Title Thanksgiving for Prayer / Psalm 116:1-8
Content Psalm 116:1-8
◎ Date: July 5, 2003
thanks for prayer
Text: I love the LORD because he hears my voice and my supplications. 2 He has inclined his ear to me, and I will pray all the days of my life. 3 When the cords of death wrapped around me, and the afflictions of Sheol came upon me, and when I met afflictions and sorrows, 4. I prayed in the name of the Lord, O Lord, I pray thee, deliver my soul. 5. The LORD is gracious and righteous, and our God is merciful. 6. The LORD keeps the innocent; he saved me in my troubles. 7. Return to your peace, my soul, for the LORD is hospitable to you. 8. You have delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears, and my feet from stumbling.
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It is true that we have so much to be grateful for over the past half year. What are you particularly grateful for? I know that everyone is different, but each of us has something we are particularly grateful for on this Thanksgiving Day, so we must have already thanked God with our lips, and some of us must have had a heart of deep gratitude for that part while we were giving thanks.
In fact, if you've been writing a daily diary, you'll know how many things you've been grateful for when you open your past diary, but most of them forget about it. Originally, people tend to forget good things and remember bad things for a long time, which is the nature of fallen sinners.
We would like to think about the grace of prayer among the many graces God has bestowed upon us during the autumn festival of 2003, for the past half year.
Among the many privileges God has given us, prayer is a special gift. I do not need to explain why, but to mention a few things, as I said last week, the object of our prayer is God. The omnipresent, omnipresent, omnipresent One, the One who is rich, the one who controls all our lives, the one who controls all our lives, and this is the Father to those who believe in Jesus. Therefore, a believer's prayer is not a man's prayer to God, but a child's prayer to the Father, and there can be no greater privilege than this.
Jesus tells us about prayer, "Ask, and it will be given to you. Search and you will find. Knock, and it will be opened for you. Everyone who asks receives. If your son asks for bread, he will give you a stone, or if he asks for a fish, he will give you a snake? Will you not give me something good?" (Matthew 7:7-11)
John 14:14 "If you ask anything in my name, I will do it."
John 15::7 "If you abide in me and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you." Is there anyone in the world who will tell me to ask for anything I want and give it to me? John 16:23 "Whatever you ask the Father, he will give it to you in my name."
Of course, the word “anything” does not include evil things and bad things. However, if we ask for good things, good things, and useful things, we give them all.
David knew the joy of prayer early on.
"I love the LORD because he hears my voice and my supplication. He has inclined his ear to me, and I will pray all the days of my life."
What God's people can do in their lifetime is prayer. Prayer is something that we must do in our lifetime. Because you always hear and answer the prayers of your people.
David confessed, "The cords of death surround me, and Sheol brings pain upon me, and when I am in trouble and sorrow, I pray in the name of the Lord, O Lord, I pray thee, deliver my soul."
When I was in trouble, I prayed to God. So, did God do it? maybe?
You have done it all. Why does God answer our prayers? Of course, He promised, but if you know God's disposition, you will find the answer.
Verse 5, “For the LORD is gracious and righteous; our God is merciful.”
Verse 6 “The LORD keeps the innocent; he saved me in my time of need.”
Verse 7 "Return to your peace in my soul, for the LORD is hospitable to you."
Verse 8 “You have delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears, and my feet from stumbling.”
God's disposition has a disposition that has no choice but to fulfill our prayers. He is gracious, righteous, merciful, and hospitable. Can't you understand what such a character is like? Don't you know it's abstract? With that disposition, God did great things, and think of it when He gave His only begotten Son on the cross for us.
What can't the one who gave up his son give him?
Now let's think about the things we are grateful for for prayer.
1. Thank you for answering prayers.
There will be countless things that each individual prayed and received answers to, but today I would like to give thanks and glory to God for answering prayers about the church.
God has answered our reckless prayer. Of course, we don't think it's reckless, but other people think and see it. Our church, which does not have a financial balance, prayed for three things to pray for the construction of the temple. 1) a large site, 2) convenient transportation, and 3) state-of-the-art facilities.
God answered two things. If I hadn't prayed, it would have been unthinkable. He gave us the assurance that we can do it in prayer, opened the way, and made it come true
Prayers are sure to be answered. Answering prayers is God's promise, and if necessary, God's nature to give His only-begotten Son can only be answered.
2. Thank you for being able to keep praying.
We can't help but thank God for continuing to pray even now. We continue to pray for the future-oriented temple construction with state-of-the-art facilities for soul harvesting, for the evangelization of Europe and America with the fiery power of the Holy Spirit, and for the mission of missions from the region to the ends of the earth.
Keep praying is God's will. “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in everything, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you” (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18).
Do you keep praying without ceasing? If you pray, thank God because it is God's grace. If you don't pray, please do your best to pray, knowing that you are missing out on God's great grace.
Answers to prayers are good, but I hope you know that the time to pray is also very good. Hymn 480:2, "The Lord comes by his side during this time of prayer, and he listens with a kind face. If we throw away ourselves and kneel at his feet, he gives us great gifts. There is joy there. Bless you during prayer time. My weary heart is full of joy."
Have you ever thought that the Lord came to you with a kind face and listened to you at the time of prayer? You're not looking at it out of curiosity, what are you doing? Are you looking for something like that? He does not mean to criticize, but he comes with a kind face and listens.
We have a Lord who hears our prayers. The Lord is the one who shed His precious blood by dying on the cross for us, broke the power of death on the third day after death, and rose again to pray for us at the right hand of the throne of God. He comes and listens to us when we pray, so aren't we thankful for that alone?
Samuel declared, “I will not commit the sin of ceasing in prayer,” and Jesus and the apostles exhorted us to “watch and pray,” so that prayer is spiritual awakening. He said, “You do not have because you do not ask,” so they do not pray and there is no answer. Prayer is not understanding the principles of prayer, it is praying. So, prayer is an act of faith.
I hope you all attend church and be thankful that you can pray with the subject of having a big vision and praying together. I hope that you will be able to pray together in the morning prayer and Friday prayer, so that you can become a member of the church who knows how to be thankful.
Dear brothers and sisters, we have a lot of grace that God has bestowed upon us over the past half year, but the answer to our prayers and the ability to keep praying without ceasing are great graces.
On the Thanksgiving Day, think of God's grace for prayer once again, and I hope you enjoy the grace of answering prayers and continuing prayer in the future.