Psalm 92:1 – “It is good to praise the Lord and make music to your name, O Most High, to proclaim your love in the morning and your faithfulness at night.”
“Prayer is the slender nerve that moves the muscles of Almighty God.” ~ Spurgeon. In a sermon on prayer today at Frinton-On-The-Sea, the pastor made three points. 1. Prayer is listening. Prayer is always a response to God’s initiative. 2. Prayer is learning from God. He wants us to be his friends, and to be privy to his heart and thoughts. 3. Prayer is longing for God, for him to reveal his character, his greatness, his righteousness and his salvation. (January 10, 1988)
Psalm 94:12-13 – “Blessed is the man whom you discipline, O Lord, and whom you teach out of your law, to give him rest from days of trouble.”
A man came to the church yesterday asking for financial help. As I dug around a bit, it turned out that he recently lost money gambling that had been set aside for a security deposit on a new place to live. I shared with him that we had no money to give, but what we had to give was far more valuable: a Lord above him and a community around him who would teach him and model for him a way of living within the laws of God. A way of living which – as he learned it – would give him ‘rest from days of trouble.’ God’s laws are not for extra credit. “Teach them to obey everything I have commanded you,” Jesus said. Obeying those laws doesn’t save us, but it sure makes life go a whole lot easier. (November 21, 2015)