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Prayer Requests 7-3-23

Anyone have something to share? 

Psalm 145

A psalm of praise. Of David.

1 I will exalt you, my God the King;
    I will praise your name for ever and ever.
2 Every day I will praise you
    and extol your name for ever and ever.

3 Great is the Lord and most worthy of praise;
    his greatness no one can fathom.
4 One generation commends your works to another;
    they tell of your mighty acts.
5 They speak of the glorious splendor of your majesty—
    and I will meditate on your wonderful works.
6 They tell of the power of your awesome works—
    and I will proclaim your great deeds.
7 They celebrate your abundant goodness
    and joyfully sing of your righteousness.

8 The Lord is gracious and compassionate,
    slow to anger and rich in love.

9 The Lord is good to all;
    he has compassion on all he has made.
10 All your works praise you, Lord;
    your faithful people extol you.
11 They tell of the glory of your kingdom
    and speak of your might,
12 so that all people may know of your mighty acts
    and the glorious splendor of your kingdom.
13 Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom,
    and your dominion endures through all generations.

   The Lord is trustworthy in all he promises
    and faithful in all he does.
14 The Lord upholds all who fall
    and lifts up all who are bowed down.
15 The eyes of all look to you,
    and you give them their food at the proper time.
16 You open your hand
    and satisfy the desires of every living thing.

17 The Lord is righteous in all his ways
    and faithful in all he does.
18 The Lord is near to all who call on him,
    to all who call on him in truth.
19 He fulfills the desires of those who fear him;
    he hears their cry and saves them.
20 The Lord watches over all who love him,
    but all the wicked he will destroy.

21 My mouth will speak in praise of the Lord.
    Let every creature praise his holy name
    for ever and ever.

12 thoughts on “Prayer Requests 7-3-23”

  3. ~ Allow me to begin by inviting you to join me in praying for a man who, although we have never met, has made an impact on my life since I was a teenager. The lyrics and melodies of Paul Simon have contributed significantly to the soundtrack of my life. I borrowed from one of his songs to try to convince the girl living three thousand miles away that I loved her: “My mind’s distracted and diffused, my thoughts are many miles away; they lie with you when you’re asleep and kiss you when you start the day.” It worked!

    When the song “The Sound of Silence” began, “Hello, darkness, my old friend,” I wondered if Paul Simon had Psalm 88:18 in mind. What he imagined it would be like to be seventy he has now experienced, and into his ninth decade, his thoughts have turned to the psalms of David. His latest album is titled simply Seven Psalms.

    According to Simon, this album came to him in a dream, causing him to reflect on matters of life and death, belief and unbelief. His lyrics are admittedly ambiguous as he struggles with the “big questions.” He appears to be someone searching, struggling with his humanity and not yet ready to bow before the One he wrestles to know. He is not alone in trying to figure this out. Our friends and neighbors are aware of God as revealed in creation and in their consciences, but unbelief has blinded their eyes—and like Paul Simon, they are unaware that God is a seeking God who opens blind eyes and softens hard hearts.

    I wish that I could show my “friend” that in the Bible, Yeshua (Jesus) is the longed-for Messiah of the Hebrew scriptures. He is the answer to the great alienation which underlies the feelings of the character from the song “America” riding a Greyhound bus, feeling lost, empty, and aching and not knowing why, smoking and counting the cars to fill in the time. I long for the chance to explain the answer to that longing.

    In the early ’70s, after his performance at the Royal Albert Hall in London, a few of us made an attempt. We waited for him at the stage door to give him a Gospel tract, which he graciously accepted, promising to read it. More recently, after reading an article by David Brooks in the New York Times, he spent an evening with the late John Stott, reportedly considering the question “Is Jesus Christ the person He claimed to be? So the seeds have been sown, his dream has stirred him, and now we have the opportunity/responsibility to water those seeds by our prayers.

    Pray that he will come to know savingly the One to whom the psalms of David point and to realize that “just as Abraham ‘believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness,’” so it is with those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. Pray that he will no longer find darkness to be a friend but will come to trust in the One who said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

    May he heed the call of the psalmist:

    “Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!” ~

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  8. I also listened to Simon & Garfunkel through my teen years, may have seen them in concert but not sure (went to a few concerts in the later 1960s where several bands and singers were featured at the Hollywood Bowl under one program).

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  9. And Stott was excellent, there’s a small book he wrote on the basics of the faith for inquirers that I liked to keep handy.

    Love how Jesus gathers his (unlikely from our perspective) flock from every tribe and tongue and nation – with many surprises to our earthly minds.

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  11. Unexpected company today. Twenty one came by with her friends. I invited them up into the backyard to sit and chat. Good conversation ending in a brief discussion on where they are with God and an invitation to church Sunday, right across from the hotel where they live. Prayer for Kody and Tim to have their ears opened.

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