Pray Without Ceasing IV Psalm 23

Pray Without Ceasing IV

Praying the Bible

Descriptive Praise

This is the fourth message in this series called Pray Without Ceasing. I am trying to show you how to recharge your prayer life. Modern Christians tend to look at prayer as something they add to their time of devotions or a time of reading the scriptures. Prayer, as it is part of the Christian life, is so much more.

We looked at the idea of praying without ceasing. It is better illustrated with the regularity of a hacking cough that is continual, than the beating of our hearts that is continuous. If our heart stops we are in trouble and won't survive very long. With a cough, it is regular and habitual but not something that is all of the time. The NIV translation of the Bible translates 1 Thess. 5:17 as …pray continually. The KJV and NKJV read pray without ceasing. But of those translations mean the same thing. 

IN the second message we looked at the command to pray for those in authority over us from 1 Tim 2:1-4. The present tense implies ongoing action. So, among the things we pray for regularly, are all those who are in authority over us. That includes all those in every sphere of our lives, who are over us, ought to be listened to and obeyed.

In the third message we looked at the so-called Lord's Prayer where Jesus taught his disciples the manner in which they should pray. We looked at the petitions and how they should inform our prayers. There may be many more ways that would come into your minds based on God's dealings with you.

Today, we come to how we can use the idea of praying the Bible. There are many ways in which God's Word can help us to pray better. In this message, I want to look at the idea of descriptive praise and how it can help us praise and pray to God. But, as always, the praying needs to be informed by the scriptures.

If believers have any wrong ideas about God and his ways, they will usually be manifest in how they pray. But, we must not be so critical. Jesus knows that we don't pray as we ought. And, he takes our prayers and the Spirit of God recasts them to go before the Father more perfectly. The Spirit does this for all believers all over the earth whenever they pray. When we pray publicly or privately, the Spirit prays with us. Rom 8:26 Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.

Sometimes, during public prayer, people will add their Amen to what has been prayed. That is allowable, and a good thing. There are others who make groaning sounds, based upon these words. Notice, it is the Spirit who prays, not people. As the spirit intercedes intercedes between us and the Father, he prays in ways that are different than ours. The Bible calls them groaning or divine utterances. Yet, these sounds, whatever they may be, cannot be verbalized by us. The words are a strong prohibition against even the possibility of believers doing what the Spirit does. If they are made to sound spiritual, that may be the sin of pride, wanting people to think highly of you as if you are speaking that divine language that humans cannot utter. I say this to warn you against being proud about much praying. We are called to pray in ways that are right as revealed by God.

Many prayers are revealed in the Scriptures. And, many of them are worthy to be used as our prayers or to use them to inform our prayers. This morning, I want to use the beloved words and ideas of Psalm 23, to teach you to use descriptive praise in your praying. In this Psalm, it is to pray like David. He was a man in the Old Testament who was a man after God's own heart. In this capacity, he shows us how to pray.

The 23rd Psalm:

1. The Introduction

23: 1 A Psalm of David. The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. 

2. The Works of the Lord

2 A. He makes me to lie down in green pastures;

        B. He leads me beside the still waters. 

        C. 3 He restores my soul;

        D. He leads me in the paths of righteousness For His

        name's sake. 

3. The Struggles of Mankind

        4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of     death, I will fear no evil;

4. The Presence of the Lord

        4B. For You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they      comfort me 

        5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my         enemies; You anoint my head with oil; My cup runs over.

5. The Conclusion of the Matter

        6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me All the days    of my life; And I will dwell in the house of the Lord       Forever. 

Let's take a look at the text to see how it might inform our prayers.

1. The Introduction

23: 1 A Psalm of David. The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. 

Three words in the first phrase are important: Lord, MY and Shepherd.

David uses the most generic name by which God is known. It is also the most intimate name of God revealed in the Bible. The word translated Lord, with the ord being lower case, as opposed to the ORD being lower case capitals, is the common name of God. It is the God who serves his people for the good of his own ways. It is from the Hebrew Adonai. David is saying that the Lord, in all sorts of ways, is being considered in a special capacity. Even though He works for the good of all men, especially the nation of Israel, David sees that he is a particular recipient of the good things the Lord is and does. There is something personal about this to the great king. Even as a king, over a small but powerful land, he needed those higher and mightier than himself. He is allying himself with the Lord of Israel. The One and True God--Deut 6:4--Hear O Israel, the Lord or God is one. What a blessing it is to have the only true and living God on your side. And, David is viewing this Lord in tender terms--not like a father, but like a shepherd. As one who provides for his sheep. Outside of the metaphor, these sheep are people. But, it is personal in this praise to God. The Lord is MY shepherd.

It is a statement that the Lord knows best what David, the King needs. If only the king would continually look to God. It is the Lord who alone can feed, direct and settle down his sheep, over whom David became a type of shepherd. He was a shepherd-King.

For what can we praise God for as we hear these words? Is the Lord your shepherd? In the New Covenant, we find Jesus represented as the good Shepherd. The Jahweh of old, shares his name with the Jesus, or Yeshua in the New Testament. This is what the Holy Spirit ways about his concern for the sheep:

John 10:1-16 1 "Most assuredly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door, but climbs up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. 

2 But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. 

3 To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice; and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 

4 And when he brings out his own sheep, he goes before them; and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. 

5 Yet they will by no means follow a stranger, but will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers." 

6Jesus used this illustration, but they did not understand the things which He spoke to them. 

7 Then Jesus said to them again, "Most assuredly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. 8 All who ever came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. 

9 I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.

10 The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly. 

11 I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep.

What was Jesus already doing? What would ultimately do?

He is unlike the others whether in Israel or outside. Whether from among the dominion of the devil or the creation of God….  He alone claims exclusive rights to being the good shepherd.

  

12 But a hireling, he who is not the shepherd, one who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees; and the wolf catches the sheep and scatters them.

13 The hireling flees because he is a hireling and does not care about the sheep. 

That's not a very pleasant thing that Jesus says about those who may have been viewed as shepherds, but packed up and left the flock exposed. But Jesus,

14 I am the good shepherd; and I know My sheep, and am known by My own. 

15 As the Father knows Me, even so I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep. 

16 And other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they will hear My voice; and there will be one flock and one shepherd

What a wonderful promise. But, this is the shepherd we praise in our day. The eternal God sent the eternal Son to live and die for their sheep, who would hear their voice, especially in the scriptures, and would be found following them--submitting to them. To not submit to those God has sent to us to teach his will is to not submit to God and Jesus as the great and good shepherd.

Those God calls to be his own, he also feeds by giving them gifts like Pastor-Teachers (Eph 4:12).

This shepherd knows us intimately and works within us according to our need. The Lord knows the most efficient way to get our attention that we might follow him. Yet, some find the way too hard even though we should know it is for our good.

These are some of….

2. The Works of the Lord

2 A. He makes me to lie down in green pastures;

        B. He leads me beside the still waters. 

        C. 3 He restores my soul;

        D. He leads me in the paths of righteousness For His

        name's sake. 

The Shepherd provides for the sheep. He provides a place to rest, he provides nourishment--the spiritual being the most important. He brings refreshment and renewal--often through repentance and forgiveness. He directs in the ways of righteousness--never blame God for putting unrighteous or ungodly things in your way in a way that was impossible for you to resist.

Praise Him for this leadership through his shepherding--especially when you have missed his instruction, or when you have forsaken what he tried to teach you. You only have yourself to blame for the effects of your own sin.

There is a common trial among us humans--be thankful that…

3. The Struggles of Mankind…are included….

        4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of     death, I will fear no evil;

The Lord is always with his sheep. There are no exceptions. Sometimes due to our own sin, he withdraws his comfortable presence from us that we might appreciate his grace and come back to him.

There are dangers all about us each and every day. We should thank our great shepherd that we need not fear the worst of what we see or experience. He will direct us by feeding us with his word. We will grow in strength to do what is right and in discernment about those things we should stay away from.

W don't fear anything that comes our way. Because of…

4. The Presence of the Lord… We are told

        4B. For You are with me;

We don't thank God enough for this. And, in this time of the New Covenant, we have been given the spirit of God so that he will never leave us. We live all of life not only in the gaze of God's omnipresence, but with the blessed Holy Spirit indwelling us. When we see some good that we have thought or done, we should thank God for working is us to direct us according to his will.

When we sin, we make the Lord Jesus Christ, by virtue of our union with him and the Holy Spirit, by virtue of our indwelling by him, to be a silent observer of our sin. What grief we can be to the Godhead--even though God always knew what we were going to do. But, this knowledge should heighten the heinousness of our sin so that we are quick to repent or resolved to not give in.

What is it to have God with me? This is how it is pictured:

        4C Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me        

We need the perfect comfort that can only come from the Good Shepherd.

        5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my         enemies;

We thank God for the fellowship we have with him, even with those who may be his enemies. We hold on and continue to be faithful. But humans are influenced by others so easily. They blindly follow other sinners with the herd mentality of oxen of cattle, not like the sheep who are timid and wait to be directed.

You anoint my head with oil; My cup runs over.  God gives abundant blessing in his time and in his way. To receive God's anointing through those he has given to direct us, is a good thing. We must listen and obey--or God will deal with us in this life or at the judgment. These matters in this life often show where our heart really is.

When we listen to and follow the good shepherd, we are free to consider the grace of and…

5. The Conclusion of the Matter….

        In this life: 6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me All the days of my life;

        In the Life to come: And I will dwell in the house of the Lord Forever. 

Goodness and mercy flow from a God who made himself our shepherd and it is evidenced in what we do for him and his cause. God's gifts of good things and undeserved things, like Jesus himself, and the effects of following will be evident to us and others all the rest of the days of our life.

And, as we look at the age to come, we will be kept through any judgment so that we will certainly dwell in the house God is preparing for us, forever. That means it will never end, it will only get better.

It is because of the work of God. The NT points us to the work of one who brought this to pass. It is through the life and death of the Lord Jesus Christ. We need to believe in the good news that He has come and does these things for us. He is the good shepherd, he alone can save us by his own merit and work completed on our behalf. We should praise God for all we receive because of Him, and God's great love for us. AMEN!