Saturday, March 16, 2019

praying effectively: Do Not Harden Our Hearts (Ps.95)

(Psalm 95:1-11)
O come, let us sing for joy to the Lord, let us shout joyfully to the rock of our salvation.Let us come before His presence with thanksgivinglet us shout joyfully to Him with psalms.
For the Lord is a great God and a great King above all gods,
In whose hand are the depths of the earth, the peaks of the mountains are His also.
The sea is His, for it was He who made it, and His hands formed the dry land.
Come, let us worship and bow down, let us kneel before the Lord our Maker.
For He is our God, and we are the people of His pasture and the sheep of His hand. Today, if you would hear His voice,
Do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah, as in the day of Massah in the wilderness,
“When your fathers tested Me, they tried Me, though they had seen My work.
10 “For forty years I loathed that generation, and said they are a people who err in their heart, and they do not know My ways.
11 “Therefore I swore in My anger, truly they shall not enter into My rest.”
Reminder:  "praying effectively" involves knowing God's will.  When we pray in His will (in His name), He may choose to not answer those prayers in the time period that we would like, or HOW we would like - but He will answer those prayers!

It is God's will:
- that we come before the Lord (95:6)
- that we gather together (95:2)
- that when we gather together, it is with thanksgiving (95:2)
- that we kneel and bow down humbly before the Lord, paying homage only to Him (95:6)
- that we worship the Lord (95:6)
- that we sing for joy (95:1)
- that we shout joyfully to the Lord of our salvation (95:1)
- that we shout joyfully about the Lord of our salvation (95:2)
- that we do not harden our hearts (95:8)

Today's prayer:

Dear Lord Jesus, thank You for saving me!!!  I do not want to take You for granted!!!  I do not want to forget how great You are!!!  And I certainly do not want to harden my heart towards Your great wisdom and guidance!!!  I want You to be first priority in my life.

You deserve my utmost devotion.  You have given me true joy, and I should be beyond thankful.  I should desire to sing and shout out Your good news!  Keep filling my heart with Your love so that it will spill out to those around me.  Thank You so much for Your love and Your joy.  Amen.

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