Power Walk Ministries

Guest (Male): We welcome you to this broadcast of Power Walk. We're excited to have you join us as Pastor Paul Cannings brings part three in our series, God Reigns Supreme. This series is based on David expressing his thoughts to God at a time when he's being pursued by enemies and he's facing severe hostilities each day.

Yet his focus is not on his circumstances but rather on God himself. Pastor Cannings highlights this critical strategy that we can implement in our lives in today's message titled, Being Confident in Prayer.

Dr. Paul Cannings: Do you pray with confidence, or do we pray as a part of a routine of blessing our food or going into our devotions and ending our devotions in prayer? Do we pray with confidence and persistence like the widow with the unjust judge in Luke chapter 18? Do we pray persistently like Paul would say pray without ceasing? In all things give thanks, rejoice always. Do we have that kind of characteristic demeanor when we come before God to pray? That's huge because it says something when we do that. We come to God in a way that shows a level of confidence before him.

That's why before David could talk about this in Psalm 86:6, we looked over for the last two days Psalm 86:5. David looked at God as Lord and that he's good, meaning I'm definitely going to be praying knowing that he is going to keep his word and that everything is going to be beneficial and advantageous for me. David is looking at the fact that God is forgiving, so when I come he could forgive me of my sins. It's not like he hasn't paid for all of my sins in our context. And that he's plenteous in mercy, so if I did wrong for a long time—I mean David and the Bathsheba situation, all that happened that took place with Uriah, all of these different things—he is plenteous in mercy.

When David looks at the horrific nature of what he did, he says God is plenteous in mercy. There's no place that you've been that God can't love. There's no attitude that you've had that God can't nurture and move towards a godly person. There's no sin that has taken place that has damaged many people's lives possibly, that God is not plenteous in mercy to supply his grace. Please understand when we come to him, when we hold to that position, when we hold on to who he is and we proceed in life and we get on our knees, this is the attitude David says that we must have.

Matter of fact, I like the way Luke chapter 5 would talk about this in verse 5 through verse 13, talking about this boldness when we come before God. When he talks about the fact that as a father would give his kid a scorpion, is that going to really happen? No, he's our father. He's one who loves us. He's like a father who is forever loving. His loving kindness is new every morning. Great is his faithfulness. That's written in Lamentations, a place where people are suffering and going through pain and hardship because of their disobedience, and he's still faithful. He's still loving kindness.

That's why David would say we could come with boldness and confidence. In verse 6 of Psalm 86 he says, "Give ear." In other words, God I'm not suggesting this, I'm commanding this. That's what he's saying. To give ear means come to this prayer meeting with an aptitude, an attitude, and a commitment to do what I ask. Come this way because I've positioned myself (verse 5) in this process of you being who you are. I trust who you are.

That's why he would say in verse 1, "Bow down thine ear, O Lord, hear me: for I am poor and needy. Preserve my soul; for I am holy: O thou my God, save thy servant that trusteth in thee. Be merciful unto me, O Lord: for I cry unto thee daily." Because I recognize you're my only hope. You're the only person that can rescue me, only person that can develop the sustenance and resources in me to accomplish what I need to accomplish. You're the only person.

"Rejoice the soul of thy servant: for unto thee, O Lord, do I lift up my soul." I expect you to hear me. I expect you to respond because I'm committed to live a holy life. That's why we started there. Because I trust who you are, now I could come with boldness to the throne of grace to receive mercy and help in my time of need. O my Lord, save thy servant that put his complete surrender, complete hope in you. That's why he says, "Give ear now." I expect you to. I know you will because you promised me you will.

That's why I could say the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. I have experienced the fact that you will. He's back to this "O Lord." Remember I said he's going to repeat this over and over and over again. It's a way of reminding ourselves of who we're talking to. That's why it's important. We've got Lord in the Old Testament meaning I'm going to someone who has all authority to deal with the enemies David is facing, with all the people that are around David trying to take him out right now. David is saying, "No, I'm praying to you as Lord." Jesus Christ is saying, "No, he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. Pray to him as your father. He got this."

Give ear unto my prayer. Give ear unto my act of worship. That's what that is saying. When I come to you God, I'm not just coming to you and demanding that you're going to respond to me because I know that the Lord is steadfast. He is kind, he is merciful (verse 5), who would listen to the pain of my soul (from verse 1 through verse 4). You're attentive to me because I have a relationship with you. But God, I come to you in a worshipful manner, meaning when I pray to you God, I want to pray as a supplication to you.

He's going to go into this word supplicate. I want to come to you with my heads bowed. That's another reason why I say it's worship. To pray is to look at someone who is superior. I am inferior to his superiority, Lord. I come to him recognizing his awesome nature, and so because I do, I bow. That's an act of worship, of reverence. So that's why he is saying when I come to you, I come to you in worship. Many times when we pray, it is not an act of worship, it's just an act of need.

When you stay there long enough and have the right frame of reference, it becomes an act of worship where God stays high. That's huge. Many times we bring God low. Don't bring him low; keep him high. That's why the end of the Lord's Prayer would say, "For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory." All these different things that are being requested, but he doesn't bring God down. He's saying no, keep him up high. So understand folks, when we pray, let it be an act of worship because we never bring him down low as if God is not responding or cares about the circumstances.

That's why it gets deeper. He says, "Attend to the voice of my supplications." Here attend means I'm going to give you specific petitions. Because of the attitude in which we are now coming to God in this act of worship, we could now command him to attend. To attend to our prayers means, God, here is specifically what I'm asking. Don't go to God with so many generalities. Sometimes when people are praying you don't know what they're praying for. Seem like they're trying to impress God by quoting verses, which makes no sense.

What is the point telling him all about his word like he doesn't know it? There's no point to that. Focus on that he knows millions of years before we ever got on our knees to pray to him what we're going to pray about. Daniel is praying and praying and praying and praying and the angel comes to him and says, "Daniel, listen, your prayer has been answered. It's been answered. I was fighting with the king of Tyre, addressing issues pertinent to God's agenda and what he was doing and that's why I'm here. But get up from your knees. It's all over. It's done. Your prayer request has been addressed."

Even though Daniel shows how he was supplicating, how he was in an act of worship. In other words, I so need you to answer this that I'm going to stay on my knees until you do. I'm going to keep pestering you like the widow with the unjust judge until you do. The angel had to tell Daniel to get up because Daniel was going to stay focused and it's a petition. He's demanding God's attention. That's what started off with an act of worship and he's demanding that response based on a specific request.

Be very specific with God. You're not going to shock him. You're not going to go, "Oh my goodness, are you serious about that?" No, that's not going to happen with God. You start going to the prayer requests of many people in the Bible, you start reading the Psalms, go through the Psalms and read all the Psalms and the prayers that David prayed. It'll blow your mind some of the things he said before God. God already knows it's happening. He already knows where your heart is. You don't have to have impressive words when you pray.

You don't have to come to God like, let me find the right words. No, he does not ask for any right words in the Bible. He just asks us to be specific to that petition, that particular request we're going to him about. Be specific about what that is. That's what he's saying. We already know how to describe it. We already know what he is saying about it, so let's go ahead and do it. Sometimes I stand when I pray because I'm so tired if I get on my knees I may fall asleep.

Sometimes I walk when I pray. Sometimes because of the difficulties I'm going through, I don't talk out loud when I pray because I don't want Satan to hear nothing. So I stay within my heart and I pray to God. But I'm very specific in what I'm asking him and I keep repeating the same things over and over and over again. And that's why he says attend to the voice of my supplication. In other words, God, I'm so in worship with you, bowing before you, seeing you as Lord and King, I am now on my stomach.

I am now crying out in despair. That's what the word supplication means. It's loud. It is consistent. It is a pleading. It is a crying that sometimes causes a person to end up spread out before God on the ground. Sometimes it gets a little hard down there, so I tell people get some carpet, whatever it is, and spread out before God and say, "God, you've got to listen to me." Please understand something that I've had to learn to accept, that sometimes God says no, and that is an answer when he says no.

There's a time when Jesus got a no in the Garden of Gethsemane, crying out before God saying, "God, take this cup from me. Take the anger that you're going to express." And God says no. "I'm going to express my anger towards sin and I'm going to do it on you." That's why in Ephesians he would say because of Christ's death we are now at peace with God. So much peace that the Holy Spirit, who is God's peace, lives inside of us.

So as we go before God, go with confidence because of your first commitment is to live holy, righteous before God. Now that's not perfection. Don't go there. Nobody is perfect. That's why David talks about forgiveness of our sin, even though he mentions holiness in verse 2. The issue with holiness and righteousness is that, God, you convicted me. I get it. Forgive me of my sin. No long explanation, no excuses. I adjust and I move in the direction he wants me to because I want desperately to have a relationship with him.

So folks, when we come before God, come with boldness and when he exposes what we need to confess, confess it. Because that's not only for answered prayer, but first for relationship with him that is genuine, relationship with him that is meaningful. So when we pray, we could pray with boldness and confidence because our daddy loves us way too much and has Jesus at the right hand of the father to not have an answer for us. Stay focused.

Guest (Male): Amen, Pastor Cannings. It's so easy to repeat our failures or our challenges over and over again in prayer. And yet David's whole focus is on worshiping God for his authority over everything that concerns us.

Dr. Paul Cannings: I am so excited about April the 23rd through the 25th because it is a conference with lots of notes, great teachers, well-educated, well-prepared, doing what they're teaching in their churches. You cannot miss this conference. Come April the 23rd through the 25th at Living Word Fellowship Church. Come and be blessed. The conference is the way forward. How could we be productive despite the challenges ministries can experience? You go to powerwalkministries.org and you will get all the information you need. powerwalkministries.org, look forward to seeing you.

Guest (Male): We're asking you to come alongside us to make a one-time or monthly donation to Power Walk. Your tax-deductible contributions will be used to keep this ministry on the air. So to get in touch with us, go online at powerwalkministries.org. That's powerwalkministries.org or call 281-260-7402. That's 281-260-7402. Thanks again for your partnership. And now as we leave you, remember, as we pray, may we approach the throne of God with confidence knowing that our faith is pleasing to God.