O LORD, I Am Your Servant

I love the LORD, because he has heard my voice and my supplications. Because he inclined his ear to me, therefore I will call on him as long as I live. The snares of death encompassed me; the pangs of Sheol laid hold on me; I suffered distress and anguish. Then I called on the name of the LORD: “O LORD, I pray, save me life!”

Gracious is the LORD, and righteous; our God is merciful. The LORD protects the simple; when I was brought low, he saved me. Return, O my soul, to your rest, for the LORD has dealt bountifully with you.

For you have delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling. I walk before the LORD in the land of the living. I kept my faith, even when I said, “I am greatly afflicted”; I said in my consternation, “Everyone is a liar.”

What shall I return to the LORD for all his bounty to me? I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the LORD, I will pay my vows to the LORD in the presence of all his people. Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his faithful ones. O LORD, I am your servant; I am your servant, the child of your serving girl. You have loosed my bonds.

I will offer to you a thanksgiving sacrifice and call on the name of the LORD. I will pay my vows to the LORD in the presence of all his people, in the courts of the house of the LORD, in your midst, O Jerusalem. Praise the LORD!

Psalm 116:1-19

Leonardo da Vinci spent 10 years drawing ears, elbows, hands and other parts of the body in many different aspects. Then one day he set aside the exercise and painted what he saw.

Prayer is much the same. You have to set a foundation for how to pray, when to pray, and what you might pray for. If you do that, you will have set aside a quiet time with our Lord and you will have created a discipline. If you focus on your time with our Lord, it will be an exceptional experience. You will learn the spontaneity of prayer that flows from discipline.

Keep on praying. Keep on reading the Bible. Keep on meeting other people in Jesus. Get to know God better, perhaps hearing from Him in ways accessible only through solitude.

Prayer is an intimate conversation with our God.

Our Daily Bread – September 28, 2008