Psalms To See Me Through: Psalm Twenty-Two A Cry Of Anguish

For the choir director; upon Aijeleth Hashshahar. A Psalm of David.

My God, my God, why have You forsaken me? (v.1)

It was a somber day. The air chilling; death inevitable; hate abounding. Christ is hanging on the cross. He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross (see Phil. 2:8). He is seeking the Father’s face, but for a brief moment in time, heaven has turned away. Jesus feels the despair of being separated from the Father. He is nailed to the tree to bridge that gap for all mankind. In His suffering, Jesus reaches back almost one-thousand years to the prophetic Psalm of David;

And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matt 27:46 ESV).

Far from my deliverance are the words of my groaning. (v.1)

Jesus felt the separation from the Father when He took the sin of the world on His shoulders. It felt as though God was far away. It feels like that for us to sometimes in the midst of our anguish.

O my God, I cry by day, but You do not answer; And by night, but I have no rest. Yet You are holy, O You who are enthroned upon the praises of Israel (vv. 2-3).

Many times we suffer through trials and the heavens seem as brass. Sleep is lost to the tossing and turning, the writhing of the hands, the swirling of the thoughts. But we, like David, must remind ourselves of who God is. He is always faithful.

In You our fathers trusted; They trusted and You delivered them. To You they cried out and were delivered; In You they trusted and were not disappointed (vv.4-5).

David begins by declaring His trust in the faithfulness of the Lord, but then in the same breath exempts Himself:

But I am a worm and not a man, A reproach of men and despised by the people. All who see me sneer at me; They separate with the lip, they wag the head, saying, “Commit yourself to the Lord; let Him deliver him; Let Him rescue him, because He delights in him” (vv. 6-8).

These words are prophetic and evoke the events at the cross that day. These words ring familiar from Matthew’s gospel:

He trusts in God; let God deliver him now, if he desires him… (27:43 ESV).

Don’t buy the lie that God delivered the patriarchs but ignores your cries. When God seems silent, it does not mean He is far away. He is calling you into fellowship with Him. Do you trust Him? Is He faithful? Is He far away? Do you believe in Him? He is deep calling to deep…

David in the midst of his despair, remembers yet again the God of his fathers. He remembers the journey in which God has brought him. Yes, God is faithful even when He seems silent. I may not be able to trace Him in the silence, but I can trust Him. I can trust Him by remembering how far He has already brought me…

Yet You are He who brought me forth from the womb; You made me trust when upon my mother’s breasts. Upon You I was cast from birth; You have been my God from my mother’s womb (vv.9-10).

Before you were born, He was your God. He has a plan and a purpose for you. He did not bring you this far only to fail you now. He will not let you drown:

When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; And through the rivers, they will not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be scorched, Nor will the flame burn you (Isaiah 43:2 NASB).

Believers are not immune to trouble. Jesus promised that trouble should be expected. But He also promised that He has already overcome it (see Jn. 16:33). He made that promise so that we will have peace. The Lord is only a prayer away. He may not calm the storm, but He may calm you in the midst of it. He wants us to know that He is our anchor. He is our strong tower. He is a refuge for all that come to Him.

Be not far from me, for trouble is near; For there is none to help. Many bulls have surrounded me; Strong bulls of Bashan have encircled me. They open wide their mouth at me, As a ravening and a roaring lion. I am poured out like water, And all my bones are out of joint; My heart is like wax; It is melted within me. My strength is dried up like a potsherd, And my tongue cleaves to my jaws; And You lay me in the dust of death. For dogs have surrounded me; A band of evildoers has encompassed me; They pierced my hands and my feet.  I can count all my bones. They look, they stare at me; They divide my garments among them, And for my clothing they cast lots.  But You, O Lord, be not far off; O You my help, hasten to my assistance.  Deliver my soul from the sword, My only life from the power of the dog. Save me from the lion’s mouth; From the horns of the wild oxen You answer me (vv. 11-21).

These words of misery and anguish are attributed to the Messiah, and though they seem hopeless, they are far from it. This prose paints a vivid picture of what Jesus endured on that cross, and it would seem that He felt that God had forsaken Him. We feel that way when we are enduring a trial or a hard season. The loneliness is unbearable at times. It must have been for Christ as well;

For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin (Heb. 4:15).

Christ in all His anguish still trusted in God, even in the moment that He turned away. He still in the end, committed His spirit into the hands of the Father. He knew the dark and the loneliness would be only a moment in time.

Though this poetry has Messianic implications, don’t overlook the poet that penned these words—David. He too is in anguish, surrounded by many who seek to harm him, and their mocking is unrelenting. But like Christ our ultimate example, David reaches past the darkness and anguish and finds words of praise and worship. He recalls the faithfulness of God through the ages. He reminds Israel to stand in awe of Him.  

Read the remaining verses with awe and meditate on His magnificence. He is worthy of all glory honor and power. Cast all your cares on Him. Give Him all your trouble. Praise Him for His deliverance past, present, and future. He is faithful. He is trustworthy. He is glorious and mighty. He is beautiful. He is spectacular.

I will tell of Your name to my brethren; In the midst of the assembly I will praise You. You who fear the Lord, praise Him; All you descendants of Jacob, glorify Him, And stand in awe of Him, all you descendants of Israel. For He has not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted; Nor has He hidden His face from him; But when he cried to Him for help, He heard. From You comes my praise in the great assembly; I shall pay my vows before those who fear Him. The afflicted will eat and be satisfied; Those who seek Him will praise the Lord. Let your heart live forever! All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the Lord, And all the families of the nations will worship before You. For the kingdom is the Lord’s And He rules over the nations. All the prosperous of the earth will eat and worship, All those who go down to the dust will bow before Him, Even he who cannot keep his soul alive. Posterity will serve Him; It will be told of the Lord to the coming generation. They will come and will declare His righteousness To a people who will be born, that He has performed it (vv. 22-31 NASB).

He does not despise the afflicted, but when we cried unto Him for help, He heard. 

May we never lose our wonder. 

This is my scribbling...

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Praying the Psalms, Touring The Holy of Holies, Finding Your Song, and Bringing Back The Awe and Wonder

A quick hello and message about what's happening here at Witnessing the Divine...

Sabbath Sanctuary: Rest in His Resurrection Power

Jesus is alive. No, it is not Easter. The resurrection is not only a message for Easter. It is the Message for all time and all ages. It transcends the chronos—it is the most significant Kairos moment—ever.

I shared a few weeks ago that life seemed dreadfully unfruitful. Barrenness causes a deep wound in the heart; spiritual barrenness is almost unbearable. But God is faithful; He promises that if we remain in the Vine, we will bear fruit.  Though it may seem dark now, God has not finished your story.

Fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. (Heb. 12:2)

What kind of love is writing my story till the end With Mercy's Pen?^[1]

Your dreams are not dead. God’s promises are still yes and amen in Christ Jesus (2 Cor.1:20). Your barrenness is over. Everything God has promised you is hastening toward you.

Then the Lord answered me and said, “Record the vision And inscribe it on tablets, That the one who reads it may run. “For the vision is yet for the appointed time; It hastens toward the goal and it will not fail. Though it tarries, wait for it; For it will certainly come, it will not delay (Hab. 2: 2-3).

Do not be afraid though the drought is long and hard; You are a tree of righteousness—not afraid of the dry spell:

They are like trees planted along a riverbank, with roots that reach deep into the water. Such trees are not bothered by the heat or worried by long months of drought. Their leaves stay green, and they never stop producing fruit (Jer. 17:8 NASB).

Christ is faithful. He is full of grace and truth. He did not bring you this far for you to drown. He is the I AM. He is your Deliverer. Your refuge. Christ is alive! That means you are alive—Christ in you the hope of glory. He is:

Emmanuel, the promised king, the baby who made angels sing, son of man who walked with us healing, breathing in our dust.

The author of all history, the answer to all mysteries, the Lamb of God who rolled away
the stone in front of every grave.[2]

Rest this Sabbath in the arms of the Father. Christ is Alive! You are alive! Your dreams are alive! He is rolling the stone away from the grave of barrenness that has kept you down. The stone is rolled away. Rest in His resurrection power.

[1] Nicole Nordeman, The Story: Mary Magdalene “Alive”: Everything surrounding The Story movement is part of an unprecedented partnership between World Vision, Zondervan, EMI Christian Music Group, Provident Label Group, Word Entertainment, Proper Management and CAA.
[2] Ibid.

Don't forget to check out my book, A Life That Sings: Finding Your Song In The Midst of Brokenness

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Psalms To See Me Through Psalm 18: The Psalm Worth Repeating—Part II

Then the earth shook and quaked; And the foundations of the mountains were trembling
And were shaken, because He was angry. Smoke went up out of His nostrils, And fire from His mouth devoured; Coals were kindled by it.  He bowed the heavens also, and came down with thick darkness under His feet (vv.7-9). 

When first reading this prose, it seems out of place from the first six verses. The poetic praise of David for God’s deliverance begins as a beautiful time of worship. David is thankful for all the deliverances he has experienced from the hand of God. The intro to this Psalm reads; A Psalm of David the servant of the Lord, who spoke to the Lord the words of this song in the day that the Lord delivered him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul; David cultivated a grateful heart. He abruptly ends his time of worship with a discourse describing an angry God. However, upon deeper reflection, we have insight into who God is angry with—it is not David, but David’s enemies that incur God’s wrath.  

He rode upon a cherub and flew; And He sped upon the wings of the wind (v. 10).

I searched extensively for an accurate portrait of the cherubim; I searched in vain. The most accurate is the description of them on the Mercy Seat of the Ark of the Covenant. The glory of God rested between the cherubim when He spoke to Moses or when the high priest was ministering in the Holy of Holies. They are mostly portrayed as babies with wings, flying through the air with their bow and arrow, likened to cupid. They guarded the Garden of Eden with flaming swords. Cherubim are not baby angels, they are mighty warrior angels;

As is the case with many heavenly realities, their character and appearance is so far beyond human imagination and present comprehension that they must be described in earthly terms obviously designed to convey something surpassingly supernatural (Ezek. 1: 5, 14; 28: 12-14).[1]

It is no wonder then that I could not find an accurate picture (except the Mercy Seat). My imagination is awake with a vision of God riding on a cherub with the wings of the wind to rescue me. He is my Rescuer. My Defender. My Saviour. My Refuge. My Strong Tower.

Your locks will be iron and bronze, And according to your days, so will your leisurely walk be.  “There is none like the God of Jeshurun, Who rides the heavens to your help, And through the skies in His majesty. “The eternal God is a dwelling place, And underneath are the everlasting arms; And He drove out the enemy from before you, And said, ‘Destroy!’  “So Israel dwells in security (Deuteronomy 33:25-28a emphasis mine).

Just as the Lord heard the cries for help from Israel, and from David, He hears you and me. He rides the heavens in all His Majesty and Glory to rescue His people when they cry out to Him. He defeats our enemies and brings us to safety. Trials will still come; enemies will still attack, but God empowers and strengthens us with His grace to defeat them and to overcome.

How can we have confidence like David? David cultivated a grateful heart, and a worshipful spirit. The Psalms penned by David reflect his heart toward God. He worshiped God through every trial; He was the One David called upon at the first sign of trouble. Sometimes the prose of figurative language can cause us to read over David’s poetic praise, and not understand how it can apply to us. David’s description of God’s power and wrath is colorful indeed, but it is important to remember, that David’s words are figurative. He did not actually see God ride through the heavens on a cherub. He did not see the earth shake and the foundations of the mountains tremble. He did not see smoke out of His nostrils, and fire from His mouth. He did not see God come down from heaven with thick darkness under His feet. He did not see these events literally, but through God’s wondrous and majestic creation, He describes God’s character and His deliverance—he sees into the realm of the spirit to describe for us what God is doing behind the scenes that we cannot see. Moses and David both saw God riding through the heavens through spiritual eyes.

Let’s travel to 2 Kings: 6 and meet up with Elisha and his servant. They are taking shelter in a house in a stand-off with the Arameans who aim to capture Elisha. The man of God and his servant are completely surrounded. Elisha is completely confident in God; the servant is petrified. Elisha attempts to comfort his servant with his trust in the Lord to deliver them from this situation, but the servant believes it to be impossible. Elisha prays to God for the eyes of his servant to be opened so that he can see that the army of God’s angels actually have the enemy surrounded; Do not fear, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them (v.6).

The Lord will do the same and more for us. We may not see mountains tremble, but Christ declared that we can cast mountains into the sea (Mark 11:23). He has given us power to trample on serpents and scorpions (Luke 10:19). He has empowered us to have power over the enemy; He said we will have trials, but that He has overcome them all (John 16: 33).

He made darkness His hiding place, His canopy around Him, Darkness of waters, thick clouds of the skies. From the brightness before Him passed His thick clouds, Hailstones and coals of fire. The Lord also thundered in the heavens, And the Most High uttered His voice, Hailstones and coals of fire. He sent out His arrows, and scattered them, And lightning flashes in abundance, and routed them (vv. 11-14).

Then the channels of water appeared, And the foundations of the world were laid bare

At Your rebuke, O Lord, At the blast of the breath of Your nostrils. He sent from on high, He took me; He drew me out of many waters. He delivered me from my strong enemy, And from those who hated me, for they were too mighty for me. They confronted me in the day of my calamity, But the Lord was my stay. He brought me forth also into a broad place; He rescued me, because He delighted in me (vv.15-19).

The Lord has rewarded me according to my righteousness; According to the cleanness of my hands He has recompensed me. For I have kept the ways of the Lord, And have not wickedly departed from my God.  For all His ordinances were before me,  And I did not put away His statutes from me.  I was also blameless with Him, And I kept myself from my iniquity. Therefore the Lord has recompensed me according to my righteousness, According to the cleanness of my hands in His eyes. With the kind You show Yourself kind; With the blameless You show Yourself blameless; With the pure You show Yourself pure, And with the crooked You show Yourself astute (vv.20-26).

David finishes his Psalm of worship painting a majestic picture of God’s deliverance. Though David’s enemy was strong, and could overpower him, he continued to trust in God’s deliverance. He saw in the natural when he was finally free from Saul.  He saw it spiritually because of His trust in God’s faithfulness, His deliverance, and His nature and character. He Knew God. He knew God intimately because he nurtured his relationship with God in thanksgiving and worship. That is how we can know God intimately too, through His Holy Writ, and by nurturing a thankful heart, and a worshipful spirit.

---

[1] Terry Law, The Truth About Angels (Lake Mary: Charisma House, 1994), 115.

Don't forget to check out my book, A Life That Sings: Finding Your Song In The Midst of Brokenness

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A Purim Poem

I raised up My daughter fair, deep dark eyes, long flowing hair

To attract a king who signed a decree to destroy My people

He was deceived by one who would plan and plot and prepare

He would have them destroyed and erased from the earth

She was an orphan living in exile, none would give her a glance

I raised her up to be one who fasts and prays for what touches My heart

I ordained her days to win his heart, she was not in the palace by chance

She was purposed to fulfill her role as queen and to take her part

I have raised you up to be a people who fast and pray and to be one

Who will seek what is on My heart and to intervene for the perishing

For the Evil One has a mandate to deceive the lost and the alone

He is relentless in his pursuit to destroy by planning and conniving

But I will thwart his plans when My people rise up to pray

He has marked My people Israel and My grafted branch

Perhaps you are ordained for such a time as this

I will rise and fight, he does not stand a chance

When My people intercede and cry out for justice

Do not take this battle lightly or believe that it will pass

If you are quiet, for deliverance will rise but you will expire

I have called you to this time and for your sword to grasp

And wield it on the enemy for My Word makes him a liar

He will cower in despair

Rise up My people we are in such volatile times

I hear the cry of many but see the sword of few

You must remain vigilant and lay passivity aside

I will answer when you call to defeat the minions

They are no match for the thousands of angelic legions

Rise up for such a time as this, pray, fast, intercede

For the lost, hurting, and perishing and those marked

For annihilation from the face of the earth

The enemy is on the move he knows his time is short

He has already been defeated he and all his cohorts

My people shall arise their swords wielding in their hand

By the Blood of Jesus and their testimony they will take a stand

Watch Me move on your behalf when you prepare for battle

You will see the enemy defeated and take back your land

…Answer the call…for such a time as this…

Piper Green

© 2015

Psalms To See Me Through; Psalm 16 The LORD the Psalmist’s Portion in Life and Deliverer in Death

A Mikhtam of David. A Mikhtam is a poem. I long to be as poetic as David in my prayers. The real meaning of Mikhtam intends the poem to record memorable thoughts—engraving it upon the soul. David certainly had the Lord engraved upon his heart. David knew where to go when he needed refuge.

Preserve me, O God, for I take refuge  in You. I said to the Lord, “You are my Lord; I have no good besides You.”  As for the saints who are in the earth, They are the majestic ones in whom is all my delight. vv. 1-3

God is my refuge from every storm; every need I have He is my source. He is all I have in this world and He is all I need. You don’t need to worry that He will change course or be too busy; He is there when we come to Him; when we call out His Name. He has only good things for us.

Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow. James 1:17 NASB

The sorrows of those who have bartered for another god will be multiplied; I shall not pour out their drink offerings of blood, Nor will I take their names upon my lips. v.4

In this season of remembering the sacrifice Christ gave, I lift up in prayer and will not forget all of those in places that seem a world away, that are losing their lives for the sake of 

the cross. I remember those too, that are suffering and losing their lives to a cruel evil that will not relent—regardless of their religion. The same evil hunts and terrorizes those that will not bow the knee to a false god. They will reap their reward from the Coming King. 

The Lord is the portion of my inheritance and my cup; You support my lot. The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places; indeed, my heritage is beautiful to me. vv. 5-6. 

Take refuge in the Lord, He has promised many things to those that are faithful; and He will not relent in fulfilling His Word to you.

I will bless the Lord who has counseled me; indeed, my mind instructs me in the night. v.7

I am asleep but my heart is awake listening for the voice of my beloved. Song of Solomon 5:2

I have set the Lord continually before me; because He is at my right hand, I will not be shaken.
Therefore my heart is glad and my glory rejoices; my flesh also will dwell securely. For You will not abandon my soul to Sheol; Nor will You allow Your Holy One to undergo decay. vv.8-10

God did not abandon Christ—this prose is about Him; He will not abandon you. He is The Refuge; for safety, security, peace, rest and joy. All that you need, HE is. 

You will make known to me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; In Your right hand there are pleasures forever. v. 11

Sabbath Sanctuary: Be Thankful And Rest

And now the gift of drifting snow, Wind-sculpted beauty. Cold Comfort (not all His gifts are cozy) invites entrance into a season of austere. Eugene Peterson, Snow, Holy Luck

Colorado is cold and snowy today, but the psalmist refers to both natural and spiritual winter. Rest in the Sabbath of God this weekend, and be assured that when it is cold and dark, God will send forth one Word and melt it all away.

Be thankful this Sabbath rest for even the seemingly small thing. The snow; the cold…yes, be thankful for it all. God always works out His good in us through the cold, dark seasons. Know that He will melt it away. Your thankfulness to Him will grant to you a most restful Sabbath.

In the expiring sun, we squint through the Narrow Gate: the candle flames; we lift our glasses, l’chaim, “to Life!” Eugene Peterson Snow, Holy Luck

Psalms to See Me Through: Psalm 13 a Prayer for Help in Trouble.

For the choir director. A Psalm of David.

How long, O Lord? Will You forget me forever? How long will You hide Your face from me?

Sometimes our despair, our hope deferred masks itself to convince us that God is hiding. But He never hides His face. Never.

How long shall I take counsel in my soul, having sorrow in my heart all the day? How long will my enemy be exalted over me? v. 2

It feels like God has hidden His face, not because He is hiding, but we are. Since the fall we have hid ourselves from God’s presence, because of shame, fear, and regret. We attempt to find the answer within ourselves; but apart from Him, we feel hopeless. You can’t find the answer? God is right where you left Him.

 Consider and answer me, O Lord my God; Enlighten my eyes, or I will sleep the sleep of death, 

and my enemy will say, “I have overcome him,” And my adversaries will rejoice when I am shaken. vv. 3-4

God, revive me. Revive every tired area with your life-giving Spirit. If I remain in despair, my enemy will triumph over me. If I allow the darkness to be a shadow that hides me from Your light, I cannot overcome. Don’t let my enemy rejoice over me. I don’t want the enemy to triumph over me, and if I continue in despair I lose. With God as my help, I win.

But I have trusted in Your lovingkindness; my heart shall rejoice in Your salvation. I will sing to the Lord, Because He has dealt bountifully with me. vv. 5-6

Piper's Pen and Prose: Learning How to Pray

I just finished reading Andrew Murray’s With Christ in the School of Prayer . What a wonderful classic that every Christian should read. It is impossible for me to quote the entire book, so I shared the prose that pricked my heart in a good, powerful way. I pray you are encouraged by them too.

I pray that these few musings will ignite in you a desire to communicate with your Heavenly Father, to know Him and to experience Him in a powerful way.~

Preface

~The more we abide in Him, and grow unto His likeness, will His priestly life work in us mightily, and our life become what His is, a life that ever pleads and prevails for men.

~It is only when the Church gives herself up to this holy work of intercession that we can expect the power of Christ to manifest itself in her behalf

Lesson I

~Though in its beginnings prayer is so simple that the feeblest child can pray, yet it is at the same time the highest and holiest work to which man can rise.   It is fellowship with the Unseen and Most Holy One.

~Nothing delights Him more than to find those whom He can take with Him into the Father’s presence, whom He can clothe with power to pray down God’s blessing on those around them, whom He can train to be His fellow-workers in the intercession by which the kingdom is to be revealed on earth. 

~Jesus never taught His disciples how to preach, only how to pray.

Lesson II

~From the connection it is evident that the words ‘in spirit and truth’ do not mean, as is often thought, earnestly, from the heart, in sincerity.

~Jesus says, ‘The hour is coming, and now is;’ it is only in and through Him that the worship of God will be in spirit and truth.

~A man, who seeks to pray earnestly in the church or in the closet, spends the greater part of the week or the day in a spirit entirely at variance with that in which he prayed.  His worship was the work of a fixed place or hour, not of his whole being.  God is a Spirit:  He is the Everlasting and Unchangeable One; what He is, He is always and in truth.  Our worship must even so be in spirit and truth:  His worship must be the spirit of our life; our life must be worship in spirit as God is Spirit.

And in truth.  That does not only mean, in sincerity.  Nor does it only signify, in accordance with the truth of God’s Word.  The expression is one of deep and Divine meaning.  Jesus is ‘the only-begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.’  ‘The law was given by Moses; grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.’  Jesus says, ‘I am the truth and the life.’  In the Old Testament all was shadow and promise

~And so worship in spirit is worship in truth; actual living fellowship with God, a real correspondence and harmony between the Father, who is a Spirit, and the child praying in the spirit.

Lesson III

~There alone, but there most surely, Jesus comes to us to teach us to pray.

~A teacher is always anxious that his schoolroom should be bright and attractive, filled with the light and air of heaven, a place where pupils long to come, and love to stay.  

~The first thing in closet-prayer is:  I must meet my Father.  The light that shines in the closet must be:  the light of the Father’s countenance.

~Do not be thinking of how little you have to bring God, but of how much He wants to give you. 

~O do what Jesus says:  Just shut the door, and pray to thy Father which is in secret.  Is it not wonderful?  To be able to go alone with God, the infinite God.  And then to look up and say:  My Father!

Lesson IV

~The little child may ask of the father only what it needs for itself; and yet it soon learns to say, Give some for sister too.  But the grown-up son, who only lives for the father’s interest and takes charge of the father’s business, asks more largely, and gets all that is asked.  And Jesus would train us to the blessed life of consecration and service, in which our interests are all subordinate to the Name, and the Kingdom, and the Will of the Father.  O let us live for this, and let, on each act of adoration, Our Father! There follow in the same breath ThyName, Thy Kingdom, Thy Will;—for this we look up and long.

Lesson V

~It is one of the terrible marks of the diseased state of Christian life in these days, that there are so many who rest content without the distinct experience of answer to prayer.  They pray daily, they ask many things, and trust that some of them will be heard, but know little of direct definite answer to prayer as the rule of daily life.

Lesson VI

~And so the lesson we have today in the school of prayer is this:  Live as a child of God, then you will be able to pray as a child, and as a child you will most assuredly be heard.

~This is the one chief thought on which Jesus dwells here, and which He would have all His scholars take in.  He would have us see that the secret of effectual prayer is:  to have the heart filled with the Father-love of God.

~He tells us the first is the highest lesson; we must learn to say well, ‘Abba, Father!’  ‘Our Father which art in heaven.’  He that can say this, has the key to all prayer.  In all the compassion with which a father listens to his weak or sickly child, in all the joy with which he hears his stammering child, in all the gentle patience with which he bears with a thoughtless child, we must, as in so many mirrors, study the heart of our Father, until every prayer be borne upward on the faith of this Divine word:  ‘How much more shall your heavenly Father give good gifts to them that ask Him.’

Lesson IX

~How little Christians really feel and mourn the need of labourers in the fields of the world so white to the harvest.  And how little they believe that our labour-supply depends on prayer, that prayer will really provide ‘as many as he needeth.’  Not that the dearth of labour is not known or discussed. 

~O give us to see aright the spiritual realities of which Thou hast been speaking.  There is the harvest which is so large, and perishing, as it waits for sleepy disciples to give the signal for labourers to come.  Lord, teach us to look out upon it with a heart moved with compassion and pity.  There are the labourers, so few.  Lord, show us how terrible the sin of the want of prayer and faith, of which this is the token.  And there is the Lord of the harvest, so able and ready to send them forth.  Lord, show us how He does indeed wait for the prayer to which He has bound His answer.  And there are the disciples, to whom the commission to pray has been given:  Lord, show us how Thou canst pour down Thy Spirit and breathe upon them, so that Thy compassion and the faith in Thy promise shall rouse them to unceasing, prevailing prayer.

Lesson XIX

~The Lord gave the wonderful promise of the free use of His Name with the Father in connection with the doing of His works.  It is the disciple who gives himself wholly to live for Jesus’ work and kingdom, for His will and honour, to whom the power will come to appropriate the promise.  He that would fain grasp the promise when he wants something very special for himself, will be disappointed, because he would make Jesus the servant of his own comfort.  But to him who seeks to pray the effectual prayer of faith, because he needs it for the work of the Master, to him it will be given to learn it; because he has made himself the servant of his Lord’s interests.  Prayer not only teaches and strengthens to work:  work teaches and strengthens to pray.

~let us with the small measure of grace already received, give ourselves to the Master for His work:  work will be to us a real school of prayer.

~It was when Moses had to take full charge of a rebellious people that he felt the need, but also the courage, to speak boldly to God and to ask great things of Him (Ex. xxxiii. 12, 15, 18).  As you give yourself entirely to God for His work, you will feel that nothing less than these great promises are what you need, that nothing less is what you may most confidently expect.

~Believer in Jesus!  You are called, you are appointed, to do the works of Jesus, and even greater works, because He has gone to the Father to receive the power to do them in and through you.

~Whatsoever ye shall ask in my Name, that will I do.  Give yourself, and live, to do the works of Christ and you will learn to pray so as to obtain wonderful answers to prayer.  Give yourself, and live, to pray and you will learn to do the works He did, and greater works.  With disciples full of faith in Himself, and bold in prayer to ask great things, Christ can conquer the world.

Lesson XX

~THAT the Father may be glorified in the Son: it is to this end that Jesus on His throne in glory will do all we ask in His Name.  Every answer to prayer He gives will have this as its object:  when there is no prospect of this object being obtained, He will not answer.   It follows as a matter of course that this must be with us, as with Jesus, the essential element in our petitions:  the glory of the Father must be the aim and end, the very soul and life of our prayer.

~For the sake of God’s glory, let us learn to pray well.

~No wonder that there are so many unanswered prayers:  here we have the secret.  God would not be glorified when that glory was not our object.  He that would pray the prayer of faith, will have to give himself to live literally so that the Father in all things may be glorified in him.

Lesson XXII

~To offer a prayer—to give utterance to certain wishes and to appeal to certain promises—is an easy thing, and can be learned of man by human wisdom.  But to pray in the Spirit, to speak words that reach and touch God, that affect and influence the powers of the unseen world,—such praying, such speaking, depends entirely upon our hearing God’s voice.  Just as far as we listen to the voice and language that God speaks, and in the words of God receive His thoughts, His mind, His life, into our heart, we shall learn to speak in the voice and the language that God hears.  It is the ear of the learner, wakened morning by morning, that prepares for the tongue of the learned, to speak to God as well as men, as should be (Isa. l. 4).

~According to Thy word;’ in such expressions they showed that what God spake in promise was the root and the life of what they spake in prayer. 

Lesson XXIII

~What we need is to realize that in our relationship to the Infinite Being whom we call God who has created and redeemed us, the first sentiment that ought to animate us is that of subjection:  the surrender to His supremacy, His glory, His will, His pleasure, ought to be the first and uppermost thought of our life.  The question is not, how we are to obtain and enjoy His favour, for in this the main thing may still be self.  But what this Being in the very nature of things rightfully claims, and is infinitely and unspeakably worthy of, is that His glory and pleasure should be my one object.  Surrender to His perfect and blessed will, a life of service and obedience, is the beauty and the charm of heaven.  Service and obedience, these were the thoughts that were uppermost in the mind of the Son, when He dwelt upon earth.  Service and obedience, these must become with us the chief objects of desire and aim, more so than rest or light, or joy or strength:  in them we shall find the path to all the higher blessedness that awaits us.

~It is the man who is entirely consecrated to God and His will who will find the power come to claim everything that His God has promised to be for him.

~O how often we have sought to be able to pray the effectual prayer for much grace to bear fruit, and have wondered that the answer came not.  It was because we were reversing the Master’s order.  We wanted to have the comfort and the joy and the strength first, that we might do the work easily and without any feeling of difficulty or self-sacrifice.  And He wanted us in faith, without asking whether we felt weak or strong, whether the work was hard or easy, in the obedience of faith to do what He said:  the path of fruit-bearing would have led us to the place and the power of prevailing prayer.  Obedience is the only path that leads to the glory of God.  Not obedience instead of faith, nor obedience to supply the shortcomings of faith; no, but faith’s obedience gives access to all the blessings our God has for us.  The baptism of the Spirit (xiv. 16), the manifestation of the Son (xiv. 21), the indwelling of the Father (xiv. 23), the abiding in Christ’s love (xv. 10), the privilege of His holy friendship (xv. 14), and the power of all-prevailing prayer (xv. 16),—all wait for the obedient.

Lesson XXIV

~WHATSOEVER ye shall ask in my Name, that will I do.’  Jesus means the promise literally.  Christians have sought to limit it:  it looked too free; it was hardly safe to trust man so unconditionally.  We did not understand that the word ‘in my Name’ is its own safeguard.  It is a spiritual power which no one can use further than he obtains the capacity for, by his living and acting in that Name.  As we bear that Name before men, we have power to use it before God.  O let us plead for God’s Holy Spirit to show us what the Name means, and what the right use of it is.  It is through the Spirit that the Name, which is above every name in heaven, will take the place of supremacy in our heart and life too. 

~Disciples of Jesus!  Let the lessons of this day enter deep into your hearts.  The Master says:  Only pray in my Name; whatsoever ye ask will be given.  Heaven is set open to you; the treasures and powers of the world of spirit are placed at your disposal on behalf of men around you.  O come, and let us learn to pray in the Name of Jesus.  As to the disciples, He says to us, ‘Hitherto ye have not asked in my Name:  ask, and ye shall receive.’  Let each disciple of Jesus seek to avail himself of the rights of his royal priesthood, and use the power placed at his disposal for his circle and his work.  Let Christians awake and hear the message:  your prayer can obtain what otherwise will be withheld, can accomplish what otherwise remains undone.  O awake, and use the name of Jesus to open the treasures of heaven for this perishing world.  Learn as the servants of the King to use His Name:  ‘WHATSOEVER ye shall ask in my Name, THAT WILL I DO.’ 

~Lord!  Teach me what it is to pray in Thy Name.  Teach me so to live and act, to walk and speak, so to do all in the Name of Jesus, that my prayer cannot be anything else but in that blessed Name too.

Lesson XXV

~Brother!  What we need to pray in the Name of Christ, to ask that we may receive that our joy may be full, is the baptism of this Holy Ghost.  This is more than the Spirit of God under the Old Testament.  This is more than the Spirit of conversion and regeneration the disciples had before Pentecost.  This is more than the Spirit with a measure of His influence and working.  This is the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of the glorified Jesus in His exaltation-power, coming on us as the Spirit of the indwelling Jesus, revealing the Son and the Father within.  (John xiv. 16-23.)

~It is the Spirit dwelling within us that prays, not in words and thoughts always, but in a breathing and a being deeper than utterance.  Just so much as there is of Christ’s Spirit in us, is there real prayer.  Our lives, our lives, O let our lives be full of Christ, and full of His Spirit, and the wonderfully unlimited promises to our prayer will no longer appear strange.  ‘Hitherto ye have asked nothing in my Name.  Ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full.  At that day ye shall ask in my Name.  Verily, verily, I say unto you, whatsoever ye shall ask the father in my Name, He will give it you.’

Note

~Prayer has often been compared to breathing:  we have only to carry out the comparison fully to see how wonderful the place is which the Holy Spirit occupies.  With every breath we expel the impure air which would soon cause our death, and inhale again the fresh air to which we owe our life.  So we give out from us, in confession the sins, in prayer the needs and the desires of our heart.  And in drawing in our breath again, we inhale the fresh air of the promises, and the love, and the life of God in Christ.  We do this through the Holy Spirit, who is the breath of our life.

~And this He is because He is the breath of God.  The Father breathes Him into us, to unite Himself with our life.  And then just as on every expiration there follows again the inhaling or drawing in of the breath, so God draws in again His breath, and the Spirit returns to Him laden with the desires and needs of our hearts.  And thus the Holy Spirit is the breath of the life of God, and the breath of the new life in us.  As God breathes Him out, we receive Him in answer to prayer; as we breathe Him back again, He rises to God laden with our supplications.  As the Spirit of God, in whom the Father and the Son are one, and the intercession of the Son reaches the Father, He is to us the Spirit of prayer.  True prayer is the living experience of the truth of the Holy Trinity.  The Spirit’s breathing, the Son’s intercession, the Father’s will, these three become one in us.

Lesson XXVI

~The Christian life is no longer the vain struggle to live right, but the resting in Christ and finding strength in Him as our life, to fight the fight and gain the victory of faith.

~His life in us is an ever-praying life.  When it descends and takes possession of us, it does not lose its character; in us too it is the every-praying life—a life that without ceasing asks and receives from God. 

Lesson XXVII

~This prayer is ordinarily divided into three parts.  Our Lord first prays for Himself (v. 1-5), then for His disciples (6-19), and last for all the believing people through all ages (20-26).  The follower of Jesus, who gives himself to the work of intercession, and would fain try how much of blessing he can pray down upon his circle in the Name of Jesus, will in all humility let himself be led of the Spirit to study this wonderful prayer as one of the most important lessons of the school of prayer. 

~First of all, Jesus prays for Himself, for His being glorified, that so He may glorify the Father.  ‘Father! Glorify Thy Son.  And now, Father, glorify me.’  And He brings forward the grounds on which He thus prays.  A holy covenant had been concluded between the Father and the Son in heaven.  The Father had promised Him power over all flesh as the reward of His work:  He had done the work, He had glorified the Father, and His one purpose is now still further to glorify Him.  With the utmost boldness He asks that the Father may glorify Him that He may now be and do for His people all He has undertaken. 

~Disciple of Jesus!  Here you have the first lesson in your work of priestly intercession, to be learned from the example of your great High Priest.  To pray in the Name of Jesus is to pray in unity, in sympathy with Him.  As the Son began His prayer by making clear His relation to the Father, pleading His work and obedience and His desire to see the Father glorified, do so too.  Draw near and appear before the Father in Christ.  Plead His finished work.  Say that you are one with it, that you trust on it, live in it.  Say that you too have given yourself to finish the work the Father has given you to do, and to live alone for His glory.  And ask then confidently that the Son may be glorified in you.  This is praying in the Name, in the very words, in the Spirit of Jesus, in union with Jesus Himself.  Such prayer has power.  If with Jesus you glorify the Father, the Father will glorify Jesus by doing what you ask in His Name.  It is only when your own personal relation on this point, like Christ’s, is clear with God, when you are glorifying Him, and seeking all for His glory, that like Christ, you will have power to intercede for those around you. 

 ~Our Lord next prays for the circle of His disciples.  He speaks of them as those whom the Father has given Him.  Their chief mark is that they have received Christ’s word.  He says of them that He now sends them into the world in His place, just as the Father had sent Himself.  And He asks two things for them:  that the Father keep them from the evil one, and sanctify them through His Word, because He sanctifies Himself for them. 

~Just like the Lord, each believing intercessor has his own immediate circle for whom he first prays.  Parents have their children, teachers their pupils, pastors their flocks, all workers their special charge, all believers those whose care lies upon their hearts.  It is of great consequence that intercession should be personal, pointed, and definite.  And then our first prayer must always be that they may receive the word.  But this prayer will not avail unless with our Lord we say, ‘I have given them Thy word:’ it is this gives us liberty and power in intercession for souls.  Not only pray for them, but speak to them.  And when they have received the word, let us pray much for their being kept from the evil one, for their being sanctified through that word.  Instead of being hopeless or judging or giving up those who fall, let us pray for our circle, ‘Father!  Keep them in Thy Name;’ ‘Sanctify them through Thy truth.’  Prayer in the Name of Jesus availeth much:  ‘What ye will shall be done unto you.’ 

~And then follows our Lord’s Prayer for a still wider circle.  ‘I pray not only for these, but for them who through their word shall believe.’  His priestly heart enlarges itself to embrace all places and all time, and He prays that all who belong to Him may everywhere be one, as God’s proof to the world of the divinity of His mission, and then that they may ever be with Him in His glory.  Until then ‘that the love wherewith Thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them.’ 

~The disciple of Jesus, who has first in his own circle proved the power of prayer, cannot confine himself within its limits:   he prays for the Church universal and its different branches.  He prays specially for the unity of the Spirit and of love.  He prays for its being one in Christ, as a witness to the world that Christ, who hath wrought such a wonder as to make love triumph over selfishness and separation, is indeed the Son of God sent from heaven.  Every believer ought to pray much that the unity of the Church, not in external organizations, but in spirit and in truth, may be made manifest. 

~So much for the matter of the prayer.  Now for its mode.  Jesus says, ‘FATHER!  I WILL.’  On the ground of His right as Son, and the Father’s promise to Him, and His finished work, He might do so.  The Father had said to Him, ‘Ask of me, and I will give Thee.’  He simply availed Himself of the Father’s promise.  Jesus has given us a like promise:  ‘Whatsoever ye will shall be done unto you.’  He asks me in His Name to say what I will.  Abiding in Him, in a living union with Him in which man is nothing and Christ all, the believer has the liberty to take up that word of His High Priest and, in answer to the question ‘What wilt thou?’ to say, ‘FATHER!  I WILL all that Thou hast promised.’  This is nothing but true faith; this is honouring God:  to be assured that such confidence in saying what I will is indeed acceptable to Him.  At first sight, our heart shrinks from the expression; we feel neither the liberty nor the power to speak thus.  It is a word for which alone in the most entire abnegation of our will grace will be given, but for which grace will most assuredly be given to each one who loses his will in his Lord’s.  He that loseth his will shall find it; he that gives up his will entirely shall find it again renewed and strengthened with a Divine Strength.  ‘FATHER!  I WILL:’ this is the keynote of the everlasting, ever-active, all-prevailing intercession of our Lord in heaven.  It is only in union with Him that our prayer avails; in union with Him it avails much.  If we but abide in Him, living, and walking, and doing all things in His Name; if we but come and bring each separate petition, tested and touched by His Word and Spirit, and cast it into the mighty stream of intercession that goes up from Him, to be borne upward and presented before the Father;—we shall have the full confidence that we receive the petitions we ask:  the ‘Father!  I will’ will be breathed into us by the Spirit Himself.  We shall lose ourselves in Him, and become nothing, to find that in our impotence we have power and prevail. 

~Disciples of Jesus!  Called to be like your Lord in His priestly intercession, when, O when!  Shall we awaken to the glory, passing all conception, of this our destiny to plead and prevail with God for perishing men?  O when shall we shake off the sloth that clothes itself with the pretense of humility, and yield ourselves wholly to God’s Spirit, that He may fill our wills with light and with power, to know, and to take, and to possess all that our God is waiting to give to a will that lays hold on Him. 

~Into Thy hands I would believingly yield my whole being:  form, train, inspire me to be one of Thy prayer-legion, wrestlers who watch and strive in prayer, Israel’s, God’s princes, who have power and prevail. 

Lesson XXVIII

~Yes, in Him, as He bows there in Gethsemane, I must abide.  As my Head, He not only once suffered for me, but ever lives in me, breathing and working His own disposition in me too.  The Eternal Spirit, through which He offered Himself unto God, is the Spirit that dwells in me too, and makes me partaker of the very same obedience, and the sacrifice of the will unto God.  That Spirit teaches me to yield my will entirely to the will of the Father, to give it up even unto the death, in Christ to be dead to it. 

Lesson XXIX

~In the word the Father has revealed in general promises the great principles of His will with His people.  The child has to take the promise and apply it to the special circumstances in His life to which it has reference.  Whatever he asks within the limits of that revealed will, he can know to be according to the will of God, and he may confidently expect.  In His word, God has given us the revelation of His will and plans with us, with His people, and with the world, with the most precious promises of the grace and power with which through His people He will carry out His plans and do His work.

~But this apprehension of God’s will is something spiritual, and must be spiritually discerned.  It is not as a matter of logic that we can argue it out:  God has said it; I must have it.  Nor has every Christian the same gift or calling.  While the general will revealed in the promise is the same for all, there is for each one a special different will according to God’s purpose.  And herein is the wisdom of the saints, to know this special will of God for each of us, according to the measure of grace given us, and so to ask in prayer just what God has prepared and made possible for each.  It is to communicate this wisdom that the Holy Ghost dwells in us.  The personal application of the general promises of the word to our special personal needs—it is for this that the leading of the Holy Spirit is given us.

~O let us no longer throw the blame of our unanswered prayers on the secret will of God, but on our praying amiss.  Let that word, ‘Ye receive not because ye ask amiss,’ be as thelantern of the Lord, searching heart and life to prove that we are indeed such as those to whom Christ gave His promises of certain answers.  Let us believe that we can know if our prayer be according to God’s will.  Let us yield our heart to have the word of the Father dwell richly there, to have Christ’s word abiding in us.  Let us live day by day with the anointing which teacheth us all things.  Let us yield ourselves unreservedly to the Holy Spirit as He teaches us to abide in Christ, to dwell in the Father’s presence, and we shall soon understand how the Father’s love longs that the child should know His will, and should, in the confidence that that will includes all that His power and love have promised to do, know too that He hears the petitions which we ask of Him.  ‘This is the boldness which we have, that if we ask anything according to His will, He heareth us.’

Lesson XXX

~And as the blood gives the right, the Spirit gives the power, and fits for believing intercession.  He breathes into us the priestly spirit—burning love for God’s honour and the saving of souls.  He makes us so one with Jesus that prayer in His Name is a reality.  He strengthens us to believing, importunate prayer.  The more the Christian is truly filled with the Spirit of Christ, the more spontaneous will be his giving himself up to the life of priestly intercession.  Beloved fellow-Christians!  God needs, greatly needs, priests who can draw near to Him, who live in His presence, and by their intercession draw down the blessings of His grace on others.  And the world needs, greatly needs, priests who will bear the burden of the perishing ones, and intercede on their behalf. 

Lesson XXXI

~Because everything is weighed and tested by the one thing that fills the heart—the glory of God, and because the soul has learnt that only what is of God can really be to Him and His glory, the whole life becomes a looking up, a crying from the inmost heart, for God to prove His power and love and so show forth His glory.  The believer awakes to the consciousness that he is one of the watchmen on Zion’s walls, one of the Lord’s remembrancers, whose call does really touch and move the King in heaven to do what would otherwise not be done

~To forget oneself, to live for God and His kingdom among men, is the way to learn to pray without ceasing.

George Muller Prayer and Trust in God

~There are other points on which I would be glad to point out what is to be found in Mr. Muller’s narrative, but one more must suffice.  It is the lesson of firm and unwavering trust in God’s promise as the secret of persevering prayer.  If once we have, in submission to the teaching of the Spirit in the word, taken hold of God’s promise, and believed that the Father has heard us, we must not allow ourselves by any delay or unfavourable appearances be shaken in our faith.

~Patient, persevering, believing prayer, offered up to God, in the Name of the Lord Jesus, has always, sooner or later, brought the blessing.  I do not despair, by God’s grace, of obtaining any blessing, provided I can be sure it would be for any real good, and for the glory of God.