The Psalms

“Give ear to my words, O Yahweh, Consider my meditation.” Psalm 5:1

Every Sunday at 7:45 AM, I meet with men in my office, and across the hall, my wife Cathy meets with the women. The purpose of this  gathering is to pray for the Sunday School hour  and the worship service. In my opinion, it is the   most essential part of our Sunday mornings. I say this because we seek God’s blessing on what will occur during fellowship, Sunday School, and praise to God through our singing and preaching of His Word. We seek His glory, not our own; we       seek His will and not that of man.

We begin our prayer time by reading a Psalm each week. The Book of Psalms has 150 chapters, the most of any book in the Bible. It is  a book filled with prayer, hymns, and poems.  The Psalms teach us how to pray to God. It  encourages us to praise God for all He has done, is doing, and will do on behalf of His elect.

On Sunday mornings, I have come to church with my mind not focused on what God has called me to do. I have been distracted by worldly pursuits, bitterness, anger, and even unconfessed sin. But, praise God, I have never left my office after spending time with my brothers in prayer without confessing to God and setting aside   my will for His will to be done. I am so thankful for the men and women who come early to lift up our service in prayer.

I know that many of you are unable to attend  for various reasons, but I would encourage you to please join us for prayer. If you cannot be with us,  would you please consider praying for the service on Sunday mornings? If you have a family, I encourage you fathers to gather your family together and read a psalm, lifting up the service to Him. The Psalm for next week will be Psalm 67.

Your shepherd,

Pastor Mark