The Psalmsinger Pages

Prayer Arrows

 

Do our prayers make a difference?  If God already knows everything, and everything has been predetermined, why pray?  Does God hear us?  Is there anything that we can say that will change His mind, since He already knows the end from the beginning?  Why does the Bible have so much to say about having ears to hear?  There are many questions like these that have been asked before.  It's questions like these that have brought many to the place of rethinking our presuppositions about God.  Bobby Conners says, "If there is one thing I've learned after all these years.  If I can wrap my head around it, if I can understand it, its probably not God."  We already know that His ways are  not our ways, and He doesn't think the same way that we do.  The Apostle Paul said the "the natural mind cannot comprehend the things of the Spirit."  Yet somehow we've created theological systems of thought that wrap everything up in a nice tight religious box.  David said "Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain."  That is exactly what so many have experienced in their prayer lives.  Vanity.  Chasing after the wind.  Frustration.

God wants us to talk with Him.  In saying that, the emphasis is on the word with.  Relationship means communication.  Communication means talking and listening.  That is why we are revamping these pages.  There are are some resources we would recommend.  Brad Jersak's book "Can You Hear Me" is excellent, and then there is an awesome read by John Eldredge called "Waking the Dead", as well as "The Sacred Romance" that are well worth reading.

We need God.  We do count.  Our lives do make a difference.  Nothing of any real significance happens in the Kingdom of God here on earth without prayer. We all need to have contact and communion with the One created us. We all know it too. The problem is that many of us want to talk with our God, but feel unequipped and intimidated when faced with the daunting task of fellowship with God. I can't tell you how many people I have talked to, who say, "I would love to pray for an hour, and I have intent of doing so. But then five minutes later I am out of words and feel no closer to the Lord than when I started."

There are many reasons for this, but the main reason I think is that we really have not been taught how to listen to our heavenly father. These Prayer Arrow pages are designed to offer you some help. If you have been seeking to deepen your walk with the Lord, prayer is the place to start. A vital prayer life will transform your life.

In fact, prayer is changing the world, as you will see as you proceed through this area.

"Biblical names, titles, and attributes of the Lord" will help you as you hallow the name of the Lord as taught by Jesus in the "Disciple's Prayer". We know that God lives and dwells in places where His name is lifted up. So if we want the presence of the Lord to be real and vital in our lives, praise of Him is an excellent place to start. All His power comes alive in our lives as we praise Him. I am talking about more than just singing. I am speaking of time alone with the Lord, hallowing his names and attributes. Hours can be spent there, wondering where the time has gone, and being flush with the glory of His presence.  But even better is living every moment aware of His presence and power in our lives

 

 

Consider Psalm 18

For the director of music. Of David the servant of the LORD. He sang to the LORD the words of this song when the LORD delivered him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul. He said: I love you, O LORD, my strength.

The LORD is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge. He is my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.

I call to the LORD, who is worthy of praise, and I am saved from my enemies.

The cords of death entangled me; the torrents of destruction overwhelmed me.

The cords of the grave coiled around me; the snares of death confronted me.

In my distress I called to the LORD; I cried to my God for help. From his temple he heard my voice; my cry came before him, into his ears.

The earth trembled and quaked, and the foundations of the mountains shook; they trembled because he was angry.

Smoke rose from his nostrils; consuming fire came from his mouth, burning coals blazed out of it.

He parted the heavens and came down; dark clouds were under his feet.

He mounted the cherubim and flew; he soared on the wings of the wind.

He made darkness his covering, his canopy around him-- the dark rain clouds of the sky.

Out of the brightness of his presence clouds advanced, with hailstones and bolts of lightning.

The LORD thundered from heaven; the voice of the Most High resounded.

He shot his arrows and scattered the enemies, great bolts of lightning and routed them.

The valleys of the sea were exposed and the foundations of the earth laid bare at your rebuke, O LORD, at the blast of breath from your nostrils.

He reached down from on high and took hold of me; he drew me out of deep waters.

He rescued me from my powerful enemy, from my foes, who were too strong for me.

They confronted me in the day of my disaster, but the LORD was my support.

He brought me out into a spacious place; he rescued me because he delighted in me.

The LORD has dealt with me according to my righteousness; according to the cleanness of my hands he has rewarded me.

For I have kept the ways of the LORD; I have not done evil by turning from my God.

All his laws are before me; I have not turned away from his decrees.

I have been blameless before him and have kept myself from sin.

The LORD has rewarded me according to my righteousness, according to the cleanness of my hands in his sight.

To the faithful you show yourself faithful, to the blameless you show yourself blameless,

To the pure you show yourself pure, but to the crooked you show yourself shrewd.

You save the humble but bring low those whose eyes are haughty.

You, O LORD, keep my lamp burning; my God turns my darkness into light.

Prayer is a powerful thing. If we realized how much power there is in communion with the Lord of lords, then we would not want to be anywhere else. When God shows up, speaking to our hearts with that kind of authority, it is an awesome thing. And when the Spirit of God fills us, and speaks to us, as the warmth of His presence fills is, we can find ourselves like Moses. After spending time with the Lord he had the Shekinah glory of God over him and had to veil his face from the people because of the glory that was there. We too can know the presence of the Lord in that way.

I encourage you to visit and revisit these prayer pages often. There will be much here for you, as you grow in your prayer life and in your relationship with the Lord.