Walk Of Life – Day 19 February, 2023 – Thoughts From The Book Of Psalms.
BLESSINGS OUT OF ZION!!!
Psalm 134
What comes to our mind when we think of ‘night’? Sleep. To those who get tired working all day and Entertainment, unto those whose day starts as it starts getting dark. Mostly all sinful activities take place during nights, when it is completely dark. However, for a person who is far from these sinful activities night is meant to sleep. This does not term sleep a sinful activity, whereas it is very much essential for our body’s good health.
There is one night in a year on which every Christian would show themselves in the presence of God – “The Watch Night Service.” The motives behind their attendance on this particular night may differ, it could be a sort of sacrifice they think they are doing for the Lord or it could be to pick the promise card at the end!
In Psalm 134 we read of the “Servants of the LORD” that stand in His presence at night to bless the LORD. “All Night Prayer” sounds familiar to the believers of our assemblies. It is such a blessed time to overcome our temptation to sleep and spend time in the presence of the Lord, taking various requests to Him in prayer. I remember attending ‘Half Night Prayers’ in my childhood and teens which was held once or twice a year. However, God has planted us in an assembly where we have the ‘All Night Prayer’ once a week throughout the year. Initially, it was very difficult for me to hold my sleep, so I tried to participate only till 12 am or 2am. However, though I feel sleepy, I now cannot quit, knowing the fact that the Church keeps taking many requests regarding the ministry to the LORD and also experiencing the blessings of it.
We all desire for blessings, and we do know that the blessings come from God. We might have seem many victories in our life’s smallest and biggest battles, when fought on knees of many children of God. When trouble comes our way or when we desire God to bless us, we immediately drop a prayer request in the local assembly as well as notify it in different prayer groups. It is good that we trust in God and believe in the power of prayers, but “Where are you when the Church keeps praying for you?”
There are times where we sacrifice our personal space, family time, sleep, even our health for our secular jobs, studies and pleasures. When it comes to spend a night in the presence of the living God, we take Him for granted! As the psalmist David says in Psalm 34: 8, only when we taste, we can know the goodness of God. There is song in Telugu Youth Songs Book which must have been written based on Haggai 1:4 which reads “While the house of God is fallen, you lie dumb? Is it time for you to enjoy?” Truly, when we look at our own spiritual life, family, local assembly, workplace, neighborhood, nation, world, many souls that end up in death without knowing Christ, natural calamities that cause irreversible damage, outbreaks of pandemics that keep people in constant fear, people who are working for the LORD in most difficult remote places hoping each day to be their last day on earth; how can you still be relaxed, counting the hours of sleep that you should get every day? Do you still think of sleep and enjoyment, my friend?
Dear Lord Jesus,
Forgive us, for being negligent in praying all these days. Kindly open our eyes to the requests that we ought to pray for with burden, not on compulsion with murmuring. Help us to know the power of prayers. Raise many prayer warriors, who willfully surrender and show themselves in your presence shedding true tears for your ministry. Help those that do not know the value of bearing the burdens of others and bringing them to you, to know it and practice it. Help us to receive the blessings that you have kept in store for us. In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.
