The Songs of Jesus

Scripture

 

Let all who want to kill me be disappointed and disgraced. Chase away and confuse all who plan to harm me.

~Psalm 35:4, CEV

Quote

David’s call for God to punish his enemies is not personal vindictiveness but a concern for justice to prevail in his kingdom.

~Timothy Keller

Psalm 35 is one of the imprecatory Psalms: there are 14 in all–Psalms 5, 10, 17, 35, 58, 59, 69, 70, 79, 83, 109, 129, 137, 140. The verb “imprecate” means “to pray evil against” or “to invoke curse upon” another, hence the name for these prayers. Dr. Keller and I have a disagreement at this point. The bible is an honest book and it reveals warts and all. David was a great man but far from being perfect and I think he was vindictive at times. Jesus and all of the New Testament teaches us to love our enemies and to pray for them. We are to leave revenge to the LORD. So what worth do we find in the imprecatory Psalms? I find great worth in them. The Psalms are a great prayer guide. I pray for the president every day, even on Sunday. I use the imprecatory Psalms to help me pray for the President’s protection from his enemies. Let me give you an example: Psalm 35:4, “Let all who want to destroy the president be disappointed and disgraced. Chase away and confuse all who plan to do him harm.” Do you see anything offensive to Christ in this prayer? Folks we are in a battle and it is good verses evil. We are not fighting democrats or liberals–we are up against pure evil. I pray almost daily for God to obliterate the abortion industry, to bring it down completely. This is not a cry of vindictiveness, it is a deep longing for justice for the unborn. Our president needs our prayer support. I’m not sure he understands this but you and I should: we need to pray for his protection and for his enemies to fail. We need to do this daily. I challenge you to pray for your President and your Pastor daily.

If you are having trouble in your prayer life: use the Psalms as a prayer guide. They are a tremendous help on the praise portion of your prayer. There is no question: the Psalms {Songs of Jesus} have revolutionized my prayer life. I’ve had a passion for reading and studying the word of God for years but I have struggled with my prayer time. The Psalms have made a huge difference. My passion for prayer is growing daily and I praise God for His grace and His patience. These are not confessions that a 69 year old needs to make. I highly recommend that you read a Psalm per day. Trust me, you will never exhaust the content of the Psalms. I am absolutely blown away that God could use David to write these hymns. They are deep, so don’t worry about them becoming boring or mundane. It’s not going to happen.

If you drive through Hartselle, from 31 to the Interstate, on Friday evening; you are bound to notice that traffic is becoming a problem even in Hartselle. Last night we made the mistake of getting caught in Athens on 72 between 31 and I-65. It looked like Atlanta. Cars bumper to bumper as for as you could see. I had a headache when we left my sisters on Harvest Road so June drove but you can no longer make a left turn from 251 to Lindsey Lane so we had to go through Athens. June is a good driver in good conditions but it was raining and the traffic was awful. There is a Krystal in Athens and I was craving a Krystal but we couldn’t get out of Athens fast enough. Priceville traffic is nothing compared to Athens so I stopped at their Krystal. If pimento cheese and Krystals were not fattening, I would have it made like a fat rat in a cheese factory.

I have one pastor still on this earth: Martin Ray who is 96 and lives is Swansboro, Georgia. I talk to him last week. He was my pastor when I was five years old. I have to pastor’s wives still living. Mrs. Lucille Inman was 90 yesterday. June and I went up to visit her and the second is Mrs. Elizabeth Crawford who lives her in Hartselle. Mrs. Crawford is one of my prayer warriors: she also prays for Joe David. I don’t remember Mrs. Crawford exact age but I think she too is getting close to 90. This is Mrs. Inman below: she doesn’t look 80, let alone 90 and she is nimble on her feet.

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