Bible In One Year-Day 270 (Saturday, September 27, 2014)
Commentary: Psalms61-65. The prayer life of the psalmist is evident in chapter63.
Psalms 63:1-2 “O God, thou art my God; early will I seek thee: my soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is; To see thy power and thy glory, so as I have seen thee in the sanctuary.”
Before anything each day, the psalmist’s urge was to have a taste of God. The soul is saturated with God’s word (water), thereby giving his flesh health. The psalmist also observes his quiet time deep in the night when there would be no distractions.
Psalms 63:6 “When I remember thee upon my bed, and meditate on thee in the night watches.”
Though he was a prayer warrior, yet he knew how to commune with God. Quiet time is not spiritual warfare time. In quiet time, you meditate on Him and His word; you think on His lovingkindnesses. The freshness of His word saturates your being and in that, light shines into your soul and your understanding is opened. You receive deeper teachings from the Lord during quiet time. As for prayers, you pour your heart to God and you press to know His will, i.e. you need a revelation. When a burden overwhelms you, you go to God in prayer. This is not a quiet time in which you want the light in the written word to illuminate your heart.
Psalms 119:130 “The entrance of thy words giveth light; it giveth understanding unto the simple.”
It is in quiet time that a deep and genuine relationship is built with the Lord. If this stage is not well developed, prayers will be meaningless and, perhaps, ineffective. The prayers you pray must be with understanding and not in fear or in the flesh. The more you do your quiet time the more the glory in the word changes you to be like the word. The word changes your character, emotion, mind, will and the way you view things. Through the quiet time, you become more spiritual and the things of God becomes clearer to you.
1 Corinthians 2:13-15 “Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Spirit teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness to him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man.”
If you are still carnally minded, you cannot discern the things of the Spirit and you must know that God is Spirit. To memorize the word is good, but it is not what God is requesting. After all, the Pharisees and Sadducees were rich in memorizing the word but were shamefully blind to the appearance of the truth in the word which is JESUS CHRIST.
Isaiah 44:18 “They have not known nor understood: for he hath shut their eyes, that they cannot see; and their hearts, that they cannot understand.”
MLB Matthew 23:26 “Blind Pharisees! First clean the inside of the cup and the plate so that its outside may be clean as well.”
As a matter of fact, Matthew23 is totally devoted to addressing the blindness of the leaders and the destructive effect on the subjects.
God requests us to get understanding of what He has behind the word and you can’t get it without MEDITATION. Meditation is what is most needful. When you get the understanding, your prayer life will be firebrand. The secret of Joshua’s success is that he gave himself to the meditation of the word on daily basis.
Joshua 1:8 “This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.”
Therefore, quiet time and prayer is very cogent in building a wonderful relationship with the Lord and this is what Christianity is all about; pure and genuine relationship. It is a daily thing.
Psalms 24:3-5 “Who shall ascend into the hill of the LORD? or who shall stand in his holy place? He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully. He shall receive the blessing from the LORD, and righteousness from the God of his salvation.”
Unfortunately, there is more emphasis on spiritual warfare (giving more attention to the devil) than experiencing the presence of God which is like heaven on earth; where do you get the anointing and empowerment for spiritual warfare if your quiet time is weak? Jesus demonstrated the need for quiet time. The Apostles were empowered in the presence of the Lord prior to their going out to attack the handwork of the enemy over the souls of men. In this we realize that the Word works on the heart to prepare it for receiving from the Lord.
Spiritual warfare, on the other hand, is not quiet time and prayer but engaging in battle with the enemy of our soul.
2 Corinthians 10:4 “(For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;)”
Isaiah 58:6 “Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke?”
However, you cannot fight successfully if your quiet time and prayer life is not anointed, i.e. connected with the presence of the Lord. It is in the presence of the Lord that you are decorated with the whole armor and this is done through building a sound relationship with the Lord. Once this is accomplished, YOU ARE A WINNER in Christ.
Let us seek for the old path where we could find rest. Let us listen to the trumpet’s sound, wherewith we could escape the calamity to come. Our reading for today is Psalms66-70. Keep the fire of burning and alive.
Like this:
Like Loading...