How to Pray: A King to A King

Join us in 1 Kings 8 as we look at the prayer and posture of prayer that King Solomon presents before God. This prayer is amazing and proof that prayer reaches every single situation.

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Transcript

how-to-pray-a-king-to-a-king

Press means to apply force. When God said press, prayer reaches every single situation. He gave us permission to apply force to every situation that we will go through.

And in this podcast, we are going to learn to apply force to what's applying pressure to us. Welcome to the Press Podcast. I'm so glad you're here as we are meeting in the book of 1 Kings chapter 8. I'm excited about what the Lord is doing through this podcast.

And in the coming months, you're going to hear from some of the young people who are part of the press movement. They're going to be taking on certain episodes to do exactly what I'm doing, go through the scriptures and tell you how they relate to prayer. So I hope that you'll stay tuned.

I hope that you will enjoy it and that you've been enjoying this journey as you go along and that growing in prayer and relationship with God, I know that he wants us. And we see this as we get to 1 Kings chapter 8. In 1 Kings chapter 8, Solomon has now completed building the temple that David, his father wanted to build. But David was not allowed to build it because of the different sins he had done.

But the Lord blessed David and told David, I will allow your son to build it for me. And that promise has come to pass. The temple is now up.

And when you read 1 Kings chapter 8, you begin to see the magnitude of the celebration that was going on here. As all of Israel came together to celebrate, there is a house for the Lord. And they began to give offerings unto the Lord.

And Solomon has them bring the Ark of the Covenant up before the temple. And he's now ready. The Bible lets us know he's ready to dedicate this building to God.

He recognizes that this didn't even start with him, but the Lord has blessed him as he spake to the mouth of David, his father, and that he is going to dedicate, he's going to give this building back to God. So, in 1 Kings 8.22, this prayer commences. This is a very long prayer, and I am going to read it to you.

But there's a couple takeaways I want to get from this. The Bible says in 1 Kings 8.22, and Solomon stood before the altar of the Lord in the presence of all the congregation of Israel and spread forth his hands toward heaven. First of all, I love the posture of prayer that Solomon is taking here.

He's lifted his hands. He's standing in front of everybody. This is not a celebration he's doing in a corner.

This is not something he's just bowing secretly to thank God. He wants the God of heaven to hear him. He wants his attention, and he wants to give him glory.

And Solomon says, Lord God of Israel, there is no God like thee, in heaven above or on earth beneath, who keepeth covenant and mercy with thy servants that walk before thee with all their heart, who has kept with thy servant David, my father, that thou promised him. Thou spakest also with thy mouth and has fulfilled it with thine hand as it is this day. God, you did it.

Solomon is teaching us how to pray here. Hands lifted up, mouth wide open, don't care who's watching. First things first, God, you did this.

Therefore now, Lord God of Israel, keep with thy servant David, my father, that thou promisedest him, saying, There shall not fail thee a man in my sight to sit on the throne of Israel, so that thy children take heed to their way, that they walk before me as thou hast walked before me. And now, O God of Israel, let thy word I pray thee be verified, which thou spakest in thy servant David, my father. In other words, God, prove your own word.

That is literally one of my favorite prayers, is God testify of yourself. I can't tell you how many times I've asked him that when I've had to go into different countries or different venues where they don't know me. My resume, if you would, means nothing to them.

But I come in the name of God. I'm walking in the purpose of God. And so when I'm doing that, I just ask God, testify of yourself.

And that's what Solomon is saying here when he says, God, I pray thee be verified, which thou spakest unto thy servant David, my father. Verify your own word. Prove your own word.

It's an amazing thing when you get to ask God just to show up because of what he said. You're not asking him to prove who you are. You're asking him to verify who he is.

And so the prayer continues. But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain thee, how much less this house that I have builded. Yet have thou respect unto the prayer of thy servant and to his supplication, O Lord my God, to hearken unto the cry into the prayer which thy servant prayeth before thee today, that thine eyes may be opened toward this house night and day, even toward the place of which thou hast said, my name shall be there, that thou mayest hearken unto the prayer which thy servant shall make toward this place.

And hearken thou to the supplication of thy servant and of thy people Israel, when they shall pray toward this place and hear thou in heaven thy dwelling place, and when thou hearest, forgive. If any man trespass against his neighbor and an oath be laid upon him to cause him to swear, and the oath come before thine altar in this house, then hear thou in heaven and do and judge thy servants, condemning the wicked to bring his way upon his head and justifying the righteous, to give him according to his righteousness. When thy people Israel be smitten down before the enemy, because they have sinned against thee and shall turn again to thee and confess thy name and pray and make supplication unto thee in this house, then hear thou in heaven and forgive the sin of thy people Israel and bring them again into the land which thou gavest unto their fathers.

He's giving a lot of if-then scenarios. God, if they do this or if this happens or if that happens, God, will you show favor to this house? If they pray from this place, God, will you answer them? Will you have mercy upon them? He's praying a blessing upon the space he's giving God, recognizing that no heaven and earth can't contain God. Of course they can't, but God, this is your place.

This is where you dwell. In your house, you reign. In your house are the attributes of your house, and one of the attributes of God is merciful, that is long-suffering, that is slow to anger.

These attributes, he's asking, let them reign in this place because this is your house. He continues, when heaven is shut up and there is no rain because they have sinned against thee, if they pray toward this place and confess thy name and turn from their sin when thou afflictest them, then hear thou in heaven and forgive the sin of thy servants and of thy people Israel, that thou teach them the good way wherein they should walk and give rain upon thy land, which thou hast given to thy people for an inheritance. If there be in the land famine, if there be pestilence, blasting, mildew, locusts, or if there be caterpillar, if their enemy besiege them in the land of their cities, whatsoever plague, whatsoever sickness there be, what prayer and supplications so ever be made by any man or by all thy people Israel, which shall know every man the plague of his own heart and spread forth his hands towards this house, then hear thou in heaven thy dwelling place and forgive and do and give to every man according to his ways whose heart thou knowest, for thou even thou only knowest the hearts of all the children of men, that they may fear thee all of the days that they live in the land which thou gavest unto our fathers.

Moreover concerning a stranger that is not of the people of Israel, but cometh out of a far country for thy name's sake, for they shall hear thy great name and of thy strong hand and of thy stretched out arm when he shall come and pray towards this house. Hear thou in heaven thy dwelling place and do according to all that the stranger calleth to thee for, that all people of the earth may know thy name to fear thee as do thy people Israel, and that they may know that this house which I have built is called by thy name. Again he continues with the if then statements.

God if there's famine in this land, if there's sickness in this land, he doesn't just say God change it. He says if they repent, if they come to you, if they they come in your name, if they come with prayer and supplication, God forgive. Somebody needs to be crying this today just for our land, that God if we turn will you forgive us.

God remember your name is here. Remember remember your sanctuary is here. I would encourage this for your churches.

You know some people like to act like the church building does not matter anymore, but that building was dedicated or should have been dedicated to God. If it was in fact given to God, then it's no longer to be treated as common. What Solomon shows us here is that when you give even something as simple as a building to God and you make it his, it becomes a meeting place between you and God.

It is sacred. It is special and that's what he's asking for in this prayer and that's what we even need in this hour. We need to understand if the enemies besiege us, if they come on our land, if there's a plague, if there's locusts, if there's caterpillars, if there's something destroying our crops, if there's things that are out to harm us, we need to go back to the place of prayer.

That is what Solomon is saying. If they return to the place of prayer, God would you meet them? And even if they can't make it to the place of prayer, he's saying God if they pray towards it, if they pray in your name towards it, if they look towards it, will you meet them? And he doesn't just use this prayer to cover the children of Israel, but he goes on to say if a stranger shows up, if there's somebody who doesn't know you, but they've heard about your name and they come and they pray towards this house, God will you show them the same favor you're showing your people because of this place which I've built in your name. He puts a lot of emphasis on the name of the Lord.

It's not Solomon's name that he's trying to make great here. It is the name of the Lord that is great because that's the name on this building. That's the name on this place.

That's name whose reputation will grow from what will happen here. It's not about Solomon, it's about God. He goes on in verse 44 and says, if thy people go out to battle against their enemy, whithersoever thou shalt send them and shall pray unto the Lord toward the city which thou has chosen and toward the house that I have built for thy name, then hear thou in heaven their prayer and their supplication and maintain their cause.

If they sin against thee, for there is no man that sinneth not, and thou be angry with them and deliver them to the enemy so that they carry them away captives unto the land of the enemy far or near, yet if they shall bethink themselves in the land whether they were carried captives and repent and make supplication unto thee in the land of them that carried them captives saying we have sinned and have done perversely, we have committed wickedness and so return unto thee with all their heart and with all their soul in the land of their enemies which led them away captive and pray unto thee toward the land which thou gave us unto their fathers, the city which thou has chosen and the house which I have built for thy name, then hear thou their prayer and their supplication in heaven thy dwelling place and maintain their cause. He says if they even bethink it God, if they turn back, if they turn back and are restored or refreshed and he says in their mind, not in their land, but if they just think God, if they turn in their mind, God I need you to have mercy. I need you to forgive them when they turn.

I want you father to hear from where they are and have compassion on them. Solomon is praying a prayer that's not just about today, he's praying for the future, he's praying for generations, he's praying for how he wants God to answer moving forward. He says in verse 50 and forgive thy people that have sinned against thee and all their transgressions wherein they have transgressed against thee and give them compassion before them who carried them captive that they may have compassion on them.

He didn't even say let him go, he said change the heart of the captors. Oh we serve a great God. I know Solomon is praying according to what he can think, but the way he's thinking, he's covering every angle.

God if they pray, God if they remember you. This is the kind of prayer as a mother I want to pray moving forward for my children. As a leader I want to pray for those that I am privileged to lead.

That prayer that will go beyond my life or my time and God will hear it resonate in his ears if they'll just remember where he was. Sometimes I can't get to people or you can't get to people, but that's why we have to give them God over us. That's why we can't emphasize making our name great, it has to be about his because they have to know or whomever is listening and you don't know him yet, you have to know that his name is greater than anybody else's.

Some of us though we have those people in our history, in our past that have prayed for generations for us, whether it's a grandparent or a parent or a great-grandparent. You've gone into church, you don't understand the prayers that were laid in the foundations of that building and though it may not look like what it once was, if the people will turn and that's what Solomon is saying and I believe that the Lord is still doing that even to this day. That if we turn and remember God, he will hear us because verse 51 says, I love that he brings up Egypt, he brings it up to say, God these are the people you brought out, these are the people you've fought to save, these are the people you fought to deliver, these are your people and so it's not just about them now, it's about what you saw and then way back when.

God remember why you wanted them. God can remember why he wanted you, why he wanted your children, why he wanted me and he does that in spite of what he may see today but thanks be to God his memory is long and Solomon says, let your eyes be open unto the supplication of thy servant. God I don't want you to just hear this prayer, I want you to see it and that's so interesting because as he's wrapping it up in verse 53 he says, for thou didst separate them from among all the people of the earth to be thine inheritance as thou spakest by the hand of Moses thy servant when thou broughtest our fathers out of Egypt, O Lord God and he ends the prayer there but as I said in verse 52 he says that that eyes may be open unto the supplication of thy servant.

I want you to see what I'm saying. What I noted that stood out to me though was Solomon's posture of prayer changed somewhere in this prayer. The Bible says and it was so that when Solomon had made an end of praying all this prayer in supplication unto the Lord he arose from before the altar of the Lord from kneeling on his knees with his hands spread up to heaven.

As you notice when we first started in verse 22 he stood with his hands up but as he prayed he began to bow. His posture of prayer changed. He went to his knees but hands still up.

There's still a surrender, there's still something I need from you, there's still something I can't get for myself but he went from standing in the presence of God to kneeling in the presence of God as he thanked God for his presence and this was a king. How much more do we need to make sure no matter what we're asking God to do today that we are giving God a prayer he can hear but a prayer he can also see that he sees our bowing before him and no I don't believe bowing is just a physical expression of what we're doing. There has to be a bowing in the heart as well but I love that Solomon demonstrated before all the people a king brought to his knees by a king.

Today no matter what you're praying for if you're looking down the generations or you're turning saying God I need you to hear I need you to remember if you're looking at our country and you're saying God there's pestilence in the land there's famine there's threats but God will you remember. I encourage you God's memory is long take on the posture of prayer the posture of who will stand and bow as an intercessor for what God can do because as we see in this prayer God hears but he doesn't just hear what we're saying he sees what we're saying. So today talk to him but bow.

I compel you bow your head bow on your knees but bow bow before the Lord in your heart and give an outward expression of your bowing as well and give God that yes because he knows how to answer even the conditional prayers if God then God if we then please he wants to hear from us today. I believe down in my soul that it's time to cry out for our countries it is time to cry out for our families we don't have to know what God is going to do in this prayer you don't see God answer at this point but what you do know and do see is that Solomon was already walking in the will of the Lord by building the house something about when you're already in the will of the Lord you feel free to talk to him and he does hear you and so Solomon after this was able to give sacrifice he was able to give an offering unto the Lord they were able to celebrate why because he was always walking with God on this I encourage you today pray pray go after God ask him ask him for your city ask him for your family ask him for the generations ask him for the stranger ask him for his name's sake don't make it about you but all when we make it about the name of God and in the new testament we know his name is Jesus for he shall save his people from their sins and whatsoever we do in word and deed we can do it all in the name of Jesus and so when you go to pray today make it about his name he will not fail his name and watch prayer reach every single situation join the movement join the community like share and subscribe to this podcast visit us at press to pray.com or find us on Instagram or Facebook did you know that when you are quiet your voice is missing to God's ears I know some of us have prayed and were wondering how long should I pray about this why should I pray if God already knows how will I know God is answering and what do I do when I feel like God's not listening but God is listening for your voice it's too quiet in this world for the troubles we have you have to raise your voice and God wants to hear from you it's too quiet a book about prayer is designed to answer your prayer questions and build your faith visit press to pray.com

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