Most of us eat every day, some of us too much, because yesterday's
food is not enough to supply energy for today's needs. Why then, do
some of us expect yesterday's portion of heavenly manna, the word of God to
keep us through today's challenges. On this program, we are going to change
all of that. Let's experience God's words today and receive the power we need
to live healthy, vibrant lives. Welcome to your Daily Portion with your host,
author speaker, Elle David Harris. Good morning, good morning, good
morning. It is Wednesday, January three, twenty twenty three. No,
it's twenty four. Hello. My name is El David Harris. I am
your host, and this is your Daily Portion where we give you God's word
every single day, and today is no exception. We are continuing in our
new lesson study series through the Book of Psalms, and our caption for today
is inspired Prayers. Let me just say that I always have a challenge.
If you've been with me since about twenty seventeen, you see, every time
the year changes, I mix it up and I get the date wrong,
like what year is it? Anyway, I am so thankful that you are
patient with me it is my brain, not my heart. And yes,
so please go over when you have an opportunity to your Daily Portion dot com
join our online community. Also pick up the Your Daily Portion book and let
me know where you are in the world at your Daily Portion dot Com.
That is a way that we continue excuse me to build faith and fellowship.
Let's go ahead and pray, and then we will get underway. Father and
Heaven. Thank you for giving us this new day and the blessing of this
new year. Thank you for giving us a window into the mindset of people
who have surrendered to You, and the fact that we can look about prayers
in the scriptures. Please make us holy in Jesus name, I pray,
Amen and a man again inspired prayers. Now we could say prayers like the
activity of prayer when we open up our hearts to God as to a friend.
Or it could be prayers like people who pray. Something to think about.
Let's begin from the book of Second Samuel, chapter twenty three as we
begin our discussion today, verses one and two Second Samuel, chapter twenty three,
and I will read verses one and two the Bible reads. Now these
be the last words of David David, the son of Jesse, said,
and the man who was raised up on high, the anointed of God,
of Jacob and the sweet Psalmist of Israel said, the Spirit of the Lord
spake unto me, and his word was in my tongue. His word was
in my tongue. One of the things that we need to understand about prayer
is, like I said a little bit earlier, it is a connection.
It is a dialogue between us and God. I said, diea log,
not monolog And so when the Spirit of God spoke, he spoke to David.
So if the spirit of God is speaking to David, and David's lifestyle
is one as a person who walks with God, who speaks to God as
to a friend, then that means it's a two way street. You see
where this is going. And so, as a young man said to a
congregation of people many years ago, I was there at the Sligo Church in
Tacoma Park, Maryland, and the young man said that there were so many
of us who when we pray, we say, and I want the people
who are listening on the radio and on podcasts to imagine the visuals Lord speak
to me. And then okay, and so in the silence that you heard
there, I started to cover my two ears with my hands. Speak to
me, Lord. And yet my posture, my attitude, my lifestyle,
God forbid, is covering my ears. And so what God is saying to
us here in this brother's story is that we need to understand prayer as a
divine and human dialogue. Let's read from the Book of Romans, the Book
of Romans, chapter eight, verses twenty six and twenty seven, and the
Bible reads likewise, the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities, for we know not
what we should pray for as we ought. But the Holy Spirit himself maketh
intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. And he that searcheth the
hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession of
the saint for the saints, according to the will of God. And so
the Bible is teaching us that even though it's a divine and human dialogue,
the human side is broken. Have you ever felt like you didn't know what
to say to God? Or maybe you feel like you do know what to
say to God, but you're not able to really hear or experience and understand
what he is saying to you, or maybe you believe and know that you're
saying what you think is the right thing, and then you wonder later like
maybe maybe I should I should tweak my prayers. The fact is that no
matter where we come down in this discussion, we literally don't know what to
pray for. But the thing that is so sweet about this is even though
that is our reality, or since that is our reality, God has not
left us alone. He has positioned us with the Holy Spirit, who is
making all of this makes sense, all of it, Matt, because he
knows the will of God our Father. Like Jesus Christ, the Son has
given everything he is, all of heaven and one gift in order for our
prayers to be accepted. Like he is that sweet smelling savor that when the
prayers of the saints as send to God our Father, that those prayers become
meaningful because He is our righteousness. And so the Holy Spirit has not left
us alone to come up with the perfect right words. Of course, we
do our best. We're not trying to be disrespectful, right, but when
we pray, we need to know that the Holy Spirit is doing something very
special in order for us to have the things that matter to God, that
glorify God and edify us. So recognize the role of the Holy Spirit in
prayer. Oh, the Bible teaches us that the Holy Spirit intercedes on our
behalf even when we struggle to find the right words in prayer. The Bible
also teaches us in the Psalms to pray in all circumstances. In another place,
it says, in everything give thanks. It is the will of God
concerning us. Right. So when we're giving thanks, we're speaking to God.
We're opening up our hearts and our minds and our mouths sometimes in praise
and in conversation with God as to a friend. And so we know that
in that moment, God inhabits the praises of his people. He inhabits the
praises. So we have the presence of God in our situations. And when
we pray in all circumstances, yes, we have the presence of God in
all of our circumstances. Also, we can use the Psalms as a model
for our prayers. Since Jesus himself quoted the Psalms, we can use them
as a model for our own prayers. Learning how to express our feelings,
our desire, and our needs to God. When we have needs, also
find universal expression of the human experience. The psalms cross cultural, religious,
and ethnic boundaries, providing a universal language for expressing human experiences to God in
prayer. You see, we're more alike than we are different. We are
more alike than we are different. Sometimes people get that confused when God says
that his word is going to go to every nation, kindred tongue, tribe
and people. It is because we are more alike than we are different.
We all have the same needs. We have a need to eat and to
drink. We have a need to rest. We need relationship, We need
to belong, we need to transcend in the sense that we need a connection
with our creator God. We all are more alike than we are and so
I thank God that we can find these expressions. No matter what the languages
were that the Bible was written in, no matter what cultures that the scriptures
covered, we are more alike than we are different. You know another way
that we are alike. We all have need for a savior, huh,
not us savior Jesus Christ, the one True and Living Son of God.
We are thankful that He has given us everything so that we can be saved,
and that we are also alike in the sense that God loved us so
much that he gave us again heaven, all of heaven in one gift,
so much we can learn from these and sprited prayers and pray IRGs in scripture.
Have a wonderful day, Peep, thanks for joining us listening. Friends.
Always remember we cannot live by bread alone, but by every word that
comes from the mouth of God. This has been your daily portion with El
David Harris. Make it a great day. Yeah,