Psalm 145:18 - God Comes Near With Unique Blessings As We Pray.
Psa 145:18; God Comes Near With Unique Blessings As We Pray.
Psa 145:18 (KJV) The LORD is nigh unto all them that call upon
him, to all that call upon him in truth.
Psalm 145:18 (AMP) The Lord is near to all who call upon Him, to
all who call upon Him sincerely and in truth.
Psa 145:18 (CWR) He comes close to those who call on Him in
truth, who seek Him with all their hearts.
The study of God's word reveals God's majestic personal
characteristics: greatness, majesty, power, goodness, righteousness, grace,
compassion, loving, glory, splendor, faithfulness, presence, giving, saving,
holy. His character leads us to praise. [Disciple SB mod]
We might name it, "Praising God from A through Z," as each
letter brings to mind a different reason to praise the LORD. [The
365-Day Devotional Commentary]
If we keep the Lord ever before us, allowing our hearts to go
out in thanksgiving and praise to Him, we shall have a continual
freshness in our religious life. Our prayers will take the form of a
conversation with God as we would talk with a friend. He will speak His
mysteries to us personally. Often there will come to us a sweet, joyful
sense of the presence of Jesus. {FLB 225.7}
Prayer is the breath of the soul. It is the secret of spiritual
power. No other means of grace can be substituted, and the health of
the soul be preserved. Prayer brings the heart into immediate
contact with the Well-spring of life, and strengthens the sinew and
muscle of the religious experience. Neglect the exercise of prayer, or
engage in prayer spasmodically, now and then, as seems convenient, and
you lose your hold on God. The spiritual faculties lose their
vitality, the religious experience lacks health and vigor. {GW 254.4}
Jeremiah 33:3 (NIV) 'Call to me and I will answer you and tell
you great and unsearchable things you do not know.'
God is ready to answer our prayers, but we must ask for his
assistance. Surely God could take care of our needs without our asking. But
when we ask, we are acknowledging that he alone is God and that we
cannot accomplish in our own strength all that is his domain to do.
When we ask, we must humble ourselves, lay aside our willfulness and
worry, and determine to obey him. [Life Application SB]
Now, there are reserved and special things in Christian
experience: all the developments of spiritual life are not alike easy of
attainment. There are the common frames and feelings of repentance, and
faith, and joy, and hope, which are enjoyed by the entire family; but
there is an upper realm of rapture, of communion, and conscious union
with Christ, which is far from being the common dwelling-place of
believers. We have not all the high privilege of John, to lean upon Jesus'
bosom; nor of Paul, to be caught up into the third heaven. There are
heights in experimental knowledge of the things of God which the eagle's
eye of acumen and philosophic thought hath never seen: God alone can
bear us there; but the chariot in which he takes us up, and the fiery
steeds with which that chariot is dragged, are prevailing prayers.
Prevailing prayer is victorious over the God of mercy, "By his strength he
had power with God: yea, he had power over the angel, and prevailed:
he wept, and made supplication unto him: he found him in Beth-el,
and there he spake with us." Prevailing prayer takes the Christian
to Carmel, and enables him to cover heaven with clouds of blessing,
and earth with floods of mercy. Prevailing prayer bears the
Christian aloft to Pisgah, and shows him the inheritance reserved; it
elevates us to Tabor and transfigures us, till in the likeness of his
Lord, as he is, so are we also in this world. If you would reach to
something higher than ordinary groveling experience, look to the Rock that
is higher than you, and gaze with the eye of faith through the
window of importunate prayer. When you open the window on your side, it
will not be bolted on the other. [Morning and Evening by Charles H.
Spurgeon]
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