Every morning I try to pray, “Father, show me how to be more like Jesus Christ today so that You will be glorified!

I read and pray from the Psalms almost every day. Sometimes I get stuck . . .  I’m sure you have experienced it too. There are certain verses that stop me in my tracks–even when I have read them many times before. A few days ago I had one of those experiences.I love Psalm 25 because it is a prayer that comes from David’s gut–his pain over his own youthful sin and his awareness that the consequences of his sin have brought difficult circumstances his way. It is a psalm I can relate to in very personal ways as I look back over my past and present sinfulness, and then trust in the grace-filled mercy of the Father to forgive and redeem my struggles for His good purposes. David’s psalm gives me great hope for the future, even as I reflect upon God’s goodness to me in the past.

So, as I began to read the psalm recently, I couldn’t move beyond the first verse: “To You, O LORD, I lift up my soul.” It made me ask the question, “What does it mean to lift up my soul to God?” I considered the fact that I am made up of body (my physical being), spirit (the part of me that connects with God through the spiritual realm) and soul (my mind, will and emotions). I am a soul with a spirit. My soul is the part of me that is tempted consistently to sin…using my body to carry it out through my words, thoughts or actions. It is my spirit that touches the heart of God and the place where He can heal my sin sickness and set me upon the path of following Jesus more fully.

Lifting up my soul to God means that I willingly give Him my sinfulness that has been set in motion by my mind, will or emotions. Immediately my thoughts went to an old African American spiritual, “There Is a Balm in Gilead.” The first verse says:

Sometimes I feel discouraged and think my work’s in vain,
But then the Holy Spirit revives my soul again.
There is a balm in Gilead to make the wounded whole;
There is a balm in Gilead to heal the sin-sick soul.

Such good theology! It is the Holy Spirit that renews and revives our sin-sick souls. Our Great Physician is an amazing Soul Healer! How grateful I am to know that when my soul has led me into sin or is considering sinful behavior, if I will allow it, my spirit can engage the heart of God for forgiveness and healing. He can also give me the strength and power to resist. When I am discouraged, afraid, threatened, etc. He is always there to bring comfort, protection and encouragement. The consequences of sin always remain, but God is there with me in the midst of those consequences…sad that I have chosen a path that led me away from Christlikeness.

Watchman Nee* says that the spirit is meant to be the part of me that is the strongest; however, my soul must submit to my spirit rather than give in to the impulse to sin. This is where my free will comes in. I am free to choose which way I will go. Nee also teaches that the body is world-consciousness, the soul is self-consciousness and the spirit is God-consciousness. This is very helpful as I recognize that prayer involves all three of these elements! If the spirit rules the other two, I am most aligned with the plans and purposes of God.

Lifting up my soul is submitting my soul to God in prayerfulness, asking Him to intervene in my mind, will, emotions as well as my physical body – whatever has led to the situation or mental state in which I find myself.

I am trying to cultivate more occasions when I lift up my soul to God in thankfulness and praise! Mary, the mother of Jesus, comes quickly to mind and is probably the most amazing example of this kind of praying! In Luke 1:46-47, “Mary said: ‘My soul exalts the Lord, and my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior.’”

In this passage, Mary also delineates between her soul and her spirit. Her mind, will and emotions exalted the Lord and her spirit, the part of her being that connects with the spiritual realm rejoiced in God her Savior. And, she was also submitting her body to be used for a holy purpose that would change the course of history and provide for the salvation of mankind.

I can involve all parts of my being in this prayer relationship (body, soul and spirit); however, I must choose to do so. If my soul does not yield to the spirit continually, I am in danger of sin and worldliness.

Soul Prayers from Psalm 25

After pondering how to lift up my soul to God, I felt that God was leading me to step into a season of prayer using the rest of Psalm 25 as a guide. Here are some of the prayers I engaged in and hope will be useful to you as well:

1. Trusting God to Keep You from Sin (Psalm 25:2-3):“O my God, in You I trust, do not let me be ashamed; do not let my enemies exult over me. Indeed, none of those who wait for You will be ashamed; those who deal treacherously without cause will be ashamed.”  Thank You, Father, that I can place my complete trust in You to keep my soul pure and holy. Continue to guide me so that I will never be ashamed of my behavior, words or thoughts. I praise You that if I will wait for You and seek after Your heart, I will never be ashamed.
   2. Seeking the Guidance of God (Psalm 25:4-5):“Make me know Your ways, O LORD; teach me Your paths. Lead me in Your truth and teach me, for You are the God of my salvation; for You I wait all the day.” Keep me from running after my own wisdom, Father. May I humbly keep my heart firmly upon Your path as You teach me Your truth and embed it into my soul more and more each day.
   3. Asking God to forgive and forget our sins from the past because of His compassion and lovingkindness (Psalm 25:6-7, 10-11): “Remember, O LORD, Your compassion and Your lovingkindnesses, for they have been from of old. Do not remember the sins of my youth or my transgressions; according to Your lovingkindness remember me, for Your goodness’ sake, O LORD…All the paths of the LORD are lovingkindness and truth to those who keep His covenant and His testimonies. For Your name’s sake, O LORD, pardon my iniquity, for it is great.”  Loving Lord, how amazed I am each day for Your kind and generous provision of Jesus, who gave up His very life to allow my sins to be washed away.
   4. Petition the Lord for deliverance (Psalm 25:15-18):

From the evil intentions of others (v. 15) “My eyes are continually toward the Lord, for He will pluck my feet out of the net.”

From loneliness and affliction (v. 16) “Turn to me and be gracious to me, for I am lonely and afflicted.”

From trouble and distress of the heart (v. 17) “The troubles of my heart are enlarged; bring me out of my distresses.”

From the sins that have caused the afflictions and trouble (v. 18) “Look upon my affliction and my trouble, and forgive all my sins.”

One last prayer of deliverance returns yet again to the soul…the place where my Psalm 25 journey began is also the place where it ends! In order to continually lift our souls to the Lord, we must ask God to guard our souls, for our mind, will and emotions can be our undoing apart from His help:

“Guard my soul and deliver me; do not let me be ashamed, for I take refuge in You. Let integrity and uprightness preserve me, for I wait for You” (Psalm 25:20-21).

The evil that so strongly attempts to way-lay us can only be thwarted by the power of the Holy Spirit moving upon our souls. We must wait upon the Lord, and continually seek Him so that He may preserve us with integrity and uprightness.

“Thus the Lord used to speak to Moses face to face, just as a man speaks to his friend. When Moses returned to the camp, his servant Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man, would not depart from the tent” (Exodus 33:11).

It is always amazing and such a blessing to read over a passage of scripture and see something I have never observed previously. Meditating on the word gives God an opportunity to hit the pause button and make me take notice of something that challenges and encourages me. I have read the account of Moses and the Tent of Meeting in Exodus 33 countless times…but today when I read it, I gravitated toward the last part of verse 11: “When Moses returned to the camp, his servant Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man, would not depart from the tent.”

It was as if I suddenly felt God urging me to pay attention to Joshua in the midst of a passage talking about the intimate relationship between God and Moses…which is the relationship I have always focused on in the past. So, I decided to sit with this verse for a season.  I found myself asking many hypothetical questions. Why did Moses take Joshua with him to the Tent? Did Joshua actually go intothe tent, as implied in the wording of the Scripture, or was he sitting just outside as most servants would likely do?  Was Joshua able to hear the conversations between God and Moses? Certainly he would have, whether he was inside or just outside. Why would Joshua, who was the servant of Moses, not accompany Moses back to the camp? How long did he stay at the Tent of Meeting before returning to the service of Moses? And, why didn’t Moses seem to care that Joshua stayed behind? Did Moses instruct him to stay there? We don’t have the answers to those questions specifically, but recognizing that Joshua the servant was also the protégé, mentee and ultimate successor of Moses, his “extra” time in the Tent seems to have even greater significance.

Not only did Joshua stay in the Tent, but scripture says he “would not depart” from it…in other words, he refused to leave. Was this time in the presence of God preparation and on the job training for Joshua’s soon to be leadership position, even though he didn’t really know all that God had in mind at the time? Perhaps Joshua was simply spending time in God’s presence to know Him better because the beauty and majesty of God was so compelling that this young leader couldn’t resist soaking and worshiping the One who had obviously captivated his heart.

It seems to me that God has His eye upon Joshua because of the purity and sincerity of his devotion and his commitment to obedience. He had been one of the twelve spies charged with checking out the land flowing with milk and honey. Joshua had found favor with God and with Moses for having courage, along with Caleb, to speak out to the rebellious and fearful Israelites that if the Lord was pleased with them, He would make a way for them to enter the Promised Land. Even though the task seemed daunting because of the fierce tribes who lived there, Joshua believed God’s promise and that He would give His people what they needed to succeed.

We see God’s plan unfold when Moses had, in a brief moment of prideful disobedience, forfeited his privilege of entering the Promised Land. As a result, in Numbers 27:18-20 the Lord said to Moses, “Take Joshua the son of Nun, a man in whom is the Spirit, and lay your hands on him; and have him stand before Eleazar the priest and before all the congregation, and commission him in their sight. You shall put some of your authority on him, in order that all the congregation of the sons of Israel may obey him.” It would be Joshua who would now lead the people into the Promised Land.

Later, after the death of Moses, God reveals His specific plans to Joshua. We do not have any scriptural proof that God actually spoke to Joshua until after the death of Moses, when He commanded Joshua to cross the Jordan. However, it is my feeling that Joshua knew the Lord’s voice well, for he had spent time in the Tent of Meeting, soaking in the presence of God. When God gave Joshua his instructions, He also encouraged him: “No man will be able to stand before you all the days of your life. Just as I have been with Moses, I will be with you; I will not fail you or forsake you. Be strong and courageous, for you shall give this people possession of the land which I swore to their fathers to give them. Only be strong and very courageous; be careful to do according to all the law which Moses My servant commanded you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, so that you may have success wherever you go. This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it; for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have success. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous! Do not tremble or be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go” (Joshua 1:5-9).

Here are my takeaways:

• A godly leader spends time in the Tent of Meeting, refusing to leave. If one remains in the place of prayer, intent on being in intimate fellowship with God, one will be better prepared to answer the call of God to step into His kingdom purposes when the time is right.  The place of prayer for Joshua was first and foremost the place of God’s presence…but it was also a place of preparation which ultimately led to greater things than Joshua ever could have imagined.
• A godly leader accepts that mantle as a humble, obedient servant. Joshua could have boasted about his position as Moses’ right hand man, yet he was more interested in spending time with God in the Tent of Meeting than touting his own influence and importance before others. He had leadership qualities, but placed his dependence upon God alone.
• A godly leader believes and trusts God wholeheartedly. Joshua trusted the promise of God and was not afraid to voice his confidence to the people of Israel when they expressed their fear and anxiety to Moses about the fierce tribes standing in their way. He was one of only two of the twelve spies who trusted that God could overcome the seemingly insurmountable obstacles.
• A godly leader is chosen and equipped for God’s tasks. God was pleased to pour out His Spirit upon Joshua, His chosen successor to Moses. Joshua was specifically anointed and commissioned for his leadership role.
• A godly leader waits patiently for God’s timing and is fully prepared when the time comes. Joshua was being positioned by God to take the people of Israel into the Promised Land…something Moses had lost the privilege of doing due to his own disobedience. Joshua didn’t rush the process, but patiently waited for God’s plans to play out at the appointed time.

Have you been lingering in the “tent” with God? Most of us would admit to being pulled in many different directions, even though we no longer have to go to a physical tent to meet with the Father. God has made it possible to meet with Him in any given moment because He has made His home with us. Through the sacrifice of Jesus, we are now the dwelling place of God. And just like Joshua, we do not need to be afraid because God will not fail us if we will be “strong and courageous.”

So – after all of this I have one more takeaway: I need to spend more time in the Tent.

A while back, I went through a personally difficult and discouraging season due to some pressing and very serious issues in our family. I’m sure you have all experienced such struggles. And, if you are like me, the almost overwhelming weight of the temptation to “fix” everything in the lives of those I love threatened to undermine my peace, joy and contentment in the midst of my circumstances.

As I unburdened my heart to a dear friend, she took me to Psalm 40 and encouraged me to sit there with God for awhile. What an amazing gift! For the sake of this blog, I am only going to focus upon the first three verses. There is so much richness and treasure to be mined here! Let me share with you some of the incredibly restorative prayers that burst out of these verses:

Psalm 40:1a  “I waited patiently for the LORD…”

The Prayer of Waiting: Father, help me to wait patiently for You…to experience Your sweet and comforting presence in the midst of the chaos, confusion and pain! I trust You to be the answer to each of my loved ones’ lives…whether an issue, illness, situation, relationship or dysfunction. You alone can repair, restore and heal. Give me the ability to lay down my burdens at the foot of the cross of Christ so that I am able to watch you move in clarity and precision to do what cannot be done in my human strength. Help me to trust You fully with the lives, minds and hearts of those I love so that You can do Your work more perfectly within, around and through them. Please show me how to set aside my pride and my “need” to fix things or to “come to the rescue.” Give me the desire to get out of Your way and let You move!

God’s Response to the Prayer of Waiting:

Psalm 40:1b “…and He inclined to me and heard my cry.”

My Prayer: How amazing to me that You, the God of the Universe, literally leaned in towards me and heard my cry! How precious I am to You! How grateful my heart is and how much I must mean to You to take time to hear my pitiful cries for help. In the midst of my anguish, You care for me so very much – way more than I could ever imagine! Thank You, Abba Father…for bending down and ministering to my broken spirit. Thank You that I can always know You are listening and hearing me as I call upon Your holy name!

Psalm 40:2a “He brought me up out of the pit of destruction, out of the miry clay…”

My Prayer: Loving Jesus, You not only heard my cries for help, but You brought me up out of the pit – the desperate place where I was filled with despair and discouragement and doubt and depression. When I was sinking in the mire, You filled me with hope and allowed me to see the light in the midst of one of the darkest places and seasons I have ever known. My heart is filled with thanksgiving that You have literally pulled me out of the clay that was sucking me under. I was struck down but not destroyed (2 Corinthians 4:9) for You defeated the enemy on my behalf.

Psalm 40:2b “He set my feet upon a rock making my footsteps firm.”

My Prayer: Grace-filled God, after You pulled me up You gently put my feet on solid ground so I could walk without stumbling! You knew that I would need a firm foundation – a safe place to learn how to walk securely and upon which to dance with delight once again. Father, You helped me to find my balance when I was teetering on the edge of an abyss. I was so afraid I would fall in, for the pressure felt so great and the storm was insatiably vicious. But You held out Your hand to me in the midst of it all and graciously rescued my thoughts from the temptation to give in to despair…and set me down where I could no longer be battered by the taunts and lies of the enemy of my soul. You stood me up on the Rock that is Christ Jesus!

Psalm 40:3a “He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God…”

My Prayer: Holy Spirit, my joy was literally ebbing away until You rescued me and filled my mouth with fresh, new praises to the God of Glory!  You have given me hope and peace and life once again and in the midst of the struggles of my circumstances, You have reminded me to keep my gaze fixed upon the Holy One. You’ve helped me to understand how to rejoice always, even when life seems brutally unfair – especially to those I love and care for the most.  Please keep teaching me new songs moment by moment, for worshiping the King of kings is my deepest desire. Keep me focused upon Your word, for embedded there is the sword that defeats the enemy. May I sing Your words back to You as a thank offering for all You have done to rescue me from destructive thoughts and actions. “Blessed be Your glorious name, and may it be exalted above all blessing and praise. You alone are the Lord. You made the heavens, even the highest heavens, and all their starry host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them. You give life to everything, and the multitudes of heaven worship you” (Nehemiah 9:5-6).

God has done all of these things SO THAT:

Psalm 40:3b “Many will see and fear and will trust in the Lord.”

When others see how God has allowed me to walk through my circumstances in victory, they will be in awe of what my amazing, Almighty God can do. They want to trust in a God who can do what He has done, is doing and will continue to do for me when I cry out to Him. 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 says, “Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” This scripture doesn’t say that we are to be joyful for our difficult and painful circumstances, but it does say we are to be joyful, prayerful, and thankful in the midst of them.

How do we do that?

If we will pour out our hearts to God in prayer from our deepest, darkest places of despair, we need to have faith that He will bend down to hear us, lift us up out of the pit, and set us upright on solid footing once again so that we can walk in victorious praise and so that many will see His goodness and power and put their trust in Him.

God will use your most devastating circumstances to bring glory to Himself through you! Your prayers from the pit can be the very thing that rescues others from the pit as well. Stand firm in times of suffering and “Wait patiently for the Lord.” He is there and just waiting for you to recognize His presence in the midst of your trials. Trust Him to bend down to listen and hear your cries of desperation so that He can hold out His hand to You and show You His faithfulness. And then…don’t keep His rescue a secret! Give Him the praise and the glory so that “many will see and fear and will trust in the Lord.”

My poor husband! I can sometimes be one of those “squirrel” people – you know the ones. You may be having a conversation and in the middle, the person to whom you are talking or who is talking to you gets suddenly and radically distracted by something completely off topic. Dave can be talking and out of the blue, I will point at something, change the subject, or otherwise divert the conversation. This is always completely unintentional, but frustrating just the same. I can even do it to myself! I will be talking to another person and all of a sudden, my mind gets hijacked by something I see…or by an interrupting sound. Worse yet, I sometimes can’t even remember what I was talking about when my attention comes back around to the person I was originally talking to!

So, when contemplating the difference between hearing God and listening to Him, I fully understand the distinction between the two. Unless one is deaf or hearing impaired, hearing is simply an automatic sensory activity. We don’t need to actively “do” anything to hear. Sound happens. What we choose to do with what we hear involves the activity of listening. I know this about myself as well…when I don’t pay attention to what someone is saying to me, I will have to ask them to repeat it or just try to fake that I was listening instead of hearing “blah, blah, blah” while my mind was elsewhere!

Listening involves attentiveness…it is attaching meaning to what we have heard. It is also intentionally acting upon what is heard by responding appropriately. Because this is sometimes a struggle for me, depending upon the situation, I have to work at and practice the spiritual discipline of listening well. Prayer often involves active listening because there are times when prayer is relational conversation. There are also times when just being in His presence and “being” is enough. This has been called “keeping company with God.” I love those times of intimacy – just knowing that He is with me and I am with Him.

But picking up the voice of God when He speaks to my heart is a completely different prayer experience. I wonder how often I have heard God speak, but because I wasn’t fully and actively listening, I’ve either not obeyed or have missed a blessing. So often, God spoke and still speaks to people who didn’t and/or don’t want to listen. Scripture is filled with examples.

In order to become a better listener in conversational prayer, I must practice truly listening to what I hear and gaining understanding. The disciplines of silence and solitude are very helpful and necessary for my transformational growth in listening to God. If I don’t spend time nurturing my soul in this way, I can easily be the person James admonishes: “Don’t fool yourself into thinking that you are a listener when you are anything but, letting the Word go in one ear and out the other. Act on what you hear! Those who hear and don’t act are like those who glance in the mirror, walk away, and two minutes later have no idea who they are, what they look like” (James 1:22-24 MSG).

God is very clear about Who we are to listen to: “While he was still speaking, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and behold, a voice out of the cloud said, ‘This is My beloved Son, with whom I am well-pleased; listen to Him’” (Matthew 17:5)! And Jesus, by example, practiced getting away from the noise and the crowds to hear God in silent, solitary places. How much more should we?

In biblical times, people heard from God but didn’t always listen to Him, which means they did not obey. For me it comes down to paying “close attention” to what is heard from Jesus: “Anyone with ears to hear should listen and understand.” Then he added, “Pay close attention to what you hear. The closer you listen, the more understanding you will be given—and you will receive even more. To those who listen to my teaching, more understanding will be given. But for those who are not listening, even what little understanding they have will be taken away from them.” (Mark 4:23-25 NLT). What a powerful promise and warning! One who demonstrated listening for understanding in Scripture was Mary of Bethany “…who was seated at the Lord’s feet, listening to His word” (Luke 10:39).

It’s easy to listen to the wrong voices in our culture today. Amidst all of the distractions, hearing the voice of Jesus is sometimes very difficult; however, it can be discerned more easily through practicing the disciplines that our Lord engaged in. One of my deepest desires is to get into a much better rhythm of silence and solitude in order to “listen to Him.”