Using Prayers of the Saints to Enhance Our Prayers

You know, we live in a very high-stress time. You know, sometimes when I pause to think of all the things that are happening in the church, all the things that are happening in our own personal lives, and the things that are happening in the world around us, you know, I don't know about you, but sometimes I feel like I'm in a big pressure cooker. And, you know, one wonders, you know, as far as the world is concerned, how long this pressure cooker is going to go on before it explodes. So we, and we've got to be careful ourselves, and it doesn't happen to us. It seems that more people are stressed with anxiety due to the pressures that are all around them. Even in the seemingly irreligious world, it's interesting that when people are under immense stress, they do tend to turn to God or a higher power, whatever they view it, in prayer. You know, it's interesting that even when people are not churchgoers, that they will oftentimes do that. They will, you know, begin to pray in their lives, maybe at times if it's very, very difficult for them and very stressful. They'll pray where they have not prayed before in their lives.

And, you know, if you only look at prayer or meditation from a mental, psychological point of view, science, I think, is aptly proven and shown that prayer and meditation is beneficial to us in our everyday life. You know, just from the standpoint of praying alone, that it's beneficial to us in our everyday life. You know, it's been shown that, in fact, prayer increases your focus. It increases your attention. It gives you better thought control.

It has been shown that it gives you more mental clarity. It clears the mind of distractions and negative thoughts. It's also, you know, something that science has shown that fights depression. You know, people get depressed. Prayer is something that really does help us if we become discouraged, if we become depressed. It decreases your anxiety. It can, you know, ameliorate or, you know, assuage the fear that we may have about the future.

It can improve your memory. You know, sometimes people have problems with their memory. You know, this is one of the antidotes that you can actually pray, and it improves your mental ability, your memory, both the short-term and the long-term memory. It also, positive thinking gives you a better outlook on life. You know, some people, of course, have this outlook on life that is so very, very negative. It reduces stress.

So prayer reduces stress in your life. It increases the ability to relax and to unwind when you do begin to have that time alone where you can do that or in a proper setting. And another thing about prayer is it is a powerful sleep aid. It can help you sleep at night. You know, when you pray on a regular basis, it helps you sleep, and it promotes a restful night's sleep. Your mind is more settled so that when you pray, you know, you go to bed, you don't, your mind is not racing about all kinds of things, but you are more settled and you have more rest. It increases your overall sense of well-being. So just from a scientific mental standpoint, prayer does all those things for us.

Now, of course, the reason we pray is not for those things specifically, but you really wonder if God, you know, instructed us to do these things of prayer and meditation so that we would have lives that are better adjusted. We would be able to cope with life a whole lot more. Of course, the reason we pray is to communicate with God, but it does have its positive physical and mental benefits to us. Again, that has been shown to be the case.

I'm not the only one that talks about this. You go and you can look it up and you will find it is the case. You know, in our hymnal, you know, I don't have a hymnal.

I probably should have brought one up with me, but you notice that many of our hymns are written directly from the words of God. You know, I don't, again, in reflecting upon the hymns today that we have. You know, I can't remember specifically those that we sang today, but I can almost certainly say that those hymns were taken from certain passages within the Scriptures. In other words, they're written directly from God's words. And, you know, the reason I say this is that there's a use for these golden words that are in the Bible, which we may not be often utilizing fully as God's people.

There may be a use that sometimes that we have overlooked. You know, again, the Bible is written, as I think we all should understand, as God's revelation in writing of Himself to mankind. You know, this book, in fact, is the Word of God. And this, if Christ could be in written form, this is Jesus Christ right here, this book. And so it expresses God. It expresses, you know, the way that God is, in every sense of the Word, the things that we need to know as human beings about God.

And so, the Bible, again, is God expressing Himself in written form. And you know what? God has purposely placed passages in the Bible. God has purposely placed prayers within the Bible so that we would know how to pray. So that we ourselves would know how to pray. And, brethren, we need to learn to utilize the prayers of the saints. And there are many of the prayers of the saints that are in this book that you have that are sitting on your lap. Prayers of the saints and other passages of the Bible to enhance your relationship with God through your prayers.

You know, prayers can enhance our relationship with God, our Father, and with Jesus Christ, who is the Son of God. You know, and God, particularly, brethren, highlights the lies of His patriarchs because they had a certain heart and they had a certain attitude that comes about when you read, in fact, the prayers that they pray. They had a certain heart. You know, God called David a man after God's own heart. You know, that was the kind of person that David was.

And, you know, if it was possible for you and me to be able to sit down with David and talk to David, you know, it would be an experience of a lifetime to find out about David the kind of man that he was. But even better, brethren, if you and I could be a fly on the wall and hear the prayers of David, how much would it educate us on what the heart must be of a man to be called a man after God's own heart? You know, what kind of a person would David have been? And, you know, we can tell that again through his prayers that are within the pages of the Bible. Moses, you can go back and look at some of the writings, in fact, of Moses. Moses prayed earnestly for the children of Israel and God intervened for them. And you can read again how Moses cried out to God, the kind of attitude that Moses had. Then when God said, look, Moses, I'm going to wipe them all out and I will start over with you, the attitude of Moses was not a selfish attitude. And so when he prayed, he was a man that was heartfelt, that cared about other people and God intervened for the children of Israel. You know, Daniel the prophet prayers were recorded numerous times for the actions that God took in response to Daniel's prayers. You know, you can again read the prayers of Daniel and you will find what God did as a result of those fantastic prayers that Daniel prayed. Let's go to Daniel chapter 9. Daniel chapter 9. I'm excited about this topic because I've never talked about this before. Now this is new to me, you know, not that I hadn't thought about this before, but this is a new thing for me to talk about in a message. But in Daniel 9 and verse 3, let's notice here, here Daniel, of course, he was a captive, you know, to the Babylonian empire.

And in verse 3, he says, then I set my face toward the Lord God to make requests by prayer and supplications with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes. And I prayed to the Lord my God and made confession and said, so here we have a prayer of Daniel that we can read. He said, O Lord, great and awesome God who keeps His covenant and mercy with those who love Him and with those who keep His commandments. So Daniel understood the relationship that he had to have with God here.

And it says, we have sinned and committed iniquity. We have done wickedly and rebelled, even by departing from your precepts and your judgments. And it says, neither have we heeded your servants, the prophets, who spoke in your name to our kings and to our princes, to our fathers, and to all the people of the land. This particular prayer, by the way, could be prayed about modern Israel today. We haven't heeded, have we? In this land, either. And as a result, we've got all the problems we have as a nation. And it says, O Lord, righteousness belongs to you, but to us shame a face as it is this day to men of Judah, to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and all Israel, those near and those far away, and all the countries to which you have driven them because of the unfaithfulness which they have committed against you. O Lord, to us belong shame a face, to our kings, our princes, and for our fathers, because we have sinned against you. To the Lord our God belong mercy and forgiveness, though we have rebelled against you. In other words, here he's talking about how God was so merciful and so kind to them, even though he says, look, we've rebelled against you.

And so here you can't help but come to see here with the Daniel's Prayer. It is so heartfelt. It's like he's heart sick over what Judah has done, what the elders and the leaders, the princes and the leaders of Judah have done. And when God heard this prayer, God answered Daniel. But I want you to notice up here again how he begins his prayer. You know, how do you begin your prayer, brethren? When you kneel down and you begin to pray before God, how do you begin your prayer? You begin your prayer by saying, O Lord, great and awesome God, you have that attitude when you get out on your knees and you pray to God.

I think Daniel was probably the first person to use the word awesome for God. You know, young people use the word awesome a lot. You know, Daniel used it a long time before, you know, when it was popular in our age to do that. But you see, Daniel was a sincere man and he prayed powerful prayers. And notice what happens. Let's notice what happens over in chapter 10 and verse down in verse 12. Chapter 10 and verse 12, because Gabriel intervenes and comes to answer the prayer of Daniel. And it says, Then he said to me, Do not fear, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart to understand and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come because of your words. You see, brethren, the words that we pray make a difference to God. In other words, you know, we shouldn't, of course, do our prayers and as the world sort of has this sing-song approach, now lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep, you know, sing-songing all the way through it and, you know, more or less not putting our hearts into it. But Daniel, I think, shows us the kind of heartfelt prayers that we need to be offering up to God. And prayers are like a sacrifice. They really are like a sacrifice. You know, sometimes people write out their prayers. You know, I was reading yesterday about Patton. You know, Patton wrote some incredible prayers. I was going to bring one of his to read to you, but he talks about how he was praying, of course, during World War II that God would help them win the war and that he would be brave and in battle, that he would not think about himself, but he would think about his men. He would think about the responsibility he had to lead his men, you know, in the battle and that if he were to fall in battle, that so be it, if that's what happened to him. You know, so, you know, even in a worldly sense, there are people that put a lot of time into their prayers. And I think that Patton, even though he was a tough as nails kind of guy, I think he prayed. He really prayed. You know, sometimes people like that, you know, if they are sincere, I do believe God hears them. You know, I think that God did in World War II, where, you know, we, of course, lost, of course, World War II very easily. But those prayers, those words, brethren, those sincere, heartfelt words which come up before God are special to him, and he hears and he answers. He answers. Let's go to Revelation 5 over in the book of Revelation.

Revelation chapter 5.

You know, we live in a time where people probably, frankly, don't care what I think.

They don't care what you think either. You know, some people don't care what other people think, period. But we can be assured, brethren, that God does care what we think. He really does. He cares what we pray, and he hears us. But here in Revelation chapter 5 and verse 7, notice in Revelation 5 and verse 7, it says, Then he came and took the scroll out of the right hand of him and sat on the throne. And it says, Now when he had taken the scroll, verse 8, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the land, of course that is Jesus Christ, each having a harp and a golden bowl full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. And so God takes these prayers. You know, He receives these prayers, and it's like an incense to Him before His throne. You think about these prayers that are compared to an incense.

No, the incense before God means that the prayers are sweet-smelling, and they're acceptable.

They're acceptable to God. They're a pleasant smell to Him. You know, God cannot stomach the wickedness of this world. He can't stand the smell of it that laughs up before Him.

But brethren, the precious words of God's people ascending before His throne are special to Him.

I remember we used to come back from the Feast of Tabernacles up in Spokane, Washington, and always enjoyed driving back, by the way, from Spokane, because usually it was snowing by the time we were heading back. You know, and I always loved to see the snow fall on the the fir trees, you know, driving down through McCall, from up in Spokane, down to Boise, Idaho. We were living there at the time. But we drove through Lewiston, Idaho. Now, I don't want to disparage Lewiston, but one thing they probably ought to get rid of is their paper mill, because I'll tell you what, it is an awful smell when you drive through there. One time, my wife and I stayed in the Hilton Hotel in Lewiston, and you could smell the paper mill. And it just took from the ambiance, you know, smelling that that awful paper mill. It is a very bad advertisement. Lewiston, there's a beautiful little community nestled down right there. You drive down mountains, and you got to be careful, unless your car get away from you when you go down those mountains, because they're so steep. But it's just a beautiful little burg, you know, down below the mountains. But the one terrible thing is the paper mill. You know, sometimes when you are driving along, you know, and someone, well, what can I say? They smell like paper mill, you know, if you get what I'm saying. But anyway, it's not a good advertisement for Lewiston. But on the other hand, my wife and I used to be in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and we lived in Lismith Town, which was close to a little town that is called Chocolate Town, Hershey, Pennsylvania. And you know, I love to drive through Hershey, Pennsylvania. And, you know, it was such a good-smelling town. You hated to leave, actually. We used to go over there just to hang out in Hershey, just to smell. You didn't have to buy any chocolate. You know, just get fat just smelling it, you know. It was that thick in the air. But, you know, it was pleasant to be in Hershey, Pennsylvania. It was a pleasant experience.

But, you know, our prayers, when they ascend up to God's throne, are a pleasant scent before God. And God loves to smell those prayers. But, you know, many of the Psalms were written as though David was praying to God. And it's probable, you know, if you think about David, it is probable that David prayed these prayers and then wrote them down.

Or vice versa. He may have written them down and then prayed them. And it's interesting that when we look into the Bible, brethren, how God's servants studied and how they utilized those things that were in the written prayers of the patriarchs of God. It is just very, very interesting to see it. Not only the servants of God did that, brethren, Paul did it, but Jesus Christ did it as well. Of course, Jesus Christ was the Word of God incarnate. And He well knew the prayers of David because He inspired, you know, those prayers, you know, that David prayed.

Let's notice over in Matthew 27, at this terrible time of the crucifixion over here, in Matthew 27, in verse 45, we'll break into the account here because it is during the time when Christ was on the stake at the time of the crucifixion itself. But in verse 45 and 46, let's notice this. It says, now from the sixth hour until the ninth hour, there was darkness over all the land. Again, this is at the time of the crucifixion and near the time when Jesus Christ was going to expire. And it says, in about the ninth hour, Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani. That is, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

You know, why have you forsaken me? You know, why is Jesus Christ cry this out?

You know, this is what, by the way, that King David probably prayed at the time before.

You know, he was under such pressure and such stress in his life, and God inspired him to write this down a thousand years before Jesus Christ ever came along. And Jesus Christ used it as he prayed to the Father. But this particular saying, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? was said by David in Psalm 22, verse 1. And so that when he prayed Jesus Christ, you know, he used, again, the prayer of King David long ago. Of course, like I say, Jesus himself had inspired, you know, what David wrote down. And of course, Psalm 22, I don't have the time today to go through this, but if you go through Psalm 22, you will find that much of what is in Psalm 22 applied to Christ and was prophetic in its nature. Let's go to Luke 23. Luke 23 over here, another account of this. That Luke picks up on something that, in fact, that Matthew did not. But in Luke 21 and verse 44, let's notice this, or 23 and verse 44, I should say.

Luke 23 and verse 44. Here it says, And it was about the sixth hour, and there was darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour. So it's talking about, again, the same thing.

And then the sun was darkened, and the veil of the temple was torn in two.

And it says, And when Jesus had cried out with a loud voice, he said, Father, into your hands I commit my spirit. And it says, Having said this, he breathed his last. And so Jesus here is quoting from Psalm 31 verse 5, where David himself, again, under God's inspiration, wrote into your hand, I commit my spirit.

And so the Psalm here was a prophetic in nature of the time that was going to come where Jesus Christ himself, you know, would say these very words at the time of his crucifixion.

But again, it was written by David a thousand years before that time. And Jesus used it as he prayed to the Father. You know, in Psalm 22 verse 1, it says, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? And so that's what David said again in Psalm 22. You notice here that, you know, in this particular passage here, you know, where he's talking about, into your hand, I commit my spirit. Notice that Jesus adds the word Father here. And so he adds the word Father, you know, Father, into your hand, I commit my spirit. Because in Psalm 31 verse 5, it says, Into your hand I commit my spirit. And so David does not mention the Father. But of course, we know that Jesus Christ came to bear witness of the Father and was praying to the Father, you know, in this particular case. You know, Jesus Christ, of course, fulfilled every prophecy in the Old Testament that was made about him. And this was one of the many that he had to fulfill.

You know, sometimes we don't live our lives, by the way, based upon the Scriptures the way that maybe we should, as God's people. You know, I think it's very clear, by the way, that the apostles viewed the Scriptures as a guide to their lives. And they realized that much of what was written in the Bible, just as what was written about by David applied to Jesus Christ, that much that was written in the Bible applied to them, the prophecies of the Old Testament and so forth. And I want you to notice now the prayers of the apostles.

This prayer, by the way, was made as a result over in Acts 4. Let's go over to Acts chapter 4.

Acts 4 and verse 23.

Here, notice in this case, but, you know, again, this prayer we're going to read was a result of a member of Peter and John, you know, healing a man who was unable to walk from birth. Remember how they were threatened by the high priests and elders, not to speak of the name of Jesus, and that they beat them and then released them. But we'll break into that thought from here. In Acts 4 and verse 23, and being let go, they went to their own companions and reported all that the chief priests and elders had said to them. And so when they heard that, they raised voice to God with one accord and said, Lord, you are God who made heaven and earth and the sea and all that is in them. Who, by the mouth of your servant David, have said, why did the nations rage and the people plot vain things? The kings of the earth took their stand, the rulers were gathered together against the Lord, the Eternal, and against His Christ, against the anointed one. And so here are the words of God that began to come alive to them.

And the words that they used, by the way, in this prayer came from the Psalms.

They came from the Psalms. In Psalm 146, in verse 6, you know, over there in Psalm 146, in verse 6, you know, David said this, who made heaven and earth the sea and all that is in them, who keeps truth forever. And so in their prayer, again, they used a part of that particular Psalm in their time. And then the last part of that prayer, of course, they referred to the fact that that was from David. And David wrote in Psalm 2 and verse 1 through 2, again, a thousand years before Jesus Christ would ever come along, because David, you know, himself existed about a thousand BC. Why do the nations rage and the people plot a vain thing? So they looked at what the scribes and the Pharisees, you know, did as fulfillment of this particular verse over here. It says, the kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers take counsel together against the eternal and against his anointed. And of course, that is distinctly referred to Jesus Christ, who was the anointed one. And so they were plotting and threatening, you know, Jesus Christ, you know, the life of Jesus Christ. And of course, they were able to heaven crucified, and then they began to work against the apostles themselves.

Now, what can we learn, brethren, from these examples of prayers?

Well, brethren, we can utilize those things written down for us in a more personal way, in a more personal way, through our prayers if we apply them appropriately. Obviously, some things would not apply to us, but some things would apply to us. You know, the last problems that we had in the church, quite frankly, the Bible came alive to me in so many ways, because I could see fulfillment of the Word of God. You know, we always have to read, of course, in some of the words of Paul, the Apostle Paul and Peter and others to understand, you know, how that the problem we had before that related again to the things that they had said long ago. And they come alive for us. And in our prayers, it's appropriate to pray about those things when we go before God. It shows we have knowledge and understanding of the Scriptures. You know, the disciples had asked Christ to teach them how to pray. And I think from these examples, we find that they learn from Christ how to use the Psalms and their prayers, how to use, in fact, other, you know, prayers that were said, you know, because Christ did not just himself use the Psalms, He used the writings of Daniel, He used the writings of many of the Old Testament writers.

But they began to use, the apostles began to use these things as things unfolded in the early church. They began to use them in their prayers. And other passages, brethren, are used as well.

And Christ gave them a framework in Matthew chapter 6 about how to pray. Let's go to Matthew chapter 6 over here. Matthew chapter 6. You know, I know all of us are reading the Bible. We're doing the Bible reading program, but we can educate ourselves, again, about the prayers of the saints.

We can learn more about these things and learn better how to pray. But in Matthew chapter 6 and verse 9, let's notice here, it says, In this manner, therefore pray our Father in heaven.

And so this is a part of that outline that Jesus Christ gave to us. How would be your name? Your kingdom come, your will be done. On earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread.

Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one or the evil of this world. For yours is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever. Amen, as it says here in this passage.

Now, oftentimes, the prayers of pagans were more like matras or incantations, where you would sound you know, make a certain sound all the time, or you would state something over and over and over again. Even in the universal church, by the way, this is the case where people repeat something over and over and over again. Jesus Christ instructed his people not to do that in their prayers. You know, if you were to say hum incessantly, eventually you probably put yourself into a trance. You know, if you were to say a mantra, and you do it over and over and over again, eventually you would probably put yourself into a trance. This is what the pagans did, even during the time of Jesus Christ. This is what the pagans did. And so Jesus Christ told his disciples, he said, look, I do not want you to do that. But notice here in verse seven, but when you pray, not if you pray, but when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words. They think because they say something over and over and over again. And, you know, frankly, when we first begin learning how to pray, we probably do that entirely too much. You know, I know I've done it too much when I first started learning how to pray, thinking somehow God would hear what I was going to say in my prayer if I said it more than once, like God is hard of hearing, you know, like God needs a hearing aid.

You know, I, of course, come to realize a long time ago that that is not the case. God doesn't need a hearing aid. You know, you and I probably do, because we don't hear what God has to say.

You know, God is saying, does anybody hear me out there?

But, you know, God doesn't want us to use vain repetitions.

Well, you know, how do you then make your prayers where they are prayers that are sweet-smelling incense before God? We have to learn how to pray. You have to know the proper way to pray in your life. You know, it might work for us, brethren, when we first are being called to kneel down and say, oh, God, help me, and God will hear us. But, brethren, as we begin to be in the church for a while, God expects us to learn. He expects us to grow and learn how to pray and be mature in how we pray. And learning to pray is a process of growing in depth and breath in terms of our understanding. And so, here we see Christ gives us the outline.

I know we've gone through this before in sermons, but I want to hit this in a different way. You know, this is what we try to do in sermons to try to approach things in different ways so that we can learn. We can learn from a different angle if we don't maybe fully understand from maybe another angle that is given. But here is a part of a prayer. Our Father in heaven, Hollywood, is your name. Like I mentioned to you, brethren, in the prayer that was prayed by Daniel, he called God an awesome God. And so, this is what I'm talking about in terms of how we learn from the prayers of the saints. But our Father in heaven, Hollywood, is your name. Let's go to Psalm 8. Psalm 8. Psalm 8. In verse 1 through 6. And notice over here in Psalm 8, we again, under this category here, in verse 1 through 6, here is a Psalm of David again. And David says, O Lord, our God, how excellent is your name in all the earth. You know, again, how do we begin our prayers? Our Father who art in heaven, our Father in heaven, do we say how excellent is your name, God, in all the earth? How prominent is your name in all the earth? Who have set your glory above the heavens? You know, we pray our Father in heaven. You know, the word heaven is there for purpose. God is not here upon this earth because God cannot stomach this earth. God cannot stomach the sin and the wickedness of this earth. God is separate from us. And so here David says, you've set your glory above the heavens. Now, we don't know where God is. Is God some place? Is He in some dimension? We don't know. And, you know, again, we need to broaden our understanding of this particular segment of our prayer. It says, out of the mouths of babes and nursing infants, you have ordained strength because of your enemies. It says that you may silence the enemy and the avenger. When I consider your heavens the work of your fingers, you know, do you begin your prayers, brethren, this way? You see what I'm talking about here, brethren? Do you begin your prayers this way? Or do you say, our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name? Then what?

Then what? When I consider the heavens the work of your fingers, the moon, and the stars which you have ordained, what is man that you are mindful of him and the Son of man that you visit me or visit him? For you have made him a little lower than the angels, and you have crowned him with glory and honor. You have made him to have dominion over the works of your hands, and you have put all things under his feet. You know, to begin your prayer that way, to talk to God in that way, brethren, in a personal way, the way David did, can again enhance our prayers before God. It shows we have understanding. And so we need to again incorporate these kinds of things, not necessarily again quoting exactly what David says, brethren. I'm not saying that, but incorporating these things into our prayers before God, so it shows that we have understanding. You know, sometimes, out of somebody's own heart, you know, not without knowing the truth, can say, God, I don't even care, I don't even know why you even care about me. Isn't that what David's saying? Why do you even care about me? Well, we can show again more understanding if we read what David's prayer was. Chapter 90. Chapter 90. By the way, over here in chapter 90, this is a prayer of Moses.

Moses was a saint of God. And we can learn from Moses' prayer. But here in chapter 90, in verse 1, he says, Lord, eternal, you have been our dwelling place in all generations, before the mountains were brought forth, wherever you have formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, you are God.

Now, again, do you pray like this, brethren? You talk to God in this personal way.

To me, it is amazing when I read the prayer of David or Moses or these men. And I, you know, it seems like I was reading yesterday about how Americans are being dumbed down.

I don't think it's just Americans. I think all people around the world are being dumbed down.

You know, one time I read letters from soldiers in the Civil War. And, you know, here these were uneducated men. And probably many of them made eighth grade educations, if that.

You know, and they sound more eloquent than people who have a doctorate.

You know, sometimes, again, we can be that way in our prayers as well, and not show, again, a depth of understanding. Now, Moses was one of the most meek men upon the face of the earth, and his prayers reflected his care and his concern for others and all humanity.

And so, brethren, our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.

Hallowed is your name. And then the next part of the prayer, brethren, is your kingdom come, your will be done. Now, what does it mean, your will be done? That God's providence take place. That God's will take place. And, you know, as I said in the kingdom of God seminar, the place where the will of God needs to be done is here upon the earth, not in heaven.

It's already being done in heaven. You know, this is where it needs to be done here upon the face of the earth. Let's go to Psalm 57. Psalm 57. Psalm 57. In verse 1 through 3 here.

So, your kingdom come, your will be done. Here's Psalm 57, verse 1 through 3. It says, Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me. For my soul trusts in you, and in the shadow of your wings I will make my refuge until these calamities have passed by. And so, here is someone praying in a different fashion. Of course, here David, in this particular case, but he's talking about how that, you know, with all these calamities that pass by, I know God, I have to entirely trust you through these things. These things I'm going through, and I'm experiencing. Let's go down in verse 9. I will praise you, O Lord, among the peoples. I will sing to you among the nations, for your mercy reaches unto the heavens and your truth unto the clouds. And so, here again, he's exalting God, you know, in his prayers as we should do as well. And he says, Be exalted, O God, above the heavens. Let your glory be above all the earth. In other words, supporting in his prayers the concept of the will of God being done. And of course, the need for the kingdom of God, I'm sure, was also in the mind of David. And this psalm, by the way, was applying to David when he was fleeing from Saul. And remember when he fled into the cave and God delivered Saul into his hand.

And David could have killed him. He could have lopped his head off because he was right there that close. And yet he did not. You know, David placed his faith in God's will over his own desire to lash out and to kill Saul.

Thy will be done. Thy will be done. Let's go to Psalm 72. Psalm 72. Psalm 72. You know, when we read these Psalms, and I know that we do it in the Bible reading program, but hopefully they'll have greater meaning to us when we read through some of these things. And we can apply them in our understanding in terms of growth of how we pray. In Psalm 72, in verse 18 and 19, it says, Blessed be the Lord God, the God of Israel, who only does wondrous things.

So again, your will be done. God does wondrous things. And it says, In blessed be his glorious name forever, and let the whole earth be filled with his glory. Amen and amen.

And it says, The prayers of David, the son of Jesse, are ended. By the way, this is the Psalm of Solomon. But apparently at this particular point, this is the end of the time, again, of the prayers of David, you know, in the segment that is here in the book of Psalms.

But, you know, here again, once again, we see in this prayer how, in fact, you know, it's basically talking about the whole earth being filled with the glory of God. Your kingdom come.

You know, that's what we need on this earth right now today, the glory of God, to fill this entire world. And we know it's going to start in Jerusalem. It's going to branch out from there and grow and eventually encompass the entire world as many prophecies show us. But here also, you know, we see that Solomon talks about the wondrous works of God and, you know, how God only does good things, basically. Then the next part, brethren, the prayer that Jesus Christ gave to us, give us this day, our daily bread. You know, we may need to pray this particular part of the prayer more as time goes on. The way we look at what is happening in this world and society that is around us. Let's go to Psalm 144. Psalm 144. So again, as you read through, again, the Bible, think in terms of your own prayers. What would you pray? You know, as I think I've recommended before, you know, that even taking the book of Psalms to the prayer closet with you.

And when you pray, maybe reading a psalm and saying to God, well, I feel exactly the same way about it. You can use the Psalms in that way as well. And other prayers as well that are prayed and recorded for us in the Bible. But in chapter 144, down in verse 12, going down to the last part of it, verse 12, down to verse 15, that our sons may be as plants grown up in their youth, that our daughters may be pillars sculptured in palace style. You know, wouldn't we want our children to be handsome, our young men to be handsome? And wouldn't we want our girls to be beautiful? You know, when you pray, you know, give us this day our daily bread, you know, you can talk about that, you know, give my son wisdom, give him knowledge, give him understanding.

Now, I know when our children were born, I prayed for those special blessings upon them.

I prayed that, in fact, for our grandchildren, that God would give them, you know, those benefits and those blessings that come through prayer and through God, because God is the one that gives them. God's the one that gives the talents, doesn't He? He's the one that delivers those to us. And it says that our barns may be full, supplying all kinds of produce. You know, I don't know, maybe you'd want to say that our checkbooks would be full and not empty.

That our sheep may bring four thousands and ten thousands in our fields. That our oxen may be well laid. That there be no breaking in or going out. In other words, no loss. God said, if we tithe, that He would rebuke the devourer for our sakes. That there be no outcry in our streets. And it says, happy are the people who are in such a state. Happy are the people whose God is the Lord.

You know, happy. In other words, give us this day, our daily bread. You see how, again, we can enhance our prayers before God. I think when God hears this kind of prayer before Him, where somebody is thinking about what they're saying, you can understand why God would want to put it in a bowl.

He would want to keep it. He would want to remember what was said.

That's our God, brethren. He wants to remember what you said.

If you get thought through it, if you pray from the heart.

The next part of the outline that Jesus Christ gave is, forgive us our deaths as we forgive our debtors. Now, where would you turn, by the way, in the Psalms, if you wanted to find a Psalm that would tie into this particular part of the outline? Where would you go?

What comes to your mind? How about Psalm 51? So, in other words, open up the Bible to Psalm 51. If you're talking about this segment of the prayer. Sometimes, I remember when I first began praying, if I prayed 10 minutes, I mean, it was like an hour. It was like, you know, to me, it was so hard to think about what to say for 10 minutes. But if you follow the instructions that Jesus Christ gives, brethren, you will have a hard time keeping your prayer under an hour. I'm not saying that you have to pray an hour, brethren, but you will have a hard time. You know, I don't know about you, but sometimes when I'm praying, I have to say to God, there's so many people I need to pray for.

And you don't have time. And pretty soon, you have to say, God bless the church, everybody in the church. Because if we're doing what God tells us to do, brethren, there's never a time where you say, well, I don't have anything to pray about.

Psalm 51, though, notice here what David says, have mercy upon me, O God, according to your loving kindness. You ever prayed that, brethren, in this segment of the prayer? Have mercy on me according to your loving kindness.

According to the multitude of your tender mercies, blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge my transgressions. My sin is always before me. Against you, you only have I sinned and done this evil in your sight, that you may be found just when you speak and blameless when you judge. Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity and in sin my mother can see me.

Behold, you desire truth in inward parts and the hidden part. You will make me to know wisdom.

So you see, brethren, again, this fits right in, doesn't it, brethren? Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. You know, I don't know. Wouldn't it be wonderful to have your prayers in this book somewhere? Someday? You know, we've often said the book of Acts doesn't have Amen at the end of it because it's not a finished book. Maybe someday one of our prayers will be written down. If we pray something in a heartfelt manner, brethren, God hears. Psalm 71. Psalm 71.

Psalm 71. Psalm 71, verses 1 through 4, In you, O Lord, I put my trust.

Let me never be put to shame. Deliver me in your righteousness and cause me to escape.

You've got a problem that you're trying to overcome? How about praying that? Help me be delivered, brethren, God, from this. Incline your ear to me and save me. Save me!

Be my strong refuge to which I may resort continually. You have given the commandment to save me, for you are my rock and my fortress. Deliver me, O my God, out of the hand of the wicked, out of the hand of the unrighteous and cruel man. You can say, deliver me out of the bonds of Satan. Deliver me out of the hands of the devil that I might receive your salvation.

So we can pray that God will make us clean and pure and as white as the driven snow.

And so forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. And Jesus Christ also said, do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Deliver us from evil. Let's go back over the prayer of Daniel, back over here in Daniel chapter 9. Daniel 9, in verses 10 through 17.

Here, Daniel openly admits, he says this, brethren, are we this way in terms of our own personal lives? He says, we have not obeyed the voice of the eternal our God to walk in His laws which He set before us by His servants, the prophets.

Brethren, have we listened to what, in fact, has been said in the church?

Have we been listening to what, in fact, has been preached and taught and instructed?

Here, Daniel again admits, again, we haven't followed what we've been taught. And yes, all Israel has transgressed your law and have departed so as not to obey your voice.

Therefore, the curse and the oath written in the law of Moses, the servant of God, has been poured out on us because we have sinned against you. And he has confirmed his words which he spoke against us and against our judges, who judged us by bringing us a great disaster, for under the whole heaven such has never been done as what has been done to Jerusalem.

And, you know, he goes on again all the way through this, admitting again.

And, brethren, what we have to do, Daniel here goes on to talk about he wants, you know, God to deliver Judah. He doesn't want to leave them in the captivity but to deliver Judah. And we know that God, after seven years, did deliver Judah and they were able to go back to Palestine and to rebuild the temple. Of course, that's another subject. But, you know, we can pray, brethren, that God will make us clean again, pure and white, and that we ask him not to lead us again into a wrong pathway, but to lead us like he did Israel around those obstacles that would turn us away, that it would be too much for us. You know, we can ask God to again do that in our lives. We can utilize the writing here of Daniel with this part of the prayer.

Do not lead us into temptation but deliver us from evil. Help us to obey you, God, so that we can be delivered from evil. You know, we can utilize also the writings of Solomon that can add depth to this part of our prayer because in it, remember, he talks about, in all your ways acknowledge him, and what does it say? And he will direct your paths. We get in a lot of trouble because we do not listen to God. It's like little kids sometimes, you know, that's when they often get in trouble, because they didn't listen to mommy and daddy and what God has instructed, you know, to follow their parents. Of course, we can excuse children, can't we? But, you know, as children get older, you can't excuse that. You have to take action and you have to do something to prevent it from happening again. And so it is with us. The older we get, the more mature we get, God has to again deal with us at a certain level to teach us. And in terms of, you know, sometimes when we don't listen to God, we fall into a pit. Falling into the pit is good for us.

So we find what happens when we don't obey God. So we, again, should be praying this part of the prayer and learning about how to pray to God about this. And then we find that Jesus Christ then cuts off the prayer, the outline of prayer, yours is the kingdom, power and glory forever. And then He said, Amen. Here, let's go to Psalm 36. Psalm 36. Psalm 36 and verse 5.

Psalm 36 and verse 5.

So here, David, interesting, it says Psalm of David, the servant of the Eternal.

He said, Your mercy, O Eternal, is in the heavens. Your faithfulness reaches to the clouds.

Your righteousness is like the great mountain. Your judgments are a great deep. O Lord, You preserve man and beast. How precious is Your loving-kindness, O God! Therefore, the children of men put their trust under the shadow of your wings, and they are abundantly satisfied with the fullness of your house. You give them drink from the river of your pleasure, for with You is the fountain of life. In Your light we see light. And He says, O continue Your loving-kindness to those who know You, and Your righteousness to the upright in heart.

And so He says, continue this, God. And you notice here that He uses the word Yours.

Yours is this, Father, or God. Yours is that. This is what Yours in Jesus Christ concludes the prayer that we show everything is made possible as a result of God. And the Father, of course, is the one that makes that possible. You know, Yours is the kingdom. Without God, there will be no kingdom. Yours is the power. Without the power of God, it cannot happen.

And Yours is the glory. In other words, that God will be glorified. Let Him, brethren, be glorified in our own personal lives. So, brethren, we can enhance our prayers, and we can enhance our study. And as we study the Scriptures about the prayers of the saints, as we study through the Psalms, and we note those examples which might be comparable to the problems that we may be having that might be reflective of your heart and how you want to express your praise to God, how you want to talk to God. Again, the book of Psalms has many prayers which can help us do that, and prayers are throughout the Bible that you can study. So, there are many places. Psalms is not the only place. The book of Daniel contains a number of prayers that we ought to be studying and going through so that we can learn to pray and be mature so that our prayers ascend before God because they're beautiful prayers. They're heartfelt prayers. They're sincere prayers. And, brethren, if they are, and we thought them through when we talk to God, our prayers are going to ascend. They're going to waft on up to God's throne, and they're going to be a sweet-smelling incense in the nostrils of God. Now, that's the goal of our prayers, that our prayers be acceptable to God. And if we do those things that are pleasing in our sight, in the sight of God, then God will bless us. He will bless us abundantly. So, brethren, let's look at prayer from this point of view. Let's understand it from this point of view, and let's enhance our prayers so that our prayers are like the sweet-smelling incense going before our great God in heaven.