Growing Through Prayer (A 'Loving God Greatly' Bible Study)
January 14,
2016
Week 1 ~ Day 4
Read: Psalm 145:1-7
SOAP: vs. 1-2
S: “A praise psalm by David: I will exalt you, my Elohim, the Melek/King. I will praise your name forever and
ever.
Every day I will praise you. I will extol your name forever and ever.”
O&A:
Word break-down:
Praise - בָּרַךְ barak: to
invoke (To address in prayer; to
call on for assistance and protection) YHVH, to praise, to celebrate, to adore,
to bless Elohim – which is done on bended knees – to praise, salute à to bless, kneel à as an act of adoration
Exalt - רוּם ruwm: magnify, raise high, exalt; to elevate in
power, dignity; to elevate with joy and/or confidence; to praise (!)
(high and lifted up!)
Forever and ever - עַד `ad עוֹלָם `owlam: evermore,
perpetual, forever, always, everlasting, eternity
What are the things
or who are the people that we find ourselves bowing down before, in worship? What do we lift up in power, praise? What or who do we magnify? This is so convicting for me, because there
have been people and things that I have lifted up in place of Adonai, even if I
thought it was pleasing to Him. This
passage today seems so straight-forward to me at first glance – I see David
repeating his praises to YHVH in verses 1 and 2, and committing himself to
Abba, and saying to our King, “I will do this every day!” How many times have I said, “I need to do
this, Father, I’ll praise you when I’m done.”..? How many times have I tried to fit the Melek
of the Universe into MY schedule???
Sure, I talk with Him while I wash dishes, sweep the floor, fold the
clothes, etc., but that is not the carved-out time that He wishes me to spend
with Him. Oh, Father, forgive me! I know that the days that
begin with Him and end with Him are always more bearable, always more full of
joy, yet I have had times where I pick and choose the when, where, and how when
it comes time to praise Him and commune with him.
Do y’all know that the word barak means to kneel down, as in
adoration? Consider this verse, found in
Genesis 24:48 “I bowed (qadad – bend the neck in deference) my
head, and worshiped (shachah –
prostrate oneself, bow down, submit oneself; honor YHVH with prayers) YHVH/the LORD, and blessed (barak) the LORD, theElohim/God of my master Avraham, who had led me in the right way to take my master's brother's daughter for his son.” (I hope you don't mind that I've linked every word to the scripture to see for yourself the words and their meanings. :) )
In this scripture, I see where we
have probably gotten the template for how we pray now… when someone says,
“Let’s pray”, what do we usually do? As
for me, I automatically close my eyes (to close off all distractions to my eyes;
if our eyes are a gateway, it’s like dropping the guard gate that lets things
into the fortress), drop/bow my head, and usually fold my hands together. So not only am I closing off visual
distractions, but humbling myself before the Melek/King, and submitting myself
to Him. In my private prayers, I like to
either be kneeling down, or I also lay out flat on my exercise mat. Sometimes, though, I sit in my comfy chair,
and sometimes cross-legged on the floor.
In my mind, I see a person kneeling before Abba, head bowed. In medieval times, this would be a position
of swearing fealty (fidelity, faithfulness) to the King. A man would kneel on one knee, head down, and
holding the sword across the palms of both hands, he would offer up his sword
as an act of submission to the King.
That sword most likely had just been used to fight either for or against
the very King who it was being offered to.
It was called ‘swearing fealty’.
They would be bound to be true and
faithful to their lord, and to defend him against all his enemies. I feel like when I gave myself to YHVH in
Yeshua’s name, this is what I did – I swore fealty to THE KING. Yet I have times of not being faithful to
Him. Maybe it’s in the giving of my time
and resources; maybe it’s in exalting a person or ministry above my King, and
then I have to be corrected by my Sovereign, and I give him
my faithfulness again. Because He is a fair
and mighty ruler, he wants to forgive me, and believe me. I praise Him because it is right to do so,
and he is WORTHY!
Last thing, the ‘forever
and ever’, the ‘every day’… this praise, this blessing, this submission is
continual. It’s not meant for one day a
week! It’s not only on Shabbat*, but
EVERY. DAY. For EVER and EVER. Makes me think of Revelation 4:8, “They have no rest day and night, saying, "Holy, holy,
holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy is the Lord God, Shaddai, who was and
who is and who is to come! When the living creatures give glory, honor, and
thanks to him who sits on the throne, to him who lives forever and ever, the
twenty-four Zakenim fall down before him who sits on the throne, and worship
him who lives forever and ever, and throw their crowns before the throne,
saying, "Worthy are you, our Lord and God, the Holy One, to receive the
glory, the honor, and the power, for you created all things, and because of
your desire they existed, and were created!" They never tire of singing His praise! And neither should we.
P:
Father, Adonai, my Lord, my King, my Abba, thank You for this timely
reminder of the importance I must place on my time with you!! There is no one else who desires a set-apart
time with me except for my beloved husband, and sometimes my sons, and my
relationship with you must be that much more!
I desire Your presence, Abba, and to abide in you, and you in me. Father, I pray that YOUR light would shine so
greatly in the lives of my family and the lives of the ladies in this group
that others would be drawn to Your light, and would want to know more of
You. I pray that they, and we, would be
so enveloped in Your word that our every thought, word, and deed would reflect
Your majesty. I pray that we would never
tire of declaring Your glory, Your honor, Your power! Should we grow faint, Abba lift us up as
wings of eagles so that we would run and not grow tired, and we would know that
our strength is in YOU! Teach us the
proper way to come into Your presence chamber, the Holy of Holies, and what is
acceptable to You. I pray that if there
is one who is reading this who has not known the beauty of submitting to You, that they would come to You in
meekness and humbleness, and inquire, and I pray that You would reveal yourself
to them, and that they would come to accept you as their King, and Yeshua as
their Savior. I pray that they would
desire to declare Your word. In Yeshua’s
name, Amein.
*Our family begins Shabbat at sundown Friday evening to sundown Saturday evening, according to the definition of evening and day in Genesis (there was evening and morning, day one, day two, etc.). So the 7th day of the week begins at sundown on Friday evening and concludes sundown on Saturday evening, going into the beginning of the 1st day (Sunday).
No comments:
Post a Comment