How to Cry Out to God with Confident Prayer
The Most Common Prayer
What do you think is the most common prayer or subject of prayer? Think about how you pray. Do you start with giving thanks and praise to God, or do you begin with a long list of concerns and requests for the Lord?
It's been said the most common prayer is summed up in one word—"Help!" I know this sums up many of my prayers. Even King David's psalms are often poetic prayers for help.
But David always includes other elements in his prayerful songs and poems. He confesses sin, declares his confidence in the Lord, expresses his emotions and fears, and his longing to be in God’s presence.
David was slandered and chased by King Saul, and later by his son Absalom. At other times, he called out for deliverance from situations he brought on himself. But, throughout David's life, as seen in the Psalms, he never lost sight of God. He knew God in a personal and intimate way. He understood God's greatness and nearness.
David’s confidence in God was the foundation for his cries for help and his prayers of contrition. He knew God was sovereign over all people and situations in life. And he knew the Lord would answer him because the Lord answered David’s prayers many times before.
David’s confidence in God—his implicit trust in God—was based on truth and experience. As you read through these selected verses from Psalm 86, look for the ways David expresses his trust in the Lord connected to his cries for help.
Scripture
A prayer by David.
Turn your ear toward me, O Lord. Answer me, because I am oppressed and needy.
You, O Lord, are good and forgiving, full of mercy toward everyone who calls out to you.
Open your ears to my prayer, O Lord. Pay attention when I plead for mercy.
When I am in trouble, I call out to you because you answer me. [vss 1, 5-7]
No god is like you, O Lord. No one can do what you do.
All the nations that you have made will bow in your presence, O Lord. They will honor you.
Indeed, you are great, a worker of miracles. You alone are God.
Teach me your way, O Lord, so that I may live in your truth.
Focus my heart on fearing you.
I will give thanks to you with all my heart, O Lord my God.
I will honor you forever because your mercy toward me is great.
You have rescued me from the depths of hell. [vss 8-13]
O God, arrogant people attack me, and a mob of ruthless people seeks my life.
They think nothing of you.
But you, O Lord, are a compassionate and merciful God.
You are patient, always faithful and ready to forgive.
You, O Lord, have helped me and comforted me. [vss 14-15, 17c]
(Psalm 86:1, 5-15, 17 GW) [Context– Psalm 86]
Reflections and Insights
David begins this prayerful psalm with eight specific pleas in the first seven verses. Entwined with these cries for God’s help are confessions of David’s trust in the Lord. He then makes declarations of God’s sovereignty tied to his request for the Lord’s guidance. David completes his prayer with confidence in who God is and that the Lord will answer his cry for help.
Consider David's proclamations to the Lord — "You, O Lord, are good and forgiving... No god is like you, O Lord ... You alone are God... But you, O Lord, are a compassionate and merciful God. You are patient, always faithful and ready to forgive. " (vss 5, 8, 10, 15)
David's pleas for help include a sense of confidence that God not only hears but will answer him. He also acknowledges his need to draw closer to the Lord and learn His ways.
This psalm is an honest prayer of David's heart. It's not intended to be instructional, and yet it is by example. If you read through this psalm and reflect on King David's personal heart dialog with the Lord, you can gain insights into dynamic, interactive prayer.
Have you grown close enough in your relationship with God to pray honestly yet confidently? Read this psalm in different Bible versions several times and hear King David's confident heart cry to God.
Reflection—
Honest questions can lead us to search our hearts with the Lord’s help. Honest prayer and reflection can lead to a willingness to change. When we understand what needs to change and consciously move towards making it, we need to rely on the Lord’s help.
Prayer Focus—
Be honest with God in prayer and be open to God’s Spirit working in your life when you pursue significant change in your life. When you begin to pray, reflect on how the Lord has answered your prayers before and give thanks to Him and praise Him with confidence in Him.
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