PRAYER BRINGS CHANGE

PRAYER - "For Thy Sake We Are Killed"

David was smothering in negativity. He remembered old stories - how God miraculously brought Israel from Egypt into the promised land, but lamented their present defeats and woes. He confessed his confusion about why things were so bad. "For thy sake are we killed all the day long." But you should never fall out with God over a few bad days. In the long tale, God always intervenes for His people. Prayer brings change. 

Psalms 44:24,26 - "Wherefore hidest thou thy face, and forgettest our affliction and our oppression? ...Arise for our help, and redeem us for thy mercies' sake."

PRINCIPALS - "David Celebrates King Jesus"

"My heart is inditing a good matter," David exclaimed. Inditing means gushing or bubbling forth. He proceeded to celebrate the King. But WHAT king is he celebrating? Not himself - the verses do not fit. Some say he was celebrating his son, Solomon. Perhaps. But verses 6-7 can only refer to the Son of Man, Messiah, Jesus Christ.

Psalms 45:6 - "Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: the sceptre of thy kingdom is a right sceptre. Thou lovest righteousness, and hatest wickedness: therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows."

PRINCIPLES - "Selah - Pause And Think About It"

Over seventy times, a psalm ends with the word "Selah." It means "pause and think about it." Every divine truth deserves a "selah." "Selah" occured three times in Psalm 46, each time following an assertion that God is our refuge. Some think this psalm was written while Israel was under siege. When you feel you are under siege, take refuge in God. Selah.

Psalm 46: 1-2 - "God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea."

PROPHECIES - "There Is A River"

No river flows through Jerusalem presently. But the prophets David, Isaiah (66:12), Ezekiel (47) and Zechariah (14:8), say a river will flow from the threshold of the temple in Jerusalem and divide eastward to the Dead Sea and westward to the Mediterranean. It also symbolizes the peace and rest that will characterize the reign of Messiah, Jesus Christ, as He rules over all the earth from Jerusalem for 1000 years.

Psalms 46:4 - "There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the most High."