The Lord Helps His People

Posted byJim SimoneauPosted inUncategorized

Day 38:  Psalms 20:1-4

            Psalm 20:1 May the Lord answer you in the day of trouble. May the name of the God of Jacob defend you. 

            First and foremost, You have answered Your Son as He called to you. And by grace You hear all those who come to You through Your Son. In Jesus Christ You bring the ultimate deliverance to all those who call on Your Name!

Lord, You have answered me repeatedly in times of trouble. You have delivered me from myself, from evil actions, and evil persons, from the world, the flesh, and the devil both in the ultimate promise of eternal life and in my personal experience again and again.

            O God, as You have delivered me, so deliver my family, my friends, my church, and my fellow believers.

            Lord, You delivered Jacob – Jacob the supplanter, Jacob the rascal — not because he was Jacob, but because You are God.

            O Lord, You have promised to care for Your people in spite of our failings. You are our God forever and ever. 

            Psalm 20:2a May God send you help from the sanctuary.

            You have sent so much help to Your children. You have sent Your angels – Your ministering spirits. You sent Your servants the prophets with Your own message. You have sent so many gifts in creation. And the greatest help was given when You sent Your only Son.

Out of the ivory palaces

Into a world of woe,

Only His great eternal love

Made our Savior go.

(Ivory Palaces, Henry Barraclough, 1915)

When Christ ascended to heaven’s throne, triumphing over sin and death, Jesus then sent His Holy Spirit for all who believe and know Christ. You sent us help, Praise be to Your name!

            Psalm 20:2b-3 May He strengthen you out of Zion – Our help is in the Lord. May He remember all your offerings and accept your burnt sacrifice.

             Ultimately,Jesus is our strength and our sacrifice. Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. 8 Let us therefore celebrate the festival (I Cor 5: 7b, 8a). You accept us in Your only begotten Son.  Praise be to the Lord! Amen. Christ has paid the way for us!

Help me to love spending time with You from a grateful heart. Lord, help me remember and love the gospel of Jesus Christ. Lord, You have loved me with an everlasting love (Jer 31:3).  Help me to love You more perfectly. Help me love to pray to You. Help me love to spend time with You.

            You are beauty, perfection, and glory. You are everything good, honorable, and true. You are all I need.

            Fill me with Your Holy Spirit and help me love You with all that I am and more. Purify me.  Cause me to delight in You. Help my life, the life of my family, the staff of my church, its leaders, and Your church throughout this city radiate Your perfect love, joy, peace, goodness, faithfulness, self-control, and the rest of the fruit of the Spirit.

            Help us love with Your agape love. Lord, we can only love You because You have first loved us. Lord, please show us the way and empower us.

            Forgive us where we have failed to love and follow You. Do not let the evil one overcome us. Help us in no way to be overcome with evil, but in all things to overcome evil with Your good (Rom 12: 21).

            Psalm 20:4 May He grant you according to your heart’s desire and fulfill all your purpose.

            Lord, make our hearts and our desires pure so that we desire You first and foremost. May the intensity of our desire for You put all our other desires in the proper place. Be, O Lord, our chief desire, our foremost and pre-eminent desire. Let our zeal, our longing, our passion, and our love for You be all consuming. May we always seek first the kingdom of God and love You so supremely that whatever desires come next are distant stars far away from the heart of Your solar system.  Control all our God-given desires with the desire for You. If we must sacrifice or restrain our desires for other things, let us do it without complaint or concern. Let us be like Jacob who was willing to work for 7 years for Rachel and it seemed like nothing. Lord, help us to love You so deeply that we could work all our lives for You and it would seem like nothing because of our love of You, because of our overwhelming desire to hear You say, “Well done my good and faithful servant; enter into the joy of the Lord.”

Published by Jim Simoneau

Jesus Christ brought me to Himself at a very early age. I began seeking the Lord and writing prayer journals in my early teens and have continued to grow in my knowledge and experience of prayer. I am still learning and growing in my prayer life and long to help others grow in their prayer lives as well. I am not an expert, but a practitioner who needs God to continue to teach me to pray. Prayer is both simple, yet also profound. It is deep and draws us into the depth of God, but it is also so easy and wondrous that we can cry out to God with "Abba, Father" prayers because of the work of Jesus Christ and His Holy Spirit. Prayer comes from God's heart, works in our hearts, and teaches us to go back to seek God's heart!

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