The Passionate Pursuit Of Effective Prayer.
Psalm 13:1-6
Jenny and I left our house early to be with our parents for Thanksgiving, 1996. As we left I noticed our next door neighbor’s silver van was parked in his driveway.
My neighbor and I had gotten close. I didn’t know that he was a different man inside his house. -After 35 years his wife was filing for divorce. Two days earlier he had called me to his Church in Cartersville, I met him, he proceeded telling me his marriage and his ministry was over. -There wasn’t any talking to him.
Now it’s Thanksgiving night, we made it back home. As soon as we got inside the house another neighbor called me and asked if I had heard about G.P, he killed himself. -He parked his van in his driveway and shot himself. -That meant as we saw his van that morning, he was about to, or already did.
-My knees fell to the ground, I begin to sob. It broke my heart. -Honestly, it didn’t seem true.
Wednesday night I spoke on the book of, Psalm 1, and how the righteous live a blessed life. -A happy life. -A wholesome life.
Again, We learned in Psalm 1, that the righteous are blessed, and the wicked are punished.
The Lord knows the way of the righteous, and he ensures that they are prosperous.
The worldview of, Psalm 1 is affirmed in, Psalm 2, where the blessings of righteousness are extended to rulers and to nations.
Psalm 2, We learned that the nations rage… Against the Lord, and against his anointed, while the Lord sits in the heavens laughing.
-These rebellious nations are broken and destroyed by the power of God.
However, if you stop reading, after Psalm 2, our theology will be incomplete.
-You would probably come to the conclusion that loving, and serving God makes everything roses.
However Psalm 3, presents another side of the biblical picture of faith in which the neat, tidy, well ordered theology of Psalm 1 and 2 gives way to a theology that allows for the realities of life– realities that include struggle, injustice, abuse, doubt, fear, and the testing of our faith.
Immediately after we hear in Psalm 1 and 2, that God blesses the righteous, we hear these words in, Psalm 3:1-2 Oh, Lord, those who trouble me are increased. Many are they who rise up against days. 2. Many are saying to me, there is no help for you and God.
What happened? Life happened. Trails happen. Heartache occurs, mistrust and thousands more life trails come in many shapes and sizes.
This takes us to this mornings text, The caption over Psalm 13, For the choir director: A psalm of David. Psalms 13:1-6NLT O Lord, how long will you forget me? Forever? How long will you look the other way? 2 How long must I struggle with anguish in my soul, with sorrow in my heart every day? How long will my enemy have the upper hand? 3 Turn and answer me, O Lord my God! Restore the sparkle to my eyes, or I will die. 4 Don’t let my enemies gloat, saying, “We have defeated him!” Don’t let them rejoice at my downfall. 5 But I trust in your unfailing love. I will rejoice because you have rescued me. 6 I will sing to the Lord because he is good to me.
Psalm 3 and 13, teach us that the righteous will face suffering, trials, and test.
These prayer psalms reflect the experience of a righteous Job. -The Bible declares that Job was perfect and upright; he feared God and shunned evil.
Satan appeared before God, and accused Job of being a Fair-weather believer.
God gives satan permission to attack Jobs children, animals, crop, everything he owned and possessed. (Job stays faithful).
Again satan says to God, let me take Jobs health and he will surely curse you. God allowed Satan to attack Job, and leave him inches away from his death.
Jesus states these powerful words in,
John 16:33NKJV “These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”
The apostle Paul declares in, 2 Timothy 3:12… those who live godly in Christ Jesus, will suffer persecution.
To those who suffer, Peter states in, 1 Peter 4:12 beloved, do not think it’s strange concerning the fiery trials, which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you.
Listen Saints, testings, trials, hardships, and sufferings are not a sign that we have failed; rather, they are a normal part of the Christian life, and their purpose is to make us stronger.
In Luke 13, when Jesus‘s disciples heard that Pilate had killed a number of Galilean Jews, and mixed their blood with the sacrifices, His disciples questioned Jesus, as to how this sort of thing could happen to God‘s people.
Jesus explained to his disciples that righteous people sometimes suffer.
Luke 13:2-5NLT ““Do you think those Galileans were worse sinners than all the other people from Galilee?” Jesus asked. “Is that why they suffered? 3 Not at all! And you will perish, too, unless you repent of your sins and turn to God. 4 And what about the eighteen people who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them? Were they the worst sinners in Jerusalem? 5 No, and I tell you again that unless you repent, you will perish, too.”
Jesus did not offer a reason why the Galilean Jews were made to suffer, Jesus did not explain why the tower fail on the people of Siloam.
However, Jesus did insist their suffering was not on account of their sin or disobedience.
Psalm 13, is a prayer and passionate plea born out of pain. Psalm 13 is a lament– and urgent, prayer. It follows a short, simple, and straightforward pattern that stands as an example of how these prayers are expressed in the book of psalms.
If we take David’s prayer in Psalm 13, as our example, we find six pointers to affective prayer.
First, 1. David speaks directly to God.
Psalm 13:1-2MSG “Long enough, God— you’ve ignored me long enough. I’ve looked at the back of your head long enough. Long enough I’ve carried this ton of trouble, lived with a stomach full of pain. Long enough my arrogant enemies have looked down their noses at me.”
The apostle Paul states, to speak directly to God. -Philippians 4.6-7
Paul exhorts us to take everything in prayer– every need, every trial, every burden– to God in prayer:
Philippians 4:6-7NKJV Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; 7 and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
Psalm 28:1 Unto thee will I cry, “O Lord, my rock.”
Psalm 61:1 Hear my cry, O God, listen to my prayer.
Psalm 64:1 Hear my voice, O God, in my complaint; preserve my life from dread of the enemy.
Psalm 69:1 Save me, O God! For the waters have come up to my neck.
Psalm 140:1 Deliver me, O, lord.
Psalm 141:1 Lord, I cry unto thee; make haste unto me.
Psalm 130:1 Out of the depths, I cry to thee, O Lord!
The Second pointer to affective prayer. 2. David expresses the pain of abandonment.
Again, Psalm 13:1TPT “I’m hurting, Lord—will you forget me forever? How much longer, Lord? Will you look the other way when I’m in need?”
The charge is that God looks the other way when David is in need. David, pleads, “Lord, will you forget me forever?”
David feels like God has forgotten him, even though he knows he has not.
-Denial of our pain is not an option. Attempting to ignore our problems will not make them go away.
Testimony: Bless my sweet grandmothers heart, she loved to smoke Winston cigarettes. Once, when she was older in life, I went to her house, and her couch was on fire with her sitting out on it. I said to her, “Muzzy, your couch is on fire.” She kept smoking her cigarette and saying no sweetie it’s not.
I called mama, and she got Muzzy off her smoking couch. The fire put out. (Lol. it wasn’t funny then but it’s funny as I thought about it now.
The third pointer to affective prayer. 3. David states his problem.
Psalm 13:2TPT “How much longer must I cling to this constant grief? I’ve endured this shaking of my soul. So how much longer will my enemy have the upper hand?”
David names his problem; he voices his complaint. -He is sorrowful because the enemy has gotten the advantage over him.
Many times around this altar, men and women, Boys and girls are challenged for the death of a loved one or a illness. Saints of God there are people around you hurting.
The fourth pointer to affective prayer. 4. David pleads for God’s intervention.
David has expressed the pain that he is suffering, and he has stated his complaint. -Now he pleads with God to come to his aid.
Psalm 13:3-4TPT “Take a good look at me, Yahweh, my God, and answer me! Breathe your life into my spirit. Bring light to my eyes in this pitch-black darkness or I will sleep the sleep of death. Don’t let my enemy proclaim, “I’ve prevailed over him.” For all my adversaries will celebrate when I fall.”
The fifth pointer to effective prayer. 5. David trusts God.
Psalm 13:5TPT “I have always trusted in your kindness, so answer me. I will spin in a circle of joy when your salvation lifts me up.”
I’m sure king David was thinking, just as you delivered me from a lion and a bear, and from an uncircumcised Philistine, you will deliver me once more!
The sixth pointer to effective prayer. 6. David promises to praise God.
Psalm 13:6TPT “I will sing my song of joy to you, Yahweh, for in all of this you have strengthened my soul. My enemies say that I have no Savior, but I know that I have one in you!”
Psalm 30:5TPT “I’ve learned that his anger lasts for a moment, but his loving favor lasts a lifetime! We may weep through the night, but at daybreak it will turn into shouts of ecstatic joy.”
George W. Truett said: "To know the will of God is the greatest knowledge! To do the will of God is the greatest achievement!”
Circumstances will always try to dictate doubt and unbelief every time. Remember this...”Faith isn’t swayed by circumstances, however circumstances are always swayed by Faith in God’s Abilities!”
Benediction. The Passionate Pursuit Of Effective Prayer, It’s found in you!
