PSALMS THE SCHOOL OF PRAYER Overview According to Jeff Cavins, The Psalms are the most probing of he books of the Bible into the divinity of God. They teach us HOW to Pray. They teach us how to be REAL with God. They teach us How to RESPOND to God. They teach us the POWER of prayer. Keep in mind What Jesus did in his prayer life was manifested in what he did in life . Typically with a young child, we will hold their hand to help them draw. Well the Psalms are like God holding our hand and drawing a picture of who he is. God speaks to us thru other people. Psalms 1-41 deal with the life of David and his death. Psalms 42-72 deal with the fall of the Kingdom and Israel taken in to exile. Psalms 73-89 deal with Suffering and Praise while in exile. Psalms 90-106 deal with the coming out of exile. Psalms 107-150 deal with the restoration of the Davidic Kingdom United. Jeff Cavins said the Psalms Mirror the 5 Books of Moses & broken into 4 Major Parts: 1. The Pilgrimage Psalms (120-134) 2. The Restoration Psalm s (6, 32, 38, 51, 102, 130, 143) 3. The Royal Psalms (2, 18,20,21,45,89,110) 4. The Praise and Thanksgiving Psalms (22:3,61:3,69,108,119:62, 145, 149:6-9) The PILGRIMAGE Psalms like coming out of Egypt tell the spiritual life of Israel coming out of bondage of the divided kingdom in exile. Their Journey leads them into the presence of the Lord. They accomplish this by walking up the 15 Major Steps on the Southern edge of the Temple. These steps are made of different lengths and purposely uneven so one has to focus as they pray the Psalms walking up each step. Once at the top they receive a blessing for God to keep them. This is called putting the name of the Lord on you. Our life is like a pilgrimage. We make our accent to the real presence of the Lord every time we go to Mass. We reach this summit and at the end of the Mass the Priest says bow and pray for Gods blessing. This pilgrimage also represents a coming out of the spiritual exile of sin and into Holiness. The RESTORATION Psalms helps with overcoming sin, helps with repenting and helps anyone with a heavy burden on their heart. Specifically Psalm 51:6-14 is a very good psalm to read and meditate on before going to confession. David did not hold anything back and notice this type of confession lightens the heart and speaks of joy, rejoicing and blotting out of sin. The ROYAL Psalms is a look at Jesus the King thru the Davidic King. The Key to these messianic Psalms is 1st Samuel Chapter 8 where Israel is asking for a King and by doing so is rejecting God as their King. But God works thru Kings. One poignant example of this is in Psalm 2:9 the Kings is given a Royal Scepter and potters vessels. Back then the names of the surrounding cities would have their names on separate vessels. And if a city went against the King he would shatter their vessel with a rod of Iron. This give us extreme confidence that when we are in the will of God we do not have to worry about our enemies because he will crush them like a rod of iron smashing clay vessels. Others should be very careful when going against someone in the will of God. The PRAISE and THANKSGIVING Psalms can be illustrated by the tribe of Judah. Whenever there was a battle the tribe of Judah would go into battle 1st. Jesus name is Yashua comes from the Yahooda the root word is Judah which means PRAISE. So anytime you are in trouble the first thing you should do is Praise God. It is very important that you must know God to Praise God. You know him by: 2 Things 1. Prayer and Relationship 2. Knowing his plan and deeds in salvation History The more you Pray and have a relationship then the more you will know his plan and deeds. The more you know his plan and deeds in Salvation History the more you will pray and have a relationship with him. This is not just empty praise. This is tells us Who he is. This tells us What he has done. This formula gives us substance to our praise. By Praising Him in the midst of trouble we do not change God, praise changes us. 10 things to cultivate Praise and Thanksgiving 1. Have Holy Discipline independent of feelings 2. Thank him for small things often and Regularly 3. Thank God in the midst of Adversity 4. Set aside time daily for thanksgiving to God 5. Thank God Publicly and Corporately, in the Mass (listen how many times thanks is used in the mass, the Liturgy is teaching us how to by pray giving thanks) 6. Voluntary fasting on something you take for granted 7. Keep a physical record of Gods Faithfulness to you. 8. Show Gratitude and Thankfulness to others. 9. Suffering from Anxiety or Worry read Psalms 46 and 119 v41+ 10. The liturgy of the word of Mass: The Holy Spirit will inspire Thanksgiving and praise. ***************************************************** Amen XO
Posted on: Sun, 03 Nov 2013 04:23:16 +0000
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