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Sunday, February 5, 2006
Can I Talk to God? 1 Psalm 63.1-8 Allen R. Hunt
Mount Pisgah 2/5/06
I. Keilah – odd place to start but it will all make sense soon
You know where Keilah is – just south of Adullam – that’s where the cave was
Remember – David took care of Goliath
And got King Saul’s attention – elevated him in the army
And every time David led an army – things went well
In fact a little too well for Saul’s tastes – once, David led army home and as they arrived, the women lined the streets and sang, “Saul has slain his 1000’s, David his 10,000’s”
Made Saul mad and jealous – after all, he was the first King of Israel
About that time, Lord’s Spirit departed from Saul – Saul was concerned with himself and his position more than the people and God
And the Lord’s Spirit fell on David – God’s plan for him to become next King
Saul began to plot to kill David – get rid of his rival
First tries to set David up to be killed by the Philistine army – but David prevails
Saul continues to try to kill him – so David flees – helped by Saul’s own son, Jonathan
David is on the run – to save his own life – hides out in a cave at Adullam
Joined by a few hundred men – debtors, distressed, discontented make up his soldiers
While they wait for their time to come, God sends them to rescue the town of Keilah from the Philistines – David leads his small army to victory again
Saul gets word of David’s location – prepares to launch an assault to get rid of him
What does David do? He prays
As he lives in a cave, with 1 priest and a small army – knowing full well that he has been chosen by God to be king but Saul and his army are trying to destroy him, David prays
Most folks would have been desperate, but David was trusting
Most would have been fearful but David was confident
Most would have been uncertain but David was sure and steady – so he prayed
How do we know he prayed? His prayer is written right here – Ps 63
A psalm of David. When he was in the Desert of Judah.
1 O God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you;
my soul thirsts for you, my body longs for you,
in a dry and weary land where there is no water.
2 I have seen you in the sanctuary
and beheld your power and your glory.
3 Because your love is better than life,
my lips will glorify you. 4 I will praise you as long as I live,
and in your name I will lift up my hands. 5 My soul will be satisfied as with the richest of foods;
with singing lips my mouth will praise you. 6 On my bed I remember you;
I think of you through the watches of the night. 7 Because you are my help, I sing in the shadow of your wings. 8 My soul clings to you; your right hand upholds me.
Look carefully at this psalm and learn some basic things about prayer
Why we begin our series in Keilah, with this psalm
1) Prayer is an act of adoration
Prayer is your relationship with God
And look how David describes it – my soul thirsts, my body longs for you, your love is better than life, my soul clings to you
Prayer is not a first aid kit, magic wand, tug of war, or a duty to be fulfilled
It is our heart attaching itself to God – that is what we were made for
Deep down in the bottom of your soul, you know it is true – your heart is made for God
Nothing else will satisfy – and prayer is where that relationship lives and grows
St. Francis – known for his prayer life and relationship with God – so a rich man invited him to spend the night at his home so he could spy on Francis’ praying – sat outside his room and listened – only words he heard, all night long were Francis saying, “My God and my all; my God and my all” time and again
Man so moved by Francis’ simple heart longing for God – became follower of Jesus
Prayer is an act of adoration – a heart connecting with God – no more, no less
2) Prayer is an act of dedication
Requires discipline, effort – prayer not a drive by experience, or a microwave hot pocket
When I was invited to pray before the Atlanta NASCAR race a few years ago, right before I stepped to the mic, the director grabbed me – “You have 23 seconds to pray. At the end of that 23 seconds, the jets will fly over, so you will be off whether you are done or not.” 23 seconds – that really is not a prayer - more like trying to eat one potato chip
But lot of folks try to build their relationship with God in an occasional drive by, 23 second experience
Prayer takes time – requires effort
My soul clings to you – on my bed I remember you, I think of you through the watches of the night
I think one of the reasons we do not pray, and we put so little effort in to it is that we do not realize what a privilege it is
If I told you that President Bush wanted to speak with you tomorrow – and you had 15 minutes to speak to him, you would spend the rest of today planning and thinking – and you would be up early tomorrow to get ready
We’re talking the Lord of the universe here – He wants to speak with you
And Psalm 63 shows us just how much a part of David his prayer life was
Prayer is an act of dedication
3) Prayer is an act of communication
Went to graduate school with a young woman – bright, talented – talking in library one day, when she said, “You know, I can believe that a god made everything, but I just cannot believe that the God of the universe knows me personally and will communicate with me personally.”
Well, believe it, sister
Dominant name for God in NT – “Father” – Jesus called Him “Father”
“Look at the birds of the air, don’t sow or reap or store in barns, yet your Heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?” (Mt. 6.25-26)
We serve and love a personal God – who knows us by name
Who yearns to love us – throws open His arms, welcomes us home, enlarges His heart to receive us – if only we will pray
Prayer is an act of adoration, dedication and communication
Prayer is your relationship with God
My desire is for us to be a praying church – preach series on prayer every year
Because when a Church prays, miracles happen
Praying churches are enthusiastic and serve God and others before themselves
Praying churches witness great things by the hand of God
I know you desire that for your life and God’s church also – the avenue to that is prayer
So this series will be very practical and focus on helping you and me become pray-ers
Not people who know a lot about prayer – but pray-ers – just like David
Every message will highlight a specific step you can take – and introduce you to someone in the congregation who is trying to be a pray-er – none of us are satisfied with our prayer lives – we are in this together
Today – hear about an experience Dan had in South Africa – prayer altar, rocks
Invite you today to create a prayer space in your home – an example is on platform
Pick up a rock in gathering area – write something on it – place it there this week
As a new step in growing forward in prayer
And now I want you to hear from Dan about remarkable things that have been happening in his prayer life over the last 2 years and what he and Nancy are doing about it
Mount Pisgah 2/5/06
I. Keilah – odd place to start but it will all make sense soon
You know where Keilah is – just south of Adullam – that’s where the cave was
Remember – David took care of Goliath
And got King Saul’s attention – elevated him in the army
And every time David led an army – things went well
In fact a little too well for Saul’s tastes – once, David led army home and as they arrived, the women lined the streets and sang, “Saul has slain his 1000’s, David his 10,000’s”
Made Saul mad and jealous – after all, he was the first King of Israel
About that time, Lord’s Spirit departed from Saul – Saul was concerned with himself and his position more than the people and God
And the Lord’s Spirit fell on David – God’s plan for him to become next King
Saul began to plot to kill David – get rid of his rival
First tries to set David up to be killed by the Philistine army – but David prevails
Saul continues to try to kill him – so David flees – helped by Saul’s own son, Jonathan
David is on the run – to save his own life – hides out in a cave at Adullam
Joined by a few hundred men – debtors, distressed, discontented make up his soldiers
While they wait for their time to come, God sends them to rescue the town of Keilah from the Philistines – David leads his small army to victory again
Saul gets word of David’s location – prepares to launch an assault to get rid of him
What does David do? He prays
As he lives in a cave, with 1 priest and a small army – knowing full well that he has been chosen by God to be king but Saul and his army are trying to destroy him, David prays
Most folks would have been desperate, but David was trusting
Most would have been fearful but David was confident
Most would have been uncertain but David was sure and steady – so he prayed
How do we know he prayed? His prayer is written right here – Ps 63
A psalm of David. When he was in the Desert of Judah.
1 O God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you;
my soul thirsts for you, my body longs for you,
in a dry and weary land where there is no water.
2 I have seen you in the sanctuary
and beheld your power and your glory.
3 Because your love is better than life,
my lips will glorify you. 4 I will praise you as long as I live,
and in your name I will lift up my hands. 5 My soul will be satisfied as with the richest of foods;
with singing lips my mouth will praise you. 6 On my bed I remember you;
I think of you through the watches of the night. 7 Because you are my help, I sing in the shadow of your wings. 8 My soul clings to you; your right hand upholds me.
Look carefully at this psalm and learn some basic things about prayer
Why we begin our series in Keilah, with this psalm
1) Prayer is an act of adoration
Prayer is your relationship with God
And look how David describes it – my soul thirsts, my body longs for you, your love is better than life, my soul clings to you
Prayer is not a first aid kit, magic wand, tug of war, or a duty to be fulfilled
It is our heart attaching itself to God – that is what we were made for
Deep down in the bottom of your soul, you know it is true – your heart is made for God
Nothing else will satisfy – and prayer is where that relationship lives and grows
St. Francis – known for his prayer life and relationship with God – so a rich man invited him to spend the night at his home so he could spy on Francis’ praying – sat outside his room and listened – only words he heard, all night long were Francis saying, “My God and my all; my God and my all” time and again
Man so moved by Francis’ simple heart longing for God – became follower of Jesus
Prayer is an act of adoration – a heart connecting with God – no more, no less
2) Prayer is an act of dedication
Requires discipline, effort – prayer not a drive by experience, or a microwave hot pocket
When I was invited to pray before the Atlanta NASCAR race a few years ago, right before I stepped to the mic, the director grabbed me – “You have 23 seconds to pray. At the end of that 23 seconds, the jets will fly over, so you will be off whether you are done or not.” 23 seconds – that really is not a prayer - more like trying to eat one potato chip
But lot of folks try to build their relationship with God in an occasional drive by, 23 second experience
Prayer takes time – requires effort
My soul clings to you – on my bed I remember you, I think of you through the watches of the night
I think one of the reasons we do not pray, and we put so little effort in to it is that we do not realize what a privilege it is
If I told you that President Bush wanted to speak with you tomorrow – and you had 15 minutes to speak to him, you would spend the rest of today planning and thinking – and you would be up early tomorrow to get ready
We’re talking the Lord of the universe here – He wants to speak with you
And Psalm 63 shows us just how much a part of David his prayer life was
Prayer is an act of dedication
3) Prayer is an act of communication
Went to graduate school with a young woman – bright, talented – talking in library one day, when she said, “You know, I can believe that a god made everything, but I just cannot believe that the God of the universe knows me personally and will communicate with me personally.”
Well, believe it, sister
Dominant name for God in NT – “Father” – Jesus called Him “Father”
“Look at the birds of the air, don’t sow or reap or store in barns, yet your Heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?” (Mt. 6.25-26)
We serve and love a personal God – who knows us by name
Who yearns to love us – throws open His arms, welcomes us home, enlarges His heart to receive us – if only we will pray
Prayer is an act of adoration, dedication and communication
Prayer is your relationship with God
My desire is for us to be a praying church – preach series on prayer every year
Because when a Church prays, miracles happen
Praying churches are enthusiastic and serve God and others before themselves
Praying churches witness great things by the hand of God
I know you desire that for your life and God’s church also – the avenue to that is prayer
So this series will be very practical and focus on helping you and me become pray-ers
Not people who know a lot about prayer – but pray-ers – just like David
Every message will highlight a specific step you can take – and introduce you to someone in the congregation who is trying to be a pray-er – none of us are satisfied with our prayer lives – we are in this together
Today – hear about an experience Dan had in South Africa – prayer altar, rocks
Invite you today to create a prayer space in your home – an example is on platform
Pick up a rock in gathering area – write something on it – place it there this week
As a new step in growing forward in prayer
And now I want you to hear from Dan about remarkable things that have been happening in his prayer life over the last 2 years and what he and Nancy are doing about it