Recipe for Mighty Prayer
The Lord is near to all who call upon Him,
To all who call upon Him in truth.
19 He will fulfill the desire of those who fear Him;
He also will hear their cry and save them.
20 The Lord preserves all who love Him,
~Psalm 145:18-20
We all want to be heard by the Lord, especially in times of trouble or need. We all want the Lord to come to our rescue, to provide for us in time of need. And here in Psalm 145 we find a recipe for mighty prayer, listen to what the psalmist says:
"The Lord is near to all who call upon Him"
Wow that is great, thats exactly what I need to know when I am in times of need, I need to know God is near me. This alone brings strength into my life, however lets read on, because in the Bible whenever there is a promise there is a premise and this verse is no different, the Psalmist goes on to give us the premise:
"To all who call upon Him in truth."
First we must understand that this means to call upon the Lord in faith, believing He can do it, second it is calling on the Lord in a right heart. God is Holy and that being said we need to come to Him with a right heart and the Bible says that He will hear from heaven and aswer us. When we position ourselves toward God, when we "seek Him with our whole heart" again the Bible says we will find Him.
He goes on to reitterate the point in the next verse:
"He will fulfill the desire of those who fear Him;"
Wow, this is even bigger, now the Psalmist goes on to say that God will fullfil our desires. How can this be, my desires can be off at times, I could be desiring the wrong things; well that's not what it says, what it does say is when my desires line up with God's plan then He will fullfil them. See whenever the Bible talks about the fear of the Lord, it is talking about this reverence toward the Lord, this agape type love that leads us to not want to dissapoint God or let Him down, so our behavior starts to line up with His plan for us, why, because we disire His approval.
The Psalmist closes with this:
"The Lord preserves all who love Him,"
My relationship with the Lord brings mighty things into my life. He protects, He provides, He guides and He rescues me... and all I need to do is respond to Him in love and allow that love to transform my life.
James 5:16b
"The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective."
Lord help my prayers always be effective and my heart always be near.
Amen!
08/14/17 04:30:00 pm, 