Alright, if you'll take your
Bibles and turn with me to Psalm 55. Psalm 55, entitled this message,
The Cry and the Refuge of Prayer. The Cry and the Refuge of Prayer. Now the Scripture has much to
say about prayer. Prayer. The Scripture says praying with
all prayer. Be instant, Paul says, in prayer. Now all believers in Christ,
we must and we do pray. We must and we do pray. Even though we cannot reconcile
the immutable providence of God and the will of God, and yet
we are responsible to pray. These two things are really things
that our minds cannot wrap around. God has determined all things
from the foundation of the world. Everything that is happening,
is going to happen, has happened, will happen, is all according
to the will and purpose of God, purpose from eternity. And yet
God says this, I will be inquired of these things. God said, I'm
going to give you salvation. I'm going to give you peace.
I'm going to give you comfort. I'm going to give you these things.
I promise these things are yours. In Christ Jesus they're ours.
Yet He says, I will have you inquire them of Me. Prayer is
a necessity. It is a responsibility. And it
is a privilege. of every believer in Christ. Now, Jesus taught in that parable
of the unjust judge. You remember, He said there was
an unjust judge. And that woman sought justice
from Him. And you remember, He wouldn't
give it to her initially until she just kept on and on. And He said, well, if I don't
give her what she wants, then she is just not going to stop. And you know what Luke said at
the very beginning of that? He said this was the parable
with purpose, that men ought always to pray and not faint. Pray and not faint. Paul said pray without ceasing. And there are many examples,
many examples of saints praying to God throughout the Scripture. And I'll tell you this, there's
one example that we all as believers should take to heart and that's
Christ. One man prayed more than Jesus.
Now is there any man that knew the will of God more than Christ?
As a matter of fact, everything that's purposed, He purposed
it, yet He prayed for it. What an example! that is set
before us concerning this matter of prayer. And so in our text
here, we have the prayer of David as such an example. David was
a man after God's own heart, and we cannot read the Psalms
and not see David's constant use of prayer. Matter of fact,
which Psalm is not a prayer? You'd be hard-pressed to find
any psalm that is not prayer. Praising God, glorifying God,
giving thanks to God. It's all prayer. It's prayer. He prayed constantly. And here
David is found, and this psalm he's found in the midst of his
greatest trial. This is the greatest trial of
David. is when he fled from his son
Absalom. And you remember his counselor,
his best friend, Ahithophel, betrayed David. We find him here
and he stands in need of God's divine victory over his enemies. And so David is running from
Absalom. He's learned of the betrayal
of Hithophel. You can see this in chapter, in verse 12. He said,
For it was not an enemy that reproached me, then could I have
borne it. Neither was it he that hated
me, that I did magnify himself against me, then would I have
hid myself from him. It was thou a man mine equal,
my guide and my acquaintance. We took sweet counsel together
and walked into the house of God. This was Ahithophel the
man, his friend and counselor." It was devastating. It was devastating
enough that his son had betrayed him. But now This man Ahithophel,
David's longtime friend, had betrayed him. And we know this.
That's a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ being betrayed by
Judas Iscariot. It's a prophecy here. It's a
prophecy. So this prayer again is not just
David praying, it's Christ in prophecy praying in this text. And how grievous was this wound?
And I tell you what, it's hard enough to be wounded by your
friends, isn't it? I mean, your enemies. But to
be wounded by your friend is an infinitely more painful experience. And so David here, he has been
betrayed. And you remember he prayed, he
said, Lord, make the counsel of Ahithophel foolishness to
them. He prayed to God for that. Now this man, mentioned here,
Ahithophel, you remember why did he betray him? You remember
David had committed that sin with Bathsheba and murdered her
husband, Uriah. Well, Ahithophel had some skin
in this game. He was Bathsheba's grandfather. He was Bathsheba's grandfather.
And so then the root of bitterness sprang up in this man, in his
heart, so as to betray David. And this is why the Apostle warns
us of such bitterness. You remember he said, let not
the root of bitterness spring up in you. So what a lesson this
is. If we are affected by our friends,
you'll notice in this Psalm, David did not let the root of
bitterness come in. He did not seek vengeance himself,
but rather he gave place to God. He gave place by what? Prayer. The devil only desires to kill
and destroy, only sowed seeds of doubt and bitterness and hatred
and lust and covetous, anything to stop God's saints from trusting
Christ and His Word. Have you not found that to be
true? When you are betrayed, when you are hurt, when circumstances
and providences are against you, doesn't everything then seem
to cry out for vengeance, for revenge? But you know that that's
not of God. What is it for believers in such
times? We're to pray. We're to pray. Believers, let us look diligently
for the hope that is set before us. Instead of bitterness, look
to faith in Christ. Look to faith in Christ and look
diligently to Christ. Look diligently. Look by faith. Look by faith to Him and anticipate
His return. Look by faith in Him and hope
in His kingdom, rather than the things of this world. He has
promised to give us these things. So, when we are in trouble and
sorrow, let us use the example then of David here, praying and
trusting God, setting our hearts on Christ. David, instead of
bitterness toward Hithophel, turns to God in prayer, seeking
the power of God to confound the counsel of this once friend,
now enemy. This most surely has reference
to the cry of our Lord Jesus Christ when He was betrayed.
You see, Christ didn't take... Anybody got a right for vengeance,
it should have been Christ. against Judas and against all
those who cried to crucify him. Yet what was his response in
the Garden of Gethsemane? Was it not prayer? He didn't seek to plan a counter-attack
against his enemies. He knew they were coming and
what was his defense? Prayer was his defense. What
an example for us. Surely, and I know this also,
David sinned, didn't he? David sinned, and as a result,
this trouble came on him. But did that justify Ahithophel? Did that justify his bitterness?
Absolutely not. Absolutely not. David was being
chastened of the Lord, but it gave no justification for this
man's evil. So, no matter what David did,
man cannot blame their sin and actions on another. In other
words, if I'm being hurt by someone, and I'm seeking vengeance, you
know, I'm not going to be able to blame my sin of vengeance,
which isn't mine, on that person who offended me. So we cannot
blame men or our circumstances. They don't justify us to be bitter.
Judas did what he desired, didn't he? He did exactly what he desired
to do, even after the Lord had revealed it to him, yet his heart
was set to betray Christ. And even now, we know this was ordained. This
was ordained. Wasn't Judas the son of perdition?
Yet did that excuse Judas? No. Neither did it excuse Hithophel. But what is the response again
of someone who is injured? Someone who is hurt? Some child
of God that has been afflicted? What is to be our response? Simply
as the Lord did, and simply as David did, prayer. Vengeance
is My, God says, vengeance is mine. I will repay, not you,
I will repay. And so we would be better spent
learning that prayer is the answer to all wounds, to all afflictions. When this happens to us, when
we feel betrayed or hurt by the wounds of a faithful friend,
let not the root of bitterness be found in our heart, but rather
turn to God in prayer. I like what John Bunyan said
about prayer. He said this, remember that true
prayer is sincere, sensible, affectionate pouring out of the
soul to God. Isn't that true? It's a sincere,
a sensible and affectionate pouring out. Let your requests be made
known unto God. How? Sensibly, with a sincere
heart full of affection and love toward God and faith. cast all your cares upon Him.
Why? He careth for you. This is why
you should pour out your heart unto God. And He said this, we
should pour it out only through the Son of God. That's the only
means by which you can pour out your prayer and by the strength
of the Holy Spirit for such things as God hath promised according
to His Word. Now you want to know what to
pray for? Look at this thing in your hand right here. You
want to know what to pray for? You pray for what's in this book.
You pray for what God has promised you in this book. How about this? Lord, forgive me of my sins. Well, you know why I know I have
that? He promised I should have that. He is faithful. Confess
your sins and He is faithful and just to forgive us all our
sins. Now, should I say it flippantly?
No. Sincerity and affection, pouring out your heart to God.
And Bunyan said this, for the good of the church. Pray for
the good of the church. How? With submission in faith
to the will of God. In other words, every time you
pray, pour out everything you've got to God. Here's one thing,
be honest. How many times you pray and just
trying to lie? I mean, how foolish is that to
try to... You take something and you suppress
it. You don't even want to mention it to God. So you suppress it
thinking God doesn't see it. Be honest. Pour out your heart
and honesty. And then what? Leave it to the
will of God. That's what Bunyan is saying.
Leave it to the will of God. Now, believer tonight, let us
keep some things in mind. I've got seven things here that
David teaches us in this prayer. Seven lessons of prayer. Seven
lessons from his cry and the refuge of prayer. First of all,
this. Pray to God. Isn't that simple? I mean, that's
just the first thing. When Jesus taught his disciples
what did he say? Teach us to pray. Our Father,
which art in heaven. That's what the first thing he
taught them. To pray to the Father. Prayer is a very easy thing for
us to forget. Isn't it? When something comes
up, We want to do something, right? That's our first reaction
is trying to fix something, trying to do something. We forget prayer. It's easy for us to forget prayer.
We may not forget, listen, now listen, you may not forget, I
got three things, the form of prayer. When you said you hear some of
the kids pray, Jesus, thank you for our day and thank you for
the food. Jesus, amen. They understand the words. They got the form
of prayer. They know in Jesus' name. They know they got the
form. How many churches just pray out of form? Our Father
which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. They just repeat
that over and over again. They got the form of prayer.
That's not prayer. Some people, they don't forget the manner
of prayer. They can bow down and they can do all kinds of
things with their body, with their voice. They can change
their voice and make it holy. We don't forget the act of prayer
necessarily, but that's still, you can keep the form, the manner,
and the act of prayer and still not be praying. Isn't that what
the Pharisee did? The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself. He did not, he had all those
things, but did not pray. Praying is the believer's privilege. is God's ordained means by which
we commune with Him. Now get that. This is God's means
by which you and God may walk together like Adam and God walked
in the garden in the cool of the day. That's what prayer is.
Prayer is us walking together, making our requests, communing
with God. It is the means which we speak
to God and make our requests known. But if our prayers are
nothing more than a form, a repetition of many words, then you're not
praying to God. You're praying alone. You're
praying with yourself. When we pray then, let us then
consider whom we are praying to. If we could take a pause
and remember to whom we pray, into whose presence, read this
with me and go back and look at your text now. Look at the
first thing he said, give ear to my prayer, what? Oh God. He
knew who he was praying to. He's praying to God. Believer, we cannot see God and
many times we cannot feel God. We cannot feel that we are in
his presence. Therefore we pray, how? By faith. I tell you this, David didn't
feel the presence of God at this time. He felt the wound of his
friend, but he didn't feel the presence of God. So we pray by
faith. We bow down before God in prayer,
not just in the body, but in the mind and the heart and with
the will. I know this is true of myself.
If I neglect to sincerely pray to God, it's because my heart
is grown fat. It's because I really don't need
anything. If I'm not praying, isn't that
right? It's because I don't need anything. Isn't that what the
church of Laodicea was condemned for? They said, you say you're
rich, increased in goods, and you have need of nothing. You
know how you can tell? They're not praying. They're
not communing with Him. He said, behold, I stand at the
door and knock. If any man open the door and
come in, how do you do that? Prayer. Isn't that prayer? Communing with Him. I know that's
my case. When I neglect it, it's because
my heart has grown fat. Hard. God teach us the heart. Teach us our own heart. What
does the scripture say about your heart? is deceitfully wicked
and desperately wicked above all things who can know it. If
I neglect to pray to God, it's because I've lost sight of His
goodness. I've lost sight of His greatness. I've lost sight
of His holiness. I've lost sight of His beauty
and His perfections and His goodness and His kindness toward me. I've
lost sight of His love, of His grace. I've set my eyes off of
Christ, and I've set my eyes upon the things of this world,
and I've become dull of hearing of His love, how He loved us,
how He gave Himself for us. Surely if I'm not praying, it's
because I've grown dull in my heart. But I also know this,
when I cry unto God, when I come in sincere prayer and thanksgiving
and praise to God only through Christ, I know this, He will
hear me. That's what David said. He said,
Give ear to my prayer, O God, hide not thyself from my supplications. Hide not thyself from me. I know
this, We come in the name and the blood of Jesus Christ. You
may come as boldly as you please. If you come by the merits and
the blood and the righteousness of Jesus Christ, you may come
as boldly and as often as you please. Why? Because God is pleased
with him. God is pleased with his offering
and his righteousness. You may come often. You may come
expecting God. You know, that's not presumption.
When David is crying unto God, he is expecting God to hear him. And that's not presumption. It's not presumption because
God hears me through Christ. Not based on my merits and my
goodness and my abilities. He hears me because of His Son's
merit, His Son's love, His Son's mercy. Now whether we know it
or not, We daily and hourly stand in need of God's power, His grace,
His mercy, and His forgiveness of sins. Isn't that right? Do
you not need these things? How often do you need forgiveness
of sin? Right now, in this service, how
often have you sinned? Have you loved the Lord your
God with all your heart, your soul, your mind? No, we've not
done it. We have need even of our worship
to be forgiven. And so we stand daily. May God
give us a greater than desire and understanding of His person,
of His grace in Christ, and let us make our requests known unto
God. Listen, God knows what you need,
but God still requires you to ask. And so we pray to God because
He alone has the power and love and will to help. He said, I
am a very present help in time of trouble. Now listen, when
you're not in trouble, obviously you don't need Him. But when
are you not in trouble? Listen, even when I don't know
I'm in trouble, I'm in trouble. I need Him every hour. Secondly,
we must learn this, prayer is always through Jesus Christ. Why should God ever hear me?
Why should God ever help me? Why should God ever love me?
Remember, David had sinned. He had sinned greatly. All of
this chastisement, surely he deserved worse than he received. And so it is with us. We may
be in the throes of being chastened by God. And so the first question
becomes to our heart, why should God hear? Why should I even pray? What is the purpose of prayer?
I have messed up so bad. How then could God be pleased
to hear me? Here it is, only through Jesus
Christ. It's very important. for us to
never forget that our acceptance with God is only in Jesus Christ. Ephesians chapter 1, we read
this, that in Christ are what? All spiritual blessings. All
spiritual blessings are given to us in Christ Jesus, according
as God has chosen us where? In Christ Jesus. before the foundation
of the world, that we should be holy, this is His will, that
you should be holy without blame before Him, in love having predestinated
us under the adoption of children by Jesus Christ. by Jesus Christ
to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to
the praise of the glory of His grace, wherein He hath made us
accepted." Where? In the Beloved. Now how do you
know you're accepted in the Beloved? Because the Beloved came and
died for our sins. In whom we have redemption, Paul
said. The forgiveness of sins through
His blood. by His grace. We have the forgiveness
of sins. And then how do we know that's
ours? He hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence,
having made known unto us the mystery of His will. He came
and saved us and gave us faith in Christ. Tonight, do you believe
in Christ? Do you believe in Christ? Do
you trust in Christ? Now that's being made known the mystery
of His will. God did that. And that redemption
Christ purchased is yours. And that election God chose you,
that's yours. God gave you all spiritual blessings
in heavenly places. For what purpose then He should
bring together in Christ one body? Isn't that right? One,
in one body, Christ. We're one church. We have one
body, one spirit, one faith, one baptism. And listen, that
God is working all things after the counsel of His will for your
good. Now you should know that. You
should understand that. That we, through Christ, should
be to the praise of the glory of His grace. Don't you see the
glory and the grace of God and your salvation are tied together? If God saved you, if somehow
you were to not be saved or be accepted, then God's glory should
fail. He's tied these things together.
Grace and glory are together. And so the glory of God in His
grace is always, always through Jesus Christ. Always through
Jesus Christ. that He is gracious, that He
sent the Holy Spirit and called us by His gospel, that we believe
on Christ, we are accepted only because of Him. Therefore, pride
and presumption can never be mixed with grace. Isn't that
right? When I come to God in prayer, do I come demanding of
God based on what I've done? No. We know this, we only come
because of our vital union with Christ. It was because God hid
himself from Christ. Because Christ, in that one offering
of himself, forever removed our sins from us. He forever put
them away. So then as I come to God, there
are no sins to impede me. Now there are in my conscience
and in my mind and in my actions. All of these things I see and
feel and think seem to hinder me from coming. But really, Christ
has already removed those impediments so that as I cry out to God,
He will not hide Himself from me because He already hid Himself
from Christ. So when David said, hide not
thyself from my supplication, He's not. because he already
hid himself from Christ. And Christ already paid the debt
for our sins. Therefore, Paul says in Hebrews
6, let us come boldly to the throne of grace through Christ. So that's how you come. And thirdly
this, we pray in the power of the Holy Spirit, look at verse
2, attend unto me and hear me. I mourn in my complaint and make
a noise. Now, there are times we feel
strong in prayer. I like those times, don't you?
When we feel so bold in prayer. As though we could reach out
and touch heaven. As though the face of God, we
could even reach out and touch God. It's wonderful, those strong
prayers. We can feel His presence as though
He's near, and His power and His love, we feel them, and are
made known to our soul, so that I may pour out my soul like water
before Him. When everything flows so freely,
when everything between God and yourself is like a clear stream,
and to commune with God is so pleasant, But that's not most
of the time, is it? Most of the time we are weak
in faith and feeble in our prayers. We can barely muster up enough
sound to make a noise. David here, he said, look, I'm
just making a noise. I don't have even the words to
put forth my complaints. He said, attend to me, hear me. I mourn in my complaint and this
is it, I make a noise. I make a noise. Believer, let us see this. No
matter if you're strong in prayer or weak in prayer, you need just
as much of the Holy Spirit in both, don't you? When you're
strong in prayer, who's doing that? You. Is it in your strength
you're praying? No. It is in the strength of
the Spirit of God. And what is it when you can't
even make a noise? The Scripture says that He hears our groaning. He hears our groanings. The Spirit
maketh intercession for us with groanings that cannot be uttered. We cannot cry unto our Father. unless we have the spirit of
adoption that calls out Abba Father, isn't that right? You
can't call Abba Father without the power of the Holy Spirit
giving you that. So every time you pray, it is
in the power of the Holy Spirit you are capable of making any
noise at all to God through Jesus Christ. A lot of men pray with themselves. that don't have the power of
the Holy Spirit, but any true prayer needs the Holy Spirit
to intercede, to lift these prayers to God. The Holy Spirit is pictured
in Revelation chapter 8 as the smoke that ascends out of the
hands of Christ. The prayers of the saints ascending
within the smoke coming out. It's the Spirit of God that draws
this out of us and pours it out to God. We need the Holy Spirit. Have
you ever known what you should pray for like you ought? Have you not just sat before
the Lord sighing and groaning before? If that's all we have, it's enough. Isn't that wonderful that this
is all you need to pray is to groan? I mean, you don't have
to have a beautiful prayer. You don't have to have it all
worded out. Pour out your heart and groan before God. And this
is the work of the Spirit. For the Spirit of God worketh
in you both to will and do what? Of the good pleasure of God.
So if you ever pray at all, it's God working in you. It's God
working in you to pray. And I'll tell you this, how many
times should we just sit still? David here, he's just making
noise. It's like he's sitting in the
ground just waiting. He has nothing. He has no power
to give. What a prayer. God said this
to His people when they were entrapped. Have you ever been
entrapped? Ensnared by your own sin, by the circumstances of
your day? You can't move to the right.
You can't move to the left. You can't go forward and you
can't go back. What did God say? Stand still
and see the salvation of God. I'll tell you this, standing
still is prayer enough. If we would just sit still and
stop squirming, Just moan. Just moan. And that's prayer
enough. Why? That's the work of the Spirit
of God. Number four of this. We pray, we pray we will always
be opposed by the noise of the wicked. Look at this next verse.
Because of the voice of the enemy, because of the oppression of
the wicked, for they cast iniquity upon me, in wrath they hate me,
my heart is sore pained within me, and the terrors of death
are fallen upon me. Fearfulness and trembling are
come over me, and the horror hath overwhelmed me. You see that? The voice of the
enemy. Believer, let us not be discouraged
to pray because it always seems the enemy's voice is louder than
our prayers. What are your enemies? The world,
the flesh, and the devil. These are our foes. When you
pray, what's the loudest voice that opposes you? It's your flesh. Our flesh is
the loudest voice in the room. It always opposes us. How could
you possibly seek forgiveness after knowingly what you've done? Knowingly committed such atrocities
against your Father. How could you ever expect Him
to forgive you what is that but a noise it's
a loud noise isn't it it's a paralyzing voice the voice of the world
false religion there's a noise isn't it You know what, there
was those two men that after Absalom's death, you remember,
that one of those boys, he wanted to go and tell. He heard something,
he didn't see what happened, he wasn't a witness, but he wanted
to go tell the king. And Joab said, what are you going
to tell him? You don't know anything. He said, but I just want to go.
He said, well, run. I don't care. Run. And then there
was that other man. He sent Kushai. And he said,
this boy has the message. And he sent him. You remember
the other guy outran Kushai. He was faster. He got to David. And David said, what you got?
He said, I don't know. It was a noise. I heard a noise.
But I didn't see what happened. He said, get out of the way.
What about this other one? He had the message. One preacher
said, ìA lie will get around the world three times before
truth puts on its shoes.î Isnít that right? False religion is
a loud noise. Free will, works religion, makes
a bunch of noise. And the gospel seems to be in
our day nothing but a whisper, nothing but a whimper. Well, friends, noise don't mean
anything. Your flesh could yell all day long and it still does
not negate the Scriptures. Confess thy sins and He is faithful
and just to forgive us. Listen, all your sins. All your
sins. This one man after this man,
after offering himself once unto God, sat down on the right hand
of God, ever living till his enemies be made his footstool,
and he says, he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified.
What does your conscience have to do with that? Come boldly
before the throne of grace, and you may find help in time of
trouble. What does your conscience have
to do with that? No matter how loud it is, pray with all prayer. Pray to God through Christ in
the power of the Holy Spirit, regardless of the noise of your
flesh. What about false religion? Preach the Word, be instant,
in season, out of season, reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long-suffering. We know this, that they will
not endure sound doctrine. What does that do us? I know
this. When God's Word go forth in His
power, I don't care what they do, how much noise they make.
God will save His people. This came to me as I was thinking.
those religious guys in 1 Samuel chapter 4, it says this, that
Israel went out there and they were going to fight the Philistines.
And you remember that they trusted in that box, the ark. They trusted
just in that superstition that if they had that ark, if they
just had that box, that they were going to win. And Israel,
when they saw that box, they made such a loud noise. They
stomping their feet and they were making such a sound. And
the Philistines became so scared. But do you remember what happened?
The Philistines, they whooped the crap out of them. They just
beat the snot out of Israel. That box didn't have anything
to do. They can make all the noise they want to. But if God's
not with you, then it doesn't matter. Listen, false religion,
you make all the noise it wants to. If God's not with them, it
doesn't matter. So what's my hope and prayer?
I know this. No matter how much noise they
make, No matter the noise Satan makes, Satan tempting us constantly
to leave Christ, no matter how bold his temptations, no matter
how brazen his accusations are, the Scriptures are clear. Who
is he that condemneth? Who is He that accuses you before
God? It's God that justified. Who is He that condemns? It's
Christ that died, yea, rather He's risen again, ever living
to make intercession for you. So what hinders you from prayer
then? What noise hinders you from prayer? David said, look,
my enemies, they're loud. But listen, I want you to hear
my grunt. Hear my grunt, no matter how loud my enemies are." And
you know God will. And the fifth thing is this,
let us fly to Christ for refuge. You believer, how did you come
to Christ? When God exposed your sin, when He exposed your guilt,
when He exposed the holiness of God and the demands of God's
justice, and then you heard of Christ, you fled to Him. And that's what He speaks of
in these next verses. He said this, In all his fear and trembling,
verse 6, he said, and I said, Oh, that I had wings like a dove,
for then would I fly away and be at rest. Lo, then I would
wander far off and remain in the wilderness. I would hasten
my escape from the windy storm and tempest. David said, Oh,
that I would be like a dove, like a dove. You notice he didn't
say like a bird of prey. When we came to Christ, we came
as harmless and hopeless and helpless creatures, didn't we? What's more harmless than a dove? Nobody's afraid of a dove. For
a reason. They can't do anything. They're
helpless creatures. And he said, would to God I had
wings. Isn't that how we came? Would
to God I had faith. If faith is how I come, God give
me faith that I may come, that I may fly on the wings of faith
and be carried by the winds of the Spirit into the refuge of
Christ. And so when we pray, is this
not continually how we come to Christ? When we pray, we should
come like a dove seeking to fly on the wings of faith and the
winds of the Spirit to carry us into His arms. Why? There's
safety in there. There's safety in His arms. And that's what prayer does.
It carries us into the presence and puts us in the bosom of Christ
where He embraces us. And He says, Son, all's well. All's well. I don't feel all's
well. It's alright, Son. It doesn't
matter. All is well. All is well. Say ye to the righteous,
it is well with him. It is well. May God help us to
fly into the arms of Christ. Therefore, believer, let us take
hold of prayer. Let us be caught shouting unto
God, crying unto God. Let our hearts melt like wax
before Him. And what does David find? He'll
hear. He'll hear. The next thing is
this. We should therefore determine
to pray. Look what David did. After all
this in verse 16, he says, ask for me. He said, I know you're
going to destroy my enemies. I know this is painful. I know
my circumstance is beyond my help. I have no help but in you.
Here it is. He says, as for me, I will call
upon God and the Lord will save me. Well, how long does he call? One time? No, he says, I'm going
to call evening and morning and noon will I pray and cry aloud
and he shall hear me. What's the promise? He shall
save me and hear me. Believer cry out to God because
he will save me. Determined to cry out to God.
Have you ever found out that when you wait for the right minute
to pray, you never pray? You ever experience that? That
there's no right minute to pray. You say, well, when I get the
kids put down, and when I get everything settled, and then
when I get into bed, and the next thing you know, you're asleep.
Unless you're determined to pray, you're not going to pray. David
said, as for me, I will pray. Why? God will save me. There's
going to be always my result. God will save me. God will hear
me every single time. Well, how do you know this, David?
Verse 18, he said, He hath delivered my soul in peace. That's how
I know, because in Christ I have peace. He has delivered my soul
in peace from the battle that was against me, for there were
many with me. You see, when Christ came, He
had many with Him, right? We were with Him. And when God
delivered Him in the battle, He delivered us in the battle.
When He made peace by the blood of His cross, He made it for
all of us. And lastly, we should encourage others to prayer. Look
at verse 22. After all this, David said, I'm
praying to God. Pray through Christ. Pray in
the Spirit. No matter the noise of the enemy, I will pray. I
will determine to pray. I will fly unto God in prayer. And when he finds God saves him,
he has some encouragement for everyone else. Verse 22, "...cast
thy burden upon the Lord, and He shall sustain thee." He shall
never suffer the righteous to be moved. That word burden is
a very strange word. It means gift. How many of you ever thought
a burden is a gift? It is. A burden is a gift. In 1st Peter, it says, "...the
trial of your faith being much more precious than gold which
perishes." A burden is a gift. Now, pay attention, the greater
the burden, the greater the gift. Therefore, Peter said, cast all
your care upon Him. He careth for you. He careth
for you. And what is the promise to everyone
who prays? He will sustain thee. Why? He
will never suffer the righteous to be moved. Don't you know that?
That if you are founded upon the rock of Jesus Christ, you
shall not be moved. Moved from what? Righteousness,
peace, the love of God. Who shall separate thee from
the love of God that is in Christ Jesus? Shall tribulation, or
persecution, or distress, or famine, or peril, or nakedness
of the sort? No. Life, death, angels, principalities,
powers, things present, things to come, anything shall separate
you from the love of God that's in Christ? Paul said no. No,
why? I know this, the righteous shall
not be moved. There's a reason to pray. There's a reason to
pray when you don't feel like praying. There's a reason to
pray when you don't believe you could be heard. There's a reason
to pray because God says you will not be moved from Christ. Isn't that the most miraculous
thing in the world that nothing moves me from Christ? Not my
sin, not the world, not the devil, not my circumstances. When men betray me, God will
take me up. Isn't that the promise? When
my father and mother forsake me, then will the Lord take me
up. That's a promise. Well, how do
we receive these promises? Prayer. Cry unto God. Cry through the Lord Jesus Christ.
Cry in the power of the Holy Spirit. Cry not paying attention
to the noise of your enemies. Fly on the wings of faith and
the winds of the Spirit like a dove And I know this, He will
hear you, determined to pray, and He will hear you. And then
you may be able to encourage others to pray. When you yourself
have prayed, only then could you encourage others to cast
their gifts upon the Lord. I pray that God teach us to pray.