Scripture

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

~Psalm 22:1, NIV

Quote

The prayers of David were prayed also by Christ. Or better, Christ prayed them through His forerunner David.

~Dietrich Bonhoeffer

I don’t remember anyone {Professor, pastor or teacher} telling me the value of using the Psalms in your devotional time as prayer guides. If they did, I missed it and the loss would be on me. Now I tell everyone who has the remotest interest what a valuable tool the Psalms are when it comes to praying. Jesus prayed the Psalms. Some believe that He quoted Psalm 22 in it’s entirety while on the cross. He sang Psalm 118 just after the last supper. I think there are 73 Psalms attributed to David and they are all inspired. I don’t need a lot of help on confession. My problem is that I begin confessing right off the bat and the best way to start a prayer is not with confession of our sin but of the greatness of God. We begin with praise and adoration for a good, good Father. David excels where I am weak, so I borrow from him. Sometimes I change the words a little but the thought comes from him and they express what I am feeling but don’t know how to articulate.

How do we pray with Jesus and David? Psalm 15:1 begins, Lord, who may dwell in your sacred tent? Who may live on your holy mountain? Again is Psalm 24:3-4, Who may ascend the mountain of the Lord? Who may stand in his holy place? The one who has clean hands and a pure heart. How can we sinners enter into the presence of a holy God? None of us have clean hands or a pure heart, so how do we muster the strength to stand before Him? The answer is really simple: Jesus! We stand in Christ and His righteousness. There is only one way into His presence of the Father and that is Jesus. Jesus pleased the Father. He lived a perfect life. I have absolute confidence in the integrity of Jesus so I can approach the Father is Jesus name.

The High Priest went into the most holy place one time a year {day of atonement} but he did not dare enter without the blood. The truth is clear; we do not approach the Mercy Seat without the blood.

Thank God for the atonement. Thank God for the Psalms. Thank God for men like Dietrich Bonhoeffer who was executed by Hitler two weeks before the war ended. The Psalms are the songs and prayers of Jesus.

Extra

A record crowd at the POINT {156}. When I say record, I mean in the last six years. Its very possible that they had more previously. They were not there to hear me preach; they came to honor the graduates and we had a bunch. It was refreshing to see a crowd. We could do that every week if we were all faithful. Of course, we did have a ton of visitors. Guessing, I would say 40 or more. The June and I went to DBC for Baccalaureate. I think this is 36 in a row the Danville High Student have done since the educational system dropped baccalaureate. I tried to get the Decatur Democrat {Daily} to do an article on it 25 years ago. They refused: instead they defended the department of education and their decision to stop Baccalaureate due to SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE. Another example of the media making the narrative fit their ideology. I think it is a good thing and I commend the kids.

Another storm last night and a yard filled with limbs. I have picked up over 1,000 gum ball, hundreds of pine cones and limbs. This morning we have small limbs all over the yard. Looks like a war zone. The warm nights are helping the garden. Everything is growing. Should have squash by the end of the week.

I did take a week off from my normal schedule {last week} so I could get some things done around the house. I got a lot done but I am tired from working harder than normal. I will be back in the study this week LORD willing. Some thought we went on a vacation: no, we have no plans to go anywhere. I am perfectly content to dwell at 1120 Iron Man. You do the going and I will hold the Fort.

Have a great day and thanks for reading the blog.