October 24, 2018

Author: Pastor Gordon Cook
October 24, 2018

Psalm 150

The last five Psalms begin with a note of praise. Give me five ‘P’ words that should shape our prayers.  #1 Praise – we can argue this from the Lord’s Prayer. It begins with God’s greatness and holiness; also, the last five psalms all begin with praise. We could argue this is a good way to begin our prayers. We can focus on God’s attributes – His grace or mercy, goodness or love. #2 Pardon, or penitence – daily we are to ask for God’s forgiveness. This is a staple we find in the Lord’s Prayer. We are sinners, saved sinners, but still sinners. John Newton said, “I thank God I am not what I once was. But I am not what I desire to be.” In this life, we never will. We will always have a holy discontent with respect to our spiritual state. We can always grow in holiness. #3 Protection – The Lord’s Prayers asks, lead us not into temptation, protect us from the Evil One. We are asking God to protect us by His gracious providence. #4 Provision – even if Adam never sinned we are dependent on God. The Lord’s Prayer petitions God, Give us this day our daily bread. #5 People – we pray corporately for others. The Lord’s Prayer is not an individual prayer, “Our Father”, but a corporate prayer. We are to be intercessory pray-ers. We are to pray for other believers and for unsaved people: Thy kingdom come.

Our prayers should be evangelistic. We pray for unsaved relatives, co-workers. Before sharing the Gospel, we pray that God would help them hear what we have to say. How can we pray for the unsaved? Here are some suggestions. They need new hearts, so we can pray that God would circumcise their hearts. We can pray that God would break the dominion of sin, that God would open their blind eyes. We can pray that God will give them repentance and faith. We can pray that they will see their sin and seek God’s grace. We can also pray for ourselves, that we will have opportunity to talk with them evangelistically. Pray that we might be light and salt, that others will see our good works, praise Jesus and even ask for the hope within us.

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