The Prayer of Faith

Welcome to this week's message from the Church of Chelsea Westover.

Our core values are vibrant worship, intimate fellowship, fulfilling service, and clear biblical truth.

We pray that this message changes your life.

Let's tune in to today's message and see what God has in store for you.

Well, it's uh, you know, it's so exciting to see what God does in our lives.

Let me ask you something this morning.

We've been looking at uh faith.

In fact, last week several of you have already told me how God used that message to really speak to your hearts and lives about the trials of faith and how giving up our children and realizing that uh once someone gets saved and they surrender to the Lordship of Christ, that they're no longer ours.

Amen.

Hey, I I love my kids and they talk to their mother every day, and usually me most of the time.

But uh they're they're Christ.

You know, God's got their own uh mission for them, and uh, I just glory and bask in the glory of uh what God's doing in their lives as well.

We're getting ready to just keep praying for Stephanie.

Uh and and not only Stephanie, we need to keep praying for Cassie.

I mean, we're about to.

You know, one thing about this young church, we have understood the command in Genesis.

Be fruitful and multiply.

We are doing a good job there.

Uh we had some more babies coming, and uh uh so uh Nive and Harry and them.

Uh uh little Moses.

Little Moses, so that's exciting.

Uh our nursery's growing, our children's ministry's growing, so it's exciting to see that.

And uh, but be praying for Stephanie because she's calling every day, telling mama to go ahead and get on the plane and come on out there.

And I'm saying she's not coming till you have the baby.

And last time she went, they thought they were having a baby and she stayed a month.

And uh, so I said, no, we're not gonna let that, I hope, happen this time.

But uh anyway, she's Susan's cooperating more this time with me than last time.

So uh maybe, maybe.

It's your yeah, yeah.

Hey, listen, I already know.

I know I got my cereal ready.

I got I bought I bought three or four extra boxes of cyril.

I'm I'm digging the hole.

I know.

All right, let's turn in your Bibles to Psalms chapter four.

I know, I know.

Well, I hadn't dug a hole in a while, so uh, all right.

Psalms chapter four.

Uh you know, uh today, too.

Let me tell you, today's a sweet day, and uh uh little Sarah, look what Sarah did for her pastor.

Made me a little cross.

Amen.

Is that not precious?

My kids, I love my kids.

They come up and little Adeline, uh, yes, Jeremy's daughter got saved this week.

Let's give God a hand.

Amen.

She came up and hugged my neck, said, Pastor Danny, Pastor Danny, I got saved.

And I'm gonna get to get baptized on Easter.

And uh, so that's exciting.

That's what it's all about, folks.

It really is.

It really is.

And so, anyway, does everyone have a worship guide, please?

Uh, if you don't, raise your hand.

Brother Bob will make sure he gets us one.

And uh, amen.

So today we're gonna be looking at the prayer of faith.

And then next week we'll finish up the series on faith.

Uh, actually, faith, this series on faith has been part of Can God Trust Us since January the first.

January, we did the whole series of stewardship.

This month has been faith.

So next week we'll end uh the series, uh, well, the following week on the law of faith, Proverbs 3.

You hear us quoted all the time, but we're gonna dissect it with the last message on the law of faith, and then we start the new series, The Risen Life.

We're gonna go through the book of Colossians, verse by verse.

It is one of the most powerful books for the for the Christian in the New Testament.

It talks about putting off the old man and putting on the new man and how we struggle with doing that every day.

Can I get an amen?

I wish it was a once and forever and once for all uh conversion.

I wish, you know, when you got saved, you just totally got sanctified.

Wouldn't that be easy?

Wouldn't that be nice?

You know, hey, you don't sin anymore.

You're perfect, you're just waiting for the Lord to come and take you home.

But that's not the way it works.

The way it works is you get saved and you enter a battle.

You enter God's army.

Amen.

And uh thou therefore endure hardness as a what?

Good soldier of Jesus Christ, 2 Timothy 2, 3.

And that is so exciting to understand that.

So you will understand as we look at the risen life.

What a title for Easter coming up.

It's just gonna be a fantastic uh study in the book of Colossians as we look at what the risen life really is.

But today we want to look at the prayer.

Last week we looked at the trials of faith.

This week we're gonna look at the prayer of faith.

In fact, uh I've subtitled it, How to Pray Through to Victory.

Can I get an amen?

Let me ask something.

Any of you ever got any problems?

Okay.

For you that didn't raise your hand, your problems are right out here.

They're waiting on you.

They're coming.

Okay?

You're gonna have problems.

Life is a series of ups and downs.

I don't care who we are, it's a series of the good, the bad, and the ugly.

I mean, that's life.

Amen.

I've never had a situation.

Uh Susan, I've been married 30 plus years.

We've raised three kids.

Now we have grandkids, and I'm telling you, there has never been a time that we didn't have problems.

And most of the time I created them.

Hello.

Amen.

Anybody can get an amen or owe me, Darren?

Okay, thank you over there, Darren.

Don't don't hide your head over there.

Just come on.

But uh, but I'm good at that, you know.

And uh, but the older I'm getting, the better I'm getting at hopefully not creating so many problems.

But uh what what I am doing and what I'm learning is when these problems arise and they do, how to pray through these problems.

Uh one of my uh my granddaddy, uh he was a Pentecostal, uh, dynamic, godly, uh, just unbelievable.

I I learned so much from Papa.

But he used to say, Danny boy, you gotta pray through.

Just got to pray through.

And I used to say, What in the world does pray through mean?

And uh and I'd ask him, Papa, what does pray through mean?

He says, pray through means you stay on your knees till you get an answer.

Hello, come on, church.

You stay on your knees till you get an answer.

Now, I have to admit, I haven't done that a whole lot.

Now, I pray a lot, but staying on my knees till I get an answer.

That's praying through.

And today we got one of the greatest examples of that in the whole Bible.

How David, in his most tragic circumstances, he had just been run out of his kingdom.

I'm talking about out of Jerusalem, out of his palace, by his son that he loved dearly, Absalom, and now Absalom, his closest friend and confidant and counselor, and Hithophel, is now raising an army, 10 to 12,000, to hunt him down and kill him.

And if you remember, last week when we looked at that in Psalms 3, we used the word czar, which meant troubled, which meant that God, hey, was actually, God had allowed David to be put in a corner, his back's to the wall, he has no place to go, looks like it's all over, and then he says, but God.

Amen.

But God.

And we saw that.

So that Psalms 3 was basically his prayer in the morning.

Now he's made it through the day, and now he's about to lay down on Mount Olivet and go to sleep, and now he sends up another prayer.

In fact, David was very, very uh, should I say, consistent in praying three times a day in the morning, at noon, and at night, specific prayer times throughout his life.

And so now he's having his nightly prayer.

In fact, what he does, he actually calls the musician, and they write both Psalms three and four are songs of prayer.

That's what even makes it even more beautiful, as they're beginning to write down these words of this magnificent song.

And so his back's against the wall.

It looks like it's possibly over for him, and then we see he begins to pray again.

He had had his morning prayer, but now this nightly prayer is what I call how to pray through to victory.

In fact, look at Luke 18:1.

Luke 18:1

Jesus says men ought to always pray and what?

Not to faint.

Read that with me, church.

And he spake a parable unto them to this end.

That what?

In other words, don't quit.

Don't give up.

Hey, don't turn your back on God when you're in the corner, when your back's against the wall, when it looks like it's possibly to be, hey, this could be it.

You're going down for the count.

Don't quit.

Don't quit praying.

And so then David goes on in this fabulous prayer to show us and to teach us how to pray through.

In fact, we shall see that David employs various aspects of prayer here.

But the key, his whole attitude in prayer, illuminates what Paul said in Timothy chapter 2, 1 Timothy chapter 2, verse 1, and here's what he said.

1 Timothy 2:1

Exhort, therefore, that first of all, supplication, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men.

In other words, right here, Paul is telling us how to pray.

Paul is telling us how to pray.

And this is how we pray.

First of all, let's look at the word prayers.

What are prayers?

Here's what prayers are.

Prayers are communicating to God.

It's that simple.

When you pray, you communicate to God.

Now let me tell you how you do that.

You talk to God just like you talk to me.

You talk to God just like you talk to your wife.

You talk to God just like you talk to your husband, to your children.

You have an intimate conversation with God.

Can I get an amen?

That is praying.

That's why when and on Wednesday nights and starting this Wednesday night, you don't want to miss with starting our new series on gifts.

In fact, this Wednesday night, don't you miss, we're going to take the gifts test.

It's going to be exciting, I'm telling you.

It's kind of like taking the personality test.

It really is.

But anyway, one of the things on Wednesday night we do, we break up together in three or four and we pray together.

Now, we don't put you on the spot.

If you don't want to pray out loud, you don't have to.

But we are watching people learn to pray together out loud for the first time.

And it's it's become beautiful.

Why?

Because we're praying together as a church.

We're praying and talking together as a church.

And God said that my house should be called what?

The house of prayer.

And we hear preachers say that, we hear preachers even preach on it, but very seldom do we do it.

Amen?

I meant together.

We're just expecting, well, you go pray, I go pray, everybody goes praise.

No.

But we come cooperatively together, where two or three are gathered together in my name and shall ask, it shall be done.

Matthew chapter 18.

Matthew 18 · chapter mention

Amen.

And we're seeing God answer so many prayers.

So it's just unbelievable.

So prayer is communicating to God, it's talking to God.

Okay?

You with me?

Got that, church?

Amen?

It's talking to God.

And then look at the next word going back to 2 Timothy.

I'm at 1 Timothy 2.1, the word intercession.

Well, actually, go to supplications.

I like the word supplications.

I've got it there on your outline.

You know what supplications means?

It is a deep, felt, intense need.

It is a deep, felt, intense need in your heart that you know you've got to carry to God for an answer.

You've got to, you need help, you need wisdom, you need discernment, you need direction, and there's only one place to get it, and that's God.

Amen?

So that's what supplication means.

It's not just, well, let's go pray.

It is that need to pray.

It's that opportunity to take your burdens to God, casting all your cares upon him because he cares for you.

1 Peter 5, 7.

Amen?

And Psalms 55, 22, take in your burdens to the Lord and He will help you.

He will not allow the feet of the righteous to slip.

Can I get an Amen, church?

So that's what supplications mean.

It's that deep felt need of going to God in prayer.

And then intercession, intercession means to intercede.

Just like Jesus intercedes for us.

Can I get an Amen?

He ever lives to make Jesus, that is, intercession for us.

Hebrews 7.25.

That's who he intercedes.

There's one God, one mediator between God and man or men, and that is the man, Christ Jesus.

1 Timothy 2.5.

So intercession for you and me is when you and I are interceding for other people.

Amen.

We're interceding for other people.

I'm interceding for Sylvester.

I'm interceding for Clay.

That's why Wednesday nights is starting to be such a beautiful time together.

We are praying.

Why do we have that prayer sheet?

Why do I ask you to fill out the worship sheet information little tab there?

Two reasons.

One, we want to know you're here so we can keep up with you.

If you're not here two or three Sundays, we want to check on you, make sure you're okay.

Can we help you if what's going on?

That's what a real church does.

That's what it's supposed to do.

Take care of its people.

But secondly, we want your prayer request so we can put it on a prayer sheet.

So every day, all day long, hey, hey, every day, all week long, we can pray for the needs that you have.

This is not something we get up here and talk about.

This is something we do.

Can I get an amen?

So it's so important, church, that we do that.

That's what intercession really is.

It's you and I interceding for each other.

For each other.

Supplications is us going to God with our needs.

But supplications also can be part of intercession, us going to God for other people's needs.

So it's so important that we understand that.

And then the last thing is thanksgiving.

We are to praise him.

We are to thank him in everything.

Can I get an amen?

And thanksgiving means that you thank God, you thank him for your past blessings.

Amen.

You thank him for your present blessings, and you go ahead and thank him for your future blessings.

Because you say, now, how can you do that?

I'm glad you asked me.

Psalms 115, verse 12.

Psalms 115:12

God has been mindful of us to bless us.

God wants to bless you.

And if you get in the right, hey, I call it you get in the right lane for the blessing lane, you'll be blessed.

Amen.

You say, well, how'd I get in the blessing lane?

You get in the blessing lane by being righteous.

Hello, by being obedient.

Amen.

Come on now.

Come on, church.

Wake up.

I know it's gloomy, but come on, you got to help me this morning.

Sylvester's a little sick, so we've got to pray for him, but you got to help me this morning.

Amen.

So that is what praying is all about.

It's talking to God, it's taking our felt burden, needs to God.

It's interceding for other people, and it's thanking God for how he's blessed us.

Amen.

How God has provided for us, how God has protected us.

All right.

I will.

That's good, preacher.

Amen.

Amen.

That's what praying is all about.

That's it.

That's how, and we're to do this all the time.

Not just sometimes.

Not just when we're in trouble.

But all the time.

Amen.

We don't have any trouble going to God in prayer when we're in trouble.

You don't have any problem going to God when you're about to be to be thrown in the furnace.

Hello.

But what about praying to God when everything's right and everything's good and everything's blessed?

Amen?

Man, that's good.

Thanking Him.

Woo! Just draw a circle and hey, have your own spell by yourself.

Amen.

So, with that said, now let's look at the attitude.

Even if the movers don't show up, or not the movers, but the house closing doesn't close.

That's okay.

That's okay.

I've been interceding for you that you won't have a nervous breakdown.

I love you.

Well, I will it happens when it happens.

Amen.

And God will supply every time.

But you know, I I don't, I'm, I'm a very patient person.

I really am.

Susan's gonna go sit in the back.

Lightning's gonna strike.

Y'all didn't let me finish.

I'm a very patient person as long as God answered by tomorrow.

Amen.

I'm telling you, uh, that's that's why I don't like, I never like building programs because they never go fast enough.

Todd says, oh Lord, we're killing Todd.

Killing.

David's got the whip.

Todd, when are we gonna finish?

Pow, pow, pow.

I know.

And then I'd come around and say, hey, Todd, when are we gonna finish?

He's doing a fantastic job.

And today we're gonna have a good time at the end of the service for two reasons.

One, I can't wait to hear from Deedra and Christy about their mission strip.

And then I'm gonna knock a hole in that wall.

Yeah, come on, I'm gonna knock a hole in the wall.

You say, wow, well, I told Todd I'm trying to find a hole in the wall, something's gotta happen.

Amen.

But anyway, we're talking about patience.

Patience.

Yes, but patience comes through praying.

It's part of praying.

Now, what's this?

Let's look at the attitudes.

Three things.

This is this will help you.

This is gonna teach you how to pray through your trials, right here.

Number one, let's look at it.

What did David do?

First of all, we see David's prayer of requesting faith.

Look at verse one.

The prayer of requesting faith in your outline.

He said, Hear me when I call, O God, of my righteousness.

Thou hast enlarged me.

I love that word enlarge.

Circle it, put a line under it.

When I was in distress, same same Hebrew word that was in Psalms 3 for the word troubled.

Okay?

In other words, uh, when I was in distress, have mercy upon me and hear my prayer.

It is this end of a long, tiring day, and David right here is offering his evening prayer.

So he requests God to give him my answer to the petitions he's about to offer.

He says, Now, Lord, I'm gonna offer up my request, my prayer requests, my supplications.

This is definitely a supplication.

He not only offers up his supplications, he's gonna offer up intercession for his enemies, for his friends, for his foes.

I mean, it's gonna be awesome.

He says, I am about to start praying, God, but I'm not just gonna pray.

I'm praying, expecting you to answer.

Can I get an amen?

I'm praying, expecting you to answer.

So, now notice his prayer of requesting faith is based on three things.

Man, this is good.

Number one, his prayer of requesting faith is based on number one, the righteousness of God.

Oh, my, my, my.

Notice what he says again in verse one.

Hear me when I call.

Now, watch what he says.

Oh God of my righteousness.

Now, this phrase, oh God of my righteousness, is unique.

I had in fact, I I learned this this uh last couple of weeks studying Psalms 3 and 4, but especially I I didn't realize how unique that statement, oh God.

Hear me when I cry and call, O God of my righteousness.

That one phrase, it's so unique.

This is the only place that I saw that it's used in Scripture.

That stunned me a little bit.

It's unbelievable.

In fact, he says, Oh God of my righteousness.

Scholars tell us that, again, this is the only place once in the whole Bible it's used.

So David lays hold of this powerful thought and this powerful principle and concept of who God is.

Here's what he's saying.

In other words, so David lays hold of God as the vindicator of righteousness.

In other words, God is the vindicator of righteousness, who alone will defend his righteous cause.

Woo! Man, I got it.

Took me a little bit, but after I, here's what I'm saying.

You believe God is the God of righteousness.

So if he's righteous and you're doing right and you're living in his righteousness, he is obligated to vindicate you when you're in trouble.

Man, that's good.

He is, hey, obligated to vindicate you because have his righteousness, and because of the righteousness which has been imputed to you and me since we received Jesus Christ.

In other words, that's why Paul said, Avenge not yourself, for it is written, Vengeance is mine, I will repay, saith the Lord.

David knew because, yes, had he messed up with Bathsheba and that horrible sin, yes, he had repented, Psalms 51, he had been restored, and he knew he was walking in the righteousness of God, and he knew that if God was who he said he was, he knew he was, he was righteous, he would vindicate him.

Amen.

Wow, that's good.

That's good.

You with me, church?

Man, look at what he says.

Oh, oh.

Hey, Psalms 34, 19.

By the way, though, wait, no, go back to 17.

Yeah.

Thank you, Jeremy.

Go back.

Jesus, we see Jesus saying this same thing.

I saw this this week and I said, wow.

Jesus in his prayer in John 17 is praying to God.

And he's praying to God for you and me, his saints.

And he's saying, hey, they're supposed to be in the world, but hey, Lord, we, God the Father, we don't want them to be a part of the world.

We want you to protect them from the world because we know Satan's going to come after them.

We know Satan's going to try to destroy them.

We know that Satan's going to try to defeat them.

But God, because you are righteous and you will vindicate, hey, your saints, the ones who you have given to me, you will vindicate them.

Look at what he says.

Jesus is praying.

John 17, 25.

Oh, righteous father.

Woo-hoo! See it?

There it is.

Oh, righteous father, the world has not known thee, but I have known thee, and these have known thou that thou hast sent me.

In other words, the ones you've given me.

Hey, you gotta protect them, you gotta vindicate them when Satan comes against them.

So we see Jesus is praying the same way.

Now, in the New Testament, that David was praying on Mount Olivet in his time of disaster, really, in man's eyes.

So he's praying to the righteousness of God.

Even again, the Lord prayed.

No one can pray in this fashion.

You can't pray this way without examining our hearts and our minds and our conscience and our purity.

Oh, listen to what he says.

Oh, man, this is good.

Listen to what he says in 1 Peter 3 12.

Well, go to Psalms 34:19.

Psalms 34:19

Man, I'm getting excited.

Read, church.

You read that like you're just reading.

You didn't feel that.

You didn't see the truth in that.

Read it again.

Many are what?

Woo! How many he delivers out of some of them?

No, all folks.

Now notice the key.

Many are the afflictions of the what?

Righteous.

Now, watch.

James 5, 16.

Oh, confess your faults one to another.

In other words, get right with God.

Get right with the people that you're supposed to be right with.

Hey, your faults one to another.

Pray one for another.

That ye may what?

May be what?

That's all kind of healing, but folks.

That the effectual, read it with me.

Pick up right there.

The what?

The effectual, fervent.

What kind of man?

Righteous.

What kind of woman?

Righteousness.

Availeth much.

When we get in the lane of God's blessings and we're walking in his righteousness, God says that he will heal, he will provide.

And then Psalms 34, 19, that we saw, he will what?

Heal all, all, all, all our problems.

Is that not good, church?

That's powerful.

That's praying through.

Now you've got to realize he's praying through when he's up on Mount of Olive and he's got 12,000 people trying to kill him.

And there's only a handful of them, probably anywhere from 500 to 1,500 people with him.

Hello! Lives don't look too good.

And he's praying through because of the righteousness of God.

Oh, oh, I love this.

I love this.

Look at Psalms 24, verses 3 through 5.

Psalms 24:3–5

Who?

Who are the ones that God's gonna answer?

What does that righteousness really mean if he's gonna answer our prayers?

Who shall ascend into the heel?

I love that of the Lord.

In other words, who can go into his presence with those prayers?

Or who shall stand in his holy place?

Stand before God with those supplications, with that illumination, with, hey, those intercessions and the thanksgiving.

Who can do that?

Oh boy, here we go.

Read four, verse four with me, church.

He that what?

And a pure heart who would not lift nor Wow.

In other words, you can't manipulate God.

You can't lie to God.

You can't, hey, you can't do your own thing and then expect God to go into his holy place and ask God to answer something when you're living like the devil.

Hello?

Hello?

Ain't gonna work.

I used ain't on purpose, honey.

It's not gonna work.

Amen.

It's not gonna work, folks.

The factual, fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.

1 Peter 3.12.

I don't know if that's up there, but it's coming to my mind, and I'm quoting.

The eyes of the Lord are over the righteous.

Woo! His ears are open unto their prayers.

But the face of the Lord is against them that do evil.

Amen.

Pretty clear, isn't it?

1 Peter 3.12 also is the same, same verse quoted in Psalms 34:15.

Psalms 34:15

Amen.

There it is, right there.

The eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, his ears are open to their prayers, but the face of the Lord is against them that do evil.

It's just that simple, church.

Just that simple.

Gonna be on praying ground?

Got to be walking in his righteousness.

Amen.

That's the key.

If you abide in me, my words abide in you.

You shall ask what it will, and it shall be done.

John 15, 7, Jesus said.

So we see this.

Now notice the second thing he does.

Boy, this is good.

Not only do we see that his attitude of prayer and when he's praying, and his prayer of requesting faith is based on the righteousness of God.

But number two, it's based on the faithfulness of God.

Woo! Based on the faithfulness of God.

Look at verse one again.

Thou hast enlarged me when I was in distress.

I love that.

Enlarged me when I was in distress.

Now remember, the word distress means czar, means you put in a corner.

Your back's against the wall.

You have no place to go.

Hey, it looks like you're going down for the count.

But all of a sudden, God shows up.

God shows up.

But God.

God shows up.

And look what he says.

And he has enlarged me.

Look at Psalms 18, 9.

David, this is one of David's favorite expressions.

He, hey, watch what he said.

Read, church, read.

And he what?

Stop.

Woo! Where did he bring you?

Where did he bring you, church?

Read it again.

He brought me forth.

You know what that just means right there?

That means he just grabbed you out of that corner.

He said, hang on, grab on, foom, and he just took you right out of that corner.

Amen.

He just took you right out and said, now you're with me.

Let's go.

Let's go.

When it looks like you're going down.

Let's go.

When it looks like you're going to be burned in the fires.

Hey, in the fiery furnace, guess who showed up?

Jesus showed up and said, Grab on, boys.

Not one hair is going to be burned.

When he was in the lions then.

He said, Go ahead and go to sleep, Daniel.

I'll take care of the lions.

Amen.

Are you listening, church?

Why?

Because of who he is.

Because he is faithful.

He is faithful.

No doubt David is recalling all the times that God had delivered him.

He had remembered the bear and the lion that were going to steal his sheep.

And he took care of them.

He remembered Goliath that said he's going to cut his head off and give it to the hey, the birds of the air.

He remembered.

When Saul was trying to kill him and running him down for all those years, he remembered.

Amen.

He remembered.

When it looks like, hey, life is about over and God shows up.

God shows up, and when God shows up, ask Joshua what happens.

He said, Joshua, you've been moaning and groaning and having pity party long enough.

Get up and arise and go over the Jordan.

Let's go.

Let's go.

Let's go.

Thank you, Lord.

Let's go.

I'm going to take care of you.

God, Psalms 46, 1.

God, read this church.

Read it with me.

Go.

Go.

Whew.

I like it when you read it.

That word troubles are.

When you're in a corner, when your back your back's against the wall.

You don't know where to go.

God's your refuge.

God's your strength.

Listen, you don't go, you don't go to man before you go to God.

In fact, I wrote down right here, you go to God with your prayers.

Amen.

Amen.

And then we see that.

Now.

It's going to get better.

What's this?

What's this?

By the way, Philippians 4.19, you know it.

Quote it with me.

My God shall supply.

How many needs?

How many needs?

Man, don't listen.

If we grasp this today, we will be walking on the clouds.

Because we are learning with David how to pray through our problems and our trials that are going to face us every day.

You've got to realize David said, My God's faithful.

The faithfulness of God, the righteousness of God.

Then we got a third thing.

He was able to pray with the requested faith, not just because, hey, that his God was righteous, that his God was faithful.

But now watch this.

Number three, his God was gracious.

He serves a we serve a gracious, merciful God.

Can I get an amen?

Notice what he says in verse 1 again.

Have mercy upon me and hear my prayer.

The word mercy there means gracious.

Be gracious unto me.

In other words, God show me favor.

Show me favor.

God shows favor, church.

He loves us.

Oh, don't you love Psalms 23, 6?

We know the Psalm.

It's the Psalm we read it every death, every funeral.

But the one verse in there, Psalms 23, 6, is one of my favorites.

And it says, Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me.

What?

All the days of my life.

All the days of my life.

Surely goodness.

Remember the song?

Surely goodness and mercy.

You believe that?

You believe that, church?

Amen.

Well, why aren't we living like it?

Amen.

Oh me.

Why aren't we living like it?

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow us all the days of our life.

Why?

Because God is faithful.

Why?

Because God is gracious, and why?

Because God is righteous.

Oh, so here then is the threefold basis of the prayer of requesting faith.

The righteousness of God, the faithfulness of God, and the graciousness of God.

Woo! You think you can pray like that?

Absolutely.

Folks, that's it.

The request.

It was the righteousness of God.

The faithfulness of God.

Now, notice the second thing.

Not only do we see the prayer of requesting faith, but notice what he did next in verses 2 and then verse 6.

The prayer of rebuking faith.

Uh-oh.

Hey, let me tell you something.

We have power in Jesus.

Can I get an amen?

Luke 137 says, nothing's impossible with my God.

Do you believe that?

All power is given unto me, Jesus said, in heaven and earth.

Amen.

All power.

And if we have his righteousness, guess what?

If we have his faithfulness, if we have his mercy, we have all his power.

Because we are set in his righteousness.

Amen.

So we have his attributes dwelling in us through the power of the Holy Spirit.

Notice what he said.

The prayer of rebuke and faith.

I love this.

And most Christians don't understand this power that they have right here.

This is unbelievable.

O ye sons of men, verse 2, how long will you turn my glory into shame?

In other words, he's saying, how long are we going to allow Satan to put us to shame?

Hello.

Why in the world are we going to allow Satan to put us to shame, to break our, hey, to break our backs, to discourage us, to defeat us, to bring dismay to us, to ultimately try to destroy us when we have the power of God in our lives through the person of the Holy Spirit of the living God?

How long are we going to not realize what we got?

That's a better interpretation.

Or that's a practical interpretation.

Not a better, but a practical.

How long are we not going to sit back and not live in the forgiveness and the graciousness and the faithfulness of an awesome God?

Woo! Glory.

You with me, church?

He says, How long?

And then look at verse 6, he says, There be many that say, Who will show us any good?

Lord, lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon us.

In other words, he says, It looks like it's all over for us.

Oh, Lord, it's all over.

When are we ever we ever gonna see you good?

Why don't you step in and do something?

Ever been there?

Woo! You're wondering, where's God?

Well, hang on.

This was the prayer war.

Hey, it was as if right here, the prayer warrior, David, was rebuking his enemies through the medium of prayer, trusting God to implement such requests according to his perfect, and and I love this, his perfect will and his pleasure.

In other words, now David said, okay, there's nothing we can do we're outnumbered.

It looks like, hey, my people are saying God's forsaken us, God's given up on us, we don't have anybody to help us.

He just turns and he says, Okay, I've had enough.

David says, I had enough.

I'm fixing to intercede.

I don't you like that word fixing?

I'm I'm about to intercede.

I'm about to, hey, intercession, I'm gonna intercede.

And notice who he intercedes for.

In his prayers of rebuke and faith, David prays, number one, for his foes.

Oh, yeah, look at what he says.

Ready?

Verse two and three again.

Oh, ye sons of men, how long will you turn my glory into shame?

How long will you love vanity and seek after lies?

He says, You think you're winning right now, but you're doing nothing but deceiving God, lying to God, and I've got news for you.

You're not gonna get away with this.

You think you've got us pinned up in a corner, you think our backs are against the wall, but you haven't seen anything yet.

My God's fixing to come through.

My God's fixing to show up.

My God's fixing to show out.

Amen.

That's what he just said to him.

That's exactly what he said.

And then look at what it says in verse 3.

Woo-hoo! But no.

Uh-oh.

That word no, there's is a Hebrew word with the same Greek word in the New Testament.

You can be absolutely sure.

O day, OD, or Odah.

You can have complete assurance.

That's what that word means.

He says, but no, in other words, David says, I've got complete assurance that the Lord has set apart him that is godly for himself.

He says, You can't do with me anything because my God's gonna take care of me because I'm not, hey, I'm not mine.

God's chosen me.

God set me apart.

I'm the elect of God, and there's nothing you can do to me if God doesn't say you can.

And I got news for you.

I just want to inform you, Absalon.

I want to inform you and hit the fell.

I want to inform you of all you that have served me.

God, I know you think I'm out and you think I'm ungodly.

I have repented.

God has restored me, and you know that.

And I've got news for you.

He called me to be the king, not Absalom.

Amen.

Once a while you just have to tell your enemies that.

Can I get an amen?

Can I get an amen?

Been there.

Been there.

Who have I been there?

Ask Susan, have I not been there?

A few times.

And I've been there and said, Where in the world's my God?

And you know, you have your little pity party.

Well, God, I'm doing it.

It's for you.

And they're just making me look like an idiot.

They're bringing shame.

You know what it really is, a little bit?

I'm gonna just mess up.

It's pride.

It's me.

I'm worrying about what people think about me.

I shouldn't even worry about that.

Hey, it's not me if I'm walking in the righteousness of God.

It's me if I'm walking in the flesh.

But if I'm walking in the righteousness of God and doing what God's called me to do, I can just keep pressing.

Yeah, but you say, Yeah, but they but they put you in the corner.

That's okay.

Hey, the broad way's coming.

God said, Soon as he's, hey, soon as he's allowed, you know what he does?

He keeps you there to get that dross off.

He keeps you there to get that pride out.

He keeps you there to get that sin out.

And you just keep, you just say, I'm just getting beaten.

Yeah, but when you get to where you know you it's hey, it's nothing but God, and you look up and say, God, I'm through.

If you don't come through, that's when he said, Whoop! Let's go.

Amen.

Let's go.

So the righteous thoughts they shall not fall.

That's it.

That's it.

That's it.

Hey, look at it.

He's praying against those.

Oh, that's where James comes in.

James comes in and says, resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

Look at 2 Peter.

Look at 2 Peter 2.9, church.

You got to read this with me.

You got to read this one with me.

2 Peter 2.9.

Read it, church.

The Lord.

And deserve unjust unto the day.

The Lord knows how to deliver what?

The godly out of temptation.

Yes, you're in that corner, but He's going to pull you out.

When you get right, you get right with God.

You get all that old sin and all that feeling sorry for yourself and that pride and all the, I call it the two P's, the pity and the pride.

Amen.

You get that out of you.

Then he says, now you're ready.

Come on, come on, come on.

Now, by the way, notice he didn't use names.

He didn't use names.

Use the names and hit the pill and Absalom.

He didn't use the name.

You know why?

He knew it wasn't them.

He knew behind the source is Satan.

That's why when people come after you and do you all kind of wrong, listen to me now, I'm gonna help you.

You don't, you don't, you don't pray against him.

You don't pray God kill that person.

Now I've thought about it.

And had to rebuke the thought.

Amen.

Amen.

I'm just being honest.

Amen.

And you've been there too.

Some of you ladies have prayed, Lord, I love my husband.

Sometimes I wish you'd just kill him.

No.

Susan's never prayed that.

Not that God would do it.

She's prayed, Lord, if you don't help me, I'm gonna kill him.

But but no, you don't pray against the personality.

You pray against Satan.

He went against Satan.

David was praying against Satan.

No second thing he prayed for.

Not only his foes, his friends.

Look at verse 4 and 5.

Stand in awe and sin not.

Put your trust in the Lord.

In his prayer, David realized that his friends were getting discouraged.

And he knew that they were getting to the point that something could happen here.

I mean, it could get to a situation where they just decide, hey, we're gonna attack, or we're gonna, or maybe either attack in an unbelievable situation, which they couldn't win at that time because they weren't ready.

Or they could desert.

Okay?

So here's what David said.

Now this is good.

It's good, church.

Here's what he said.

He said, number one, you got to control your temper.

Look at verse 4 again.

Stand in awe, in other words, in the fear of God, in the honor of God, and sin not.

Ephesians 4.26 says, be angry and sin not.

Do not let the sun go down upon your wrath.

He said, You gotta control that temper.

And by the way, when believers fear God, and when believers fear the Lord, they do not need to stand in fear of anyone else.

That's good.

That's good, church.

Amen.

When you fear him, you don't have to fear man.

I guarantee it.

Gotta take care of you.

Gotta take care of you.

And then the second thing he said, though, not only do you have to control that temper, but you gotta control those thoughts.

Uh-huh.

Notice what he said commune with your own heart, your mind.

You got to control those thoughts.

You know what's the worst thing for me is my thoughts when I'm when I'm in the valley.

I think everybody's against me.

And most of the time it's just a handful.

It's not near as many as you think it is.

Hello.

Oh, everybody in the church is upset.

No, no, no, they're not.

Most people in church don't know anything.

That's right.

No, no.

And by the way, it's not the people in the church, it's Satan.

Can I get an amen?

It's Satan.

We're dealing with Satan, not personalities, but we're dealing with Satan.

So we have to rebuke Satan and not people.

We don't go after the people, we go after the cause.

And the root, and the cause and the root is Satan.

It's satanic every, every time.

So, and then notice what he says.

We got to control our tempers.

He said, now you got to control.

Hey, you got to start thinking right, casting down imaginations and all those things that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.

Amen.

2 Timothy 5.

10 5.

All right.

And then notice what he said.

And renew your trust in the Lord.

Look at verse 5.

Put your trust in the Lord.

You've got to renew that trust.

You got to go back and realize that everything God said he would do, he will do.

Amen.

Now you do have to search your own heart and make sure there's no sin there.

There's no rebellion there.

There's no doubting there.

And that's the hardest thing to doubting.

Search me, O God, know my heart.

Try me, know my thoughts, see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way of everlasting.

Psalms 139, 23 and 24.

Man, that's good.

Notice, notice right here what Paul said.

Paul told the Christians at Ephesus to pray.

Look at what he said in Ephesians 6.18.

With all, with, hey, praying always with all prayer and supplications in the Spirit and watching thereunto with all hey, perseverance and supplication for all saints.

And we we know what that means now.

Pray all the time with supplications, with intercession, with thanksgiving.

Pray.

Communicate constantly.

Rebuke.

Hey, rebuke Satan.

Intercede for your friends.

Jesus prayed for his disciples, even though, are you ready for this?

Even though one betrayed him, one denied him, and all deserted him.

He still prayed for his disciples.

I know you love this verse, so I'm going to throw it up and let you read it.

Matthew 5, 44.

Okay, church, read.

But I say unto you, all your enemies, let them encourage you to live that education if I believe you and hurt me.

I'm not going to ask the question, how many of us love doing that?

Because we'd all lie.

I mean, does that?

I don't like that verse.

I really do not like that verse.

I'm sorry.

That's a tough verse.

Love your enemies.

Wait.

Bless them to curse you.

In other words, you curse me, I hear you curse me.

I'm supposed to bless you.

I get out, you just cuss me out.

I get on my knees and start praying, God to just bless you.

Now you tell me that's easy to do.

Do good.

You know, okay, Lord, maybe I can work through loving them.

Now I've got, maybe I can even pray you bless them.

Now I gotta go do something good for them.

Hello.

I'm not gonna do anything good.

Bless God.

No, I'm not doing that.

And here's what you think.

Well, they ought not to have done what they did.

They deserve what they're getting.

Hello.

Hello.

My dads used to say, Well, you made your bed, you lay in it.

That verse doesn't apply.

Hello, wait.

And then pray for them.

That use you and persecute you.

Lord have mercy.

That's it, sister.

My.

But is that not exactly what David was doing?

Even though, now watch, he's rebuking Satan.

But he's praying for his foes.

And he's praying for his friends.

And then number three, verse six, he's praying for his followers.

There be many that say, hey, they're about ready to give up.

Who will show us any good?

Lord, thou, Lord, lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon us.

Turning to his followers, David gently reproved them for their pessimism and defeatism.

Here's what he said.

You can't do this.

You can't give up on God.

You can't give up on God.

And you know what he did?

He took them to Numbers chapter 6, the priestly prayer and benediction that they prayed constantly through the wilderness journey.

Numbers 6 · chapter mention

And here's what it says.

The Lord bless thee and keep thee.

The Lord make his face to shine upon thee and be gracious unto thee.

The Lord lift up his countenance upon thee and give thee peace.

What a prayer to pray constantly.

Can I get an amen?

Need to jot that dwelling.

I think it's on your notes.

You need to read that constantly.

You need to read that constantly.

And then Isaiah 41, verse 10.

Isaiah 41:10

Listen to what he says there.

Fear thou not.

One of my favorite verses.

For I am with thee.

Be not dismayed.

That means discouraged, for I am thy God.

I will strengthen thee.

I will help thee.

I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.

I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.

Let me tell you what that means.

I want you to leave that right there, Jeremy, because I want you to see a word here.

It's most interesting to note that the Hebrew word here for lift, okay?

Notice what he says.

There be many that say, who will show us any good?

Lord, lift thou up the light.

The word little lift there is Nasa.

The Hebrew word means to bear up.

It means to stir up, it means to support.

It is a form from an unusual word associated with the image of a banner.

In other words, Jehovah Nisi, the Lord's love and his banner is over us.

In other words, he's saying to his followers, you don't have to worry.

God's love and protection and perseverance, hey, hey, is all around us.

He's got us completely covered.

One little word means so much.

Is that not awesome?

Is that not awesome?

That means so he says, stir it up.

Stir it up.

Be encouraged.

Don't be looked dismayed.

Don't be doomed.

Hey, don't give in and throw in the towel.

Stir it up.

If God be for you, who can be against you?

Man, that's good.

In fact, I found this in some of my research.

What an illustration.

Number five, Doctor, his name's pretty hard to pronounce, but it's pronounced his sloop.

Speaking, he was a psychologist.

He was speaking before the British Medical Association.

And here's what he said the best medicine which my practice has discovered over 25 years is prayer.

The exercise of prayer is those who habitually practice it and exercise this prayer.

Hey, listen, is regarded as the most adequate, and that is written in the journal, the most adequate and normal of all medicines of the mind and commerce of the nurse, as one whose whole life has been concerned with the suffering of the mind and what causes it.

I would state that of all the medicines and all the treatments, there is nothing to counteract disturbed sleep, depression of spirits, and all the miserable problems of a distressed mind.

I would undoubtedly give the first place to a simple habit called prayer.

Hallelujah.

Hallelujah.

What a savior.

Amen, church.

Then lastly, as I close.

The prayer of requesting faith, the prayer of rebuking faith.

Now, the prayer of rejoicing faith.

Look at what he says.

Verse 7 and 8.

Thou hast put gladness in my heart, more than in the time that their corn and their wine increased.

I will both lay me down in peace and sleep.

For thou, Lord, only makest me dwell in safety.

Wow.

See, when a prayer concludes in this spirit, it is generally and most often, and I believe this, an evidence that faith has won through.

In other words, we have faithfully prayed through and have victory.

Praying is not how you feel when you kneel down.

Praying is how you feel when you get up.

Amen.

Praying is not how you feel when you get down.

It's how you feel when you get up.

Notice two things here.

Notice in the prayer of rejoicing faith.

Number one, David finds great happiness.

Look at verse 7.

That has put gladness in my heart more than in the time that their corn and their wine.

Now, see, what you don't understand is he has been running out of the palace in the midst of the harvest time when they brought in all the meats and the vegetables and everything and all the new wines and the wine uh vineyards and everything.

In other words, the palace has everything man could want to eat, to drink, to be happy.

And now David's homeland, he has nothing.

But yet he says, I am more glad, I am more excited and happy right now, up here, away from my palace, away from all the luxuries the world has to offer.

It's just me, my friends, and God.

But my God is sufficient.

And my God will not let me down.

Instead of being, hey, instead of being couched on the couch, he's couched on the dirt.

But yet he's more happy right now, laying in the dirt with no wine, nothing to eat, other than what they kill, other than what God provides, which he will.

And I still don't mind the manna, as sweet donuts.

And I hadn't had one in so long.

First thing I do when I God gives me peace to eat sweet skin, I'm gonna buy a dozen of hot nail, and no one's getting one.

I'm eating them all.

Maybe just buy one.

That just makes me mad.

I can't believe I hadn't had a donut in all this time.

But listen, folks.

Psalm 107 verse 9.

Psalms 107:9

Is it there, Jeremy?

Psalm 107 verse 9.

Psalms 107:9

He satisfies the read it, church.

You gotta read this.

Read it for he.

If you're living for the stuff, you're gonna be void.

If you're living for him, when the stuff comes, you will enjoy it.

Woo! That was good.

Amen.

Because, see, the stuff doesn't possess you.

You with me, church?

We get in trouble when the stuff possesses us.

You say, well, how do you know when it possesses you?

That's a good question, isn't it?

When you can't get rid of it.

You know when the stuff doesn't possess you, you can give it away tomorrow and walk away.

Hello.

Hello.

You say, Oh, I can do that.

Can you?

You better watch it.

God, I'll tell you to.

He has us a few times.

Just give it away.

Oh, that?

Yes, sir.

It's not mine.

He reminds me it's not yours.

Hello.

It's not yours.

See, when you realize your money's not yours, you'll have no problem tithing.

Uh oh, he's going back to that stewardship.

Just a thought.

Just a thought.

But that is the truth, and you know it.

Notice the last thing.

Not only does David find great happiness, but he feels, number two, guarded and secure in God.

He has the peace of God that passes all understanding.

Great peace how they that love the law.

We dealt with this last week.

That was a tough verse.

Great peace how they which love the law and nothing shall offend them.

Psalms 119, verse 165.

Psalms 119:165

David concluded his prayer of requesting faith, rebuking faith, rejoicing faith by declaring God to be his source of perfect gladness and guardianship.

So we may learn to pray and then to praise.

Only then will we know.

Did you hear me?

We learn to pray and to praise.

Will we understand and know the peace of God that passes all understanding that will keep our hearts and minds through Christ Jesus?

Good word, isn't it?

Praying through?

We can pray through.

We can pray through, folks.

I guarantee you.

You got a wayward son or daughter?

You need to pray through.

You need to get on your knees and say, I'm not getting up.

I'm not getting up.

God's taught me something to this week, and I there's a couple things I'm praying for.

There's some people I'm interceding for right now, like I've never interceded before.

I mean, I've prayed for.

But I if I believe what I preached this morning, my God is gonna deliver them.

My God's gonna deliver them.

Because he's giving me peace.

If I'll intercede, he'll deliver them.

Amen.

I believe that.

He's gonna do it.

And I'm not giving up.

Amen.

What about you this morning?

How many of you know people you need to intercede for?

Raise your hand right now, all over this place.

Oh, I knew it.

I knew it.

What a word today.

What a word today.

What truth today that will set us free.

Thanks again for tuning into this week's message.

We pray that your life has been changed.

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We hope you have a wonderful day and again, God bless you.