13/11/2011 - According to your faithfulness and your righteousness

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Hear my prayer, O LORD, give ear to my supplications! In Your faithfulness answer me, and in Your righteousness.

Psalm 143:1

It is good to have some one as role model but oftentimes the one who seems to be a good person turns out to be a deceiver. The stories that the Bible tells us about people that were faithful to the Lord serve, undoubtedly, as examples for all of us.

Actually, the biblical characters used by the Most High have a lot to teach us and those who get to learn from their testimony will not need to spend time on experiences because what they did – which is registered in the Scriptures – go beyond the capacity of a normal human being. For having been wise in giving the Word of God its due place of sovereignty in their hearts, they were assisted by the Most High and conquered victory. So, if we behave likewise we will get the same results.

In the verse that we are studying now we see David praying in accordance with the divine will. It is useful to observe the prayer of someone who has always come out successfully from difficult situations. The Lord hears us the same way He heard those who, in the past, drew near Him trusting His power and praying. That also happened to Abraham every time he needed help. Although his wife Sarah was barren, the patriarch prayed in order for the women of the kingdom of Gerar to conceive and God heard his request.

Regardless of the problem that you might have in your body or in your family, if someone asks you for help, do not leave until later: pray, take your position in Christ and bless that person’s life. This way, you will see what the Most High will do through your intercession – and, indirectly, He will grant you a reward! But pay attention, God only answers according to The Truth. What does that mean? In His priestly prayer Jesus said that the Word of God is The Truth (John 17:17b). We have to pray based only on what the Word tells us because the Lord only hears us when we cry out according to its tenets. To pray just for the sake of praying – or to act based on our suppositions or on what someone said – will not bring us any satisfactory results. The only prayer that prevails is the one based on what the Lord declares.

David said that in His righteousness the Lord would listen to him. What is that righteousness about? It is the act of Jesus suffering all our sins, our iniquities, our diseases and all punishment that brings us peace (Isaiah 53:4-5). God – who is Holy, Pure and has no wickedness – made His Son suffer in our place and die for our transgressions by going down to hell and paying all our debts there. The Lord made all our suffering fall upon Christ and with that act of righteousness we were acquitted and delivered. The Most High only listens to us when we are firmly based on what that righteousness demands and on what the Lord suffered for you and for me.

My brother, the prayer said according to the divine righteousness and faithfulness is the best way to honor Jesus because in doing so we are able to acknowledge what He did for us.

In Christ, with love,

R. R. Soares