{"id":12328,"date":"2016-08-17T01:34:50","date_gmt":"2016-08-17T06:34:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/a-man-of-prayer\/"},"modified":"2016-08-17T01:34:50","modified_gmt":"2016-08-17T06:34:50","slug":"a-man-of-prayer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/a-man-of-prayer\/","title":{"rendered":"A MAN OF PRAYER"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt; text-align:center;line-height:normal'><b>PSALM 109<\/b><\/p>\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt; text-align:center;line-height:normal'><i>In return for my love they are my accusers, but I give myself to prayer<\/i><\/p>\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt; text-align:center;line-height:normal'><i>(Ps. 109:4)<\/i>.<\/p>\n<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-indent: 18.0pt;line-height:normal'>Psalm 109 shows David in a desperate plea for his life. Once again, his enemies have risen against him, driving him to the tribunal of God where he pleads for deliverance. David\u2019s heart burned with grief as he faced false accusations by former friends. \u201cThey have also surrounded me with words of hatred, and fought against me without a cause\u201d (v. 3).<\/p>\n<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-indent: 18.0pt;line-height:normal'>As David considered his situation, that these men had returned his friendship with accusations, he made a profound statement: \u201cIn return for my friendship they accuse me, but I am a man of prayer\u201d (v. 4). In the Hebrew the last phrase is much shorter, \u201cBut I prayer.\u201d It can also be read as \u201cI betake myself to prayer.\u201d David\u2019s consolation is simple\u2014the power of prayer. David could have taken a more offensive approach by retaliating in the face of false accusers. But, \u201che did not betake himself to such unlawful means as the rendering of evil for evil, but committed himself into the hand of God, fully satisfied that He alone could guard him from all ill,\u201d Calvin wrote. \u201cAnd it is assuredly a great and desirable attainment for a man so to restrain his passions as directly and immediately to make his appeal to God\u2019s tribunal, at the very time when he is abused without a cause, and when the very injuries which he sustains are calculated to excite him to avenge them. For there are some persons who, while it is their aim to live in terms of friendship with the good, coming in contact with ill men, imagine that they are at perfect liberty to return injury for injury; and to this temptation all the godly feel that they are liable. The Holy Spirit, however, restrains us, so that though offtimes provoked by the cruelty of our enemies to seek revenge, we yet abandon all fraudulent and violent means, and betake ourselves to prayer to God alone. By this example \u2026 we are instructed that we must have recourse to the same means if we would wish to overcome our enemies through the power and protection of God.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-indent: 18.0pt;line-height:normal'>David knew that though the whole world opposed him, he could cast all his cares upon God. We learn from this example that when we imitate David in this respect we will be helped by God when we are unjustly persecuted.<\/p>\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;   text-align:center;line-height:normal'><b>CORAM DEO<\/b><\/p>\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;   text-align:center;line-height:normal'>Proverbs 25\u201327<\/p>\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;   text-align:center;line-height:normal'>2 Corinthians 6<\/p>\n<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-indent:   18.0pt;line-height:normal'>Read Mark 1:35 and Luke 6:2. What example does   Christ set before you regarding prayer? When you face a difficult situation   is your first impulse to pray or to take matters into your own hands? This   week ask God for grace that you might first turn to Him in all things before   rushing ahead in your own strength.<\/p>\n<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:   normal'><i>For   further study: Dan. 6:10\u201311 \u2022 Acts 10:1\u20132 \u2022 1 Thess. 3:6\u201313 \u2022 1 Tim. 5:5\u20136<\/i><\/p>\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt; text-align:center;line-height:normal'>thursday<\/p>\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt; text-align:center;line-height:normal'>september<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>PSALM 109 In return for my love they are my accusers, but I give myself to prayer (Ps. 109:4). Psalm 109 shows David in a desperate plea for his life. Once again, his enemies have risen against him, driving him to the tribunal of God where he pleads for deliverance. David\u2019s heart burned with grief &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/a-man-of-prayer\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;A MAN OF PRAYER&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12328","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12328","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12328"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12328\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12328"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12328"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12328"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}