A Leaf From Our Church’s Prayer Guide – July 2nd

Psalm 4

Answer me when I call, O God of my righteousness!
    You have given me relief when I was in distress.
    Be gracious to me and hear my prayer!
² O men, how long shall my honor be turned into shame?
    How long will you love vain words and seek after lies? Selah
³ But know that the Lord has set apart the godly for himself;
    the Lord hears when I call to him.
⁴ Be angry, and do not sin;
    ponder in your own hearts on your beds, and be silent. Selah
⁵ Offer right sacrifices,
    and put your trust in the Lord.
⁶ There are many who say, “Who will show us some good?
    Lift up the light of your face upon us, O Lord!”
⁷ You have put more joy in my heart
    than they have when their grain and wine abound.
⁸ In peace I will both lie down and sleep;
    for you alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety.


For our church:

Please pray that the members of our church would grow in their assurance that God hears their prayers and that this confidence would be based on the initiative God took in choosing and calling them to be in Christ and to participate in the work of intercession.


Our teaching moment:

What a shock the day David was called out of the field to be anointed by Samuel as the next king of Israel. (1 Samuel 16) It was the Lord’s sovereign choice to pass by Eliab (Jesse’s firstborn son) and to direct Samuel to take the horn of oil and anoint David in the presence of his brothers.  From that very moment, the Spirit of the Lord was upon David equipping and enabling him for his task. (1 Samuel 16:13) Whether or not, David is referring to this particular incident when he penned Psalm 4:3, his confidence was unshakeable—God sets apart his people, all of them—for himself. God’s people, his treasured possession, have been called to be watchmen, intercessors, and prayer warriors. (Mal. 3:17-18; Isa. 62:6-7; John 15:16; Eph. 6:18) Today approach the throne of grace with confidence knowing that you are engaging in an activity (intercession) for which you have been, by the Spirit, specially equipped and enabled.


A prayer from the past:


“Our Father, we bless Thee that we dare use that name without a question; for many of us feel the Holy Spirit bearing witness with our spirits that we are the children of God. We thank Thee that we have passed from death unto life, and have been begotten again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. He that sits on the throne, and makes all things new, has made us new, and called us unto newness of life, and made us to feel a life within us which must outlast the ages, for it is the life of God…

We would in spirit now pass into that inner place, into which the High Priest of Israel dared not come but once a year, and then not without blood. We bless Thee that the veil is rent; and now every believer is made a priest, and permitted to come into the Holy of Holies, and to draw near unto the mercy-seat, all blood-besprinkled, without fear of being regarded as an intruder, or smitten down like Nadab and Abihu…

O Lord, make us a holy and happy people. Help us to live the separated life, and to tread it with firm and brave steps. Help us while we wrestle not with flesh and blood, to fight with principalities, and powers, and spiritual wickedness in high places; and may it be ours to be made, by Thy Spirit, to triumph in every place, being led in triumph by Thee from strength to strength, from time to time, from age to age, till the history of Thy whole church shall be one long triumph for the conquering Lord. Glorify Thyself in us, we pray Thee, even in these mortal bodies, and in our spirits which are Thine.”

[Charles Spurgeon (1834-1892), The Pastor in Prayer, 112-115 (excerpted).]