Wherefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and love unto all the saints, Cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers; That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him: The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power, Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places, Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come: And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all. Eph 1:15-23

When I'm spending time in prayer for various things, and for God's people as a whole, what do I pray for them? The verses above by Paul are the ones I use as inspiration the most. They center on the most important needs and aspects of the believer's walk in this world. To gain a deeper knowledge of the Father, His love for us, and our place in Him, as his child. What we need to be equipped to be able to stand against the evils we face every day. The wisdom we need to make right choices, and the discernment and strength of mind to make them. The power over the evil forces of this world-that only the blood of Jesus Christ can give us. That it is only in His Name, which above every name in heaven and earth, that the devil fears and heeds. That we would know what our place is in the Kingdom of God, and that we are indeed seated in heavenly places in Christ-spiritually, and one day will be in every sense. That we have access to all the benefits Christ won for us on the cross, and can bring them to bear in prayer against every problem and obstacle we may face in this life.
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These truths are what Satan tries to steal from us, and rob us of, by deceiving us, and using every means to bring unbelief, discouragement and render us hopeless. 

If your not receiving answers to your prayers, there's no point in going any further, until you find out why, and restore your relationship with Christ, before you pray for anything else. But, back to the first topic.

In this prayer by Paul to us, the body of Christ-he knew it encompasses every aspect of the believer, and our most important needs. It could take a long teaching to cover it all, but the commentary devotionals bleow will help give some added perspective and understanding.

​It is well to go over the successive links of this golden chain when we are in our secret chamber, appropriating them one by one and asking whether we have received a spirit of wisdom and revelation to know Christ, and whether the eyes of our heart have been enlightened to know the hope, the riches, the glory, and the greatness of His power. In so far as we yield ourselves to the strength of God’s might, He will raise us from the grave of selfishness and cause us to sit with Christ in the place of spiritual life and power.
Notice the emphasis with which the Apostle affirms the supremacy of Christ’s nature, Eph_1:21-22. This is a psalm of ascension. We can almost follow His tracks, as all the evil powers which rule the darkness of this world drop far beneath Him. The ascending Lord is high over all, and if we claim our right as members of His glorified body, we also shall stand above all our spiritual adversaries; and it is easier to descend on an enemy from above him than to seek to assail him from beneath. Notice that Christ needs the Church as much as the head needs the body, because it is through the Church that He fulfills Himself. Ask Him to fill all of you with all of Him.   [F.B. Meyer]

The Apostle desires that the Ephesian Christians may know what is "the exceeding greatness of His power to usward who believe." I can easily imagine that a person who has been wont to speak of the privileges of believers till he has brought himself to think of them as separated by their belief from the rest of human beings—I can easily imagine that such a person will exclaim triumphantly, "See, then, the clause determines the meaning of all that follows. Whatever glory the Apostle, or rather the Spirit of God, may unfold, these are the persons to whom He will unfold it." Even so. I rejoice to think it. And therefore let us consider who these persons were. They were a very small society, aliens from the synagogue, aliens from the Gentile temple, regarded with scorn by those whom they met in the market-place. They were obliged to live much within their own circle. It is to these persons that St. Paul speaks of a fellowship that was quite illimitable. The reward of their faith was that they could not separate themselves from any creature bearing the form of a man. To do so was not to believe in Christ. To believe in Him was to acknowledge One who represented mankind at the right hand of the Father.
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Such a faith as this, carrying them so far above all appearances, contradicting the conclusions of their natural understandings, overcoming the temptations that most beset them, could not be attributed to anything less than a Divine operation on their spirits. The power which raises any man into the largeness and freedom of fellowship with God and with the universe is the power which exalted Christ to the right hand of the majesty on high.

The Resurrection and Ascension are held forth to us as the object of faith. He who wore a crown of thorns was proved to be the Prince of all the kings of the earth. He who had gone down into hell had triumphed over the principalities of hell, making a show of them openly. This St. Paul held to be the true faith of a Christian; hereby it was marked out as different from the faiths that had gone before it or that still struggled with it in the world.

St. Paul, who had thrice suffered stripes; St. Paul, who had hardly escaped from the mob at Ephesus; St. Paul, who was in Nero’s hands at Rome—St. Paul dares to tell these disciples of his that the powers of the world are put under Christ. The confidence with which the Apostles believed that the kingdoms of the world had in very deed been proved to be the kingdoms of our God and of His Christ explains the longing with which they looked forward to the final unveiling of Christ, their zeal to keep the longing alive in their disciples. They could not define the limits of His conquests, who had ascended on high that He might fill everything.

But what is the witness of our constitution in Christ? What is it that lives to prophesy of this ultimate victory? "He has given Him to be Head over all things to His Church, which is His body, the fulness of Him that filleth all in all." All the blessings which individual men have ever received from the Gospel of Jesus Christ can be traced directly to the belief, which our Communion Service expresses, that we dwell in Christ, and that Christ dwells in us; that we are very members incorporate in the body of Him that filleth all in all. Take away that faith, and you do not take away some grand mystical conception of Christianity: you take away all that has made it practical, all that has made it dear to the hearts of sinners and sufferers, all that binds together men of different races, classes, countries, ages.
[F. D. Maurice, Sermons, vol. ii., p. 85]

A Prayer of David. Hear the right, O LORD, attend unto my cry, give ear unto my prayer, that goeth not out of feigned lips. 
​Let my sentence come forth from thy presence;
​let thine eyes behold the things that are equal. Psa 17:1-2

David pours forth to God in this psalm an earnest prayer for deliverance from his inveterate enemies, who were bent on taking away his life. We find in it his opinion of the character of his oppressors, who were obviously persons of consideration and influence, and who were disposed to exercise all the power which their station enabled them to command, to gratify their hatred and malice against him. He affirms his own innocence, and expresses his full conviction that the time would come when the relative conditions of himself and his opponents would be changed. Many persons think, and with some reason, that the psalm was written on the occasion when Saul and his men pursued David in the wilderness of Engedi.”
[Phillips]

The Psalmist is quite sure that he himself is sincere. The verses which follow seem to be a kind of anticipation of the Pharisee’s self-satisfied prayer; but they are nothing of the kind. The reference is not to sinlessness, but to sincerity. The Psalmist does not say, I am a pure man, without a stain upon the heart or hand. He says, I am a sincere man, the general purpose I have had in view is a purpose marked by honesty. He does not represent himself as pure snow in the face of heaven, but as a man whose supreme motive has been a motive of honesty and general truthfulness. Sincerity can appeal to the right. We draw our prayer out of our own character. This suppliant is so sure of his own honesty that he says, Let the whole case be settled honestly. At other times, when he knows there is not a clean spot upon his whole constitution—one sound healthy spot—he falls right down before God and weeps out his soul ill penitence . . . We should be sure of our motive before we invoke the doing of right. It is better for us to invoke the exercise of mercy. Most men will get more from pity than they ever can get from righteousness. [Joseph Parker, D. D.]

1. A sense of truthfulness. He was conscious that there was no discrepancy between his speech and his spirit. The man, unless he feels that he is sincere, will never dare to appeal to heaven for justice. Virtuous sincerity requires that there should be not only an exact correspondence between the speech and spirit, but also between the spirit and eternal realities.

2. A desire for the Divine verdict. “Let my sentence come forth from Thy presence.” The human soul everywhere holds that there is justice at the head of the universe, and that it will sooner or later vindicate the right.

​Going on to verses 3-7:
​Psa 17:3 Thou hast proved mine heart; thou hast visited me in the night; thou hast tried me, and shalt find nothing; I am purposed that my mouth shall not transgress. 
Psa 17:4 Concerning the works of men, by the word of thy lips I have kept me from the paths of the destroyer. 
Psa 17:5 Hold up my goings in thy paths, that my footsteps slip not. 
Psa 17:6 I have called upon thee, for thou wilt hear me, O God: incline thine ear unto me, and hear my speech. 
Psa 17:7 Shew thy marvelous lovingkindness, O thou that savest by thy right hand them which put their trust in thee from those that rise up against them. 
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3. A consciousness of a Divine searching. “Thou hast proved mine heart.” A man may be deeply conscious of his imperfection before God, analyst conscious of his innocence of the charges brought against him by man.

4. A determination to be blameless in his speech. “I am purposed that my mouth shall not transgress.” What he means is, I will utter nothing wrong concerning mine enemies, nothing that can justify their harsh and cruel conduct.

5. An assurance of Divine protection. He was protected from ruin. Protected by God. And protected in connection with his own agency. God’s agency in connection with man’s deliverance neither supersedes the necessity nor interferes with the freedom of human effort.

6. A dread of falling from rectitude. “Hold up my goings in Thy paths”. This means—I am right as far as mine enemies are concerned at present. I am conscious of no wrong. I am anxious to retain my blamelessness. To retain my blamelessness I need Divine help.

7. A confidence that God will attend to his prayer. The meaning is—I have invoked Thee heretofore, and do so still, because I know that Thou wilt hear.

II. Here is a cry for mercy. “Show Thy marvelous loving kindness.” A prayer for protection from enemies. Note the character in which he appeals to God for protection. He appeals to Him as a mighty Savior. The manner in which he desired protection. The enemies from whom he sought protection. The cry for mercy is as deep and universal as that for justice.
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III. Here is a cry for perfection. Three facts deduce from the words.
1. That the death of a good man is an awaking from sleep. There is much spiritual torpor and spiritual dreaming even in the best.
2. In this awaking at death there will be the complete assimilation of the soul to God.
3. In this assimilation will consist the everlasting satisfaction of our nature. There is no satisfaction without this. The spiritual powers will not work harmoniously under the dominion of any other disposition. The conscience will frown upon any other state of mind. The Great One will not bless with His friendship any other state of mind in His creatures. Likeness to God is likeness to His controlling disposition. His controlling disposition is disinterested love, and this is that well which springs up to everlasting life. (Homilist.)

The Source of True Satisfaction
As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied, when
​I awake, with thy likeness. ​Psa 17:15

The vision of God.
​1. “As for me—in righteousness let me behold Thy face.”—Perowne. The knowledge of God—the perception of His goodness, wisdom, beauty. The secret of all our discontents is our misapprehension of the Divine nature, law, government, purpose. If we could see the Throne, and Him that sits thereupon, with unclouded face—for really the cloud is on our face, not on God’s—our soul would be filled with ecstasy. To know that God is all beauty, and His law all love, and His government all wise, and His kingdom and eternity all joy—to know this, is overflowing and everlasting gladness. To have a clear, full vision of Jesus, Who is the brightness of the Father’s glory, is the secret of satisfaction. Observe, it is through righteousness that we gain this vision. “In righteousness let me behold Thy face.” “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.”

2. The likeness of God. “When I awake with Thy likeness.” “When Thy likeness is awakened.”—Horsley. As we become pure we get the clearer vision of God, and as we get the clearer vision of God, the Divine image is inwrought once more in our deepest nature. “We all with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord.” 

​2 Co 3:18  But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.

​“Unlike my God I cannot rest,
For sin is perfect misery:
But stamp Thine image on my breast,
Conform my hallowed soul to Thee.
“Partaker of Thine utmost grace,
My soul would then be satisfied;
As Moses, when he saw Thy face,
And sank into Thine arms and died.”
​[Anonymous]

​As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness. I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness.
“As for me.” “I neither envy nor covet these men's happiness, but partly have and partly hope for a far better.” To behold God's face and to be changed by that vision into his image, so as to partake in his righteousness, this is my noble ambition; and in the prospect of this I cheerfully waive all my present enjoyments. My satisfaction is to come; I do not look for it as yet. I shall sleep awhile, but I shall wake at the sound of the trumpet; wake to everlasting joy, because I arise in thy likeness, O my God and King! Glimpses of glory good men have here below to stay their sacred hunger, but the full feast awaits them in the upper skies. Compared with this deep, ineffable, eternal fulness of delight, the joys of the worldling are as a glowworm to the sun, or the drop of a bucket to the ocean.

We become like those with whom we associate. A man’s ideals mold him. Living with Jesus makes us look like Himself. We are familiar with the work that has been done in restoring old fine paintings. A painting by one of the rare old master painters is found covered with the dust of decades. Time has faded out much of the fine coloring and clearly marked outlines. With great patience and skill it is worked over and over. And something of the original beauty, coming to view again, fully repays the workman for all his pains. The original image in which we were made has been badly obscured and has faded out. But if we give our great Master a chance He will restore it through our eyes. It will take much patience and skill nothing less than Divine. But the original will surely come out more and more till we shall again be like the original, for we shall see Him as He is.
[Note: S. D. Gordon, Quiet Talks on Service, 19.]

Wherefore take unto you the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace;  Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.  Eph 6:13-16

The Apostle compares the struggles of a Christian against the enemies of his soul to the warfare of a soldier against the enemies of his country. What are the spiritual truths, the Christian graces, typified by these outward weapons?
(1) The Christian’s girdle is truth. To be sincere and earnest in our purpose, to have the heart engaged in the work, and the will turned honestly to the love of Christ, is the great security for consistent perseverance in the warfare against His enemies.
(2) The breastplate is righteousness; it is the inwrought righteousness of our Savior.
(3) The feet are shod with the preparation of the Gospel of peace. By preparation seems here meant a foundation or firm footing. Resting on the strong support of the Gospel, the Christian soldier will be ready to meet and to resist all efforts for his destruction.
(4) The Christian’s life is pervaded and defended by faith. The reason why faith is a complete covering and protection to us is that it carries us out of ourselves, and bids us rest our hopes and affections on the Lord Jesus Christ. It teaches us to find in His life an unerring pattern for our conduct, a direct manifestation of God.
(5) As the soldier’s head is guarded by his helmet, so is the Christian’s faith to be completed, his wavering mind stablished, and his faint heart encouraged by salvation.
(6) The sword of offensive warfare is compared to the word of God, with which our Lord Himself drove away the assaults of the great adversary.

"Praying always." As all human life was a campaign against sin, in which Christ, the Captain of our salvation, led His followers to victory, so the prayers of Christians were the watches of sentries by which the camp of the Lord was guarded and all assaults of the enemy repelled.
[G E. L. Cotton, Expository Sermons on the Epistles, vol. ii., p. 332]

​The Girdle of Truth

The breast-plate of righteousness - "What the θωραξ or breast-plate was, see before. The word righteousness, δικαισυνη, we have often had occasion to note, is a word of very extensive import: it signifies the principle of righteousness; it signifies the practice of righteousness, or living a holy life; it signifies God’s method of justifying sinners; and it signifies justification itself. Here it may imply a consciousness of justification through the blood of the cross; the principle of righteousness or true holiness implanted in the heart; and a holy life, a life regulated according to the testimonies of God. As the breast-plate defends the heart and lungs, and all those vital functionaries that are contained in what is called the region of the thorax; so this righteousness, this life of God in the soul of man, defends every thing on which the man’s spiritual existence depends. While he possesses this principle, and acts from it, his spiritual and eternal life is secure."  [Adam Clarke]

​Having your loins girt about - "That ye may be ready for every motion. With truth - Not only with the truths of the gospel, but with "truth in the inward parts;" for without this all our knowledge of divine truth will prove but a poor girdle "in the evil day." So our Lord is described, Isa 11:5. And as a girded man is always ready to go on, so this seems to intimate an obedient heart, a ready will. Our Lord adds to the loins girded, the lights burning, Luk 12:35; showing that watching and ready obedience are the inseparable companions of faith and love. And having on the breastplate of righteousness - The righteousness of a spotless purity, in which Christ will present us faultless before God, through the merit of his own blood. With this breastplate our Lord is described, Isa 59:17. In the breast is the seat of conscience, which is guarded by righteousness. No armor for the back is mentioned. We are always to face our enemies."  [John Wesley]

"It is a noble thing for a man, with a chastened ambition, restrained within due bounds by a wise reason, to aspire to achievements, and, when the potency to achieve is demonstrated, it is still more heroic for such a man, if it be the will of God, to fold his wings and stand still, and let those achievements go by. I wonder that some of the old music has been suffered to die out. I have always wondered why that song, “The Captive Knight,” should have gone into disuse. A returning crusader, in crossing a hostile territory, was seized by some nobleman, and thrown into a castle prison. After a time, on some bright morning, he hears the sound of distant music, which comes nearer and nearer; and soon the flash of the spears is seen; and by and by the banners appear; and at last he sees men approaching whom he recognizes as his old companions, with whom he has breasted the war in a thousand battles. As they draw still nearer and nearer, he can distinguish their countenances; and he calls out from his tower to them, again and again; but the music covers the sound of his voice, and they pass on and on, and finally the last one disappears, the banners gleam no more, and the music dies in his ear, and he is left alone to perish in his prison! There are thousands of captive knights in this world who see their companions passing by with the glories and honors of life, while they are in prison and cannot stir; and to them comes the message of our text, “Having done all, stand.” Stand still, and be patient, and be as manly and as noble, in standing still, as you fain would have been in attainment and achievement." (J. Leyburn, D. D.)

​Be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thine heart be hasty to utter any thing before God: for God is in heaven, and thou upon earth: therefore let thy words be few. For a dream cometh through the multitude of business; and a fool's voice is known by multitude of words. Ecc 5:2-3

​Reverence is essential to all true worship. It is the proper attitude of man before the Supreme. In order to secure the spirit of reverence, we must attend to certain rules of duty in worship.

1. Be careful in the employment of words. Rash and hasty words are here forbidden. This is not meant to check devotion, or to cool the ardor of the soul by some formal and severe requirement. It is opposed:

1. To empty words. These are uttered without solemn reflection—empty phrases, possessing but little meaning for the worshipper. They are mere words, spoken without due consideration—“rash.” 
2. To superficial words. They do not proceed from the inner depths of the soul. They are quickly uttered, and in any required number, as involving no expense of thought or feeling. Words that are not winged by the soul’s desire cannot rise to heaven. 
3. To all useless repetitions. It is not a fatal defect in prayer that it is marked by some repetition, for the soul may love to linger upon a thought to make her desire more emphatic, or to express intense emotion. The habit censured is the regarding mere words as possessing merit—that their multitude can atone for sin, and make compromise for the high demands of duty. 

2. Have a proper sense of the majesty of the object of worship. We have to remember that God dwells in unapproachable glory, far beyond the reaches of our mind; and that we are upon the earth—the scene of ignorance, error, sin, and want. With such a conviction, the language we utter before high heaven will be marked by brevity of expression. A sense of reverence will impose on us a solemn reserve. The employment of few and careful words most befits the sacred act of worship.

1. Because this is the method of true passion. The most powerful feelings discharge themselves in few, simple, and direct expressions. True passion disdains the long array of words.
2. Because it suits the nature of the duty. The silent awe and admiration proper to worship must not lose their effect through the intrusion of the multitude of words. When in the presence of a Superior Being, reserve and caution are the most commendable qualities of speech.
3. Because it is agreeable to the best examples. The prayers recorded in the Bible are brief, and expressed in words of simple majesty. The Lord’s Prayer is marked by fulness in little compass.

​3. Have a proper sense of the evil of careless speech in devotion. It has a bad effect upon the soul. The language degenerates into weakness and twaddle. Devotion becomes a mere babble of words involving no serious effort of intellect or heart. As dreams often arise from the perplexing cares and business of the day—these, in a confused manner, presenting themselves in sleep—so the multitude of words, though uttered not without some carefulness at first, at length degenerates into confusion and unreality. [Preacher's Homiletical]

The outline above of these verses, can be discerned in the teachings of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount. It gives us a clear picture of what is meant in the verses in Ecclesiastes. Let's take a look at what Jesus has to say about prayer-both public and private.

And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly. But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him. Mat 6:5-8

In these verses you can learn all you need to, in order to have a meaningful relationship with God. Jesus lays it out in clear and simple terms, that anybody can understand, even a child. But, sadly, many times leaders and ministers show they do not believe or practice Jesus' example. Instead we see staged events, prayers that come in the form of a demand. The object of their prayers may not be bad in themselves, but the motives for what  they're asking is wrong, and reveals the intentions of their hearts.

I've watched preachers and bible teacher's strut back and forth on platforms, bragging and boasting of the things God has done for them, and prayers that have been answered. The desires of their hearts are to fulfil their lusts, and greed. I've been so disgusted with their behavior, I've gotten up, and walked out of the conference or church, and left. David Wilkerson has spoken of doing the same thing. 

Today, many TV, Youtube, and internet preachers', and prophets are very slick, and know how to gain an audience and keep them coming to their platforms. But, the majority of people who listen to them, do not listen close enough to what they are actually saying, and check it out with the word of God. The level of deception in the world now is just as Jesus said it would be-even the elect can be deceived. I will tell you this about a prophet-if they are spewing out "God told me" or "God showed me" in a dream just about every day, or every week, they are lying to you. Pick up your bibles and do a study on the prophets in the Old Testament-and how many times it's recorded God spoke to them. For example- it was years between the times God spoke to Abraham, as when he gave him the promise of a son, even in his old age. This was the case for Isaiah, Jeremiah and the other's. Many of them suffered greatly and were killed for their courage to speak what God gave them. They only spoke as the Spirit of God moved them, and they were willing to pay the cost for it. John the Baptist was a prophet, Jesus said there was none greater, but he never gave a foretelling prophecy, or a dream or vision. He proclaimed the coming Messiah, who was Jesus Christ, and ushered him in to the world. His steadfast stand for righteousness, cost him his life. In prison, John's one question before he died was sent to Jesus-
Mat 11:3  And said unto him, Art thou he that should come, or do we look for another?
I've often thought as I read this- "John didn't ask Jesus to try to spare his life, he only asked if he had been correct, in proclaiming Jesus as the Messiah. He didn't ask Jesus to defend him." How many prophets today would have this level of courage, and conviction.
 
As Jesus sat and described how to detect the hypocrites who desire to be seen, and go to great lengths to be seen, does this not describe much of what we see today with the celebrities on their platforms? These are prophets for hire-and they know how to exploit other's, who they have targeted and spied on, and used other people's material for their own benefit. The subtlety and craft they use to generate their front of being the holy, chosen spiritual leaders has no limits now-with their spying devices, photo-shopped images, and technologies and tools they use to achieve their success.  

If someone is truly called of God to be used in a prophetic ministry, they won't say anything, unless they've tested it, prayed about it, and are willing to say it, and then leave it alone. If it is of God, it will be revealed-it may take years to do so. What you've had to say, you'll have to be willing to take the rejection, and the unbelief; and not defend yourself. God is the only defense we have. If your truly called by God, you'll have no desire to gain recognition, or popularity. Your heart will convict you, if this temptation comes to you-and it will. Many who are successful and giving many dreams and visions today-are speaking from a mixture of both immaturity, and a desire for the adulation of people. This is Satan's greatest tools to trip up those who God may have called, but have allowed themselves to be corrupted. The only antidote for this deception is again, the word of God and getting on their knees with God. If we seek God with all of our hearts-we will find Him, and we will know His will and we will desire nothing else-whatever the cost.
​ 
​If you do what Jesus says in verse 6- get in a room, a place alone, shut the door, close out the world, and pray to God there - between God and you. Seek Him alone, and pour out your heart and mind to Him. Be honest, be real, be sincere. No drama, no performance. Be yourself, look inside yourself and be honest with yourself and Him. This is where real prayer begins, and where the door of relationship starts between you, and your Creator. But, when you do, realize you are talking to the Sovereign God-realize this, and have a holy fear-honor and respect Him. When this is the pattern of your prayer to the Lord-it opens the door for answers and dialogue. His presence comes down, He reveals Himself to those who honor Him, and respect Him, for who He is.
​
When you talk to Him, remember, He is there, He is not deaf, don't repeat over and over the same request. You don't talk to anyone else like this-do you? I've had times when the Lord has answered me, while I was still speaking-and directing me in what to do. I've learned to trust Him, and do exactly what He shows and speaks to me. He has proven Himself over and over again to me. But, check your heart often, because even in this place it can be quickly taken by the devil and used to trip you up. Check your heart and motives, and stay wary of his devices. A few I'll mention- pride, competition, money; these are deadly temptations.
​
Entering into our closet, can also be done even in the midst of people around us-we go into our inner sanctuary, where the Holy Spirit dwells within us. Even with the bustle of activity, inner prayer can take place and specific directions given to us, in times of need. When we've made prayer and dialogue with God a pattern of our lives, relationship develops, and we become keener in sensing His guidance and direction "right in the moment" of a situation we need help in. I've experienced this over the years, and learned to desire this because God has shown me how much He desires to be involved in our daily activities and decisions. Over the years I've learned from believer's such as Brother Lawrence and Madam Guyon, the importance of practicing the presence of the Lord, in my daily life. The more we seek Him, the closer we will find Him, and very able to help us, in time of need.

As I've learned to desire this kind of relationship, and sought after Him, and studied Jesus' pattern of prayer, I've seen in scripture how Jesus would go to the mountains, the deserts and seek to be alone in prayer, all night. He longed to be with the Father, and fellowship with Him. The more I've served Him, the more I understand this of Him. It's become my desire also. God is the best company, anyone could ask for.

Jesus went on in verse 6 saying "pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly."

I've found his words to be truth. He's proven to me many times, He will reward his people, who trust Him and honor Him. I've had many glimpses of His love, and provision for me. In times of trouble, I may ask for some direct guidance to find a way to deal with it, but, I'll never blame Him, or murmur against Him. Whatever is allowed to come to me, has been for my learning, and a lesson. 

As we journey through this life, we are given the freedom to choose our relationships, and those who we want to influence us. I've found the Lord Jesus Christ to be the greatest influence, and the greatest friend anyone could ask for. I've had other's over the years, who I miss, who are gone from this world now. But, Jesus remains, and His promises are true. 

Personally, prayer to me, is talking to a friend, someone who knows me-better than I know myself, and yet, He still loves me. If you open the door to Him, He desires to be the same for you.
Lorna Couillard

I looked on my right hand, and beheld, but there was no man that would know me: refuge failed me; no man cared for my soul. I cried unto thee, O LORD: I said, Thou art my refuge and my portion in the land of the living. Psa 142:4-5
A PRAYER OF THE GODLY MAN FROM THE DEPTHS OF DISTRESS

​We have here:--
I. A picture of deep distress. Several features of the distress of the poet are here set forth. 1. The persecution of his enemies. “In the way wherein I walked have they privily laid a snare for me.… Deliver me from my persecutors; for they are stronger than I.”
His enemies were
(1) cunning. In his path they had hidden a snare for him, with a view to entrap and injure him. Their persecution was not open and manly, but secret and artful. Even in the path of his duty they had concealed their snares for his overthrow. They were
​(2) powerful. “My persecutors are stronger than I.” Saul and his emissaries are here referred to. They were more in number, better equipped, and better fitted for warfare than David and his party were. He felt that he was no match for his enemies. There were times in which David suffered the deepest dejection and distress of spirit by reason of the persecutions of Saul (1Sa_20:1; 1Sa_20:3; 1Sa_20:41-42; 1Sa_27:1). Of ourselves we are unable to cope successfully with the enemies of our spiritual life and interests. Our foes are too subtle and too strong for our unaided efforts; but, like David, we can seek help from on high.

2. The failure of human help. “I looked on my right hand and beheld, but there was no man that would know me; refuge failed me; no man cared for my soul.” These words are not to be taken as a literal description of the circumstances of David either in the cave of Adullam or in that of Engedi. The meaning is that there was no one to whom he could look for protection, no one on whom he could rely. Those who were with him were not able to protect him; those who were able to do so cared not for his life. Deep and painful was his sense of loneliness. He was in constant peril, yet of those who might perhaps have rendered him effectual aid none were concerned for him. There are times in the life of almost every man when he seems bereft of human sympathy and help. There are some cases in which man might render aid if he would, but he will not. There are others in which man would render aid if he could, but he cannot. There are needs to which only He who is both God and man can minister.

3. The depression of his outward circumstances and inward condition. In his outward circumstances he seems to have been greatly reduced. “I am brought very low.” And his spiritual state was that of deep distress. “My spirit is overwhelmed within me.” His outward condition was almost desperate, and the deep prostration of his spirit corresponded thereto. Darkness seemed to be settling down upon both his soul and his circumstances. Many a godly soul has passed through similar experiences. Darkness and trial to some extent fall to the lot of every good man in this life. It is well that it is so. The gloom of the night is as needful as the glory of the day. “Sweet are the uses of adversity.”

II. A prayer of strong confidence. The Psalmist manifests his faith in--

​1. God’s accessibleness to him. “I cried unto the Lord with my voice; with my voice unto the Lord did I make my supplication. I poured out my complaint before Him; I showed before Him my trouble.” The fact that he thus unfolded the tale of his woes to God, and entreated His mercy, is conclusive evidence that he believed that God may be approached by His creatures in prayer.
​
2. God’s interest in him. Unless the Psalmist had believed in God’s kind interest in him, he could not have poured out his complaint before Him as he does in this Psalm. God is both accessible to us and interested in us. “The righteous cry, and the Lord heareth, and delivereth them out of all their troubles.” “The Lord heareth the prayer of the righteous.” “If we ask anything according to His will, He heareth us.” “He careth for you.”

3. God’s knowledge of him. “When my spirit was overwhelmed within me, then Thou knewest my path.” The dangers that beset the poet and the troubles that distressed him were all known to God. The conviction of this must have been a source of unspeakable comfort and strength to David. This assurance was precious to the afflicted Patriarch of Uz. “He knoweth the way that I take: when He hath tried me I shall come forth as gold.” Be comforted, my distressed brother; the Lord knoweth thy path, He is watching over thee, He careth for thee.

4. God’s protection of him. “I cried unto Thee, O Lord; I said, Thou art my refuge, my portion in the land of the living.” The Psalmist found security and comfort in the Lord, who was the source of his help and the God of his salvation. The Lord was his only refuge. There is a well-known picture of a large cross hewn out in the form of a rock standing in the midst of a wild and raging sea to which a struggling form clings with the tenacity of despair. Our Lord is that rock. The floods of this world’s strife and sorrow and pain may well-nigh overwhelm us, the seething waves of sin may lash wildly about us, but if we have found Him, He will be to us a sure refuge and rock of defense. God is the only sure refuge in the storms of life, and He is a refuge which is inviolably secure and ever available.

5. Upon this confidence in God the Psalmist bases his prayer to Him for deliverance. “Attend unto my cry, for I am brought very low; deliver me from my persecutors, for they are stronger than I. Bring my soul out of prison, that I may praise Thy name.” David seemed imprisoned by difficulties and dangers, encompassed with enemies, and unable to effect his escape, and he cried with well-founded confidence to God for emancipation. We know how glorious an answer he received to his prayer. God granted him complete deliverance and high distinction—translated him, in His own time and way, from the cave of the outlaw to the throne of the king. In this we have an illustration of the way in which He ever answers sincere and believing prayer.
(Sketches of Sermons. Abridged - Preacher's Homiletical)

Psa 142_4
​“I looked on my right hand and beheld, but there was no man that would know me.” He did not miss a friend for want of looking for him, nor for want of looking in a likely place. Surely some helper would be found in the place of honour; some one would stand at his right hand to undertake his defence. He looked steadily, and saw all that could be seen, for he “beheld”; but his anxious gaze was not met by an answering smile. Strange to say, all were strange to David. He had known many, but none would know him. When a person is in ill odour it is wonderful how weak the memories of his former friends become: they quite forget, they refuse to know. This is a dire calamity. It is better to be opposed by foes than to be forsaken by friends. When friends look for us they affect to have known us from our birth, but when we look for friends it is wonderful how little we can make them remember: the fact is that in times of desertion it is not true that no man did know us, but no man would know us. Their ignorance is wilful. “Refuge failed me.” Where in happier days I found a ready harbour I now discovered none at all. My place of flight had taken to flight. My refuge gave me a refusal. “No man cared for my soul.” Whether I lived or died was no concern of anybody's. I was cast out as an outcast. No soul cared for my soul. I dwelt in No-man's land, where none cared to have me, and none cared about me. This is an ill-plight - no place where to lay our head, and no head willing to find us a place. How pleased were his enemies to see the friend of God without a friend! How sad was he to be utterly deserted in his utmost need! Can we not picture David in the cave, complaining that even the cave was not a refuge for him, for Saul had come even there? Hopeless was his looking out, we shall soon see him looking up.

​Psa_142:5
“I cried unto thee, O Lord.” As man would not regard him, David was driven to Jehovah, his God. Was not this a gain made out of a loss? wealth gained by a failure? Anything which leads us to cry unto God is a blessing to us. This is the second time that in this short Psalm we find the same record, “I cried unto thee, O Lord”: the saintly man is evidently glad to remember his cry and its results. We hear often of the bitter cry of outcast London, here is another bitter cry, and it comes from an outcast, in wretched lodgings, forgotten by those who should have helped him., “I said, Thou art my refuge and my portion in the land of the living.” There is a sort of progressive repetition all through this sacred song; he cried first, but he said afterwards: his cry was bitter, but his saying was sweet; his cry was sharp and short, but his saying was fresh and full. It gives a believer great pleasure to remember his own believing speeches: he may well desire to bury his unbelieving murmurings in oblivion, but the triumphs of grace in working in him a living faith, he will not dream of forgetting. What a grand confession of faith was this! David spoke to God, and of God - “Thou art my refuge.” Not thou hast provided me a refuge, but thou, thyself, art my refuge. He fled to God alone; he hid himself beneath the wings of the Eternal. He not only believed this, but said it, and practised it. Nor was this all; for David, when banished from his portion in the promised land, and Cutoff from the portion of goods which be by right inherited, found his portion in God, yea, God was his portion. This was so not only in reference to a future state, but here among living men. It is sometimes easier to believe in a portion in heaven than in a portion upon earth: we could die more easily than live, at least we think so. But there is no living in the land of the living like living upon the living God. For the man of God to say these precious things in the hour of his dire distress was a grand attainment. It is easy to prate bravely when we dwell at ease, but to speak confidently in affliction Is quite another matter.
Even in this one sentence we have two parts, the second rising far above the first. It is something to have Jehovah for our refuge, but it is everything to have him for our portion. If David had not cried he would not have said; and if the Lord had not been his refuge he would never have been his portion. The lower step is as needful as the higher; but it is not necessary always to stop on the first round of the ladder.

​Psa 27:13  I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living. 
Psa 27:14  Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD.

Psa 56:13  For thou hast delivered my soul from death: wilt not thou deliver my feet from falling, that I may walk before God in the light of the living? 

 Hear me speedily, O LORD: my spirit faileth: hide not thy face from me, lest I be like unto them that go down into the pit. Cause me to hear thy lovingkindness in the morning; for in thee do I trust: cause me to know the way wherein I should walk; for I lift up my soul unto thee. Deliver me, O LORD, from mine enemies: I flee unto thee to hide me. Teach me to do thy will; for thou art my God: thy spirit is good; lead me into the
​land of uprightness. Psa 143:7-10

“Hear me speedily, o lord: my spirit faileth.”

Psa 143:7
If long delayed, the deliverance would come too late. The afflicted suppliant faints, and is ready to die. His life is ebbing out; each moment is of importance; it will soon be all over with him. No argument for speed can be more powerful than this. Who will not run to help a suppliant when his life is in jeopardy? Mercy has wings to its heels when misery is in extremity. God will not fail when our spirit fails, but the rather he will hasten his course and come to us on the wings of the wind. “Hide not thy face from me, lest I be like unto them that go down into the pit.” Communion with God is so dear to a true heart that the withdrawal of it makes the man feel as though he were ready to die and perish utterly. God's withdrawals reduce the heart to despair, and take away all strength from the mind. Moreover, his absence enables adversaries to work their will without restraint; and thus, in a second way, the persecuted one is like to perish. If we have God's countenance we live, but if he turns his back upon us we die. When the Lord looks with favor upon our efforts we prosper, but if he refuses to countenance them we labor in vain.

Psa_143:8
“Cause me to hear thy lovingkindness in the morning; for in thee do I trust.” Lord, my sorrow makes me deaf, - cause me to hear, there is but one voice that can cheer me - cause me to hear thy lovingkindness; that music I would fain enjoy at once - cause me to hear it in the morning, at the first dawning hour. A sense of divine love is to the soul both dawn and dew; the end of the night of weeping, the beginning of the morning of joy. Only God can take away from our weary ears the din of our care, and charm them with the sweet notes of his love. Our plea with the Lord is our faith; if we are relying upon him, he cannot disappoint us “in thee do I trust” is a sound and solid argument with God. He who made the ear will cause us to hear, he who is love itself will have the kindness to bring his lovingkindness before our minds. “Cause me to know the way wherein I should walk; for I lift up my soul unto thee.” The Great First Cause must cause us to hear and to know. Spiritual senses are dependent upon God, and heavenly knowledge comes from him alone. To know the way we ought to take is exceedingly needful, for how can we be exact in obedience to a law with which we are not acquainted? or how can there be an ignorant holiness? If we know not the way, how shall we keep in it? If we know not wherein we should walk, how shall we be likely to follow the right path? The Psalmist lifts up his soul; faith is good at a dead lift, the soul that trusts will rise. We will not allow our hope to sink, but we will strive to get up and rise out of our daily griefs. This is wise. When David was in any difficulty as to his way he lifted his soul towards God himself, and then he knew that he could not go very far wrong. If the soul will not rise of itself we must lift it, lift it up unto God. This is good argument in prayer, surely the God to whom we endeavour to lift up our soul will condescend to show us what he would have us to do. Let us attend to David's example, and when our heart is low, let us heartily endeavor to lift it up, not so much to comfort as to the Lord himself.

Psa_143:9
“Deliver me, O Lord, from mine enemies.” Many foes beset us, we cannot overcome them, we cannot even escape from them; but Jehovah can and will rescue us if we pray to him. The weapon of all-prayer will stand us in better stead than sword and shield. “I flee unto thee to hide me.” This was a good result from his persecutions. That which makes us flee to our God may be an ill wind, but it blows us good. There is no cowardice in such flight, but much holy courage. God can hide us out of reach of harm, and even out of sight of it. He is our hiding-place; Jesus has made himself the refuge of his people, the sooner, and the more entirely we flee to him the better for us. Beneath the crimson canopy of our Lord's atonement believers are completely hidden; let us abide there and be at rest. In Psa_143:7 our poet cried, “Hide not thy face,” and here he prays, “Hide me.” Note also how often he uses the words “unto thee”; he is after his God; he must travel in that direction by some means, even though he may seem to be beating a retreat; his whole being longs to be near the Lord. It is possible that such thirstings for God will be left unsupplied? Never, while the Lord is love.

Psa_143:10
“Teach me to do thy will.” How childlike - “teach me”! How practical - “Teach me to do”! How undivided in obediences - “to do thy will”! To do all of it, let it be what it may. This is the best form of instruction, for its source is God, its object is holiness, its spirit is that of hearty loyalty. The man is hidden in the Lord, and spends his peaceful life in learning the will of his Preserver. A heart cannot long be desolate which is thus docile. “For thou art my God.” Who else can teach me as thou canst? Who else will care to do it but my God? Thou hast given me thyself, thou wilt surely give me thy teaching. If I have thee, may I not ask to have thy perfect mind? When the heart can sincerely call Jehovah “my God,” the understanding is ready to learn of him, the will is prepared to obey him, the whole man is eager to please him. “Thy spirit is good.” God is all spirit and all good. His essence is goodness, kindness, holiness' it is his nature to do good, and what greater good can he do to us than to hear such a prayer as that which follows - “Lead me into the land of uprightness”? David would fain he among the godly, in a land of another sort from that which had east him out. He sighed for the upland meadows of grace, the table-lands of peace, the fertile plains of communion. He could not reach them of himself; he must be led there. God, who is good, can best conduct us to the goodly land. There is no inheritance like a portion in the land of promise, the land of precept, the land of perfectness. He who teaches us must put us into leading-strings, and guide and conduct us to his own dwelling-place in the country of holiness. The way is long, and steep, and he who goes without a divine leader will faint on the journey; but with Jehovah to lead, it is delightful to follow, and there is neither stumbling nor wandering.
[Treasury of David- Charles Haddon Spurgeon]

This psalm falls into four stanzas of three verses each.

Complaint, Psa_143:1-3. Though the enemy has resorted to unwarrantable violence, David realized that his past had been by no means immaculate. The holiest have least confidence in themselves, Job_9:3; Php_3:7.
Job 9:3  If he will contend with him, he cannot answer him one of a thousand. 
​Php 3:7  But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ.
Bernard of Clairvaux said: “So far from being able to answer for my sins, I cannot answer even for my righteousness.” There is no judgment or condemnation for those who are in Christ, because they were judged in Him. Now God’s justice is on our side, 1Jn_1:9.
1Jn 1:9  If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Depression, Psa_143:4-6. --"Psa 143:4  Therefore is my spirit overwhelmed within me; my heart within me is desolate. 
Psa 143:5  I remember the days of old; I meditate on all thy works; I muse on the work of thy hands. 
Psa 143:6  I stretch forth my hands unto thee: my soul thirsteth after thee, as a thirsty land. Selah."
Those capable of the sunny heights are capable of the lowest depths. Memory, meditation, and musing often lead to melancholy. But reach out after God. To thirst for Him is to have Him. To desire is to possess.

Entreaty, Psa_143:7-9. Hear me; cause me to hear; cause me to know; deliver me. Docility, Psa_143:10-12 : "Psa 143:10  Teach me to do thy will; for thou art my God: thy spirit is good; lead me into the land of uprightness. 
Psa 143:11 Quicken me, O LORD, for thy name's sake: for thy righteousness' sake bring my soul out of trouble. 
Psa 143:12  And of thy mercy cut off mine enemies, and destroy all them that afflict my soul: for I am thy servant. "

We can trust ourselves absolutely to be led by God’s Spirit, because He is good and He brings the soul out of trouble into the land of uprightness, Rom_8:14.
Rom 8:14  For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. ​[F.B. Meyer]

The text may be said to comprise every other prayer. If God gives His servant to "know the way wherein he should walk," and strength to walk in it, peace, and order, and liberty, and joy will soon come. Life is a daily difficulty. Think of the number of things that are to be believed, that are to be renounced, that are to be examined, that are to be distinguished in themselves and from other things, that are to be tentatively dealt with, that are to be done, that are to be left undone, that are to be waited for, that are to be suffered. All these are included in the "way wherein we should walk."
​
I. Opinions and beliefs. There can be no living way for a man that does not involve these. We are bound to form them, and the point is that there is very great difficulty in forming some of them or in keeping them when we have them. Any one of us, if we will, may be of them that believe to the saving of the soul. How? By bringing the whole case fully and earnestly before God. If we come really to Him, we have solved the difficulty, we have come into the new and living way, and God will make that way more and more plain before our face; whereas if we abide among the exterior things—examining, considering, comparing, putting this opinion against that, and working the whole matter simply as a high intellectual problem, without ever making the last and highest appeal—we have no certainty of a good and true issue.

II. Conduct. In respect of conduct also we find life to be a scene of constant difficulty. Even those who know the way they should go, so far as it consists of beliefs, convictions, principles, find it still in their practice to be a way of continual difficulty. What can we do? We can pray. We can use this text and get the benefits it carries. The solution of all difficulty, be it what it may, is "to lift up the soul to God." God is the God of peace; and to lift up the soul to Him is to rise out of storm into calm, is to leave the self-made troubles of life beneath us while we mount up on eagles’ wings into His eternal and illimitable tranquility.
[A. Raleigh, From Dawn to the Perfect Day, p. 190]

​​Mat 28:20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen. 

​After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. Mat 6:9-10

"When thou prayest," the Lord says, "thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men." Neither the synagogues nor the streets were the appointed places of prayer. But a custom had risen, since the days of Daniel the prophet, to pray seven times a day, at certain appointed hours; and when these hours came the Pharisee turned at once to his devotions. Very probably the iniquity of the Pharisee grew up in a very natural way, beginning with a scrupulous but honest observance of religious forms, and gradually sliding into a pretentious and hypocritical display as he found himself a growing object of respect and esteem among men. We also have need to be on our guard, and to watch and pray, and pray and watch, against this snare.

Our Lord enjoins that His people, when they pray, should enter into their closet, and shut to the door, and pray to the Father which sees in secret. The true idea of prayer lies in the shutting of the door. You may make a closet for yourself out of the varied crowd, provided you shut out the world from your thoughts and lift up your soul to God alone.

We are not to be like the heathen, who think they shall be heard for their much speaking. With them prayer was a kind of bodily and mechanical process, supposed to be efficacious just in proportion to the number of times they could repeat the same cry. Christ says that theirs is not true prayer such as becomes His children, and that we are not to do as they do, for our Father knows what things we have need of before we ask Him.

When we pray, we should come believing in the unseen Father, and trusting in His gracious disposition. True prayer is just the cry of children to their Father, and it is the childlike feeling of trust in Him which gives to their prayer all its efficacy.
[W. C. Smith, The Sermon on the Mount, p. 178.]

The comprehensive scope and intercessory character of the two petitions. The spirit of a Christian drawing near unto God is a royal spirit. He asks great things for himself and for others.

I. For himself. It is written, "Ye ask and receive not, because ye ask amiss." And one of the errors of our prayer may be, that our aim is not high enough—that in coming to a King, whose delight is to be bountiful, we do not bring with us a royal spirit and large desires, but a contracted spirit and limited petitions.
(1) High ought to be our thoughts of acceptance and favour in the sight of God. The very light of God’s countenance is our aim. And as every repentant and believing sinner is at liberty immediately to pass out of the cold—the Arctic regions of the law, with its condemnation—into the sunny paradise of this infinite love, those who have believed are still further assured of their perfect blessedness.
(2) Peace is thus ours. Only those who know the God of Peace know the peace of God. Only those who know that Christ is our Peace understand fully what He means when He says, "My peace I give unto you."
(3) And do we seek joy in God? It is written, "Thou wilt make them joyful in Thy house of prayer." Christ’s joy is to be in us. Perfect love of God, perfect peace of God, perfect joy of God,—such are royal thoughts and petitions.

II. For others. Prayer in the name of Christ must be prayer for the manifestation of God’s glory in the good of man. Intercession is the distinguishing mark of the Christian. The penitent, the inquirer, pray for their own personal safety. The accepted believer prays for others as well as himself; he prays for the Church and for the world. It is in intercession that the Christian most fully enter into his glorious liberty. He fulfils the measure of prayer, for Christ and the Church are one.
[A. Saphir, Lectures on the Lord’s Prayer, p. 235.]

I. This kingdom shows the Church of Christ. It is always used in the singular number, showing that there is but one Church, wherever it is dispersed through the world. The Body of Christ, is one Body-with many members. Sadly, a great many do not understand this mystery, even though Paul preached this truth throughout his ministry.
(1) It reminds us-that we have but one God, one faith, and one baptism;
(2) That the several parts of it, however distant in interests, judgment, or affection, yet are but many members of one body.

II. The kingdom of God is not yet fully come from the narrow extent of Christianity.
(1) It cannot be said to come till all nations have received and submitted to it;
(2) Until it hath been preached to all the world.
​
III. This kingdom is not yet come, from the want of due obedience in the members.
(1) A government cannot be said to be perfect-where the laws and constitutions of it have not their due force;
(2) Till the power and efficacy of it be more visible in the orderly lives of its subjects.
​
IV. The kingdom of God cannot be said to come-till the true members of it receive their reward;
(1) Till His faithful servants are made sharers in it;
(2) Till the subjects of it are freed from hardships and oppression.
​
This petition should dispose us to unity. We pray not here for this or that particular Church, but for that diffusive universal one that makes up Christ’s kingdom. (Thomas Mangey)

Father, let Thy kingdom come,--
Let it come with living power;
Speak at length the final word,
Usher in the triumph hour.

As it came in days of old,
In the deepest hearts of men,
When Thy martyrs died for Thee,
Let it come, O God, again.

Tyrant thrones and idol shrines,
Let them from their place be hurled:
Enter on Thy better reign,
Wear the crown of this poor world.

O what long, sad years have gone,
Since Thy Church was taught this prayer!
O what eyes have watched and wept
For the dawning everywhere.

Break, triumphant day of God!
Break at last, our hearts to cheer;
Eager souls and holy songs
Wait to hail Thy dawning here.

Empires, temples, sceptres, thrones,
May they all for God be won;
And, in every human heart,
Father, let Thy kingdom come.
​[John Page Hopps.]

The Messianic Kingdom
 Who is the King?

I. In one sense the King is God the Father.
It is to "our Father in heaven" that the petition is addressed, "Thy kingdom come." His glory, His self-manifestation, is the one great purpose of God, and His is the kingdom, for of Him and to Him are all things. But the Father has appointed Jesus His Son to be the King, even as Christ is the Vine, while the Father is the Husbandman. Christ was appointed from eternity to be King,
​(1) as the Son of man;
​(2) as the Son of David;
(3) as the Son of man and of David after His humiliation, suffering, and death. The Son of God became man, not merely to suffer and to die, but to reign. He took upon Him our nature, that through suffering He might enter into glory; as man, even as the Lord, whom they have pierced, He is to reign in righteousness and peace, the glory of Israel as well as the light to lighten the Gentiles.

II. When will the kingdom be established?
It is to be brought about not gradually, but suddenly; not without observation, as is the kingdom of grace in the heart, but with great and mighty signs. The essential features of the kingdom are: Satan bound, the earth renewed, Israel converted and restored, the Church glorified, and Antichrist judged and vanquished; and the crisis, the turning-point, to bring about these changes, is one—it is the direct interference of God, the appearing of the great God and Savior Jesus Christ.

III. The character of this kingdom.
(1) In manifested power on earth. The kingdom is to be on earth. Christ and the glorified saints reign over Israel and the nations. Jerusalem is the center of the world; the land of Israel is restored to wonderful fertility and blessedness.
(2) It is spiritual. It is a kingdom of grace, in which spiritual obedience is offered, and in which men worship God with renewed and sanctified hearts. The earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of Jehovah. The eternal principles of righteousness and love which were embodied in the Mosaic law will then reign upon earth in the spirit of liberty and power.
[A. Saphir, Lectures on the Lord’s Prayer, p. 173.]

CONCULSION:
Of the seven petitions of the Lord's prayer the first three are in behalf of the cause of God; the glory of his name, the extension of his kingdom, and the prevalence of his will. The other four, which are properly placed last, as least important, pertain to our individual needs. No one can offer the first three petitions who is in disobedience. Hallowed. Holy, sacred, reverenced.

 ​Thy Name - That is, God himself, with all the attributes of his Divine nature - his power, wisdom, justice, mercy, etc.
We hallow God’s name,
1st. With our lips, when all our conversation is holy, and we speak of those things which are meet to minister grace to the hearers.
2dly. In our thoughts, when we suppress every rising evil, and have our tempers regulated by his grace and Spirit.
3dly. In our lives, when we begin, continue, and end our works to his glory. If we have an eye to God in all we perform, then every act of our common employment will be an act of religious worship.
4thly. In our families, when we endeavor to bring up our children in the discipline and admonition or the Lord; instructing also our servants in the way of righteousness.
5thly. In a particular calling or business, when we separate the deception, and lying, commonly practiced, from it; buying and selling as in the sight of the holy and just God.  [Adam Clarke]

To whom he said, This is the rest wherewith ye may cause the weary to rest; and this is the refreshing: yet they would not hear. Isa 28:12
REJECTERS OF THE GOSPEL ADMONISHED

There's a lot to unpack in this one verse, and the most important point to it all, will be at the very bottom of this devotion-and if you don't read this to the end, you won't get the entire impact of it. So, let's begin.

​Isaiah was one of the most eloquent of preachers, yet he could not win the ears and hearts of those to whom he spoke. He spoke more of Jesus Christ than all the rest of the prophets, yet the message of love was treated as though it were an idle tale. His doctrine was clear as the daylight, yet men would not see it (chap. Isa_53:1). It was not the fault of the preacher that Israel rejected his warnings: all the fault lay with that disobedient and gainsaying nation.

The people to whom he spoke so earnestly were drunken in a double sense:--
1. They were overcome with wine (Isa_28:7-8). How is it likely that the truth shall enter an ear which has been rendered deaf by this degrading vice? How is the Word of God likely to operate upon a conscience that has been drenched and drowned by strong drink? Flee from this destroyer before your bands are made strong and you are hopelessly fettered by the habit. 2. They were also intoxicated with pride. Their country was fruitful, and its chief city, Samaria, stood on the hill-top, like a diadem of beauty crowning the land, and they delighted in it. Among them were many champions whose strength sufficed to turn the battle to the gate, therefore they hoped to resist every invader, and so their hearts were lifted up. Moreover, they said, “We are an intelligent people; we are men of cultured intellect, instructed scribes, and we do not need persons like Isaiah to weary us with their ding-dong of ‘precept upon precept, line upon line,’ as if we were mere children at school. Besides, we are good enough. Do we not worship our God under the form of the golden calves in Dan and Bethel? Do we not respect the sacrifices and the holy days?” So spoke the more religious of them, while the rest gloried in their shame. Being intoxicated with pride, it was not likely that they would hear the message of the prophet who bade them turn from their evil ways. Pride is the devil’s drag-net, in which he taketh more fishes than in any other, except procrastination.
The two forms of drunkenness are equally destructive. Whether body or soul be intoxicated, mischief will surely come of it. Let us not get drunk with pride because we are not drunkards; for if we are so vain and foolish, we shall as certainly perish by pride as we should have done by drink.

THE EXCELLENCE OF THE GOSPEL as it is set forth in the passage before us. This Scripture does not allude to the Gospel primarily, but to the message which Isaiah had to deliver, which was in part the command of the law and in part the promise of grace: but the same rule holds good of all the words of the Lord; and indeed any excellence which was found in the prophet’s message is found yet more abundantly in the fuller testimony of the Gospel in Christ Jesus.
1. The excellence of that Gospel lies, first, in its object. For
(1.) It is a revelation of rest. Christ’s ambassadors are sent to proclaim to you that which shall give you ease, peace, quiet, rest. It is true we have to begin with certain truths that disturb and distress; but our object is to dig out the foundation into which may be laid the stones of restfulness. The object of the Gospel is not to make men anxious, but to calm their anxieties; not to fill them with endless controversy, but to lead them into all truth. The Gospel gives rest of conscience, by the complete forgiveness of sin through the atoning blood of Christ; rest of heart, by supplying an object for the affections worthy of their love; and rest of intellect, by teaching it certainties which can be accepted without question. Our message does not consist of things guessed at by wit, nor evolved out of man’s inner consciousness by study, nor developed by argument through human reason; but it treats of revealed certainties, absolutely and infallibly true, upon which the understanding may rest itself as thoroughly as a building rests upon a foundation of rock. The Word of the Lord comes to give believing men rest about the present by telling them that God ordereth all things for their good; and as for the future, it brightens all coming time and eternity with promises. The man who will hear the Gospel message, and receive it into his soul, shall know the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, and shall keep his heart and mind by Jesus Christ.
(2.) It is the cause of rest. “This is the rest wherewith ye may cause the weary to rest.” The Gospel of our salvation is not only a command to rest, but it brings the gift of rest within itself. Let the Gospel be admitted into the heart, and it will create a profound calm, hushing all the tumult and strife of conscience, removing all apprehensions of Divine wrath, stilling all rebellion against the supreme Will, and so working in the spirit by the energy of the Holy Ghost a deep and blessed peace.
(3.) This rest is especially meant for the weary. “This is the rest where with ye may cause the weary to rest.” Oh, ye that are weary with the round of worldly pleasure, worn with ambition, fretted with disappointment, embittered by the faithlessness of those you trusted in, come and confide in Jesus and be at rest. Here is the rest, here is the refreshing. Jesus expressly puts it: “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” Despondent and despairing, condemned, and in your own conscience cast out to the gates of hell, yet look to Jesus and rest shall be yours.
(4.) In addition to bringing us rest, the message of mercy points us to a refreshing. “This is the rest wherewith ye may cause the weary to rest; and this is the refreshing.” If the rested one should grow weary again, the Good Shepherd will give him refreshing; if he wanders, the Lord will restore him; if he grows faint, He will revive him; yea, He has begun His gracious work of renewing, and He will continue it by renewing the heart from day to day, blending the will with His own, and making the whole man more and more to rejoice in Him.
Now, note with peculiar joy that Isaiah did not come to these people to talk about rest in dubious terms, and say, “There is no doubt a rest to be found somewhere in that goodness of God of which it is reasonable to conjecture.” No; he puts his finger right down on the truth, and he says, “This is the rest, and this is the refreshing.” Even so we at this day, when we come to you with a message from God, come with definite teaching; we proclaim in the name of God that whosoever believeth in Christ Jesus hath everlasting life: this is the rest, and this is the refreshing.
Nor did he preach a rest of a selfish character. They say we teach men to get peace and rest for themselves, and make themselves comfortable, whatever becomes of others. They know better, and they forge these falsehoods because their heart is false. Are we not always bidding men look out from themselves, and love others even as Christ has loved them? We abhor the idea that personal safety is the consummation of a religious man’s desires, for we believe that the life of grace is the death of selfishness. This is one of the glories of the Gospel, that “this is the rest wherewith ye may cause the weary to rest.” Get rest yourself, and you will soon cause other weary minds to rest. That secret something which your own heart possesses shall enable you to communicate good cheer to many a weary heart, and hope to many a desponding mind.
2. The other excellence of the Gospel of which I shall speak at this time lies in its manner.

It comes with authority.
1. The Gospel does not pretend to be a speculative scheme or a theory of philosophy which will suit the nineteenth century, but will be exploded in the twentieth. No; it comes to men as a message from God, and he that speaks it aright does not speak it as a thinker uttering his own thoughts; but he utters what he has learned, and acts as God’s tongue, repeating what he finds in God’s Word by the power of God’s Spirit.
2. It was delivered with great simplicity. Isaiah came with it “precept upon precept, line upon line, here a little and there a little.” It is the glory of the Gospel that it is so plain. If it were so profound that we must take a degree at a university before we could comprehend it, what a miserable Gospel it would be for mocking the world with! But it is divinely sublime in its simplicity, and hence the common people hear it gladly. As the verse seems to imply, it is fitted for those who are weaned from the breast; those who are little more than babes may yet drink in this unadulterated milk of the Word. Many a little child has comprehended the salvation of Jesus Christ sufficiently to rejoice in it. I bless God for a simple Gospel, for it suits me, and thousands of others whose minds cannot boast of greatness or genius. It equally suits men of intellect, and it is only quarrelled with by pretenders. A man who really has a capacious mind is usually childlike, and, like Sir Isaac Newton, is glad to sit at Jesu’s feet. Great minds love the simple Gospel of God, for they find rest in it from all the worry and the weariness of questions and of doubts.
3. It is taught us by degrees. It is not forced home upon men’s minds all at once, but it comes “precept upon precept, line upon line, here a little and there a little.” God does not flash the everlasting daylight on weak eyes in one blaze of glory, but there is at first a dim dawn, and the soft incoming of a tender light for tender eyes, and so by degrees we see.
4. The Gospel is repeated. If we do see it at once, it comes again to us, for it is “precept upon precept, line upon line, here a little and there a little.” From morning to morning, from Sunday to Sunday, by book after book, by text after text, by spiritual impression after spiritual impression, the Divine gentleness makes us wise unto salvation. 5. It is brought home to us in ways suitable to our capacity. It is told to us, as it were, with stammering lips (see Isa_28:11), just as mothers teach their little children in a language all their own. In much of the Bible, especially in the Old Testament, God condescends to lay aside His own speech and talk the language of men. He bows to us and tells us His mind in types and ordinances, which are a sort of child-language fitted for our capacity. If you do not understand the Word of God, it is not because He does not put it plainly, but because of the blindness of your heart and the besotted condition of your spirit. Take heed that you are not drunken with the wine of pride, but be willing to learn; for God Himself hath not darkened counsel by mysterious words, but He has put His mind before you as plainly as the sun in the heavens. “Precept upon precept, line upon line, here a little and there a little.”

THE OBJECTIONS WHICH ARE TAKEN TO THE GOSPEL.
1. They are most wanton. Men object to that which promises them rest! Above all the things in the world this is what our troubled spirits need. Oh, the intense folly of men, that when the Gospel sets rest before them they will not hear it, but turn upon their heel. There is no system of doctrine under heaven that can give quiet to the conscience of men, quiet that is worth having, except the Gospel; and there are thousands of us who bear witness that we live in the daily enjoyment of peace through believing in Jesus, and yet our honest report is not believed; nay, they will not hear the truth.
2. Objections against the Gospel are willful, even as it is here said, “This is the refreshing, yet they would not hear.” When men say they cannot believe the Gospel, ask them whether they will patiently hear it in all its simplicity. No, they say, they do not want to hear it. The Gospel is so difficult to believe; so they say. Will they come and hear it preached in its fulness? Will they read the Gospels for themselves carefully? Oh, no; they cannot take the trouble. Just so. But a man who does not want to be convinced must not blame anybody if he remains in error, nor wonder that objections swarm in his mind.
3. Such objections are wicked, because they are rebellion against God and an insult to His truth and mercy. If this Gospel be of God, I am bound to receive it: I have no right to cavil at it, nor raise questions, philosophical or otherwise. It is mine just to say, “Does God say this and that? Then it is true, and I yield to it. Does the Lord thus set before me a way of salvation? I will run in it with delight.”
​4. These people raised objections that were the outgrowth of their pride. They objected to the simplicity of Isaiah’s preaching. They said, “Who is he? You should not go to hear him; he talks to us as if we were children. Besides, it is the same thing over and over again. You may go when you like, he is always harping on the same string.” Have you not heard folks say in these days concerning a true Gospel preacher, that he is always preaching about sovereign grace, or the blood of Christ, or crying out, “Believe, believe, and you shall be saved”? They sneer and say, “It is the old ditty over and over again.” The passage translated “precept upon precept, line upon line,” was uttered in ridicule, and sounded like a ding-dong rhyme with which they mocked Isaiah. The words were intended to caricature the preacher; though they do not suggest the idea when translated, they do suggest it readily enough in the Hebrew. There are people now living who, when the Gospel is plainly and simply preached, exclaim, “We want progressive thought; we want”—they do not quite know what they do want. Too many wish for a map to heaven so mysteriously drawn that they may be excused from following it. Multitudes prefer the Gospel shrouded in a mist; they love to see the wisdom of man shut out the wisdom of God. This was the style of objection current in Isaiah’s day, and it is fashionable still.

THE DIVINE REQUITAL OF THESE OBJECTORS.
1. The Lord threatens them with the loss of that which they despised. He has sent them a message of rest and they will not have it, and therefore in the 20th verse He warns them that they shall have no rest henceforth: “For the bed is shorter than that a man can stretch himself on it; and the covering narrower than that he can wrap himself in it.” All those who willfully reject the Gospel and take up with philosophies and speculations will be rewarded with inward discontent. Ask the preachers of that kind of doctrine whether they themselves have found an anchorage, and as a rule they will answer, “No, no; we are in pursuit of truth; we are hunting after it, but we have not reached it yet.” They are never likely to reach it, for they are on the wrong track. The Gospel was made to rest conscience, soul, heart, will, memory, hope, fear, yea, the entire man; but when men laugh at all fixity of belief, how can they be rested? This is the condemnation of the unbeliever, that he shall never find a settlement, but, like the wandering Jew, shall roam for ever. Leave the Cross, and you have left the hinge of all things, and neglected the one sure corner-stone and fixed foundation, and henceforth you shall be as a rolling thing before the whirlwind.
2. They shall be punished by a gradual hardening of heart. They said that Isaiah’s message was “precept upon precept, line upon line, here a little and there a little,” and justice answers them, “Even so it shall be to you a thing despised and ridiculed, so that you will go farther away from it; you will fall backward and be broken, and snared and taken” (Isa_28:13.) A fall backward is the worst kind of fall. If a man falls forward, he may somewhat save himself and rise again; but if he falls backward, he falls with all his weight and is helpless. Those who stumble at Christ, the sure foundation-stone, shall be broken. When opposers hope to retrieve their position, they find themselves snared by their habits, entangled in the net of the great fowler, and taken by the destroyer. This downward course is followed full often by those who begin caviling at a simple Gospel; they cavil more and more, and become its open enemies to their eternal ruin.
​3. This is to be followed by a growing inability to understand. “For with stammering lips and another tongue will He speak to this people.” Since they would not hear plain speech, God will make simplicity itself to seem like stammering to them. Men that cannot endure simple language shall at last become unable to understand it. If men will not understand, they shall not understand. A man may shut his eyes so long that he cannot open them. In India many devotees have held up their arms so long that they can never take them down again. Beware lest an utter imbecility of heart come upon those of you who refuse the Gospel.

Lastly, this warning is given to those who object to the Gospel, that whatever refuge they choose for themselves shall utterly fail them. Thus saith the Lord, “Judgment will I also lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet: and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding-place.” Down come the great hailstones dashing everything to shivers, the threatening's of God’s Word breaking to pieces all the false and flattering hopes of the ungodly. Then comes the active wrath of God like an over whelming flood to sweep away everything on which the sinner stood, and he, in his obstinate unbelief, is carried away as with a flood into that utter destruction, that everlasting misery, which God has declared shall be the lot of all those who refuse the living Christ."
[C. H. Spurgeon: Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, No. 1593.]

​Pro 1:20  Wisdom crieth without; she uttereth her voice in the streets: 
Pro 1:21  She crieth in the chief place of concourse, in the openings of the gates: in the city she uttereth her words, saying, 
Pro 1:22  How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? and the scorners delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge? 
Pro 1:23  Turn you at my reproof: behold, I will pour out my spirit unto you, I will make known my words unto you. 
Pro 1:24  Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded; 
Pro 1:25  But ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof: 
Pro 1:26  I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh; 
Pro 1:27  When your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you. 
Pro 1:28  Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me: 
Pro 1:29  For that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the LORD: 
Pro 1:30  They would none of my counsel: they despised all my reproof. 
Pro 1:31  Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices. 
Pro 1:32  For the turning away of the simple shall slay them, and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them. 
Pro 1:33  But whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely, and shall be quiet from fear of evil. 

The word Wisdom and the description of her standing at the head of the noisy streets-see Pro_1:21, R.V., margin-remind us of our Lord, who, as the Word of God, stood and cried, Joh_7:37. It is a remarkable picture of the world as it is today. The streets filled with traffickers, with the bawling of wares, with the crowds of idle sightseers, and amid it all the ringing appeal of Christ to the heart of man! But the scorners deride and mock, while fools hate the speaker and threaten his life. Yet there is no crowded thoroughfare in the world from which the Spirit of God is absent. See Mat_22:1-10.
The two results that divide the hearers are set forth in words that are always receiving verification. The day of calamity, when banks suspend payment, and the boldest speculators lose heart, breaks suddenly on the worldling. He has no hiding-place, no second line of defense, no spiritual treasure; and is like a drowning sailor in a tempestuous sea. But “Wisdom is justified of all her children,” for they dwell safely. See Pro_1:33 and Luk_7:35.  [F.B. Meyer]
​Pro 1:33  But whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely, and shall be quiet from fear of evil. 

Yes, those who are described above, all have the same trait-and they are both in the church and outside of it-prayerlessness. Everyone going their own way, making their own rules, and changing the rules to suit their wants and desires. The results are the same, and Charles Spurgeon gave many very good examples. It doesn't take a psychologist or philosopher to be able to see that the problems of this world, haven't changed since Cain and Abel-they come from the root of sin, and rebellion. People do not want to pray, they do not want to hear the voice of the Lord, if they did, they'd be on their faces, and seeking Him. A scant remnant seeks God in prayer today, and the evidence of the truth of this is seen in the lawlessness, chaos and violence that's overrunning the world today. 
​
If the people in the churches spent as much time praying, as they do in planning pot luck dinners, church events, and doing church business like the world does, they would know the presence, and wisdom of God in the decisions they made, because their decisions would be from the direction of the mind of Christ. Yes, there's good churches and leaders-but many churches are run as a business, and prayer is not a high priority. I've been in churches where their meetings are started and finished-with no prayer. This speaks of where their relationship with Christ really is. Many times, it becomes clear that Jesus Christ is not who is exalted in these churches-but what is exalted is - SELF. Where there is no desire to seek God, no desire to go to Him in prayer, to seek His guidance, wisdom, and dialogue with Him, it comes from one root cause- SELF is on the throne in your life, not the Lord Jesus Christ.
​
And, there's another aspect to this that you'll discover, if you ever decide to purposely make time for prayer, and find your heart desiring to know God, and spend time with Him. The devil will use every means possible to stop you, and oppose you in every way he can. He'll use people, circumstances, and send multiple problems and obstacles, to stop you from praying. You'll start getting harassments, antagonism, obstructions that you never dealt with before-and it's coming from the evil spirits within people, and demonic situations will become more frequent. You'll come to realize how much the devil hates people who pray-when you decide to take it up seriously.

The more someone prays, and the more they seek the face of the Lord in their daily walk, and their approach to what they do in ministry, the more conflict you'll find yourself in-you will not fit in with the majority of those who claim to be Christian. The Holy Spirit will be directing you more and more according to what the word of God says on the issues you face, and you'll find yourself on the outside, looking at most of the churches today, because you'll find yourself seeing things that you know aren't of God, going on right in these churches, and you'll be torn between listening to people-or doing what God teaches in His word about it. A great many are in this situation today, and it's not going to get any better. If your called to be a teacher of God's Word, as Mr. Spurgeon points out-your going to find yourself shot at and hit, by both the wicked and the "brethren", if they don't like what they are hearing from you, and they won't bother going to the bible themselves to see if what your saying is correct, because they don't want to know, and don't want you to keep telling them-they are happy in their sin.

Whenever I've fallen and had the conviction of the Holy Ghost come and bring me correction, I've been glad, it proves to me, that I'm one of His own, and I thank Him for the rebuke, the correction, and I repent. Then, I get back up, and go on with God, this is how God's people walk in righteousness. This is how the devil is defeated in our lives.
​
I've chosen to obey the Word of God, and heed the voice of the Holy Spirit, in all things-this has put me in direct conflict with the world, but, I stand the same as Jesus did-the god of this world has no place in me, I'm going on with Jesus, to the end of my journey. When someone comes to this place, it removes anxiety, fear, or caring what people think of you. It truly sets you free-and who the Son sets free, is free indeed.
Lorna Couillard

For we would not, brethren, have you ignorant of our trouble which came to us in Asia, that we were pressed out of measure, above strength, insomuch that we despaired even of life: But we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God
​which raiseth the dead: 2Cor 1:8-9

​"Pressed out of measure and pressed to all length;
Pressed so intensely it seems, beyond strength;
Pressed in the body and pressed in the soul,
Pressed in the mind till the dark surges roll.
Pressure by foes, and a pressure from friends.
Pressure on pressure, till life nearly ends.

"Pressed into knowing no helper but God;
Pressed into loving the staff and the rod.
Pressed into liberty where nothing clings;
Pressed into faith for impossible things.
Pressed into living a life in the Lord,
Pressed into living a Christ-life outpoured."

​The pressure of hard places makes us value life. Every time our life is given back to us from such a trial, it is like a new beginning, and we learn better how much it is worth, and make more of it for God and man. The pressure helps us to understand the trials of others, and fits us to help and sympathize with them.
There is a shallow, superficial nature, that gets hold of a theory or a promise lightly, and talks very glibly about the distrust of those who shrink from every trial; but the man or woman who has suffered much never does this, but is very tender and gentle, and knows what suffering really means. This is what Paul meant when he said, "Death worketh in you."
Trials and hard places are needed to press us forward, even as the furnace fires in the hold of that mighty ship give force that moves the piston, drives the engine, and propels that great vessel across the sea in the face of the winds and waves. --[ A. B. Simpson]

​"Out of the presses of pain,
Cometh the soul’s best wine;
And the eyes that have shed no rain,
Can shed but little shine."
​(Streams in the Desert)

Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee. My flesh and my heart faileth: but God is the strength of
​my heart, and my portion for ever. Psa 73:25-26

I have no doubt that during the turbulent years of Paul's ministry, he would have searched the scriptures for strength, comfort, and seeking wisdom from such as Moses, David, Joseph and other's who had learned to depend on God in the trials of their lives. The verses in Psalm 73, would certainly speak to Paul's condition in 2Cor, and would have been a great source of wisdom, and direction in his prayers, in the worst of his persecutions. They bring the realization that, in the end, the only true source of comfort and help-is in God alone.
​​“Whom have I in heaven but Thee?” Not “what.” Not in things, but in persons, the personal soul must find its portion. Not in many, but in One, to whom the soul can look, and to whom, as here, it can lift up its cry.

Psa 73:26- “Whom have I in heaven but thee?” Thus, then, he turns away from the glitter which fascinated him to the true gold which was his real treasure. He felt that his God was better to him than all the wealth, health, honor, and peace, which he had so much envied in the worldling; yea, He was not only better than all on earth, but more excellent than all in heaven. He bade all things else go, that he might be filled with his God. “And there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee,” No longer should his wishes ramble, no other object should tempt them to stray; henceforth, the Everliving One should be his all in all.
Psa_73:26- “My flesh and my heart faileth.” They had failed him already, and he had almost fallen; they would fail him in the hour of death, and, if he relied upon them, they would fail him at once. “But God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever.” His God would not fail him, either as a protection or a joy. His heart would be kept up by divine love, and filled eternally with divine glory. After having been driven far out to sea, Asaph casts anchor in the old port. We shall do well to follow his example. There is nothing desirable save God; let us, then, desire only him. All other things must pass away; let our hearts abide in him, who alone abideth for ever."

​And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen. Mat 6:13

OUR LORD couples His own prayer with ours when He says, pray: "Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil." We remember that He was led into the wilderness by the Spirit, that He might be tempted, and that "in all points" He was tempted like as we are, though in His case there was no sin. It is wonderful to know that by some marvelous oneness of nature the Son of God Himself pursued the dreaded track of temptation.
​
And while we have this moral nature which links us, upon the one hand, to the eternal Christ, our Captain, who has gone through the same ordeal, we are also linked to every other man, woman, and child the world over. For, though we might suppose that there were such diversities of life that some might be secure of an immunity from temptation, yet a closer inspection of our common lot reveals the fact that it is inevitable to us all.

Temptation creeps into the sick-chamber equally as into the heyday of our health. It finds its way into the seclusion of the student even as it dogs the steps of the man of the world doing his business. It comes to the minister, with its tendency to elation or despondency, as well as to the criminal; to the poor as well as to the rich. There is no life, however guarded, that is not exposed to the blast and sirocco of temptation. Therefore we utter this prayer as one—"as."

But let us take heart! Remember it is the Father to whom this prayer is addressed. He made us, and knows just what we can stand; He loves us, and His tender succor is always by our side. He draws near, saying, "I am with you in this dark valley, and am able to make you stand; I would not have brought you here had I not counted the cost. I am able to be a very present help in this time of trouble. I have carried others through this ordeal, and I can carry you; only keep near my side; look away from the tempter to my face; cease to trust yourself and depend absolutely upon Me, and I, who brought you to this testing-place, will lead you out. Be of good cheer! See, there awaits you the crown which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give to each soldier who has stood true to Him in the hour of trial, and you could not get that if you did not bear this. It is because I want you to win that I am giving you the chance of this hard fight."   [Our Daily Walk]

Note: Have you found yourself in a situation where you're finding it  impossible to forgive someone, and dealing with the inner turmoil it brings to your soul? This is one of Satan's greatest weapons, and we all face it. The excerpt below by Corrie ten Boom, gives a vivid description of the struggle with unforgiveness she dealt with, and how God brought her through, it's a lesson for us, that we can learn from.

For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. Mat 6:14-15

“It was at a church service in Munich that I saw him, a former S.S. man who had stood guard at the shower room door in the processing center at Ravensbruck. He was the first of our actual jailers that I had seen since that time. And suddenly it was all there – the roomful of mocking men, the heaps of clothing, Betsie's pain-blanched face.

He came up to me as the church was emptying, beaming and bowing. “How grateful I am for your message, Fraulein.” He said. “To think that, as you say, He has washed my sins away!” His hand was thrust out to shake mine. And I, who had preached so often to the people in Bloemendaal the need to forgive, kept my hand at my side.

Even as the angry, vengeful thoughts boiled through me, I saw the sin of them. Jesus Christ had died for this man; was I going to ask for more? Lord Jesus, I prayed, forgive me and help me to forgive him. I tried to smile, I struggled to raise my hand. I could not. I felt nothing, not the slightest spark of warmth or charity. And so again I breathed a silent prayer. Jesus, I prayed, I cannot forgive him. Give me Your forgiveness.

As I took his hand the most incredible thing happened. From my shoulder along my arm and through my hand a current seemed to pass from me to him, while into my heart sprang a love for this stranger that almost overwhelmed me. And so I discovered that it is not on our forgiveness any more than on our goodness that the world's healing hinges, but on His. When He tells us to love our enemies, He gives, along with the command, the love itself.”     [Corrie ten Boom]

Prayer: "Father-Help us Lord, to gain knowledge, and strength to learn the lessons you taught Corrie, and allow it to bring us through our troubled relationships, and someone we may need to forgive. Forgive us for harboring unforgiveness, please give us the love we need, to forgive, as You forgive us. Don't allow evil to overcome us, but help us to overcome evil, with good. In Jesus Name we ask this Father. Amen