Psalm 109:4:
“In return for my love they are my accusers,
But I give myself to prayer.”

Question: What does giving yourself to prayer mean and what might it look like in your life?

Choosing to pray

The response of people in the psalm to David’s love is twisted and determined on evil, but David’s response is to not descend into that arena.
Instead, in sorrow for the nature of fallen mankind and the world, he turns to the only source of truth and goodness, to God alone.

And that is our response also.

On giving

In coming to the Lord in prayer, we have nothing to give except ourselves and our time.
We are not forsaking anything except the arena of sin and decay, and we are turning to receive a great blessing from God. The gift is being received by us.

On prayer

In my youth I was advised to avoid the shopping list model of prayer, and follow the ACTS model (Acknowledgement, Contrition, Thanksgiving, and Supplication).

Prayer is firstly a recognition of who God is. It’s a turning from our worldly perspective of myths and false gossip to see reality.

And our response to that clear sight is humility, to admit who I am before him — a fallen sinner. That step removes the fog that would blind and misdirect us, it frees us from the 24 hour a day misinformation services that bombard our minds, and it removes the distortions and expectations of the self-worship of our age.

With the clear perspective of humility we can then see and rejoice in giving thanks for all we have been given. And the greatest gift of all, that changes who we are, is God’s gift of Jesus, who on the cross brought us into a right relationship with God.

In that right relationship, we are able to see what we should be praying for — instead of a list of selfish desires, we may pray for correction where our relationship with God is not as it should be, and for what we need to be serve Him as we follow His plans for us, and to give His love to the people He brings into our lives.

An important part of prayer is our silence — to be refreshed, strengthened, and guided, by the sense of His presence, to prepare us for the day.

My life

While this describes my wonderful experience of prayer, my life often falls far short of this, as the sense of urgency with daily commitments can rob me of those times. But when I can begin a day with bible reading, that turns my hearing towards God, and prepares me for prayer.

Continous prayer

The challenges of each day can be a reminder to “pray continuously”. That doesn’t mean closing our eyes when driving, but a continual awareness of God’s presence throughout the day, and a readiness to turn to Him to guide us through whatever arises in the day.

The believer’s prayer

Prayer can be an important part in God’s transformation of us, when it proclaims our faith God can use it to change us.

My BSF leader (Mitch) was rejected by his dad when he became a Christian about 40 years ago, and Mitch has been praying for his dad ever since. Just recently, his dad became terminally ill, and Mitch spent a lot of time with him during those final weeks, talking about life’s ultimate questions. His dad chose to accept Christ as his saviour, and Mitch led him in this prayer, which his dad prayed from the heart.

“God, I know I am a sinner and have fallen short of your glory.
There is nothing I can do to make up for this,
but I believe Jesus Christ lived a sinless life,
died on the cross for my sins,
was buried, and then rose again on the third day
to conquer the grave and my sin.
I ask you, God, to come into my heart and make me new. Amen”

The hospital staff were amazed at the transformation in his dad’s character from that day.

Praise God for drawing us close to Him in prayer.