Praying Psalm 57. Psalm 57 (ESV) Release Date: April 2, 2018 This week s readings from Sunday to Saturday: Psalm 52 58

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1 Praying Psalm 7 Release Date: April, 08 This week s readings from Sunday to Saturday: Psalm 8 Psalm 7 (ESV) Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me, for in you my soul takes refuge; in the shadow of your wings I will take refuge, till the storms of destruction pass by. I cry out to God Most High, to God who fulfills his purpose for me. He will send from heaven and save me; he will put to shame him who tramples on me. Selah God will send out his steadfast love and his faithfulness! Psa. 7: My soul is in the midst of lions; I lie down amid fiery beasts the children of man, whose teeth are spears and arrows, whose tongues are sharp swords. Psa. 7: Be exalted, O God, above the heavens! Let your glory be over all the earth! Psa. 7:6 They set a net for my steps; my soul was bowed down. They dug a pit in my way, but they have fallen into it themselves. Selah 7 My heart is steadfast, O God, my heart is steadfast! I will sing and make melody! 8 Awake, my glory! Awake, O harp and lyre! I will awake the dawn! 9 I will give thanks to you, O Lord, among the peoples; I will sing praises to you among the nations. 0 For your steadfast love is great to the heavens, your faithfulness to the clouds. Psa. 7: Be exalted, O God, above the heavens! Let your glory be over all the earth!

2 Adoration Psalm 7 resounds the refrain: Be exalted, O God, above the heavens! Let your glory be over all the earth! Say those words out loud to him, now, with a heart of worship and adoration. [Pray for 0 seconds.] O God, we exalt you to the highest place today. You are worthy of the highest praise. We want to see you glorified over all the earth, and we ask that your glory be over every part of our lives and our day, today. Verse 0 mentions the unmeasurable expanse of God s steadfast love and his faithfulness. Praise him for these attributes in your own words. Praise him for the ways that you have seen his steadfast love and his faithfulness displayed in the Bible and in your own life. Psalm 7 shows praises to God arising in the midst of discouragement and oppression. Ask God to give you a posture of praise today. Ask him for literal or metaphorical songs to sing. If an actual worship song comes to mind, press pause and sing it to him. Or you can speak the song lyrics in praise to God. From the rising of the sun to its setting, your name O Lord is to be praised. You are worthy, Lord, to receive unending praise for who you are and what you ve done. Like the writer of Psalm 7, we want the sounds of praise to be so great, that they awaken the dawn. Let musical instruments be offered in praise to you today. In praise, O God, we say heaven and earth rejoice because of you; everything in the seas and fields praises your name; even all the trees of the forest sing for joy before you. Along with all creation, we lift our voices to you in praise, and we offer up every part of who we are as an offering of worship to you today. Confession Psalm 7, verse 7, says: My heart is steadfast. In a fallen world, every one of us doubts. Every one of us has felt the fickle and wandering nature of our hearts. Confess to God, in your own words, the worries and cares of your heart. Be honest with God, and express to him your moments of weakness and disbelief. Cf. Psalm :. Cf. Psalm 96:.

3 Now, in repentance, let s ask God to turn our hearts toward him today. Ask God for the faith to trust him and the grace to obey his Word. [Pray for seconds.] Lord, we believe; help our unbelief. We confess to you our moments of doubt and despair. We know that whatever does not proceed from faith is sin. So, we confess our disbelief as sin, whether it s certain moments or specific areas of our lives. We want to believe you and trust you and worship you with a whole heart. We need you to create in us a clean heart and renew a 6 right spirit within us today. That can only be done as an act of your grace, your power, and your mercy toward your people. May our roots grow deep in the gospel of Jesus Christ; build us up in 7 him; and establish us in faith. Make us like trees planted next to streams of living water that 8 bear fruit in season, for your glory we pray. Thanksgiving In Psalm 7, verse, the Psalmist prays for mercy and declares that God s presence is a refuge for his people. Thank God today for his abundant mercy toward us. Verbalize your gratitude for the security, comfort, peace, and rest that we find in the shadow of his wings. Verse 9 calls us to give thanks and sing praise among the nations. Thank Him out loud for who he is and what he s done, as a public declaration of your thankfulness. And ask him to give you a posture of thankfulness wherever he leads you today. Supplication Now, let s pray verse through of Psalm 7 Cry out to God, the Most High. Share your circumstances, your cares, and your worries with him. As you pray, believe that he will hear you, that he will send help, that he will deliver you, that he is the ultimate judge, and that he will provide steadfast love and faithfulness to those who call upon his name. Voice your requests to him now. Cf. Mark 9:. Cf. Rom :. Cf. Psalm 9:, 0,, Cf. Psalm :0. 7 Cf. Col :7. 8 Cf. Psalm :.

4 God, we pour out our hearts to you today. And we believe that you have heard our requests and 9 that you are a God who answers the cries of your people. When your people were oppressed and enslaved in Egypt, you heard their cries. You sent a deliverer. You provided a way of salvation for them, miraculously. You judged their captors, and you showered your people with steadfast love and faithfulness from generation to generation. You have done these things. And we believe you continue to do them for your people through Jesus Christ and by the power of your Holy Spirit. We know that, in Jesus, we have a great high priest who is able to sympathize with our weaknesses and afflictions in every way, yet he is without sin. And in his name, we draw near to your throne of grace, with confidence, that you will give us mercy and grace in our 0 moments of need today. Benediction As we move into the coming moments of our day, may we be reminded that God is to be exalted in the highest. The whole earth is filled with his glory. And let us praise him together with the words of Psalm 7: Psa. 7: Praise the LORD! For it is good to sing praises to our God; for it is pleasant, and a song of praise is fitting. The LORD builds up Jerusalem; he gathers the outcasts of Israel. He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds. He determines the number of the stars; he gives to all of them their names. Great is our Lord, and abundant in power; his understanding is beyond measure. 6 The LORD lifts up the humble; he casts the wicked to the ground. Psa. 7:7 Sing to the LORD with thanksgiving; make melody to our God on the lyre! 8 He covers the heavens with clouds; he prepares rain for the earth; he makes grass grow on the hills. 9 He gives to the beasts their food, and to the young ravens that cry. 9 Cf. Exodus :7, :. 0 The previous two sentences adapted from Heb : 6. Cf. Isaiah 6:.

5 0 His delight is not in the strength of the horse, nor his pleasure in the legs of a man, but the LORD takes pleasure in those who fear him, in those who hope in his steadfast love. AMEN. Credits Praying the Bible is a copyrighted production of The Summit Institute, the equipping ministry of the Summit Church in Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina. If you would like to learn more about The Summit Institute, visit us online at summitchurch.com/institute. Produced by Jonathan Welch and Luke Brown Engineered by Luke Brown Written by Jonathan Welch Narrated by Alicia Miller Music by Luke Brown and Nate Sousa Scripture quotations are from the ESV Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version ), copyright 00 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.