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Prayer Life

Published by S.M. Wibberley on September 29, 2019

 

After moving into our home in Wyomissing, PA in 1993, we began the process of getting settled into our new situation. As usual, I moved ahead quickly and began to work in the office earlier than Barbara was ready for it.

Although she had been fully in favor of this move to the US, the adjustment was very hard for her. She had left behind a multitude of friends of many nationalities, a rich teaching ministry, a clearly defined role as a field leader’s wife, and not least, the Middle Eastern culture she had come to love.

 

Here in the US, she had no clear role, no teaching opportunities and a suburban culture where neighbors rarely showed themselves except for occasional glimpses when they waved at us from a distance

This was so different from the hospitality-rich situation we’d lived in for the last thirteen years. It took her a whole year to adjust. When she and Nat felt the loss of life in Tur.key, they would play Middle Eastern music, drink Middle Eastern tea and cry a little together.

 

In contrast, my role as assistant to the Overseas Director was clearly defined and I jumped right into it. We basically acted as administrators and pastors for all the overseas workers. Along with another coworker, the three of us divided up the twenty-one countries in which we had workers. Barbara and I were responsible for the countries from Egypt to Tajikistan. This included Albania, Egypt, our country, the UAE, Oman, Pakistan, Kazakhstan and Tajikistan.

 

When I arrived at the office, it had no email, so I signed up for Compuserve (one of the first internet providers) to speed up communication. Since the office telephone system did not support connections to the internet, I would spend two to three hours in the evening doing email correspondence at home.

The foundation of our work was intercession, and I persisted in the practice of praying regularly for all those within my spiritual responsibility.

 

Whenever there has been a shift in my assignment, I have made a corresponding shift in my prayer list. While in our Middle Eastern country, I prayed for each of our workers six days a week, and each day I had different requests for each one. I did not pray through my list on Sundays because serious intercession is hard work and I took a rest from it on one day.

 

This list had expanded over the years as we got to know more about each person and his or her needs, weaknesses and strengths. Now that I had a larger area of responsibility, the individual workers in our country dropped to a lower level of priority on my prayer list. At the top now were the leaders in each country for which we were responsible. I prayed for each leader six days a week. Individual workers in each country also were prayed for next, but only on two days a week–there were too many to pray for each of them every day. I now also included as priority the staff in the home office.

 

After a while I found that praying for so many people so frequently actually fractured my thinking and my feelings. So, I divided my everyday list in half, praying through one half one day, the other half the next. That made it much more manageable.

 

This ongoing shift in the ordering of my prayer list has had a positive side effect: it keeps my praying fresh. To enhance this I also vary the way I use the list. Some days I only praise God for what He is doing in each person’s life, a statement of faith in our prayer-answering God.

 

Sometimes I pray my list from the bottom to the top or from the middle out in both directions. I work hard to avoid becoming mechanical in my prayers, to avoid the legalistic feeling that praying through my list makes me a better believer, or more righteous, or better than others. The list is simply a tool to assist me in being more effective in joining God in His work.

 

I later started to print out a fresh copy of my list each month thereby being able to make frequent additions and changes. Also, each week I use what I call my “blanket prayer” for all those on my list for that day, “covering” them with God’s biblical desires . Most of these blanket prayers are passages of Scripture. Here are some that I use, and which you may want to use in your own intercessory prayers:

 

Psalm 1: Be a fruitful believer

2 Pet 1:5-7: Use what God has provided

James 3:17: Have heavenly wisdom

1 Cor 13: Have Agape love

Gal 5:26: Have growing fruit of the Spirit

Ps 143:8-10: Surrender

 

Prayer is not easy for me by nature. Being a Connecticut Yankee, I grew up with a strong work ethic that put value on doing things. Prayer was not visibly “doing something” according to this value system, so I had to struggle against the emotional push to “get to work” instead of spending time in prayer.

 

One thing that helped me to overcome this natural negative view of prayer was to combine intercession with an activity. We lived three miles from the office, so I began to walk to work several days a week, praying throughout the hour it took to get there.

 

That combination helped to keep my prayers fresh, kept me in shape and kept me from spending money on gas. At the end of the day I would catch a ride home with another worker who lived near us, so it also provided time for good fellowship.

 

God has multiple reasons for prayer. One of them is that He uses it to change us. Through this growth in my prayer life, God was in the process of setting me free from my natural narrow and legalistic views, bringing me into an eternal, spiritual perspective on what is truly important and foundational.

 

As I pray for others, especially as I pray Scripture for them, the Holy Spirit brings new insights, convicts me of sin, gives direction, deepens my commitment and changes my desires. Intercession is one way to spend time in the light of God’s presence and that always brings transformation.

 

Prayer is, in one sense ,a statement of our weakness and an acknowledgment of God’s power. By spending time in intercession we admit that we are not capable of handling life on our own, even though it may appear to others or ourselves that we can. We are weak; embracing that fact in prayer plugs us into the infinitely rich power of God. Intercessory prayer is our primary response to God’s invitation to join Him in His work.

pic. Us in 1993

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Psalm 36:5-7

Published by S.M. Wibberley on September 29, 2019
Today is Barbara’s 78th birthday!
 
Psalm 36:5 “Your love, O LORD, reaches to the heavens, your faithfulness to the skies.”
 
[Praise you that there is no limit to your love, no frontier to your faithfulness, no end to your endurance. Your wonderful grace flows from you nonstop–so your love is always present, ever persistent and all pervasive. We praise you that in your love and faithfulness you are eternally good, ever positive, unendingly wonderful.]
 
Psalm 36:6 “Your righteousness is like the mighty mountains, your justice like the great deep.
 
[Thank you that your Love encompasses righteousness and justice. You are fully faithful to your Word, to your Ways, to your Wonderous Character. You are faithful in the midst of whatever you allow into our lives, be it pleasant or painful.
 
Thank you that your every action is righteousness and every decision is just. And I thank you even more that you, in your wisdom and goodness have caused mercy to triumph over justice. I give you honor and glory for the protection you provide as you act righteously and exercise justice. Help us, too, to be righteous and just.]
 
“O LORD, you preserve both man and beast.”
 
[You are the One who keeps us alive, giving us breath, food, water and protection. Without you we would perish immediately, for we, in our old nature, deserve to be immediately snuffed out, with no recourse.
 
But, in your inscrutable love, you keep us alive, watch over us and invite us into your plans in spite of our inabilities and liabilities. May we remember our weakness and thereby be humble and obedient before you.]
 
Psalm 36:7 “How priceless is your unfailing love!
 
[It is not only the outstanding, fundamental quality of your being, Lord God, but more deeply, unfailing love is what you are. You are Love itself, therefore you can never not love. Praise you for this powerful, unending Truth which influences every aspect of our existence.
 
Living in this love is the basic desire of our hearts, for you created us to exist in such a relationship with you. And through Christ you have restored us to it, rescuing us from exile, from extinction, from extermination, while bringing us into your wonderful presence, your warm embrace, your wide-ranging plan. In this you will restore the whole of creation to its original pristine and perfect condition.
 
Help us ever be in awe of your unfailing love, to remain in your lavish love, loving you back well. “This is love for God: to keep his commandments, and his commands are not burdensome” (1 John 5:3]
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Psalm 36:4

Published by S.M. Wibberley on September 26, 2019
Psalm 36:4 “he [the wicked man] has ceased to be wise and to do good. Even on his bed he plots evil; he commits himself to a sinful course and does not reject what is wrong.”
 
[This can also be true of believers–those who at one time committed themselves to be followers of Jesus, but now follow their own way. I think of an acquaintance in ministry who has run roughshod over a multitude of relationships, and has been confronted about this by multiple people, but refuses to admit any wrong doing. He sees no sin in himself, even though he has ceased to do what is wise and good. He has committed himself to a sinful, self-protecting and self-promoting course.
 
Fear of God brings the opposite: humility and a teachable spirit. This is in stark contrast to this believer’s independent, self-justifying attitude, manifesting itself in pride and rebellion. He burns himself and all those around him.
 
The outcome of failure to fear God is described in James 3:16: “For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice.” Not a pretty picture, and, unfortunately, what often happens in individuals and churches who fail to fear God.
 
In contrast is the picture James 3:18 gives us: “Peacemakers who sow in peace reap a harvest of righteousness.” And we can become peacemakers by fearing God as is described in James 3:17, “But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere.”
 
As it says in Psalm 34:12, “Whoever of you loves life and desires to see many good days,” fear the Lord, for it is the beginning of wisdom.
 
So let’s check ourselves regularly: are we caring deeply what God says, standing in awe of His wisdom and submitting ourselves to His Word? Or are we going by our own twisted hearts, convincing ourselves that we know best? Big consequences flow from each course!
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Psalm 36:3

Published by S.M. Wibberley on September 26, 2019
 
Psalm 36:3, “The words of his [the wicked man’s] mouth are wicked and deceitful;”
 
[Such a person deceives himself, as well as others. He is good at giving a positive spin on whatever he desires to do. Just as Satan deceived Eve by making himself look good while implying that God was withholding something good from her (“when you eat of it…you will be like God, knowing good and evil” Gen 3:5), so a person without fear of God can convince himself that, doing the opposite of what God commands, is good.
 
We see this every day around us, as people attempt to use Scripture to support abortions, unbiblical forms of marriage, living together, or putting unqualified people into church leadership–to name a few of many such examples. They are actually using culture as their measure rather than God’s Word. Their desire to fit in and be accepted, to be up-to-date and sophisticated deceives them into rejecting God’s wisdom for that of the world.
 
In contrast stands the one who fears God spends time in His Word, learns to think God’s thoughts and puts them into practice. God’s perspectives are consistently the opposite of our natural ones (“Love your enemies.” “Do good to those who persecute you.” “Forgive as you have been forgiven”). We could never come up with such beautiful and supernatural ideas on our own. Each command is God protecting us from unnecessary negatives and uncalled for harm, such as bitterness, worry, anger and fear.
 
A “God fearer” will check his desires and plans before God and in relation to His Word, rather than trust in his own devious heart. “Whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do” (James 1:25).
 
One way to do this is to wait on making a decision, taking time to think it through, asking God for wisdom, looking for direction in His Word, listing out the pros and cons., getting advice from godly believers.
 
George Mueller described “God fearing” as bringing his heart to the place where receiving a “yes” or a “no” to his prayer was the same to him, for he wanted God’s will, not his own.
 
Fearing God is standing in awe of His majestic power, His marvelous wisdom and His mighty goodness. It is caring deeply what He thinks about each thing in our life, leading us to join Him in His values, thoughts and commands.
 
Fearing God will protect us from the deception of the world, the devil and our own heart; it will bring wisdom and open the way to His greater working in and through us. Why would anyone ever want to reject such an offer? Every day we have the opportunity to relive Eden, to choose to fear God rather than give in to the siren call of all around us, which will only lead us off into the swamp of despair, depression and death, instead of the wide place and green pastures God has for us.
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Psalm 36:1-2

Published by S.M. Wibberley on September 25, 2019
 
 
Psalm 36:1 “An oracle is within my heart concerning the sinfulness of the wicked: There is no fear of God before his eyes.”
 
[To fear God means, among other things, to care deeply what God has to say which leads us to obeying Him. In the words of Psalm 34,13,14, fearing God means to “keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking lies. Depart from evil and do good. Seek peace and pursue it.” This is the practical outworking of valuing His Word above anything else.
 
In contrast, the wicked person elevates his own intellect above God’s Word, deciding what is right and wrong himself. This is a dangerous and destructive practice, for we were created to follow God’s correct definition of what is right and wrong–and thereby be protected from much harm.]
 
Psalm 36:2 “For in his own eyes he flatters himself too much to detect or hate his sin.”
 
[Two acquaintances of mine died within two weeks of each other. Both of them had heard the gospel from me and others multiple times, but both felt they were just fine on their own, rejecting the offer of eternal life through Jesus. One said, “My conscience is clear.” That can only be so if you have very low standards of right and wrong.
 
This reminds me of the rich young ruler in Luke 18:18-21, who came to Jesus and asked, “What must I do to obtain eternal life?”
 
Jesus answered, “You know the commandments: ‘You shall not commit adultery, you shall not murder, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, honor your father and mother.’
 
“All these I have kept since I was a boy,” he said.
 
What!!!??? Who is he kidding? He thinks he never lied, never was disobedient to his parents (dishonoring them), never looked at a woman with lust, never stole anything? In order to convince himself of this, he had to have exceedingly low standards, rejecting God’s measure for his own to justify himself. No fear of God here.
 
The reality is that when measured by God’s holy standards, every single person is guilty before Him. To flatter ourselves by thinking we are fine on our own has only one result: entering an eternity without God, separated from all good forever.
 
How much better it is to lay aside our pride and self-centered thoughts, bowing to God’s beautiful, bountiful and protective ways, living in the light of His Word, in the warmth of His love and in the joy of receiving true life, eternal life.
 
To fear God is to be teachable, humble and wise, leading only to what is good. Let’s all cultivate our fearing of God. Praying daily, “Lord, I give you my will and take yours in its place,” along with memorizing and frequently praying the definition of fearing God found in Psalm 34:12-14 would be a good start. And let us teach this to our children and grandchildren.]
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Soul Lifting

Published by S.M. Wibberley on September 24, 2019
 
Today is an example of “lifting my soul to God” during a team conflict that occurred several years ago. Lifting our souls is an effective way to get things out, to give ourselves perspective, to remember who our God is, who the real enemy is and to seek God’s help through surrendering to Him.
“Had trouble getting to sleep, then was awake often, struggling with negative thoughts about the team’s conflicts. Praise you, Lord Jesus, that in the midst of this turmoil, you led me to think about you and how incredibly powerful, wise and faithful you are.
“You are the star Breather, the galaxy Arranger, the sun Maker who put our solar system in just the right place under one arm of the Milky Way–in a position so we can observe the universe and see the works of your hands.
“You hung the earth on nothing, put it in just the right orbit at the perfect speed, tilted its axis exactly and spun it perfectly, so each day and night are of optimal length. You set each condition of the solar system precisely so that carbon-based life could exist on earth. Praise be to you for you great wisdom and power displayed in that.
“So it is with our lives: in your mighty power, your deep wisdom, your gracious love, you bring or allow what you will use for good. This present painful situation, these messy and hurtful circumstances have all come with your permission and you are using them to develop us as leaders and give opportunity to develop our followers.
“Lord, help us to let go of our feelings of failure and frustration, and instead to stand firm in Truth, such as, ‘Count it all joy, my brothers, when you fall into various trials, knowing this, that the trying of our faith works patience. And let patience have its perfect work that we may be perfect and mature’ (James 1:2,3).
“Help us to swim in the current of your Truth, Lord, letting you carry us along in the right direction. Help us to reject despair, feeling sorry for ourselves, and the embarrassment of failure along with our weariness. Help us instead to embrace what you bring by offering the sacrifice of thanksgiving, so that we may thereby honor you and open the way so that you can show us the salvation of the Lord.
“I thank you now for what you will do with this mess, for how you will work in and through it to bring growth, transformation and deepening for us as leaders so that you can bring the same thing to all involved in the midst of this situation.
“I praise you in faith, Lord God, our Great Shepherd, our Glorious Transformer, our Wonderful King. As you used the sins of Joseph’s brothers to provide a way of salvation for the Jews and many others, so you can use the sins in this situation to bring about good and grace for us all.
 
“Do that Lord, move in your might, defeat the plans of the enemy, bring glory to yourself. Answer us out of your faithfulness, your righteousness, your goodness and your power. Answer to bring glory to your name, honor through your might and maturity to your children. I praise you now for the answers you will send. Amen.”
Epilogue: God did not resolve the situation as I desired, but He did answer to deepen and mature most of us through it.
 
Picture: God can make what seems ugly into a thing of stark beauty.
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Amazing God

Published by S.M. Wibberley on September 22, 2019
 
I praise you, Lord God, for your great Love, your persistent Faithfulness, your mighty Power, your wide Wisdom, your deep Knowledge, your pure Righteousness and your perpetual Perfection.
 
You are the One I can trust today, the One who rules every day, who rights what is wrong, who redeems what is lost, who restores what is broken, who reigns in every circumstance. You are God, you are Great, you are Glorious and you are Gracious.
 
I commit myself today to praise you with all my heart, with all my being, all the time. I choose to embrace what you bring, what you reveal, what you allow. I thank you for my failures which point me away from myself to you, breaking me of self-reliance, of pride, of independence, of selfishness.
 
Thank you for your very specific working in my life, your personal, careful, exact plan to fashion me more into the image of Christ. While I do not like it when this includes breaking, I do love the outcome of seeing you more, of worshiping you more deeply by faith, of growing in trust, of seeing your great power at work.
 
In thinking about my inability to bring a good resolution to the group conflict mentioned earlier, you used my failure to reveal my unhealthy desire for success and praise, my pride, my selfishness, my wanting a specific timetable.
 
Well, all that cannot be changed now, but I can repent, change and grow through it all. To you be glory in it, Lord. I see right now that this failure is a blotch on your name, but you can turn it into a positive as you desire.
 
Thank you for helping me to recognize my weakness, my smallness, and to see more clearly your greatness and power. It is such a wonderful thing to be your child, to be your servant, Lord, to join you in what you are doing, to rest in the fact that you are my Rock, my Fortress, my Redeemer and my Light. Help me, help all of us to be humble, to discern what you are doing and to join you in it so we can bring you glory and honor.
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1993

Published by S.M. Wibberley on September 22, 2019
In 1993 we were due for a furlough, and this was also a natural juncture for us to leave the fellowship in the hands of the local believers. Our departure also seemed to be the right time to accept a position in the Overseas Department of the home office. The leadership had been asking us to consider it for the past eight years.
 
We arrived at our new home in Eastern Pennsylvania during August of 1993. The house we rented was located in a nice middle class suburb.
 
What a contrast from the densely populated, heavily polluted city we’d lived in for the past 14 years! There had been ten times more people just in our one neighborhood of than were in the whole county of our new location!
 
In another contrast, everything here was so green, lush and well kept as compared to the browns and greys of the Middle East—a gracious gift prepared by the Lord just for us.
Moving here also opened up new possibilities for the boys that were totally missing in our other city. First was some help in the transition into a new culture. The guidance counselor at their school met with us and warned the boys about two things that would help their transition into American high school.
 
“No one is going to be interested in where you’ve come from,” she said. “I was an army brat, living in Europe and other places; when I returned to the States for school, no one wanted to hear my stories. They won’t want to hear yours, either.”
 
She paused. “And keep away from watching too much TV, especially MTV. It’s not a healthy way to spend your time.” These were good points of advice and the boys took them to heart.
 
God’s second provision was through the high school cross-country coach. In our first visit to the city, Coach Hetrick came to the office to talk with Nat. He checked Nat’s shoes for wear to determine his running style, and talked about developing his abilities.
 
Nat had never run competitively, but was fast, and Mr. Hetrick picked up on this potential. He turned out to be not only a great coach for Nat, but became his mentor as well. Running provided an entry niche for Nat and he was quickly accepted by the other runners, giving him an instant sense of belonging in this new environment.
He went on to excel, being named the best runner in the county his senior year and placing 8th in the Pennsylvania State Championships. Nat’s performance inspired others to try running. In his freshman year there were only 6 male runners, but by his senior year ten percent of the entire student body of eight hundred were running cross-country.
 
Josh’s experience was very different. After finishing his sophomore year in the German school, Josh had transferred to a boarding school for MKs in Germany for his junior year.
Now, his senior year would be spent in yet another high school. But the Lord provided just the right niches for Josh also, first in a singing group and later in the drama club. He even landed a major role in the main production for that year, an unusual accomplishment for a newcomer.
 
Josh was not afraid to speak up in class, which the teachers appreciated, since most of the other students didn’t find class participation cool. The fear of man ruled, but Josh ignored it. He also was not afraid to talk openly about his faith and was quickly dubbed as “God boy.”
 
During that year Josh, Nat and a couple of other MKs started a student prayer group that has continued on after their departure for at least another fifteen years. It was usually led by an MK from our group.
 
Nat was still a pretty lazy student and was happy that he didn’t need to work at all his freshman year. His German school education had already taken him quite a bit beyond his classmates who all thought he was brilliant because he knew so much more than they did.
 
He and Josh had the advantage of having lived in three cultures, speaking three languages, and having traveled through much of the Middle East and Europe. In addition, from an early age they had avidly read the National Geographic, Reader’s Digest, Ranger Rick and many other books full of facts which cumulatively gave them a grasp of a wide range of information.
 
At one point Nat’s history teacher called us in and said, “I have never met a freshman who knew so much about the world and understood its significance. But, could you get him to write more than one-sentence answers on his essay tests?” Nat might know a lot, but he had no real motivation to use it.
However, the Lord had plans to wake Nat up, using running as His primary tool. With Nat’s natural talent being developed under his coach’s good training, he began to win races, and found he liked that. He began to realize that putting effort into reaching goals could be a worthwhile endeavor. He began to study more, do more around the house, and most importantly, began to grow spiritually.
 
When he turned sixteen, Nat decided he wanted to be baptized. This decision brought a very deep surrender in him, triggering a lot of spiritual progress. He then started using his status as a successful runner as a means of sharing his faith with others at school.
 
He later told us that in high school his running fueled his spiritual life, while in college his spiritual life drove his running. Nat realized he needed to lay down the foundations for his personal faith. He had been riding on ours, but needed his own. During his sophomore Nat researched and wrote a paper to help him sort out the relationship of the Bible and science. He entitled it, “Why I am not a Monkey.”
 
When he had to present a position paper for English during his senior year, he chose to polish up this paper and gave it a better title. His classmates laughed when he announced his subject, “How I Know That Evolution Is Not True.” But when he presented it, they were fascinated and the student evaluators gave him an A.
 
His teacher, however, was not so impressed, giving him a lower mark. She asked, “If God created the world, then where did he come from?”
 
Nat, who normally doesn’t think well on his feet, was helped by the Holy Spirit to reply, “As Stephen Hawkins and his associates pointed out, both the universe and time have a beginning. Since God lives outside of time, He doesn’t need a beginning.” The teacher, not knowing how to respond to that, turned to the class and said, “OK, next paper!”
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Psalm 35:28

Published by S.M. Wibberley on September 22, 2019
 
David, envisioning God protecting him and exonerating him before his foes, finishes his psalm with this commitment:
 
Psalm 35:28 “My tongue will speak of your righteousness and of your praises all day long.”
 
[At this point God had not yet delivered David, but since he had appealed to the goodness and love of God, to the power and the faithfulness of his Lord, he was confident of His help coming. So, David promises to be a man of praise, continually exalting his Savior.
 
This must be my practice, too, whether things work out according my desires or not.
 
Praise be to you, Lord, that you are in control, that I awake each morning to your safeness, to your surrounding love, to your eternal faithfulness, to your indwelling, unceasing presence. You are always here, patiently unfolding the intricate plan you have for my life, giving me wisdom, direction, endurance, grace, love and joy.
 
It is only in you that we can have joy, for without you this world is meaningless, empty of purpose, randomly dangerous and utterly pointless. You, however, are here, being our rock, our foundation, our fortress, our shield, our high tower and our deliverer.
 
In you there is order, meaning and purpose. In you there is protection, power and provision. In you there is love, light and life. In you there is goodness, grace and greatness. In you there is caring, compassion and completeness. In you there is healing, help and hope. In you there are answers, reasons and wisdom.
 
To live without you is death in delayed degrees, ever spiraling downward towards eternal destruction. With you there is life with ever increasing light, love and joy, ever spiraling upwards towards our eternal home.
 
So, in you I can rest–for in you I am chosen, loved and cherished, in you there is rightness, beauty and clarity, even in the most difficult of situations. I thank you for the great privilege of being your child and praise you now for the outcome of the present challenges in my life, for whatever you will do in our situation with my wife’s illness and other challenges. You, O Lord, are trustworthy.
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Psalm 35:24-27

Published by S.M. Wibberley on September 20, 2019
Psalm 35:24, 25 “Vindicate me in your righteousness, O LORD my God; do not let them gloat over me. Do not let them think, ‘Aha, just what we wanted!’ or say, ‘We have swallowed him up.’”
 
[A number of years ago, when I first wrote these comments on Psalm 35, I was involved in helping a group resolve a serious conflict. The leader, who had been confronted by his teammates on abusive leadership, maintained that he was blameless and all the rest of us, including those he asked to come in from the outside and help him, were wrong. He thought he’d “swallowed us up” as he steamrolled us with his logical arguments, not realizing that he was demonstrating exactly what his teammates objected to!
 
Lord, protect us from having such pride, such self-righteousness, selfish ambition and self-deception. Expose such sins of ours to us quickly so we can, unlike this leader, immediately repent, be wise and kind and avoid bringing dishonor to your name. I thank you, Lord God, for how you will help us in your wisdom which is much higher than ours: you are always firm and clear in what is best. I give you glory and honor now for what you are doing in all our lives.]
 
Psalm 35:26 “May all who gloat over my distress be put to shame and confusion; may all who exalt themselves over me be clothed with shame and disgrace.”
 
[Lord, may Satan and his hordes all be brought to shame in their attempts to bring disunity and distress. Even years later this leader I mentioned has not accepted his fault and continues to hold a bitter grudge against those who tried to help him; may he come to a true and deep repentance and thereby to a greater usefulness for you, Lord.
 
Thank you for leading us to forgive him as you have forgiven us. In faith I give you praise now for what you are doing through the turmoil this man has caused and what you are doing in him, for you, Lord, are good, gracious and loving.]
 
Psalm 35:27 “May those who delight in my vindication shout for joy and gladness; may they always say, ‘The LORD be exalted, who delights in the well-being of his servant.’”
 
[Yes, may YOU win, Lord, vindicating your servants in the way you know is best; may you be exalted as we obey you in humility; may you be the One who is lifted up in our joy and gladness at your goodness. We can trust you in all things, knowing that you will periodically lead us through the dark valleys, down snowy paths so that you can eventually bring us out into wider, greener pastures.]
 
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