11 BECOMING OPEN TO GOD PSALM 139 (A PRAYER BASED ON THE CHARACTER OF GOD) ©Canon Jim Holbeck TOPIC 4

11

BECOMING OPEN TO GOD PSALM 139

(A PRAYER BASED ON THE CHARACTER OF GOD)

©Canon Jim HolbeckTOPIC 4

222

THE ATTRIBUTES OF THE GOD WHO KNOWS AND CARES

The truths about GodHow these truths relate to us today

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What we think about God will determine how we pray to Him

David’s prayer was based on the character of God as He had revealed Himself

In this Psalm is a wonderful description of the character of God

1). Verses 1 to 6 God’s Omniscience 2). Verses 7 to 12 God’s Omnipresence 3). Verses 13 to 18 God’s Omnipotence 4). Verses 19 to 22 God’s Omnijudgment

Then follows a Prayer based on the character of God. Verses 23 – 24

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1). THE OMNISCIENCE OF GOD The God Who Knows Everything about us

• Psa 139:1) O LORD, you have searched me and known me.(Psa 139:2) You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from far away.Psa 139:3) You search out my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways(Psa 139:4) Even before a word is on my tongue, O LORD, you know it completely.Psa 139:5) You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me.(Psa 139:6) Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is so high that I cannot attain it.

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Everything that has ever been done to us or said to us.

He knows all the things that have made us what we now are. The good and the bad.

He knows the damage done to us He knows the healing that is needed for us

individually He knows how to heal us

What His omniscience means for us

He KNOWS all about OUR PAST


What His Omniscience Means For Us (continued)

He KNOWS all about OUR PRESENT SITUATION

He knows our inner desires, what we really want He knows our motives behind all we say and do He knows what we are thinking all the time He KNOWS and He UNDERSTANDS us perfectly God never misunderstands us. He never gets it wrong Others may falsely condemn us but He knows the truth His opinion of us is 100% accurate His opinion is the most important one in the world


What His Omniscience Means For Us (continued)

He KNOWS all about OUR FUTURE

We can trust Him with our future for it is in His plan and purpose

Jer 29:11 For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for wholeness and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.

Prov 3:5,6, Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. 6 In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.

Eph 2:10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.


2). THE OMNIPRESENCE OF GODHe can be found everywhere

Psa 139:7 Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence? Psa 139:8 If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there! Psa 139:9 If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, Psa 139:10 even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me. Psa 139:11 If I say, "Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light about me be night," Psa 139:12 even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is bright as the day, for darkness is as light with you.


Can we flee from His presence? David couldn’t as he describes in this Psalm Francis Thompson’s poem “The Hound of Heaven”. I fled Him, down the nights and down the days; I fled Him, down the arches of the years; I fled Him, down the labyrinthine waysOf my own mind; and in the midst of tears I hid from Him, and under running laughter. Up vistaed hopes I sped; And shot, precipitated,Adown Titanic glooms of chasmed fears,From those strong Feet that followed, followed afterBut with unhurrying chase, And unperturbèd pace,Deliberate speed, majestic instancy,They beat—and a Voice beatMore instant than the Feet—'All things betray thee, who betrayest Me'.


Later in the poem God “speaks” to Francis Thompson, (descriptive of his journey)

Whom wilt thou find to love ignoble thee, Save Me, save only Me? All which I took from thee I did but take, Not for thy harms, But just that thou might'st seek it in My arms. All which thy child's mistake Fancies as lost, I have stored for thee at home: Rise, clasp My hand, and come!'


Professor C.S. Lewis couldn’t run away He wrote in “Surprised By Joy” of his being approached

by the Hound of Heaven at night in Magdalen College in Oxford.

He said he was conscious “of the steady unrelenting approach of Him whom I so earnestly desired not to meet

That which I had greatly feared had at last come upon me…

I gave in and admitted that God was God and knelt and prayed: perhaps that night the most dejected and reluctant convert in all England”.

Lewis’ gripping statement: The hardness of God is kinder than the softness of men,

and his compulsion is our liberation. What does it mean?

What the Omnipresence of God means to us today There is never a time when we as believers are alone.

Heb 13:5 Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, "I will never leave you nor forsake you." Mat 28:19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age." Eph 2:6 God….raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus

What the Omnipresence of God means to us today


13 For it was You who formed my inward parts;

You knit me together in my mother's womb

What does that mean for us today?

3). THE OMNIPOTENCE OF GOD. vs.13-18.

He is all powerful. He can do all things


“YOU … formed my inward parts;” “YOU knit me together in my mother's womb”

You are a personal, individual creation by God Himself!!!!

You are a person of eternal significance God meant you to be!!!! Eph 1:4 even as he chose us in him before the

foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love 5 he predestined us for adoption through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will

3). THE OMNIPOTENCE OF GOD. vs.13-18. He can do all things (continued)

i). VERSE 13. You are NOT a MISTAKE!


I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made

Wonderful are your works; that I know very well

What is our self esteem, self image like? Healthy or unhealthy?

( How do we go on the mirror test?) Do we like what we see?


ii). VERSE 14. We are “Wonderfully made!”



Wrong ways of looking at ourselves can be very unhealthy.

Eg., people suffering from I.U.S. Dysmorphophobia

What is it? dys morpho phobia Morphe = form or appearance Phobia = fear, anxiety, preoccupation with An anxiety about our appearance

IUS= Imagined Ugliness Syndrome B.D.D. = Body Dysmorphic Disorder Triggered by remembering hurtful remarks of the

past about our appearance. Can be healed as we recognise who we are in Christ

and accept His view of us


15. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth.16. Your eyes beheld my unformed substance. In your book were written all the days that were formed for me, when none of them as yet existed.

What does that mean for us?


iii). VERSE 15-16. God is with us always


Some ask, “Where WERE YOU when things happened in my life that should never have happened?”

God abhors all evil. He tries to prevent it happening Sometimes people don’t act on the niggling doubts they

have in some situations and so innocent people suffer as a result

It wasn’t God’s fault that the innocent suffered! Humans misused their freewill to hurt fellow humans contrary to the will of God

God can bring healing to those who suffered provided they turn to Him for help

The devil tries to stop people turning to God who can heal them


God was involved in our birth, our ongoing growth and knows the end of our days


17 How weighty to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them

18 I try to count them--they are more than the sand; I come to the end--I am still with you.

One can never fully understand God. Is 55:8, His thoughts and ways are beyond ours. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your

ways my ways, declares the LORD. 9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.

We may not fully understand Him but we can fully trust in His promises to us


iv). VERSES 17-18. Humility before God


19 O that you would kill the wicked, O God, and that the bloodthirsty would depart from me--

20 those who speak of you maliciously, and lift themselves up against you for evil!

21 Do I not hate those who hate you, O LORD? And do I not loathe those who rise up against you?

22 I hate them with perfect hatred; I count them my enemies.

(David is saying he is on God’s side living for His glory. He will not side with God’s enemies)

4). THE OMNIJUDGMENT OF GODVS.19-22. He is judge of all


23. "Search me O God and know my heart.""Test me and know my anxious thoughts."v.24. "See if there is any offensive way in me" (Any path in me that brings You grief)

And lead me in the way everlasting."

THE PRAYER OF THE PERSON WHO WANTS TO BE IN GOD'S WILL


THE PRAYER OF THE PERSON WHO WANTS TO BE IN GOD'S WILL (continued)

We invite the God who searches (see verse 1), to search us.

23. "Search me O God and know my heart.“

(Search and make known to me what You see. Then I will act on what you show me)

• "Test me and know my anxious thoughts." (Reveal to me what You recognise)

• v.24. "See if there is any offensive way in me" (Any path in me that brings You grief) And lead me in the way everlasting."


THE PRAYER OF THE PERSON WHO WANTS TO BE IN GOD'S WILL (continued)

Note WHO does the searching and the revealing. GOD DOES in answer to prayer. We don’t. We DON’T invite Him to cooperate with us while we

search. Rather we cooperate with Him AS HE SEARCHES. He as THE COUNSELLOR will only reveal as much as

we can cope with at the time. Then He reveals more for our healing. His ministry to us is always appropriate


A SUGGESTED EXERCISE TO DO

IN A TIME OF QUIETNESS WITH GOD


ASKING THE GOD WHO SEARCHES ALL THINGS TO

SEARCH US

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What is it that God knows about in our lives? Everything -in the past, -the present -the future!


1. All that we have thought, said or done .Has all my sin in thought, word, attitude and deed, been brought to the light, specifically confessed and forgiveness received?

2. Have I asked God to heal the wounds of those whom I hurt? "Lord, show me." “Please heal them.”

3. “What action do I now need to take?”

THE PAST. (From conception to the present)


All that has been thought, said and done to us and attitudes adopted to us

1. Whom do I need to forgive, and ask God to bless?

2. Do I need forgiveness for holding any resentment, bitterness or unforgiveness towards anyone? "Lord, show me.”

3. Have I asked God to heal me of the wounds other people have given me? “Lord please heal me.”

4. What action do I now need to take?


1). "Lord, to what extent are they identical to what you want to do in me and through me?

Gal 2:20,"crucified with Christ … Christ lives in me?" (Rom 8:5, What is our mind-set?)

2). What are my motives, desires and values? "Lord are they Yours for me?“

Am I willing to relinquish my rights in order to fulfil my responsibilities to Him?

"Lord, show me. Lord, be the Lord of my life from this point on."

THE PRESENT. My present thoughts, words, attitudes and deeds


1. Is my goal the same as St.Paul's? His was "to know Him and the power of His resurrection.“ Phil 3:10

2. Is my ambition to build up adequate security? Am I looking for my security in things rather than in Him?

3. Are the plans I’m making for the future, really the ones You Lord, want for me? "Lord show me.“

“Lord, lead me in the way everlasting."

THE FUTURE. My goals, ambitions and plans


Through our openness to God, we can cooperate with Him as HE searches us.

He can reveal to us the things we need to know for our HEALING

and for our EMPOWERING to be able to live for Him and to serve Him.


THE END

Topic 4-Open to God Psalm 139

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11 BECOMING OPEN TO GOD PSALM 139 (A PRAYER BASED ON THE CHARACTER OF GOD) ©Canon Jim Holbeck TOPIC 4