 1 (Whole Chapter) Other Translations
21. Lamentations 1:16
    For these things I weep; my eyes overflow with tears, because a comforter, one who could refresh and restore my soul, is far from me. My children are desolate and perishing, for the enemy has prevailed.
    Lamentations 1:15-17 (in Context) Lamentations 1 (Whole Chapter) Other Translations
22. Lamentations 2:18
    The hearts [of the inhabitants of Jerusalem] cried to the Lord. [Then to the congregation, I, Jeremiah, cried, addressing the wall as its symbol] O wall of the Daughter of Zion, let tears run down like a river day and night; give yourself no rest, let not your eyes stop [shedding tears].
    Lamentations 2:17-19 (in Context) Lamentations 2 (Whole Chapter) Other Translations
23. Lamentations 3:48
    My eyes overflow with streams of tears because of the destruction of the daughter of my people.
    Lamentations 3:47-49 (in Context) Lamentations 3 (Whole Chapter) Other Translations
24. Ezekiel 24:16
    Son of man [Ezekiel], behold, I take away from you the desire of your eyes [your wife] at a single stroke. Yet you shall neither mourn nor weep, neither shall your tears flow.
    Ezekiel 24:15-17 (in Context) Ezekiel 24 (Whole Chapter) Other Translations
25. Malachi 2:13
    And this you do with double guilt; you cover the altar of the Lord with tears [shed by your unoffending wives, divorced by you that you might take heathen wives], and with [your own] weeping and crying out because the Lord does not regard your offering any more or accept it with favor at your hand.
    Malachi 2:12-14 (in Context) Malachi 2 (Whole Chapter) Other Translations
26. Mark 9:24
    At once the father of the boy gave [an eager, piercing, inarticulate] cry with tears, and he said, Lord, I believe! [Constantly] help my weakness of faith!
    Mark 9:23-25 (in Context) Mark 9 (Whole Chapter) Other Translations
27. Luke 7:38
    And standing behind Him at His feet weeping, she began to wet His feet with [her] tears; and she wiped them with the hair of her head and kissed His feet [affectionately] and anointed them with the ointment (perfume).
    Luke 7:37-39 (in Context) Luke 7 (Whole Chapter) Other Translations
28. Luke 7:44
    Then turning toward the woman, He said to Simon, Do you see this woman? When I came into your house, you gave Me no water for My feet, but she has wet My feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair.
    Luke 7:43-45 (in Context) Luke 7 (Whole Chapter) Other Translations
29. Acts 20:19
    Serving the Lord with all humility in tears and in the midst of adversity (affliction and trials) which befell me, due to the plots of the Jews [against me];  Acts 20:18-20 (in Context) Acts 20 (Whole Chapter) Other Translations

 

This hope we hold as the utterly reliable anchor for our souls

Hebrews 6:9-20

J.B. Phillips New Testament (PHILLIPS)

We want you to make God’s promise real through your faith, hope and patience

^9-12 But although we give these words of warning we feel sure that you, whom we love, are capable of better things and will enjoy the full experience of salvation. God is not unfair: he will not lose sight of all that you have done nor of the loving labour which you have shown for his sake in looking after fellow-Christians (as you are still doing). It is our earnest wish that every one of you should show a similar keenness in fully grasping the hope that is within you. We do not want any of you to grow slack, but to follow the example of those who through sheer patient faith came to possess the promises.
^13-15 When God made his promise to Abraham he swore by himself, for there was no one greater by whom he could swear, and he said: ‘Surely blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply you’. And then Abraham, after patient endurance, found the promise true.
^16-20 Among men it is customary to swear by something greater than themselves. And if a statement is confirmed by an oath, that is the end of all quibbling. So in this matter, God, wishing to show beyond doubt that his plan was unchangeable, confirmed it with an oath. So that by two utterly immutable things, the word of God and the oath of God, who cannot lie, we who are refugees from this dying world might have a source of strength, and might grasp the hope that he holds out to us. This hope we hold as the utterly reliable anchor for our souls, fixed in the very certainty of God himself in Heaven, where Jesus has already entered on our behalf, having become, as we have seen, “High Priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek”.

J.B. Phillips New Testament (PHILLIPS) J. B. Phillips, "The New Testament in Modern English", 1962 edition by HarperCollins

I’ll share my heart with you

PROVERBS ONE: verses 20-33

Wisdom Shouts in the Streets

²⁰ Wisdom shouts in the streets.
    She cries out in the public square.
²¹ She calls to the crowds along the main street,
    to those gathered in front of the city gate:
²² “How long, you simpletons,
    will you insist on being simpleminded?
How long will you mockers relish your mocking?
    How long will you fools hate knowledge?
²³ Come and listen to my counsel.
I’ll share my heart with you
    and make you wise.

²⁴ “I called you so often, but you wouldn’t come.
    I reached out to you, but you paid no attention.
²⁵ You ignored my advice
    and rejected the correction I offered.
²⁶ So I will laugh when you are in trouble!
    I will mock you when disaster overtakes you—
²⁷ when calamity overtakes you like a storm,
    when disaster engulfs you like a cyclone,    and anguish and distress overwhelm you.

²⁸ “When they cry for help, I will not answer.
    Though they anxiously search for me, they will not find me.
²⁹ For they hated knowledge
    and chose not to fear the Lord.³⁰ They rejected my advice    and paid no attention when I corrected them.
³¹ Therefore, they must eat the bitter fruit of living their own way,
    choking on their own schemes.
³² For simpletons turn away from me—to death.
    Fools are destroyed by their own complacency.
³³ But all who listen to me will live in peace,
    untroubled by fear of harm.”

 

Footnotes:

1. 1:8 Hebrew My son; also in 1:10, 15.
2. 1:12 Hebrew like Sheol.