PRAYING PSALM 70 FOR DELIVERANCE AND FOR BROKENNESS

I recently sent the following text to a number of friends: Praying Psalm 70 for you…”deliverance” and brokenness as needed and rejoicing for “God is great.”

Read Psalm 70 below

Psalm 70  (HCSB)
A Call for Deliverance
For the choir director. Davidic. To bring remembrance.

1) God, deliver me. Hurry to help me, Lord!

2) Let those who seek my life be disgraced and confounded; let those who wish me harm be driven back and humiliated. 3) Let those who say, “Aha, aha!” retreat because of their shame.

4) Let all who seek You rejoice and be glad in You; let those who love Your salvation continually say, “God is great!” 5) I am afflicted and needy; hurry to me, God. You are my help and my deliverer; Lord, do not delay.

This morning I felt the need to get on my knees for many of my friends, pastors and lay people, and as I did so, Psalm 70 was driven to my heart. As I read it and began to pray it for them, I found myself portraying the deliverance, as being from the evil one’s desire to see them sin. The prayer started to take on 4 distinct sections:

1. From verse 1, “Lord I pray that Tom would never forget that You Lord, always deliver him, and that this deliverance would bring a brokenness of heart before You, recognizing that You hurry to help Him.”
2. From verses 2 and 3, “Father, as Lucy sees that the evil one seeks her life, let him be disgraced and confounded because of her righteousness, though he wishes her harm, let him be driven back and humiliated, just as he was when Jesus overcame him on the cross. And when he wants to say, ‘Aha, aha’ to You Lord, being the accuser of my sister, cause him to retreat in shame, because she lives today by the power of Your Holy Spirit.”
3. From verse 4, “Father, I pray that these afflictions, that this brokenness, causes James to turn to you immediately, seeking You, because he rejoices in You, and is glad in You because he loves Your salvation, which causes him to continually say, ‘You are great!’”
4. From verse 5, “And then Lord, I trust that Mike would remember to pray for me. Whenever I am afflicted and needy, by Your grace I naturally trust You to hurry to me. You are my help. You are my deliverer, and You always demonstrate that You do not delay.”

Can I just say that I had a hallelujah time praying this for my friends…and me.

Mark S Mirza

January 28 – February 1, 2013

Sometimes I think I should give regular weekly posts, updating what is happening at Common Thread Ministries. But I think, that is why I have the social media that I do…Facebook, Twitter, etc.

But today I think, is worth a quick post.

Monday we had our first Pastors’ Prayer Made Alive Conference. You can see who the speakers were by clicking right here.

And then, partly as a consequence of the conference, and partly as a response to the need to encourage us unto prayer, we started a 7:00 am Conference Call Prayer Time. We are over in 30 minutes, and we cover Praising/Thanking God, then Urgent Prayer Requests, then Praying for our Family, and then Praying for our Church/Ministry. You’ll find the details right here.

A Few Prayer Requests:

• Of course, pray for me, that I would stay, as a friend of mine likes to say, “Clean and close.” But remember also Colossians 4:2-4, as I pray for you, that you would be devoted to prayer, I trust that periodically you would pray for me, praying that God would open doors so that I can preach this message on prayer, and that I would proclaim it clearly, as I know that I should.
• Pray for these upcoming Pastors’ Prayer Made Alive Conferences, May 20 in Metter GA and September 23 in Morven GA. Pray for the host churches that they would be urged by the Lord Christ, and the love of the Holy Spirit, to join in the struggles of pastors in their area (Romans 15:30), by praying for their participation. We are taking registrations by clicking here.
• And then finally, pray for these Monday, Wednesday, Friday conference call prayer times, that by God’s will, folks would come together with joy, and together be refreshed (Romans 15:32)

Blessings to you,

Mark S Mirza

I want to use a teaching tool that R. A. Torrey utilized, that of asking questions…

• Why do we pray in the form of A.C.T.S.?
• Did Christ expect us to follow His “model-prayer” (Matthew 6:9-13) every time we prayed?
• What did Paul mean when he said we should pray with all kinds of prayers (Ephesians 6:18)?
• Have you ever looked at the way David prayed, when he was in the midst of difficulties (cf Psalm 3-7, 10, 12, 13, 16, 17, 22, 25, 27, 28, 31, 35), just to name a few?
• How did David start all of these prayers?
• Why didn’t he begin with adoration?
• When you are in distress, do many of your prayers start off like David’s too?
• Did you notice that many of his OTHER Psalms do, in fact, start off with praise (cf Psalm 8, 18, 19, 23, 29, 30, 32, 34), just to name a few?
• How did he end all of his prayers that STARTED in great distress?
• Why did David praise God at the end of all of these prayers?
• When you pray, in the midst of troubles, do your prayers end like David’s?
• Do your prayers end with hope?
• Do you get off your knees with the problems gone?
• Do you get off your knees with the problems still there, but the anxiety gone? Why or why not?
• Look again, in every one of these prayers, how did David end them?
• Look again at your prayers, do you end them the same way as David? Why or why not?
• Do you think it is possible to get off your knees with the problems STILL in your face, but the anxiety gone?
• Looking at Psalm 5:1-2, how has David been praying?
• Have you ever prayed with groaning (or meditating), and with crying out to the Lord?
• Assuming David has been praying, groaning, meditating and/or crying out to the Lord all night, how is he praying in verse 3?
• If your version says, “eagerly watch,” “looking up” or “keeping watch” or a derivative of any of those, how would you say David was praying, if “wait in expectation” was the way your version ended?
• When you pray, and are in the midst of distress, what is your expectation?
• What do you think 1 John 5:14-15 says your expectation should be?
• What is David doing in Psalm 5:4?
• When you are praying because of great distress in your life, do you remember God’s character?
• How do you think, remembering God’s character, would help you in your praying?
• Look at James 1:6, do you doubt (or waiver) when you pray, in the midst of distress?
• What does James 1:7 say about doubting when you pray?
• Going back to Psalm 5:4, what do you think will keep you from doubting?
• In Psalm 5:8, what is the “twist” that David takes in his prayer?
• How does Psalm 5:8 agree with and support 1 Thessalonians 5:18?
• How does Psalm 5:8 agree with and support Philippians 4:6-7?
• When was the last time you thanked God for your distress?
• In verse 8 was David looking to God for relief from the distress he was in?
• What was he looking for from God?
• The last time you were in distress, calling out to God, did you seek direction from the Lord, BECAUSE OF the distress you were in?
• Do you see how you can thank God, FOR the distress, and still not LIKE the distress?
• Jumping to Psalm 5:11-12, can you figure out what David is doing?
• His problems aren’t gone, why is he rejoicing?
• Maybe a bigger question is, why aren’t you rejoicing when you get to the end of your prayers?
• What do you think would happen if you stayed on your knees until God told you to get up?
• Have you ever stayed on your knees AFTER you said, “Amen?”
• Can you think of a reason this might be good to do?
• Can you think of other ways you can hear from God?
• Have you ever prayed with God’s word open, and next to you?
• If verses 11 and 12 show us what David knew of God’s character, what does that say of your knowledge of God’s character, regarding how you end your prayers?
• When was the last time you prayed with God’s word open, next to you, and you in it, reading it…yes, while you were praying?

This was fun to write, let me know if it was helpful, okay?

In His Name, with great thanksgivings,

Mark S Mirza

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How would we pray this back to God?

As I pray these verses I am always struck by two things, 1st, the acts prompted by our faith, and not our flesh, and 2nd, that everything we do is to be to glorify God. Perhaps you would pray these verses like so:

Lord, I desire to be worthy of Your calling, and I know Lord that this will only come by Your power, fulfilling every good purpose of mine and every act prompted by my faith and not my flesh. So Lord, please, Please, ANY acts of mine that are NOT prompted by my faith, please do not allow them to move forward. And when they do not move forward, please Lord, cause me to look back and see where my flesh is in control because Lord, ultimately, I desire for You to be glorified, not me. Thank You Lord for being in complete control as Psalm 103:19 tells us, which allows me to trust that by Your power ONLY and being submitted to you, those acts prompted by my faith will proceed and will bring You glory. Thank You Lord!

¹³And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.
¹⁴Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.
¹⁵For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin.
¹⁶Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

How would we pray this back to God?

Yesterday Dr. Stanley spoke on these verses. At the end of his message he challenged us, “Reading these verses [back to God] will transform your prayer life because, of all that you are acknowledging before Him…”

Lord, in the spirit that  Dr. Stanley challenged us yesterday, we come to You through these verses. Lord, we acknowledge that You know ALL ABOUT our needs, that EVERYTHING is laid bare before Your eyes. We acknowledge that Your Son is our High Priest, seated at Your right hand and ever living to make intercession for us. We know Lord that the ONLY way in which we can approach You is through Him. We acknowledge Lord that without the shedding of blood, of His blood, that we as sinful man CANNOT approach Your Holiness. We know that Your Son sympathizes with us, thank You for that Lord! He knew sorrow, rejection, pain, loneliness, and most of all, the weight of the guilt of my sin Lord. Thank You that He understands us. And Lord, because of all of these things that we acknowledge, we recognize that Your desire is that we TURN TO YOU, not try to live life on our own. We recognize Lord that Your word is telling us that when we come to the throne in prayer, we are told we are to come boldly (not arrogantly), but with great confidence. Confident that you will meet our needs with mercy and grace, because You promise it. Praise You Lord!