Delight Thyself in the Lord

Try this prayer verse:  Psalm 37:4  Delight thyself in the Lord, and He shall give three the desires of your heart. The verse talks about prayer, but does not use the word or phrase “prayer”.   This gets to what is essential with prayer – delighting ourselves with the Lord.  This means the Lord’s will, the Lord’s desires, the Lord’s intentions, and of course the Lord’s Word.

Consider this verse in Isaiah  58:13,14  13 ” If you turn away your foot from the Sabbath, [From] doing your pleasure on My holy day, And call the Sabbath a delight, The holy [day] of the LORD honorable, And shall honor Him, not doing your own ways, Nor finding your own pleasure, Nor speaking [your own] words,   14 Then you shall delight yourself in the LORD; And I will cause you to ride on the high hills of the earth, And feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father. The mouth of the LORD has spoken.”  That’s a big verse that defines making ourselves happy in the Lord.

Desires of Your Heart

Try this prayer verse:  Psalm 37:4  Delight thyself in the Lord, and He shall give three the desires of your heart. The verse talks about prayer, but does not use the word or phrase “prayer”.    Consider a similar verse in John 15:7 If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.

Elisha Prayed – Open His Eyes

2 Kings 6:15  And when the servant of the man of God arose early and went out, there was an army, surrounding the city with horses and chariots. And his servant said to him, “Alas, my master! What shall we do?” 16 So he answered, “Do not fear, for those who [are] with us [are] more than those who [are] with them.” 17 And Elisha prayed, and said, “LORD, I pray, open his eyes that he may see.” Then the LORD opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw. And behold, the mountain [was] full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.

The key words here is “Elisha Prayed”  (note:  this is different from “Elijah Prayed”).     Elijah and Elisha are two different men of God, both who know the power and ability of prayer.

Notice here in 2 Kings 2:9 And so it was, when they had crossed over, that Elijah said to Elisha, “Ask! What may I do for you, before I am taken away from you?” Elisha said, “Please let a double portion of your spirit be upon me.”

So Elisha prayed “Open his eyes”.   Notice he did not pray for power but just to see what God had already done and what God was about to do.  The Lord God had angels taking care of the seemingly impossible situation.

Confess Our Sin – He Cleanses.

1 John 1:7 but if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. 8 If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just, and will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

We will always be a sinner in this life, and so we constantly need a way to come back to God even though we sin.  Prayer requires a unhindered communication between us and God, sin frustrates that path.  So God make a provision through His son, so we could come back to God even after sin.  So now the way is clear for our prayer.

More Prayer in the Morning…

Psalms 88:13 But to You I have cried out, O LORD, And in the morning my prayer comes before You. Have you ever woken up early in the morning with lots on your mind?  Well many times this is the Lord calling us to prayer.  Prayer in the morning is a wonderful time of  intimate fellowship with God.  Sometimes its just a groan or a cry or just a sigh.  But it is still prayer.