Give ear to my words, O Lord. Consider my meditation. I need your help my King and my God. Every morning to You I pray. Every morning I lay out the pieces of my life on your altar. And I look up full of expectation for fire to descend. Psalm 5:1-3, Adapted

Here King David is praying to God for guidance. David was “a man after God’s own heart.” And no doubt he meditated much on what he wanted to say to God.

Listen to the words of Charles Spurgeon (1834 – 1892) on the before and after meditation of prayer: “We miss much of the sweetness and efficacy of prayer for lack of careful meditation before it, and of hopeful expectation after it. “My voice You shall hear in the morning, O Lord; in the morning I will direct it to You, and I will look up.”

“Too often we rush into the presence of God without forethought or humility. We are like people who present themselves before a king without a petition. What wonder that we often miss the end of prayer. We should be careful to keep the stream of meditation always running, for this is the water that drives the mill of prayer. It is a waste of time to put up the floodgates of a dry river and then hope to see the paddle wheel revolve. Prayer without preparation is hawking with a blind falcon, and prayer without fervency is like hunting with a dead dog.

“Prayer is the work of the Holy Spirit, but He works by means. God made man, but He used the dust of the earth as a material. The Holy Spirit is the author of prayer, but He employs the thoughts of a fervent soul as the gold with which to fashion the vessel. Let our prayers and praises, then, be not the flashes of a hot and hasty brain, but the steady burning of a well-kindled fire.” (Note 1) (Note 2)

Note 1: This is a continuation of the First-Fruits Qadash series, a divine appointment at the beginning of each day for worship, prayer, and fellowship with God. See here, here, here, here, and here.
Note 2: Adapted, Spurgeon And The Psalms; A Devotional

From The #FirstFruitsQadash Series