Prayers from the Psalms

How lovely is Your presence.  Thank You that my heart is a temple of the Holy Spirit.  My heart and my flesh sing for joy to the living God!  You care even for the small birds–You give them homes and know when they fall to the ground.  You make me go from strength to strength when I seek You with all my heart.  One day spent with You is better than 1000 elsewhere.  Thank You for saving me.  (From Psalm 84.)

I sometimes chide myself for using God’s name repeatedly in my prayers, but this psalm refers to the Lord’s names over and over.  This is a sincere prayer to God and is not using God’s name in vain.  If nothing else, it is a constant reminder of who I am talking to when I say Father, Lord, God, etc. throughout my prayers.  It would be good to meditate on and use more of God’s names when I pray.

—-

Lord, make Your footsteps our pathway that we may walk in the way of wisdom.  Let Your righteousness bear fruit in our hearts.  We do fear You, but increase our fear and reverence for You.  Help us to hate our sin, and keep us from foolishness.  Your words are peaceable.  Help us to listen and obey.  Your mercy, the covering of  our sin, and the turning away of your anger leads us to rejoice in You!  Our hearts are revived when we remember Your goodness to us which we have not deserved.  Cause us to go and sin no more so that You may be glorified in our hearts, our home, our church, and our land.  (From Psalm 85.)

—-

Psalm 86 is respectful yet very personal, indicating a close relationship with the Lord.  The requests are humble, from a servant requesting mercy and help from his master, yet bold, knowing for sure that God will answer. 

David is in anguish and cries to the Lord all day long.  He asks God to put joy in his heart.  He lifts up his soul to God instead of staying focused on his distress.

He prays in confident faith.  There is no doublemindedness here.  He is not confident in his own merit as if he deserved to be heard.  His confidence in in God as the all-powerful and Sovereign God who is good, merciful, forgiving, able to strengthen and save.

David doesn’t assume that he knows everything about God.  Instead, he asks God to teach him His ways so he can obey.  He asks the Lord to unite his heart to fear His name.  Perhaps he sees a double-minded lack of faith in his heart and says a similar thing to “I believe, but help my unbelief.”  He knows that even his faith comes from God. 

His heart is full of thanksgiving and praise and a desire to glorify God’s name.

The Living God

I had said I was going to spend some time focusing on ‘The Living God.”  I’ve been slowly working my way through the following Scriptures and post them here in case you’d like to do the same.  Last week I didn’t do so well with any personal study time–we only did family stuff.  But I am trying to get back into this week.  I am going to try to finish week seven and finish going through this list, this week, and then start week eight next Monday. 

Psalm 42:2; 84:2

1 Timothy 3:15

Job 23:3

Isaiah 26:9; 37:4, 17; 64:1

Deuteronomy 5:26

Joshua 3:10

1 Samuel 17:26

2 Kings 19:4

Jeremiah 10:10 (the whole chapter is amazing); 23:36

Daniel 6:20, 26

Hosea 1:10

Matthew 16:16; 22:32; 26:63

Mark 12:27

Luke 20:38; 24:5

John 4:10; 6:51, 57, 69; 7:38

Acts 14:15

Romans 9:26; 14:9

2 Corinthians 3:3; 6:16

1 Thessalonians 1:9

1 Timothy 4:10; 6:17

Hebrews 3:12; 9:14; 10:31; 12:22

1 Peter 2:4

Revelation 7:2

 

 

 

More thoughts from Tammy

The Lord helped me up this morning so I could have some quiet time with Him and to do my study in Psalm. This lesson that I am in has become my favorite and the Lord has caused me to seek and search in so many ways. I get excited each time I open the book and given an assignment!  In this lesson we were asked to read Psalm 88 again and this time each verse was written out and we were to read the verse, then in the middle column we would read or write cross references that corresponded to the psalmists words, and in the third column we were to write a prayer to God incorporating the truths from the middle column. I have done this for 3 days now and let me tell you, it has been amazing! I sat here this morning looking at each column and how I can apply this to my daily life. I thought….”Situation, Truths, and Prayer”! That would be something I could say to myself each time I find myself in a situation. As I was sitting there I said S.T.P.   Ok, here I go again with pictures of things.  I remember as a teenager when S.T.P. was a big thing they used to advertise for you to use for you car. I couldn’t really remember what all it was to do but I looked it up and it said….. It is scientifically treated petroleum, oil treatment that helped automobiles motor oil resist thinning at high temperatures and pressures.  I just smiled when I read this because my mind was saying ….. “hmmmmmm, S.T.P. Spiritually Treated, Persons.  That is us as God’s children, and when the situations that we may be in begin to heat up and the pressure is getting too much, we have a savior who has given us what we need to run properly, His spirit that He poured out to us and filled us. Nothing I can go buy, He bought it for me by His blood, and it never runs out. I just have to allow the spirit to work in me.  

Have a wonderful week!

Love,Tammy

Anything to share?

I am just now starting week seven.  How are you all doing?  Is there something special God has been doing in your life during this study that you’d like to share? 

This morning I woke up with the intention of having my quiet time.  I had just sat down with my Bible and notebook when Sarah woke up crying because she’d wet her bed.  In the past I would have been annoyed that I had to get up and take care of a needy child when I was supposed to be studying and praying. . .this is something the Lord has been working on in me, and I was so blessed by His grace this morning to serve my daughter with joy. 

Then Laura came wanting breakfast.  It wasn’t quite breakfast time and I really wanted to at least read the passage, so I pulled Laura onto my lap and we read Psalm 84 together.  It is a beautiful psalm, full of praise and longing for the Living God.  The sermon at church yesterday referred to God as the Living God (I Timothy 3:15), so it was neat to have that reinforced this morning.  I think I will do a search for all the places the Bible refers to God as “the living God”.  After we read, we prayed together and Laura asked God to “please help us.” 

I only got to read, but it was a special time with God and Laura. 

Thoughts from Tammy

This morning I was back in my Psalm study and was reading chapter 88. When I got through reading it, I thought “Goodness this man was really down and feeling low!” I was wondering where his trust was in the Lord? I read it over several times and before long I was reminded of times in my life where I must of sounded the same to my Father. I would cry out to Him  like I was reminding Him of what was going on, like He didn’t know, and ask Him why or what are you doing?? Are you there or where are you? God wants me to go to Him and tell him how I am feeling and cry out to him in times I am troubled  but in   Psalm 77 I am reminded how Asaph  cried out to the Lord in distress, but then he began to meditate and acknowledge God for who His was and what He could do, his outlook on things began to change,  he says “But I will remember the works of the Lord;surely I will remember Your wonders of old. I will also meditate on all your work, and talk of Your deeds. Your way , O God is in the sanctuary; who is so great a God as our God?” He continues on meditating on what the Lord has done! I find when I do the same, everything else, although it is still there or going on, it takes on a whole new look, My Master, my savior, my creator, My God, is in complete control!

Love,Tammy

 

His Great Renown

Lilly,

I appreciate you sharing your thoughts about wrath and repentance (see my comment under yours).  I just finished week six as well.

The Kidner commentary says that it was Israel’s/Asaph’s objective to see all the earth bow to the Most High.  I think one sign that we really know and love the Lord is that in our hearts there is an overwelming desire for God to be glorified. 

 

This song by Eric Grover, of Sovereign Grace Ministries, resonates in my heart:

Your Great Renown

 

Our hearts are longing for the glory of the Lord

To be made known in all the earth.

Lord, let Your kingdom come,

Lord, let Your will be done.

Yours is the greatest name of all. . .

 

Chorus:

We want to see the nations bow,

We want to hear the rising sound,

   Of the worship that You deserve.

We want this passion to abound,

A burden for Your great renown.

 

Our hearts are longing for the wisdom of the Lord

To be proclaimed in all the earth.

Your ways are higher than the dreams of any man

Yours is the greatest name of all. . .

 

Our hearts are hungry for the power of the Lord

To be displayed in all the earth.

The message of the cross will bring hope to the lost

Yours is the greatest name of all. . .

 

Where We’re At

Some of us were talking tonight about our Psalm study.  Tammy mentioned that as we go further into the book, the studying gets deeper or more intense, which is causing some/most/all of us to slow down with it.  This is just fine.  We are not all at the same lesson or day but I hope we are all still working through it.  It has been a blessing to me, and everyone I have talked with about it.

Just to let you know where I am, I finished Day 2 of Lesson Six today.  Some are still in Lesson Five and I know of at least one in Lesson Seven.  It doesn’t matter where you are, as long as you don’t give up on it.  Even if you only look up one verse a day, but you think about it and really let it sink in, and you keep coming back to it regularly, then you are doing well.  All of us are in different seasons and can accomplish different amounts of studying in a day and week. 

If you ever want to share any of your thoughts, please do!  Do not ever feel like you say too much or that maybe what you have to say isn’t good enough.  Everyone is encouraged by YOU when you share how God is working in your life.  A little or a lot, it doesn’t matter.  Please share with your sisters if you have even only an inkling of a desire to.

Commentary on Psalm 79, 80 and 81

79 “Asaph’s psalm is an appeal to God’s honor.”

80 “Just as prayer adds nothing to God’s knowledge and yet plays a large part in His economy, so the impassioned pleas for His attention, that He will rouse Himself and act, have a proper place within prayer, although they add nothing to His will to help.”

“It was mostly the king who was called the people’s shepherd: this prayer acknowledges that there is ultimately only one who lives up to such a title” (God–the True Shepherd of Israel).

This psalm is  either a psalm of concern from the tribe of Judah for the kingdom of Israel (called Ephraim) or a prayer of devout refugees from the tribes of Israel.

81Probably written for the Feast of Tabernacles. 

“God looks for listeners as well as singers on whom the lessons of the wilderness will not be lost.”

The preceding quotes are from Derek Kidner’s Psalms 73-150 commentary.

—————–

“But My people would not heed my voice and Israel would have none of me.  So I gave them over to their own stubborn heart to walk in their own counsels.  Oh that My people would listen to Me, that Israel would walk in My ways” Psalm 81:11-13!

Their hearts were already hardened by sin, and God gave them over to it.  He didn’t make their hearts hard, but He took away His restraining hand of mercy and grace.  This reminds me of Romans 1:18-32.  See also Acts 7:38-43, and Hebrews 3:7-19.  Please read these Scriptures!  I know it is so easy to just see them on the computer screen, but then neglect to read them.  I think you will be blessed to compare these Scriptures with the Psalms we’ve been studying.

 

Does God protect believers from all His judgments?

Day 2, #2

Since we know that God hears and cares for individuals, does that mean that if God is bringing judgment on a group or nation that He will not let true believers be hurt or impacted?

See Exodus 9:22-26 and 10:21-23 and refer back to Malachi 3:16-18 and 2 Kings 22:11-20.

God’s care for us is so multi-faceted!

Day One #1-b

In Psalm 79:9-10, 13 we see that God is our Shepherd/we are His sheep, God is our Savior, and we are His people.  What are some other facets of our relationship with God?  The following are some Scriptures to help you answer.  List God’s part and our part (Shepherd/Sheep of His pasture, etc.).

Psalm 50:21, Romans 9:20

Psalm 79:13, Hebrews 13:20-21

Psalm 80:15, John 15

Psalm 86:4, 2 Timothy 2:24

Proverbs 3:12, Hebrews 12

Isaiah 29:16, 64:8, Romans 9:21

Isaiah 62:5, Luke 5:34-35

Psalm 24:8, Matthew 21:5

Titus 1:1, James 1:1

Ecclesiastes 12:1, 1 Peter 4:19

 

In light of these, will you spend more time meditating on the truths each relationship facet reveals?  This will help equip you to better think, pray, obey, and disciple others.