Do not keep silent,
O God of my praise!
2 For the mouth of the wicked and the mouth of the deceitful
Have opened against me;
They have spoken against me with a lying tongue.
3 They have also surrounded me with words of hatred,
And fought against me without a cause.
4 In return for my love they are my accusers,
But I give myself to prayer.  - Psalm 109:1-4 (NKJV)

When you study David's life, you'll discover that he was always evading something. He had many enemies. People didn't like him much. He was estranged from his own family. He had many problems. Sometimes we read the bible and think what is described is metaphoric and yet, what we read and study is more real than what we can even see with our eyes. 

Despite having many enemies and issues, David gave himself to prayer. My favorite verse in the whole chapter is the fourth verse. It's so powerful. Verse four cancels out everything else. The bible says, "In return for my love they are my accusers, But I give my self to prayer. " Why then did David want to pray? Because prayer brings deliverance. But notice the wording in this scripture. He doesn't say he'll pray, he says, " I will give myself to prayer." That statement carries a different meaning. It carries a different kind of weight. David said it in a way that sort of assures us that prayer does actually change things. Let's take a look at other examples.

The Apostles prayed like David 

Now in those days, when the number of the disciples was multiplying, there arose a complaint against the Hebrews by the Hellenists,[] because their widows were neglected in the daily distribution. 2 Then the twelve summoned the multitude of the disciples and said, "It is not desirable that we should leave the word of God and serve tables. 3 Therefore, brethren, seek out from among you seven men of good reputation, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business; 4 but we will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the word." - Acts 6:1-4 (NKJV)

The Apostles had encountered an issue. It seemed that they neglected some other duties while pursuing God. Because you cannot do everything. When you are all out and full on in pursuing Jesus, some things you just won't have time for. But the Apostles were still thinking about their people and didn't want to abandon them at all. So they had a plan. The bible says, "seek out from among you seven men of good reputation, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business." 

While the other disciples sought the seven out, the Apostles gave themselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the word. I like the wording again. You cannot give yourself to something that you do not enjoy. Praying just for the sake of praying doesn't bring much result. You have to have reasons to why you pray. If you do not believe in prayer, you won't pray much and perhaps you won't see much results. To pray with the faith that God will answer requires a different kind of attitude when seeking God in prayer. We have to give ourselves to prayer. Not for one week, but continually. 

Pray without ceasing 

pray without ceasing, - 1 Thessalonians 5:17 (NKJV)

This simply means to pray without stopping. We shouldn't go a day without talking to God. It's funny that we'd miss a day sometimes and not have communion with God and yet find a problem when our 'special somebody' doesn't call. Friends, to know God well, we need to have a prayer life. That's the only place where we can meet God. Of course, God is in the bible But what does bible reading do for a person that doesn't pray? Do you know what happens when we read the bible without prayer? We won't understand the revelations that are in the word of God. Prayer makes everything else work out. That is why Jesus always prayed. If you saw or read that Jesus was preaching, the day before or that morning, He prayed to His Father.  

Prayer opens up the revelations that's hidden in the bible 

that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, 18 the eyes of your []understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, - Ephesians 1:17-18 (NKJV)

This was a prayer that Paul prayed. Why would Paul ask specifically for the spirit of wisdom and revelation to descend upon his people if it happened automatically? It's because we lack revelation that we do not believe in the word of God the way we are meant to believe it. I realize that at some point you do not have to wait on people to believe before you accept what the word of God says. Much as I believe in fellowship and in teaching one another, you'll always meet people who want to limit the power of God that is evident in the Bible. There is no need to debate about what God said. Prayer is everything. Prayer is what will bring out a good partner. If we are not deep in God on our own, we shouldn't expect somebody else to make us grow deeper in God. We can decide to grow in our knowledge of God on our own. Sometimes we don't meet people that can help us. I have met many people that helped me. But other times, there was no one. I had to learn the word of God by myself. 

Prayer delivers us from pain and heartaches 

In first year of University, I liked a girl from church. She is a Christian and loves God with a grateful heart. I have known her for a while now and she's an amazing friend. What I did know about her is that she is lovable and fun to be around. She's a medical student at a good university in the same city that I am, in china. Most times, when we met, it was either at a prayer meeting or at church. There was little time during the week to see each other, which I am actually thankful for. I saw her twice every week, but I talked to her every single day. And when we talked, there was no struggle, there was no rush, it was fellowship with one  another on a phone call. There was laughter, there was joy, there was pain and there was sorrow on some occasions, but uninterrupted fellowship on the phone. If I can make such commitment to somebody I liked, why can't I do the same with God? Prayer is fellowship. 

Conversations on the bus

Every Sunday, buses picked up a different group of people at different universities to take us to church. And after church, we dropped off at the same spot. It would take about 45 minutes before Amanda(Changed her name) and I would separate before we got to our destination. For 45 minutes, she would tell me about her week and everything that'd happen, and I'd always listen to what she'd say, though I knew what'd she say. (Remember, we had unbroken fellowship over the phone.) What was beautiful about my relationship with Amanda was that it started well, at least on my part. On some days, I'd call her at 5am to awake her for morning prayers. We never prayed together, but she'd always ask me to wake her up, which I did faithfully. If you think this story gets better, it does! 

She actually said no

Before I even knew I liked her, among one of the things I prayed about was to have a relationship with somebody that loved God. I also prayed to be in a relationship with somebody who was a friend. Somebody I could talk to without struggle. I specifically prayed in that way for some time. As I sought God in prayer, I continued to talk with my friend. One conversation led to another until finally on one Friday, she tells me she likes me and was confused. Look, I was excited okay! Because finally, this girl saw I really liked her, and that I paid attention to her. This was it. We was supposed to be together. She was everything I had been praying for, at least I thought. Friends, when you like somebody tell someone mature in God and let them know about it. But the most important thing to do is to pray and ask for the will of God to happen. The bible says, "Yet God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God's work from beginning to end." (Ecclesiastes 3:11)

You need to understand that God's timing is better than our timing. It was important that's she's a Christian but not every Christian girl is for you brother. Neither is every Christian boy for you sister. The beauty of fellowship with God is that it protects you from such problems. I asked her out the next day on a Saturday and she said no. Which should be confusing. So what? No more fellowship? 

Did God protect me from pain? 

It was very painful to be told such words from somebody I thought I was going to be in a relationship with, but it would have been more painful is if I had gone ahead and started a dating relationship with Amanda. She later told me she had a boyfriend and she wasn't sure which of us she liked better. Man, I was hurt by that. But looking back now, I believe God protected me and helped me. You see, her telling me she was in a relationship didn't magically cause me to dislike her. I was hurt, but it didn't change much on my part with regard to liking her and wanting to be in a relationship with her. I was in so much pain that I almost asked her to break up with her boyfriend so that we could be together.(Yes, it was petty! ) When we are vulnerable, we have to be careful. Do you want to know what I did instead? I prayed that night and accepted in prayer that she wasn't for me. 

Let's be friends 

The next day, we met at church and God, it was so awkward. I have never felt more awkward in my entire life. I am laughing at myself right now. She was scared that I might have hated her and wished her evil. But on that Sunday, I told her I wanted to be her friend and I told her I was not going to stand in her way. For the next couple of months we struggled to talk, but eventually we did get through it. While it hurt, God helped me to see even more importantly why we must pray about everything. I never could have gotten out of trouble had I not prayed! I don't know what you will take from that, but do pray about everything. 

Note: This is the longest chapter in this book. I am so sorry it's long. I do hope you are blessed. Thank you so much for reading. May God bless you. Shalom.