Psalms

Lately I have been spending a lot of time with King David and my Jesus. In other words, I'm working my way through reading the Psalms. I have found some extremely fascinating and uplifting things. On a notecard, I have been keeping track of some of the themes I have noticed so far.

Here are just a few so far: Praising God - God's unfailing love - God's faithfulness - Standing in awe of God - Thanking God - God delivering us - God as our refuge and strength - Having an attitude of prayer - Crying out to God - Trusting God - God never being far away

What amazes me is David's attitude of prayer. From what I've read so far, He goes back and forth from pleading and crying out to God and praising Him. There's nothing in between.. He is always communicating in some way with his Creator. Sometimes I feel like we fail to spend time with God unless we're pleading and crying out to Him, because when everything is going alright we're ok. But what if everyone was to have this attitude of prayer? It makes me think of 1 Thessalonians 5:7, which says "pray without ceasing." In high school, my youth pastor described this as not praying 24/7, just having the attitude of prayer. You don't have to pray all day. It's more like keeping God close in your thoughts, actions, etc. Your prayers don't have to be long and super deep... a "God help me to love these people in my check out line that are driving me crazy" is sufficient, because you're relying on God and calling on Him. I think of it as simply being in close contact with Him throughout the day. What you think about colors your attitude, thoughts, actions, etc., so why not let what you're thinking about be something good.. like your Jesus? He longs for that. He wants us to focus on Him, and spend time with Him. He's a very jealous God, and yet showers us with blessings. David praised Him as the most amazing thing, which He really is. But what if we were to do that in our lives, just like David did?   I wonder how much we would grow, and how strong our relationship with Him would be.

Here's what I think would happen:

"The Lord makes firm the steps of the one who delights in Him; though he may stumble, he will not fall, for the Lord upholds him with His hand" -Psalm 37:23-24

"The Lord helps [the righteous] and delivers them; He delivers them from the wicked and saves them, because they take refuge in Him" -Psalm 37:40 (emphasis personally added)

The last part of verse forty sticks out to me. It just seems to bring to my attention that taking refuge in Him, is what God wants us to do. And when we do, we get showered in blessings.  Also, Isaiah 26:3 comes to mind, which says; "You will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You." David was at peace, because His mind was stayed on God and he trusted Him. Can we say the same for ourselves?

I think having a mind stayed on Jesus and an attitude of prayer go hand in hand. What do you think?