The Prayer of a True Believer – دعای یک ایماندار واقعی

ای خداوند طریق خود را به من بیاموز

تا

در راستی تو شالک شوم

دل مرا واحد ساز

تا

از نام تو ترسان باشم

مزامیر ۱۱:۸۶

(Above = Psalm 86:11 in Farsi, or Persian, the language of Iran, parts of Afghanistan)  I preached this in Farsi to a group of about 30 Iranians in early September, 2012)

Psalm 86:11 “O Lord, teach me Your way in order that I may walk in Your truth; make my heart one in order that I may fear Your name.”

– the prayer of a true believer wants to learn God’s way and have his/her heart made one and pure in order to walk in holiness and the fear of the Lord.

Psalm 86

A Prayer of David

David – “a man after God’s own heart” – 1 Samuel 13:14

a. seeks God – Psalm 27:4, 8

b. spends time in God’s word – Ps. 1, 19, 145:3-5 – meditation

in God’s word; worship, prayer

c. Confessed his own sin – Psalm 51, 32, 38

d. Respected Saul’s office

e. Had a servant spirit

f. Faith in God for the glory of God – I Samuel 17 – against Goliath

The Prayer of a True Believer

1. A True Believer realizes his own need, and confesses it in prayer to God.

(verse 1 – poor, needy, weak, afflicted) – Luke 5:32; Romans 5:6-10.  Just as we had to realize we were sinners and helpless and ungodly and that we were “poor in spirit” in order to be saved; so also even after justification the true believer confesses every day His need of grace and power for holiness and help, as he/she is also needy and desperate and poor.  The gospel reminds us of our need for Christ daily to grow.  “Just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, so also now walk in Him . . . ”   Colossians 2:6

2. A True Believer calls out to God in prayer; lifts up his soul to God in prayer.

(verses 3-4 – “I lift up my soul to You”; “all the day”)

all day long

in difficult circumstances

in times of persecution (v. 14-17)

3. A True Believer worships God and reminds himself of God’s character in prayer.

verse 5 – “for You are good” and

You are “ready to forgive”

verse 7 – “You answer prayer”

verse 10 – “You are great and do wondrous deeds”

verse 13 – “You are love and have mercy – your love and mercy to me is great.”

verse 15 – You are merciful and gracious ; you are slow to anger. But you have real just anger against sin – see Romans 5:9; John 3:36; Ephesians 2:1-3; Romans 1:18

Regarding God’s Wrath – Hell is real. (Mark 9:48)  For those who have yet to repent and trust in Christ as Savior and Lord, hell is a reality and justice.

The true Believer Reminds himself of how God has worked in the past – v. 17 – and in payer, reminds God of His past faithfulness.

4. The true believer wants to learn God’s way and sincerely asks God to teach him in order to live holy and fear God and glorify God. (v. 11-12)

Teach me Your way – willingness to learn; submissive, open

“The Way of the Lord” means one must read and study and meditate in God’s word in order to learn the way of the Lord.

A True believer prays that and loves the Bible, the Word, doctrine, learning, sound theology. He doesn’t pray verse 11 and at the same time avoid the Bible. He opens the Bible daily and prays, “teach me Your way O Lord”

“The way of the Lord” is that Jesus is the only way to God – John 14:6

“The way of the Lord” is with the people of God – church – 1 Timothy 3:14-15; Hebrews 10:24-25

“The Way of the Lord” is in accepting the circumstances He puts us in. I Thessalonians 5:18; Ephesians 5:20

purpose – “to walk in truth” – to act and do truth; to apply truth to live and actions, not just knowing truth as head knowledge.

and

to fear Your name – the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge (Proverbs 1:7) beginning of wisdom (9:10 – knowing God, the Holy One; “the fear of the Lord is to hate evil” ( Proverbs 8:13)

to fear and respect God’s name means to treat His name as holy –

We were taught to pray constantly – “May Your name be treated as holy” – Matthew 6:9-10

Prayer: “May Your name be treated as holy O God, and start with me in my heart – may I treat Your name as holy by my thoughts and actions and words and reactions and life.

In other words, to live holy

2 Cor. 7:1 – “Therefore, having these promises, let us cleanse ourselves of all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.”