PRAYING GOD’S WORD
Last week I talked about how Jesus prayed. Did He pray God’s Word? When Jesus was dying on the cross He said in Matthew 27:46, About three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani? (which means My God, My God, why have You forsaken me?) He was quoting from the Psalm 22:1 My God, My God, why have You forsaken me? Why are You so far from saving me, so far from my cries of anguish? (NIV)
“The German martyr Dietrich Bonhoeffer reminds us that when we pray Scripture, we are praying with Jesus: All prayers of the Bible are such prayers which we pray together with Jesus Christ, in which he accompanies us, and through which he brings us into the presence of God. Otherwise there are no true prayers, for only in and with Jesus Christ can we truly pray. If we want to read and to pray the prayers of the Bible and especially the Psalms, therefore, we must not ask first what they have to do with us, but what they have to do with Jesus Christ.” Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Eberhard Bethge, Psalms: The Prayer Book of the Bible (Minneapolis, MN: Augsburg Fortress, 1970). Article drawn from articles in the NIV Lifehacks Bible ebook
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. Colossians 3:16 (NIV)
By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, their starry host by the breath of his mouth. He gathers the waters of the sea into jars; he puts the deep into storehouses. Let all the earth fear the Lord; let all the people of the world revere him. For he spoke, and it came to be; he commanded, and it stood firm. Psalm 33:6-9 (NIV)
“Every word of God is flawless; he is a shield to those who take refuge in him. Proverbs 30:5 (NIV)
By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, their starry host by the breath of his mouth. He gathers the waters of the sea into jars; he puts the deep into storehouses. Let all the earth fear the Lord; let all the people of the world revere him. For he spoke, and it came to be; he commanded, and it stood firm. Psalm 33:6-9 (NIV)
Nothing Has Changed
Proverbs 4:22, God says His Words are LIFE to those who find them and HEALTH to their whole body. Normal, everyday, natural words written on paper cannot produce life and health but God’s words can.
In Revelations 19:13, it says that Jesus’ name is called the “Word of God.” Psalm 107:20 says that God “sent His word and healed them.” It is no surprise that Jesus healed many people during his three-year ministry on earth and continues to do so today.
The Word Changes Us
All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness. 2 Timothy 3:16 (NIV)
Our Words
The words we speak have power. Our words can be bring life or death. The tongue has the power of life and death and those who love it will eat its fruit. Proverbs 18:21 (NIV)
Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path. Psalm 119:105 (NIV)
His Will
This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. I John 5:14 (NIV)
Faith and Patience
For we live by faith, not by sight. II Corinthians 5:7 (NIV)
And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him. Hebrews 11:6 (NIV)
He replied, “Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.” Matthew 17:20 (NIV)
“Again, truly I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything they ask for, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. Matthew 18:19 (NIV)
Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. James 1:2-4 (NIV) Thy Word is a Lamp Unto My Feet: Scripture Prayer By Cindy VanderHaar June 20, 2012
Persistance—The Parable of The Persistent Widow
Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. He said: “In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared what people thought. And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, ‘Grant me justice against my adversary.’
“For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, ‘Even though I don’t fear God or care what people think, 5 yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won’t eventually come and attack me!’”
And the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?” Luke 18:1-8 (NIV)
One of the most famous Psalms besides Psalm 23 is Psalm 91:
Psalm 91
1 Whoever
dwells in the shelter of the Most High
will
rest in the shadow of the Almighty.[a]
2 I will say of the Lord, “He is my
refuge and my fortress,
my
God, in whom I trust.”
3 Surely he
will save you
from
the fowler’s snare
and
from the deadly pestilence.
4 He will cover you with his feathers,
and
under his wings you will find refuge;
his
faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.
5 You will not fear the terror of night,
nor
the arrow that flies by day,
6 nor the pestilence that stalks in the
darkness,
nor
the plague that destroys at midday.
7 A thousand may fall at your side,
ten
thousand at your right hand,
but
it will not come near you.
8 You will only observe with your eyes
and
see the punishment of the wicked.
9 If you say,
“The Lord is my
refuge,”
and
you make the Most High your dwelling,
10 no harm will overtake you,
no
disaster will come near your tent.
11 For he will command his angels concerning
you
to
guard you in all your ways;
12 they will lift you up in their hands,
so
that you will not strike your foot against a stone.
13 You will tread on the lion and the cobra;
you
will trample the great lion and the serpent.
14 “Because he[b] loves me,”
says the Lord, “I will
rescue him;
I
will protect him, for he acknowledges my name.
15 He will call on me, and I will answer him;
I will
be with him in trouble,
I
will deliver him and honor him.
16 With long life I will satisfy him
and
show him my salvation.”
Miraculous stories of God’s protection speaking God’s word as found in Psalm 91
(Psalm 91: God’s Shield of Protection by sogreatlyloved article, February 20,2018)
There are awe-inspiring testimonies of miraculous deliverance from acute danger in time of war. It has been recorded that during World War 1 (1914-1918), L.T.C. Whittensley was a Regimental Commander in the British Army. Every morning his regiment recited the 91st Psalm, declaring aloud their faith that God would protect them from danger. This regiment went over the wall on a number of occasions during the course of the war, facing furious enemy fire and almost certain death. Thousands of men were killed on their left and right sides, but not a single one of the soldiers in this regiment was wounded. It was reported that the German bullets seemed to bounce off Regimental Commander L.T.C. Whittensley’s men.
A Miraculous Escape from Certain Death in World War 11
An awe-inspiring event took place during World War 11 (1939-1945) at Dunkirk, France. It was reported by war correspondent, C.B. Morelock, that more than four hundred men were trapped on a beach without any shelter from the enemy whatsoever. Sixty German aircraft flew very low directly over the men, firing machine guns, and bombing the trapped soldiers. The men were lying face downwards on the sand, packed closely together. They were facing certain death. All the four hundred men were not only reciting Psalm 91, but shouting it at the top of their voices, proclaiming in faith that God would keep them all safe from the deadly fire of the enemy. Not a single man was even scratched! Navy personnel who rescued the survivors from that Dunkirk beach reported hearing them still shouting the Psalm when they came to their rescue. The Word of God, spoken in faith by our mouth, is as powerful as the written Word of God. Our God always backs His Word when it is spoken out loud in faith. It is in this way that our faith is released, and God honors that.
Hurricane Andrew Hits Florida
On 24 August, 1992, Hurricane Andrew made landfall Near Homestead, Florida. It developed into a category 5 Hurricane with wind speeds reaching 175 mph. It is the second costliest tropical cyclone in United States history.
Only One Family Escaped the Destruction Unscathed
This testimony is astounding. As Hurricane Andrew wreaked havoc, demolishing everything in its path, the entire property of one family remained intact. Every single house over a vast area around them was either razed to the ground or seriously damaged. Garden sheds were tossed high in the air like match boxes, trees were uprooted and fences destroyed. Nothing escaped the fury of Hurricane Andrew’s 175 mph winds — apart from one house — to the utter astonishment of the insurers who soon visited every resident in the area. What could be the reason for this, they wondered? There must surely be an explanation. There was!
As Hurricane Andrew roared through the area, sounding like a freight train, sweeping everything out of its way, one house remained unharmed. Not a pane of glass was broken, not even a plant was disturbed. The garden shed was untouched and the fence remained intact. Why was that? It was unheard of, given the catastrophic force of this fearsome hurricane. Del and Pat Hicks had prepared well; food and water was ready; they had already weathered four hurricanes. As the storm roared all around them, Del and Pat Hicks knew the authority that they had in the name of Jesus. They remembered how Moses had been instructed by the Lord that the blood of the lamb had to be applied to the doorposts of every Israelite home when the Angel of death devastated the land of Egypt, so they applied the blood of Jesus and quoted the wonderful promises of total protection in Psalm 91.
Earlier, Pat had walked through their yard laying hands on the trees, declaring that they were now under the shadow of the Almighty, and touching the shed and the walls of the house, placing every single thing under the protection of God. Fourteen family members gathered in their home. They could hear things crashing into the house. At one point it seemed that the house was about to break in two and the roof be blown away. They all laid hands on the walls, commanding them to stand strong and continue supporting the roof.
In the morning they saw that, although their shed door had been blown open, everything was still there. They had suffered no damage at all. Their property immediately became like a tourist attraction. Everyone in the area was dumbfounded! This family home alone was unscathed in a forty mile disaster zone. What a glorious testimony to the unfailing efficacy of confessing out loud the power-packed promises of Psalm 91! How God was glorified! May we all learn to follow their unwavering example of confessing out loud their faith in the Word of God!
The Angels were working overtime to protect this family who leaned entirely upon their God!
He sent out his word and healed them; he rescued them from the grave. Psalm 107:20 (NIV)
He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds. Psalm 147:3
But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed. Isaiah 53:5 (NIV)
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