Prayer-Centered

Introduction

The start of the new year is a natural place for introspection. The Paul today would tell the twelve year old Paul to cling to Lord and not be paralyzed by fear. Much of my life has been spent in fear of the scenarios that play themselves out in my head. I imagine the worst possible scenario and then I obsess over it, even knowing that it is absurd and there is no basis for that being the likely outcome. This obsessing leads to increased fear and eventually to depression, hopelessness and paralysis.

Over the past several years, this cycle of dealing with fear has led to great consequences in my life. It has created obstacles to accomplishing goals, has led to seasons of being stuck, has driven wedges in my relationships with others, especially my spouse, has led me to compromise my convictions in order to “buy more time” to move on.

If I was to share anything with the twelve year old me, it would be to cling to the Lord in every circumstance. Here at New Hope Petoskey, our mission statement is divided into three characteristics, convictions or actions: Love God, Make Disciples, Engage our Culture. Each conviction is a call to action to respond to the gospel message, Christ in us. Each conviction is designed to be lived out in the other convictions. Because we love God, we are moved and aided in making disciples. Because we make disciples, our heart softens and our feet move in engaging our culture. Because we see the brokenness in our culture and the great need in our world, we are driven into deeper relationship, need and dependence upon the Lord.

With this understanding in mind, we pause and take the first few weeks of the new year to refocus and return to our convictions. If these convictions are the foundation how we are to live our lives in response to the gospel of Christ, it is important to take time for honest introspection and evaluation of where we are in being obedient and holding to our convictions and where there is work still left to be done.

Over the past six months, the elders have taken time to do that exact thing and to have honest hard conversations together about where we are as a church. How have we been faithful over the last 14 years? Where have we seen positive change begin to occur? Where have we seen negligence or a lack of movement? How have we been disobedient? Where is our current approach becoming ineffective? Where can we increase in obedience?

Through these hard conversations, there has been much time spent seeking the Lord through prayer and searching of His Word. Our desire has been to allow the Lord to search our hearts and for our hearts to be softened to His leading. The result of the last six months of reflections has revealed areas of celebration and areas of continued growth. Specifically, as we looked at the culture of our church and our readiness to fulfill or live out our convictions in our mission statement, the Lord revealed to our hearts specific areas of growth and greater dependence that were needed. In response, our desire as the leadership of this body is to begin to intentionally focus on these areas. So for the next three weeks, we will be refocusing on one specific aspect of each conviction of our mission statement. My word of caution before we proceed is to prepare our hearts for what the Lord desires. This time of introspection and refocusing is a waste if the impact and follow-through of these things remains within the one hour worship service. These areas of refocusing are really being introduced here but need to be applied in each of our lives and every aspect of our church life together in order to actually result in growth and change.

Love God: Prayer-Centered

:1-3

Psalm 27:1–3 NIV

The Lord is my light and my salvation— whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life— of whom shall I be afraid? When the wicked advance against me to devour me, it is my enemies and my foes who will stumble and fall. Though an army besiege me, my heart will not fear; though war break out against me, even then I will be confident.

is written by King David. As David opens this psalm, we see the desperation of his situation. David’s rule and reign is marred with strife and catastrophe. He is anointed as king but he has such loyalty to the Lord that he serves faithfully Saul as the appointed king. David puts his life on the line for his king even in the face of daunting odds. David slays tens of thousands all for the kingdom. As the crowds sing his praise, David points the praise back tot he Lord and to King Saul. Even in this, Saul continues to see David as a threat and he actively tries to kill David even going so far as throwing a spear at David’s head while David was playing music to soothe the king’s soul. David is then on the run from Saul for the next five years. When Saul dies, David’s woes are not over. The next thirty years of David’s life is filled with military success but family trials. He sins with Bathsheba and moves quickly from being an adulterer to a murderer. His son rapes his daughter. In response, another of David sons, Absalom, kills the guilty brother, Amnon. Absalom then rebels against his father and David is forced back into exile by his own son. A year later, David retakes the kingdom, but at the cost of Absalom’s life.

David has much to be concerned and worried about in every facet of his life. As he opens this psalm, you can see the struggle on his heart. His desire is to focus on the Lord, it from Him alone that he sees that his salvation lies, but his circumstances and daunting and weighing heavily on his heart. In the face of our circumstances, there must be a shift of our heart from relying on our own strength and seeking our own way out and turning toward the Lord. It is in Him alone that our hope lies. It is Him alone that our salvation finds traction. It is in Him alone that our strength can be found. In the midst of the struggle from the paralysis of our fears and circumstances to clinging more closely to the Lord and increasing our love and dependence upon Him is this proclamation of our hearts, “even then, will I be confident.”

Psalm 27:4–6 NIV

One thing I ask from the Lord, this only do I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze on the beauty of the Lord and to seek him in his temple. For in the day of trouble he will keep me safe in his dwelling; he will hide me in the shelter of his sacred tent and set me high upon a rock. Then my head will be exalted above the enemies who surround me; at his sacred tent I will sacrifice with shouts of joy; I will sing and make music to the Lord.

Psalm 27:4

In all that was before David, his prayer was for the Lord, to be with the Lord. David desires to be in the presence fo the Lord.

Special presence vs. omnipresence. There is a difference between the omnipresence and the special presence fo the Lord. God is everywhere and ever present, but there is a tangible difference between his presence and us actually being in the special presence of the Lord, sitting at His feet. The presence of the Lord that David is seeking here is the special presence of God where in God shows up in such a way that it is abundantly clear that He is big and you are small and you like it. It is the overwhelming overtaking of the heart in knowing that God is in control of every aspect, not just of our situation but of every aspect period, and that we are under His rule and reign. It is the recognition that our dwelling place is in the house of the Lord and that He is our great prize and reward.

David recognizes that the day of trouble is always coming. For many of this, we recognize this as storms or trials that we face. The day of trouble is the bad or tough things that we face in life, but the day of trouble as David sees it, is every situation and moment that takes His eyes off of the Lord. David’s life is a montage of good things gone bad. If the Lord is our prize and reward then the good things of His hand can lead us away from our prize if we chase them. In other words, we will miss God if we chase His blessings.

David sees that in the times of trouble, as we seek the Lord, the Lord responds by keeping us safe, hiding us in His shelter and setting us on high. The presence of the Lord shields us from the full impact of the trouble and transcends our circumstances.

As he places us high on the rock, he also lifts our heads. A lifted head is the posture of victory. Gad has laid down our enemies, Satan and you. In the presence fo the Lord, the cries of the enemy become quiet, the lies of fear lose their traction and hope becomes evident. It is like seeing the glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel.

Being in the presence of the Lord leads us to worship. It leads us to proclamation of the victory. If you have struggled to worship or to have anything to proclaim, it may have more to do with how near you are clinging to the Lord than it has to do with your circumstances.

Being In His Presence

Psalm 27:7–14 NIV

Hear my voice when I call, Lord; be merciful to me and answer me. My heart says of you, “Seek his face!” Your face, Lord, I will seek. Do not hide your face from me, do not turn your servant away in anger; you have been my helper. Do not reject me or forsake me, God my Savior. Though my father and mother forsake me, the Lord will receive me. Teach me your way, Lord; lead me in a straight path because of my oppressors. Do not turn me over to the desire of my foes, for false witnesses rise up against me, spouting malicious accusations. I remain confident of this: I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.

While we can not conjure up the Lord’s special presence, we can position ourselves to sit in it and ask the Lord to come.

This begins with prayer. Prayer is more than just talking to God. Prayer is less about God and more about us. Prayer is the preaching of truth to our hearts. prayer is sitting under the conviction of the Holy Spirit and surrendering our hearts to see God as big and us as small. Prayer is the avenue by which our hearts begin to truly delight in the Lord.

David points us to the victory of God by first leading us to seek the Lord. Cry out to God and believe that he hears you. Seek his face and then tell your heart to not settle for anything less. David privies us to the battle of his heart. He knows that he must seek the Lord, but his heart battles that truth. Will God even care? Will he even hear you? Have you done enough to be worthy of his response? Prayer is our weapon to win this battle and to seek the Lord.

Prayer is the pathway through which the truth of God penetrates the heart. Prayer is the conduit through which His ways become our ways. Prayer is the avenue by which we position ourselves ready to sit in the special presence of the Lord.

Our aim here at New Hope is to come alongside people from all walks of life. People who have been chasing hope in every direction and point them to the one true hope, their salvation, the Lord. Our desire is to equip each and every individual to find security in a new found relationship in God.

This aim is accomplished first and foremost as each one of us surrender to God’s path. As we move from being a people who pray as one of many things that we do to being people who pray before everything that we do, we take the most important stride toward accomplishing our mission by being living testimonies of God at work.