Psalm 109:1-4 – Be not silent, O God of my praise! For wicked and deceitful mouths are opened against me, speaking against me with lying tongues. They encircle me with words of hate, and attack me without cause. In return for my love they accuse me, but I give myself to prayer.
THEME OF THE DAY: THE TWO LANGUAGES IN PRAYER. In today’s scripture, David is in trouble. He is feeling pressure from his enemies. He is also feeling unjust treatment from them. One can feel his anguish. He says, “I gave these people my love and what did I get in return? Accusations. Slander. Hurt.” But what we see in David is the correct response in times of trouble, and for that fact, in all times. He gives himself over to prayer. The original language of the phrase “I give myself to prayer” actually reads, “I am prayer”. What a profound statement for David to make of himself. If we recall, David is called by God, “a man after my own heart.” I think one of the reasons why the Lord would say this of him is because of David’s prayer life. He didn’t just pray. He was prayer. He was consumed with communing with his God. And really is there anything which would delight the heart of our God more than to see within us this insatiable desire for His presence and that through a life of not just praying, but being in the attitude of prayer? What could possibly bring more pleasure and glory to our Lord than to be a people who live in the spirit of prayer and set aside prolonged periods of secret prayer to adore, love, and know Him? Yet, perhaps the opposite would be true; what could possibly bring more sadness to our Lord than for His people to neglect prayer; to reduce it down to a “grace over the meal” act or some rote citing of vain repetitions and petitions without heart-felt emotion and desire? So what would free us from such a lifeless prayer? Allow me to offer three things to encourage us to become people like David, a man after God’s own heart through a prayer life encountering the heart of God on a regular basis.
First, learn to see that salvation offers to us the gift of prayer. The Apostle Peter wrote, “For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit” (1 Peter 3:18). Don’t look at the words “that he (Christ) might bring us to God” in the sole context of freeing us from our sins and guilt. Salvation is only the beginning. Christ brings us to God to know God. The whole of the Christian life is the pursuit of knowing God. Every believer should be learning and experiencing the Lord with each passing week as we seek Him in His Word and prayer both privately and in His church on the Lord’s Day. Salvation says, “The way is open to God, to commune with Him, and that primarily through prayer.”
Another way to help us develop a life of intimate prayer is to see prayer as the language of love. As in the human realm so in the Divine; lovers want to be in the company of one another. When we neglect prayer, we say, “I really don’t love You enough to give You my heart and that through prayer.” I know that is a hard statement to swallow, but try. If we are experiencing the love of God in Christ, we will be a praying people, a lot, and that alone and with other Christians. A prayer-less Christian is a lukewarm and loveless Christian. Start seeing prayer as the love language between lovers and it won’t be neglected or ignored.
The third way to make prayer a delight of the heart and a discipline in life is to see prayer as not only a language of love, but of family. How are we instructed to begin our prayer by Jesus, modeled by Him and found in the prayers of the Apostle Paul? Father. Now don’t gloss over this. Father. God, the Creator and sustainer of all things says we are in His family and may call Him “Father.” What is one of the characteristics in healthy human families? Communication. Two-way communication. Transparent communication. On-going communication. Where communication is lacking so is harmony and intimacy. And it is the same in our relationship with God. Let the privilege of calling our great God, “Father” be a strong motivator to spend time with Him in prayer. A lot. Prayer is a great privilege we have because of Christ. Let’s ensure our awareness of this truth leads to the practice of this truth so that what David said of himself might be said of us, “We are prayer.”
PRAYER: “Father, help me to see the privileges in prayer that move me to a life of prayer.”
QUOTE: “We are commanded to pray and that is a command of delight and pleasure, not burden or duty.”