Praying the scripture

Psalm 20

¹ May the Lord answer you when you are in distress;
    may the name of the God of Jacob protect you.
² May he send you help from the sanctuary
    and grant you support from Zion.
³ May he remember all your sacrifices
    and accept your burnt offerings. Selah
⁴ May he give you the desire of your heart
    and make all your plans succeed.
⁵ We will shout for joy when you are victorious
    and will lift up our banners in the name of our God.
May the Lord grant all your requests.

⁶ Now I know that the Lord saves his anointed;
    he answers him from his holy heaven
    with the saving power of his right hand.
⁷ Some trust in chariots and some in horses,
    but we trust in the name of the Lord our God.
⁸ They are brought to their knees and fall,
    but we rise up and stand firm.

⁹ O Lord, save the king!
    Answer us when we call!

This psalm is the favorite of someone close to me. He told me recently he has been praying the first five verses of the psalm for years.  I know him to be a man of prayer, so there was no doubt in my mind when he said this prayer from the Scriptures had been a great help to him in maintaining his close relationship to God. 

While he talked about this psalm and the amount of strength with which it had influenced his life, he then made a confession that he had recently had a disagreement with another Christian man and they had seemingly ended their friendship of about 20 years.  He then told me, when he prayed the words of the psalm one day, he also thanked God for the blessing it had been to him, and he wanted to pray it again specifically for his estranged friend. 

I know the two men to be the closest of friends today. I don't know how they repaired their disagreement, nor their disagreeable ways. I just know they both love the Lord, and they love each other like brothers.  Both of them would probably tell you their friendship was repaired when they let God work it all out. 

Read the first five verses again. Try praying them for some friend, or enemy, or family member, or neighbor. When you have prayed them several times, then the real meaning of verse 6 comes through strong and clear.  "Now I know that the Lord saves his anointed; he answers him from his holy heaven with the saving power of his right hand."

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