Approaching God in Prayer

Charactreristics of the Spirit

1. In Psalm 5 we are able to see the characteristics God desires for us
to have when we approach Him in prayer. Many times we can have a
very flippant attitude in prayer. Many times prayer is an afterthought
or merely a ritual around a dinner table. But to be able to enter into
the presence of God and lay our petition at His feet, there are certain
requirements that the Lord demands. This will be the thrust of our
study this evening.

2. uncourteous, ungracious, barefaced, disrespectful, discourteous, flippant

3. Before we begin examining the details of Psalm 5, I would like for us

to notice the overall movement of the psalm. Psalm 5 moves in
contrasts between the righteous request of David and the wicked
enemies of God. This psalm consists of five stanzas which alternate
between these contrasts. The first, third, and fifth stanzas show the
psalmist standing face to face before God. The second and the
fourth stanzas illuminate the contrast between God and the wicked
and the righteous and the wicked. The title reveals that this is a
psalm composed by David.

1 Listen to my words, LORD,
    consider my lament.

2 
Hear my cry for help,
    my King and my God,

    for to you I pray.

3 
In the morning, LORD, you hear my voice;
    in the morning I lay my requests before you

    and wait expectantly.

A. Urgency
1. The psalm immediately begins with a sense of urgency on the part
of David. Notice in the first and second verses the words used by
 David: give ear, consider, and listen. To give ear has a literal meaning
of “broadening the ear” as with the hand. The word “listen” literally
means “to incline the ear.” Therefore, David is asking the Lord to
perk up His ears to the things that David is about to say, if you will.

2. Prayer was important to David. David is not merely going through a

prayer routine as he begins to speak to God. David has an intensity
and urgency in his prayer. It is so important for us to move our
prayers from the optional to the urgent. How often our prayers
merely come from a sense of routine and not a sense of urgency.
Yet it is this spirit of urgency that is needed in our prayers. When is
the last time that we put our prayer to God with such urgency that
we said “Give ear to my words, O Lord?” We have that right and
ability to do so, yet how rarely we bring a zeal to the Lord concerning
our requests. David shows us that to approach God in prayer, we
ought to have intensity and not a prayer formula. In the New
Testament, James refers to Elijah who “prayed earnestly” that it
would not rain, and it did not (James 5:17 -18). It is that kind of
urgency that receives answered prayer.

B. Persistency
1. Further, we also see a persistency in the prayer David is bringing to
God. Twice, in verse 3, we read that David prayed “in the morning.”
David was not praying only on one morning. By David saying “in the
morning” he was saying that he was praying every morning.

2. We have spent many lessons noting the various times Jesus taught
the need for persistence in prayer. In Luke 18:1 we are told that
Jesus “spoke a parable to them, that men always ought to pray and
not lose heart.” David shows us the example that we need to
continue to ask of the Lord even when the answer is delayed. In our
study of the psalms thus far, we have already seen the many
 desperate situations David found himself in. Yet David still relied
upon prayer, repeatedly asking for the Lord to answer.

C. Expectation
1. The third verse ends with David saying that he will wait in
expectation for an answer to his prayer. The NKJV says “and I will
look up.” But this is not an entirely accurate rendering of the Hebrew.
Instead, the Hebrew literally means “to look out, to be on watch.”
Therefore we are presented with the image of David offering his
prayer and then looking all around him for the answer. David is
offering a prayer in faith and not in doubt.

2. This is another excellent example of the type of spirit we must have

in prayer. Many times we have a spirit of hopelessness and not a
spirit of expectation which the Lord is looking for. When we ask in
doubt, we cannot expect to receive anything from the Lord. The Lord
desires us to have the spirit of expectation when we approach the
throne.

3. In noting these three characteristics of spirit in approaching God,

one may notice that it is a contrast between a spirit of optimism and
pessimism. If we have the positive outlook of expectation in prayer,
we would be more persistent in prayer and our prayers would have
more urgency. However, a pessimistic spirit toward God will not
expect answered prayer and therefore will not be persistent and
urgent in prayer. We must have  an attitude change when
approaching God in prayer.

CONCLUSION
12 
In him and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence