Your closeness to God (fellowship) will be in direct proportion to the amount of time you put into it. It’s no secret that if you want to please God you must read and study the Bible so that you gain knowledge, understanding and wisdom. To please God you also must intentionally seek him out to know all you can about God. The Bible is the primary revelation of God. In order to please God you must talk to him in prayer. Remember I said earlier that God talks to us through his word and we talk to God through prayer. It’s called two-way communication. We must talk with God regularly in order to achieve the closeness with God that we all desire. It’s up to us to initiate the communication that leads to true fellowship with God because God is always ready to hear from us.
Deuteronomy 7:9 – Therefore know that the Lord your God, He is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and mercy for a thousand generations with those who love Him and keep His commandments.
Deuteronomy 33:27 – The eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms.
Hebrews 11:6 – But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.
God is on his throne in heaven patiently waiting and hoping to hear from us, his beloved children. God has taken the first step by revealing himself in his word and telling us how to contact the Lord. Now we must act. We’ll never truly know how much God loves us until we get to heaven and every single person in heaven will regret they didn’t talk to God more while they here on earth. One other thing I’ve noticed about God is he loves a believer who comes to him with a contrite and humble heart. A prideful person is an abomination to the Lord. Human beings tend to love themselves and be full of pride. We must all fight against our prideful nature by focusing on the goodness and greatness of God instead of ourselves. It’s all a matter of perspective and attitude. Get your head on straight before going before the Lord in prayer; remember where you are; and don’t forget your audience is before your King and creator of the universe.
1 Timothy 2:8 – I desire therefore that men pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting.
James 1:5 – If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.
James 5:16 – The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.
I personally need to be more disciplined in my reading of God’s Word. I think we all do. It’s the rare Christian that has the discipline and willpower to read and study God’s Word daily the way it should be done. We know how, we just don’t have the wherewithal to make it happen. Prayer is a different animal. While we still don’t have the discipline to achieve an active prayer life, the main problem there is most of us don’t know how to pray effectively to God. Most of us pray to God briefly at bedtime and call it good; me included. I pray to God at other times too but it’s sporadic and usually also brief. We should at least be praying lengthy prayers to God four times a day; in the morning, at noon, in the evening and at bedtime. Not to mention brief prayers with God at other times during the day. Everyone is in such a hurry these days that few people take the quality time needed to speak to the Lord in prayer. I’m guilty of this too and I don’t have an excuse because I’m retired.
There are five types of prayers to God that I’ve identified from reading the Bible:
1. Prayers thanking God – Every day we should offer up our praise and worship of God in prayer for his love, mercy and grace unto salvation through faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. God made us all and we have our being by the power of God’s hand. God watches over his own and he numbers the believer’s steps. During prayer we should acknowledge our trust in the Lord and thank him for all the blessings in our life.
Psalm 34:1 – I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth.
Psalm 105:1 – Oh, give thanks to the Lord! Call upon His name; make known His deeds among the peoples!
Psalm 106:1 – Praise the Lord! Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever.
Psalm 112:1 – Praise the Lord! Blessed is the man who fears the Lord, who delights greatly in His commandments.
Hebrews 13:15 – Therefore by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name.
2. Prayers of confession – Believers still have a sin nature and we sin every day. We can’t help it. We may sin less than we used to but everyone still sins while they live on this earth. That’s why each of us needs to confess those sins to God daily and ask for his forgiveness. We’re in luck, because in the Bible God has promised us that when we confess our sins before him they will be forgiven. Our eternal life in heaven is secure once we’re saved but the quicker we off-load our accumulated sins to God the better. There is no sin so grievous that it can’t be covered by God’s grace. In the Bible God says he’ll forgive our sins if we ask him. If you’ll notice, God didn’t put any limits, exemptions or qualifiers on which sins he would forgive. God meant all sins. God is our King and master of the universe and whatever he decides to do will stand. With God nothing is impossible. If God forgives you are forgiven indeed!
1 John 1:9 – If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Psalm 34:15 – The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and His ear open to their cry.
James 5:16 – The effective and fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.
3. Prayers for help – Most of the prayers to God from his saints are because they want something from God. The Bible tells us repeatedly to come to God for help with whatever our needs are and God will give to us generously. God is not a blank check or slot machine but God gives us what we need. God will always give us the guidance, instruction and understanding we need to prosper if we ask him.
Philippians 4:6 – Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.
Colossians 4:2 – Continue earnestly in prayer, being vigilant in it with thanksgiving.
James 4:2 – Yet you do not have because you do not ask.
4. Prayers for protection – Satan and his demons are more powerful than we are and they are intent on our destruction. God is our refuge. Only God can protect us from evil and he has promised to do so in many verses of the Bible. We need to claim that promise from God through daily prayer and Bible reading and put ourselves under the protective hand of Almighty God. We also need to pray to God for protection against evil men and any other harmful thing.
Psalm 50:15 – Call upon Me in the day of trouble: I will deliver you, and you shall glorify Me.
Hebrews 4:16 – Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
James 5:15 – And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.
5. Prayers of rejoicing – Prayers made to God simply to declare and rejoice in the goodness of God are rare as hen’s teeth today, especially for Christians. During their worship of God the Israelites expressed their joy and awe of God’s love through their many psalms and prayers of rejoicing. It wouldn’t hurt if we now and then worshipped God with prayers of rejoicing when we feel specially blessed by the Lord. Your children are a gift from God. Did you send God a prayer of rejoicing when your children were born safe and sound? Me neither, and looking back I should have. At the time I didn’t know I could have or should have, but now I do and you do too. All grandparents should also send prayers of rejoicing to God for their grandchildren. The Bible says the glory of an old man is his children’s children.
Romans 12:12 – Rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing steadfastly in prayer.
Philippians 4:4 – Rejoice in the Lord always, again I will say, rejoice!
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 – Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
In the Bible there are many Godly men whom God loved; Abraham, Peter, John and Paul to name a few. However, there is only one person in all the Bible that God identified as, “a man after my own heart”, and that is King David. Why is that? I believe a humble man is a man after God’s own heart. In the Old Testament the two men closest to God were David and Moses. God called them his friends. Why is that? Both men were noted in the Bible to be humble men before their God. Their humility allowed them to see the majesty of God so they obeyed God without reservation and sought his mercy early when they sinned before God. We know that David developed a close relationship with God as a youth which continued until the day he died as a very old man.
1 John 3:22 – And whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His sight.
All his life David obeyed the Lord in all he did, with the two exceptions being his sin with Bathsheba and when he ordered the census of Israel. When David did sin before God he humbled himself immediately and asked for mercy, which God granted. David was a man of passion and he showed that emotion in his prayers to God. David was a humble man with a passion and love for the Lord who sincerely sought God’s mercy when he sinned. To me David’s prayers to God are masterpieces of literature; like Psalm 51 where David is asking for mercy from God after he sinned with Bathsheba. All believers are familiar with David’s 23rd Psalm, the best known verses in the entire Bible.
Mark 11:24 – (Jesus speaking) – Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask for when you pray, believing that you receive them, and you will have them.
James 4:2 – Yet you do not have because you do not ask.
James 4:8 – Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands , you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
Of all the godly men in the Bible, King David gave us the best prayers to God because they were heartfelt and full of emotion as he humbled himself before Almighty God. The book of Psalms contains many of David’s prayers to God and I especially like Psalm 86, which I think believers can adopt and repeat in their own prayer life to receive similar blessings from God that King David received when he prayed that psalm to God. All you have to do is believe you will receive what you ask for and then keep praying for it, even if it takes twenty years. Always pray for the things God tells you to pray for like strength, wisdom, laborers for God’s harvest field, the peace of God, others and, of course, Jerusalem.
Ephesians 6:18 – Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints.
If you consciously pray for things that are also consistent with God’s will for your life you can rest assured your prayers will be answered to your satisfaction. We know King David came from humble beginnings as a shepherd. We know in the Old Testament times that only a select few men were ever indwelt by the Holy Spirit, and then only for a limited time. Before Jesus’ time I know of only two men from the Bible who were indwelt by the Holy Spirit their whole lives; that being King David and John the Baptist. The Holy Spirit helps us with our prayers which might explain why King David was so eloquent in prayer. All believers after the ascension of Christ and Pentecost are indwelt by the Holy Spirit while they live. We can pray for the Holy Spirit to help us with our prayers to God so they are more effective. We do not have God’s help because we do not ask for it. Let’s look at Psalm 86, which is wonderful prayer to God from King David.
Psalm 86:1-5 – Bow down Your ear, O Lord, hear me; for I am poor and needy. Preserve my life, for I am holy; You are my God; be merciful to me, O Lord, for I cry to You all day long. Rejoice the soul of Your servant, for to You, O Lord, I lift up my soul. For You, Lord, are good, and ready to forgive, and abundant in mercy to all those who call upon You.
These first few verses of Psalm 86 tell me David knows and understands exactly who God is better than any other human being living in Old Testament times. David knows what God can do and what God is prepared to do for those who ask for his favor. David also knows believers are holy because we were made by God in his image. God is holy therefore we are holy. David understands God’s awesome power and God’s basic goodness and his desire to dispense mercy to his children.
Psalm 86:6-10 – Give ear, O Lord, to my prayer; and attend to the voice of my supplications. In the day of my trouble I will call upon You, for You will answer me. Among the gods there is none like You, O Lord; nor are there any works like Your works. All nations whom You have made shall come and worship before You, O Lord, and shall glorify Your name. For You are great, and do wondrous things; You alone are God.
David knows all the other pagan religions are fake and their gods are false gods without works. David knows God answers the prayers of believers. David knows all nations will kneel before God on the last Day and worship him. David was the King of Israel but also a prophet of God in his own right. All believers will know David forever because in the millennial kingdom ruled by Jesus Christ David will serve as the Lord’s deputy.
Psalm 86:11-15 – Teach me Your way, O Lord; I will walk in Your truth; untie my heart to fear Your name. I will praise You, O Lord my God, with all my heart, and I will glorify Your name forevermore. For great is Your mercy toward me, and You have delivered my soul from the depths of Sheol. O God, the proud have risen against me, and a mob of violent men have sought my life, and have not set You before them. But You, O Lord, are a God full of compassion, and gracious, longsuffering and abundant in mercy and truth.
David obeys God’s statutes while offering praise, honor and glory to God. David knows God has saved his eternal soul from hell and he will now live in heaven with God forever. David lists some of the wonderful attributes of Almighty God.
Psalm 86:16-17 – Oh, turn to me, and have mercy on me! Give Your strength to Your servant, and save the son of Your maidservant. Show me a sign for good, that those who hate me may see it and be ashamed, because You, Lord, have helped me and comforted me.
David asks for God’s saving grace. David asks for comfort and strength from God. While David does ask things of God in Psalm 86, the thing that stands out to me is how many times David honors God with is lips by using God’s name; how many times David offers praise to God; and how many times David has words of worship to God. David tries to cover all the bases in his prayer to make sure God is glorified to the greatest extent possible. In Psalm 86 David gives us a great example to follow when praying to God. When any believer enters the spiritual world through prayer he winds up in the throne room of heaven before Almighty God. Every prayer to God must start with praise of God and recognition that a Sovereign God can fulfill that prayer if he so chooses. You never want to cut to the chase when you pray to God and bypass the prayer protocol of heaven if you expect to have those prayers answered. There’s nothing wrong with borrowing David’s Psalm 86 and reciting it as your own prayer to God as long as you believe it.
Romans 8:26 – Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.