(Read 2 Sam 7:18-29)
This morning we continue our series “Grace that is Simply Amazing.” There are different types of prayers. I taught a series on prayer and you can read the series on the wesbite (todaysword.org). In today’s passage, after David heard everything the Lord spoke to him through the prophet Nathan, David performed two types of prayers in one: the Prayer of Praise and Thanksgiving, and the Prayer of Agreement. Let’s read David’s prayer:
King David sat before the LORD and prayed, “Who am I, O Sovereign LORD, and what is my family, that you have brought me this far? And now, Sovereign LORD, in addition to everything else, you speak of giving your servant a lasting dynasty! Do you deal with everyone this way, O Sovereign LORD? “What more can I say to you? You know what your servant is really like, Sovereign LORD. Because of your promise and according to your will, you have done all these great things and have made them known to your servant. “How great you are, O Sovereign LORD! There is no one like you. We have never even heard of another God like you! What other nation on earth is like your people Israel? What other nation, O God, have you redeemed from slavery to be your own people? You made a great name for yourself when you redeemed your people from Egypt. You performed awesome miracles and drove out the nations and gods that stood in their way. You made Israel your very own people forever, and you, O LORD, became their God.
And now, O LORD God, I am your servant; do as you have promised concerning me and my family. Confirm it as a promise that will last forever. And may your name be honored forever so that everyone will say, ‘The LORD of Heaven’s Armies is God over Israel!’ And may the house of your servant David continue before you forever.
O LORD of Heaven’s Armies, God of Israel, I have been bold enough to pray this prayer to you because you have revealed all this to your servant, saying, ‘I will build a house for you—a dynasty of kings!’ For you are God, O Sovereign LORD. Your words are truth, and you have promised these good things to your servant. And now, may it please you to bless the house of your servant, so that it may continue forever before you. For you have spoken, and when you grant a blessing to your servant, O Sovereign LORD, it is an eternal blessing!” We will stop here.
So what does this mean to you today? A few things:
1. The Prayer of Praise and Thanksgiving thanks God for what He has done. In his prayer David said, “You performed awesome miracles and drove out the nations and gods that stood in their way. You made Israel your very own people forever, and you, O LORD, became their God.” David was praying, but He was also thanking God for what He had done. We can have an entire session of the Prayer of Praise and Thanksgiving, where we really don’t ask God for anything, but simply thank God for what He has done in our lives. Or we can open up our prayer session with a Prayer of Praise and Thanksgiving. When we do this, it gets God’s attention (because He enjoys our praise) and it puts us in the right mindset to pray.
2. The Prayer of Praise and Thanksgiving praises God for who He is. In his prayer David said, “How great you are, O Sovereign LORD! There is no one like you. We have never even heard of another God like you!” When we praise God for who He is, in the middle of our prayer session, we set the atmosphere to truly ‘tap into’ our secret place of prayer. Praising God for who He is welcomes God to inhabit your space and it charges the environment for effective prayer.
3. The Prayer of Praise and Thanksgiving thanks God for Grace. In his prayer David said, “What more can I say to you? You know what your servant is really like, Sovereign LORD.” No one knows you like God knows you. You might be able to fool others some of the time, but you will never be able to fool God any of the time. With that in mind, you might as well be honest with God in prayer. David knew he was not perfect and when he thought of the fact that God was promising to bless his household forever, establishing a dynasty of Kings to come after him, he knew that it was only by grace. David knew he had not earned the blessing and when we give God the Prayer of Praise and Thanksgiving, from our heart, we will acknowledge the fact that He has been much better to us than we deserve. This way we are able to thank God for His amazing and immeasurable grace!
4. The Prayer of Agreement agrees with God’s revealed will. In his prayer David said, “You speak of giving your servant a lasting dynasty… do as you have promised concerning me and my family… may the house of your servant David continue before you forever… For you have spoken.” Prayer is not about you telling God what to do, nor it is about you giving God your Christmas list. In many ways prayer is about you lining up your will with the will of the Father. In this case God’s will had been revealed to David through Nathan. So David did the right thing and he prayed a Prayer of Agreement. In his prayer David was not telling God what to do, but rather agreeing with what God already said. This prayer is a prayer of submission and acceptance, and when we pray it in earnest, we align our will with the will of the Father. Powerful things happen when there is an alignment with your assignment. This prayer is about that alignment.
Closing Confession: Father, I will never cease to give Your Praise. From the rising of the sun, to the going down of the very same, Your name is worthy to be praised. I thank You for all You have done in my life. You have kept me from seen and unseen dangers. You have shielded me from the hand of the enemy. You have comforted me when I truly needed it and when I could not find comfort in anyone else. You have given me peace when my heart was restless. You have encouraged me when I was at the point of giving up. You have been better to me than I have been to myself. You are God alone. There is no one like You. You alone sit on the circle of the earth. You alone have all things in and under control. You alone have sovereign rule. You alone are God and there is none like You. I acknowledge no other deity, I call on no other name, and I look to no other God. You are my God, You are my Lord, You are my King and I worship You! You have been much better to me than I deserve. You have blessed me richly by Your immeasurable grace. On many occasions when I have done wrong and I deserved to be punished, You have NOT given me what I deserved, and I thank You for Your mercy. And Father, on many occasions You HAVE given me exactly what I did not deserve, and I thank You for Your grace. Father, I am fully committed to fulfilling Your Kingdom plans and purposes for my life. As You reveal Your will to me, I quickly agree with Your will and I bring my will into submission to Yours. I make an alignment with Your assignment for my life and I experience Your best every day and in every way. I declare this by faith. In Jesus’ Name! Amen!
This is Today’s Word! Apply it and Prosper.
