THE CHRISTIAN WALK: KEY ELEMENTS OF PRAYER

Can I pray for you in any way?

Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.

In Christ, Mark

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Then King David went in and sat before the Lord, and he said:

"Who am I, O Sovereign Lord, and what is my family that You have brought me this far? And as if this were not enough in Your sight, O Sovereign Lord, You have also spoken about the future of the house of Your servant. Is this Your usual way of dealing with man, O Sovereign Lord?”

“What more can David say to you? For you know Your servant, O Sovereign Lord. For the sake of Your word and according to Your will, You have done this great thing and made it known to Your servant.”

“How great You are, O Sovereign Lord! There is no one like You and there is no God but You as we have heard with our own ears. And who is like Your people Israel—the one nation on earth that God went out to redeem as a people for Himself and to make a name for Himself and to perform great and awesome wonders by driving out nations and their gods from before Your people whom You redeemed from Egypt? You have established Your people Israel as Your very own forever and You, O Lord, have become their God.”

“And now, Lord God, keep forever the promise You have made concerning Your servant and his house. Do as You promised, so that Your name will be great forever. Then men will say, 'The Lord Almighty is God over Israel!' And the house of Your servant David will be established before You.”

“O Lord Almighty, God of Israel, You have revealed this to Your servant, saying, 'I will build a house for you.' So Your servant has found courage to offer You this prayer. O Sovereign Lord, You are God! Your words are trustworthy and You have promised these good things to Your servant. Now be pleased to bless the house of Your servant that it may continue forever in Your sight; for You, O Sovereign Lord, have spoken and with Your blessing the house of Your servant will be blessed forever."

2 Samuel 7:18-29

This ends our reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

At the beginning of 2nd Samuel, chapter 7, the Lord sends a message to David via the prophet Nathan. You’ll remember that David had spoken to the prophet about an idea he had based on guilty feelings. For David, who was living in a “palace of cedar”, didn’t think it was appropriate that the ark of God was in a tent. And so in his heart, knowing he could command anything to happen as king, David planned on building a structure to house the holy ark and after hearing him out, Nathan encouraged him to go ahead and do whatever was on his mind because the Lord was with him.

Well, while it was true that God was with David, He also reserved the right to dictate what would and wouldn’t happen and David hadn’t consulted Him first before coming up with his grand plan. And so we saw the Lord intervene, sending David a message through Nathan which essentially reminded Israel’s king that He and He alone would choose when, where, and by whose hands the house for the ark would be built.

Further, you’ll recall that He also reminded David of how He had brought him to where he was, taking him from the pasture to become the ruler over all of Israel and blessing him every step of the way. He had also set apart the Israelites to be His (God’s) people and therefore would continue to watch over them. Finally, we saw the Lord assure David that his offspring would be blessed as well, assuming his throne and kingdom with his son being the one who would build the house for His name. Of course, we know this referred to Solomon who would later assume the throne of his father and build God’s temple.

And so as we closed yesterday’s message, David had received this special message from the Lord. So what would he do next?

We see where he did what we all hopefully would do as believers for as we move to the closing verses of 2 Samuel, chapter 7, we see where David turned to the Lord in prayer and teaches us some important elements that we should use in our own prayers anytime we come before the Lord.

First, note how David consistently acknowledges God’s authority.

He calls Him “Sovereign Lord” and “Lord Almighty”, establishing God as being the one true King and sovereign Ruler over all things, a King and Rucker who was Almighty, possessing a power above and over anything and anyone. While David had been granted a powerful, ruling position as king over Israel, he understood that his authority paled in comparison to the King he served and answered to…the King of all kings and Lord of all Lords.

And this leads to the second element we should copy from David’s prayer...humility.

For note the first thing that David says to his sovereign, almighty Lord:

“Who am I…and what is my family, that You have brought me this far? And as if this were not enough in Your sight, O Sovereign Lord, You have also spoken about the future of the house of Your servant. Is this Your usual way of dealing with man, O Sovereign Lord?”

Through his words, we see where David saw himself and his family as completely unworthy and undeserving of God’s favor. And yet, God had blessed him immensely, bringing him to be king at the time and place where he was in prayer.

But God didn’t stop there for He also promised future blessings on the house of David well beyond his passing and all this led David to wonder whether or not this was His usual way of dealing with man.

Today, I think we should be able to relate to David wondering why the Almighty God of all creation would even be mindful of him and his family. For as believers today, we know all too well the truth contained in Romans 3:23:

All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.

Confessing this in humility helps us remember our fallen state before a Lord who hates sin…and the great mercy, grace, and love He showed us by offering up His one and only Son Jesus so that we wouldn’t perish but have eternal life after simply believing in Him as Savior. No one has earned this or deserves it and yet God still grants it to us, even going as far to make us His children, now and forever.

Or in other words, the King becomes our Father as well…and like any parent, He has a plan for us in life.

David knew this and acknowledged God’s will and the power of His word over His people…the third important element needed in prayer.

For while we may have our fixations on what God should do for us, we must remember that He will do for us what He wills for us.

In other words, we aren’t in control.

He is…and we are to submit to His authority as the Maker and Master of all created things…our Heavenly Father who loves us and wants to give us the best, even though we so often fall short of living up to His expectations.

Let’s go back to David’s prayer and revisit what he had to say to God:

Indeed, what more can be said to a God who knows us better than we know ourselves?

In David’s case, the Lord fully knew him and felt he would be a good fit to rule over His people. Therefore, it was His will to appoint David as king and by His will and Word, to bless Israel and future generations of David’s family.

As we go through our own lives day by day, we would well served to just surrender to God’s will and Word instead of resist and fight against it. For if we would only give control over to the Lord and acknowledge that He knows what is best for us…if we would only understand, like David, that He knows us and will use His will and Word to put us in the place He wants us to be in order to fulfill His purposes…then we would find ourselves so much more content in whatever our circumstances are because we have placed our full trust in our Lord…the only place our trust should be.

And when we do this, when we surrender to the Lord fully, placing our complete trust in Him, then we end up in a place where we can praise Him for everything that He does in our lives because we are carrying out His will while following His way every day.

Therefore, we don’t deserve any of the glory but can easily surrender it to the One who deserves all of it. David was brought to this point…the point of praise in prayer, the fourth important element we’ll cover today.

Again, let’s go back to the words of David:

“How great You are, O Sovereign Lord! There is no one like You and there is no God but You as we have heard with our own ears. And who is like Your people Israel—the one nation on earth that God went out to redeem as a people for Himself and to make a name for Himself and to perform great and awesome wonders by driving out nations and their gods from before Your people, whom You redeemed from Egypt? You have established Your people Israel as Your very own forever, and You, O Lord, have become their God.”

Here’s we see where David takes time to acknowledge God’s greatness and distinction…and rightfully so for what else would somebody say about a God who created and made everything, speaking it into existence?

If that isn’t great, then what is?

And since God and God alone created everything in Heaven and on earth, then truly He was…and is…in a class by Himself with no rival…not then…not now…not ever.

David went on to extend his praise of the Lord by wondering if there were any other people like the people of Israel, not that they had done anything themselves to be distinguished but only because God had favored them, driving out nations and their gods while redeeming them from their enemies.

If we’re honest today, we see where the Lord still favors His children who should always turn to Him in prayer, offering Him praise while acknowledging that He and He alone is God…infinitely almighty with no equal…and able to do all things in, around, and through us.

With that understanding in hand, we can find ourselves confident as we come before the Lord with any request or petition…the fifth key element of prayer. For when we see God for who He is…Sovereign, Almighty, and Great…and because of this, able to do all things in accordance with His will, way and word for us, then we can approach Him with confidence as we lift up our requests to Him.

Back to David’s prayer again where we read this:

After David recognized and praised God’s blessing on him, his family, and his people, we see where he now asks the Lord to forever keep the promise He made. For David knew that when God’s people knew and relied on His promises, then they would ever lift up God as their Lord Almighty…the One through which everything is possible.

The same thing will happen to us as believers today if we follow David’s lead and intentionally seek to identify all God has done and is doing in our lives. In other words, we should be counting our blessings and when we do then we will find ourselves in a spirit of thanksgiving, the final key element that we see in David’s prayer as he finished saying:

When someone helps us in some way, we typically take the time to thank them for what they’ve done. In fact, it’s been said that the second most powerful set of words after “I love you” are “Thank you” and we simply can’t say them enough…to one another and certainly to our God.

And so David finishes his prayer by thanking the Lord for what He has done for him…for revealing His will and way for him, his family, and the nation of Israel…and for providing the blessings that he (David) and his house had experienced.

Friends, if we would truly sit down and account for all the many blessings the Lord has given, we would always find ourselves in a spirit of appreciation…for God has given us so very much…much more than we deserve…and for that we should give be grateful.

The good news for us today is that our Lord has so much more in store. For we know that through His promises to us…promises that we, like David, know are trustworthy…there is an abundance of blessings yet to come both in this life and the assurance of the better one yet to come through Jesus Christ.

Just one more reason for us to be eternally thankful.

And so as I close today, would you join me in a word of prayer?

Almighty, Omnipotent, Everlasting God,

We draw before You now in humbleness, not worthy to be in Your presence for we are sinners who have failed You too many times. Forgive us, O Lord, for the times we have fallen short of Your expectations and show us the right way to live, the way You want us to go in life. Illuminate us with Your Holy Spirit and instruct is with Your Word…lighting the path that You want us to walk while revealing the things You want us to do. Right here and now, we surrender ourselves to Your leadership and guidance.

And we praise You, O God, for You and You alone have brought us to this place and time after blessing us so richly with each and every day. We’re so thankful to know how much You love us as Your children…because of that, we know You only want the best for us. And so we submit ourselves to You right now and ask that You mold and shape us to be the people You want us to be. Clothe us in Your righteousness, we pray, so that others might see a glimpse of You through the way we live.

Lord, we just love You so much and want to love like You love…unconditionally and eternally. To that end, send Your Holy Spirit into our hearts and help us become more like Your Son Jesus…who You sent to die on the cross for our sins and offer us the promise of eternal life. When people see us, we pray they will really be getting a look at who Jesus is.

We thank you God for all this and more. For Your blessings have flowed and continue to flow abundantly to us and we can always trust that You are near…just as You are this very moment as we offer this prayer to You in Your most holy and wonderful Name, the Name that is far above every other. Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.

THE CHRISTIAN WALK

Friday, September 18, 2026

KEY ELEMENTS OF PRAYER

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