Bible League: Living His Word In the morning, LORD, you hear my voice;in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait expectantly. In many places the Bible teaches us that we should come before the LORD in prayer. When should we do this? Any time is a good time. The important thing is to find a time. In point of fact, however, there is no biblical rule that says it must be only one time. One Psalmist came before the LORD three times a day: "Evening, morning and noon I cry out in distress, and he hears my voice" (Psalm 55:17). The Apostle Paul even said that we should "pray continually" (I Thessalonians 5:17). Our verse for today emphasizes prayer in the morning. Morning is a good time to come before the LORD in prayer. This is because one can get up before the hustle and bustle of the day begins and find a peaceful place to pray. In the morning, it is easier to get quiet before the LORD. In that peaceful and quiet place the LORD will hear our voice. The LORD is always ready to hear the prayers of His people, even early in the morning. In the morning we may lay our requests before the LORD. The idea here is that we may arrange our requests before the LORD in an orderly fashion. Like Job, we may even come before Him and make a case in defense of the requests we have (Job 23:4). After all, prayer is not simply a time to get whatever we want, no matter what that may be. It is a time to ask for what we believe the LORD is willing to grant His people. After we lay our requests before the LORD, we may wait expectantly. Prayer, in other words, should always be accompanied by expectation born of faith. Why bother to pray if we don't expect something to happen? Our prayers may not be immediately answered, but they will be in due time. Jesus said, "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you" (Matthew 7:7). And He also said, "If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer" (Matthew 21:22). In the morning, when you lay your requests before the LORD, expect that they will be answered. Expect that something good will come from the LORD. Bible in a Year Old Testament ReadingProverbs 11, 12 Proverbs 11 -- A false balance is an abomination to the Lord NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB Proverbs 12 -- Whoever loves correction loves knowledge; he who hates reproof is stupid. NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB New Testament Reading 1 Corinthians 15:33-58 1 Corinthians 15 -- The Resurrection of Christ, the Dead and the Body NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB Reading Plan Courtesy of Christian Classics Etherial Library. Tyndale Life Application Daily Devotion So God's message continued to spread. The number of believers greatly increased in Jerusalem, and many of the Jewish priests were converted, too.Insight The word of God spread like ripples on a pond where, from a single center, each wave touches the next, spreading wider and farther. The gospel still spreads this way today. Challenge You don't have to change the world single-handedly—it is enough just to be part of the wave, touching those around you, who in turn will touch others until all have felt the movement. Don't ever feel that your part is insignificant or unimportant. Morning and Evening by Spurgeon Jeremiah 49:23 There is sorrow on the sea; it cannot be quiet.Little know we what sorrow may be upon the sea at this moment. We are safe in our quiet chamber, but far away on the salt sea the hurricane may be cruelly seeking for the lives of men. Hear how the death fiends howl among the cordage; how every timber starts as the waves beat like battering rams upon the vessel! God help you, poor drenched and wearied ones! My prayer goes up to the great Lord of sea and land, that he will make the storm a calm, and bring you to your desired haven! Nor ought I to offer prayer alone, I should try to benefit those hardy men who risk their lives so constantly. Have I ever done anything for them? What can I do? How often does the boisterous sea swallow up the mariner! Thousands of corpses lie where pearls lie deep. There is death-sorrow on the sea, which is echoed in the long wail of widows and orphans. The salt of the sea is in many eyes of mothers and wives. Remorseless billows, ye have devoured the love of women, and the stay of households. What a resurrection shall there be from the caverns of the deep when the sea gives up her dead! Till then there will be sorrow on the sea. As if in sympathy with the woes of earth, the sea is forever fretting along a thousand shores, wailing with a sorrowful cry like her own birds, booming with a hollow crash of unrest, raving with uproarious discontent, chafing with hoarse wrath, or jangling with the voices of ten thousand murmuring pebbles. The roar of the sea may be joyous to a rejoicing spirit, but to the son of sorrow the wide, wide ocean is even more forlorn than the wide, wide world. This is not our rest, and the restless billows tell us so. There is a land where there is no more sea--our faces are steadfastly set towards it; we are going to the place of which the Lord hath spoken. Till then, we cast our sorrows on the Lord who trod the sea of old, and who maketh a way for his people through the depths thereof. Daily Light on the Daily Path Psalm 40:17 Since I am afflicted and needy, Let the Lord be mindful of me. You are my help and my deliverer; Do not delay, O my God.Jeremiah 29:11 'For I know the plans that I have for you,' declares the LORD, 'plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope. Isaiah 55:8,9 "For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways," declares the LORD. • "For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways And My thoughts than your thoughts. Psalm 139:17,18 How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How vast is the sum of them! • If I should count them, they would outnumber the sand. When I awake, I am still with You. Psalm 92:5 How great are Your works, O LORD! Your thoughts are very deep. Psalm 40:5 Many, O LORD my God, are the wonders which You have done, And Your thoughts toward us; There is none to compare with You. If I would declare and speak of them, They would be too numerous to count. 1 Corinthians 1:26 For consider your calling, brethren, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble; James 2:5 Listen, my beloved brethren: did not God choose the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him? 2 Corinthians 6:10 as sorrowful yet always rejoicing, as poor yet making many rich, as having nothing yet possessing all things. Ephesians 3:8 To me, the very least of all saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ, New American Standard Bible Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, Calif. All rights reserved. For Permission to Quote Information visit http://www.lockman.org. |
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