Praying for Someone With All Your Attention on God
O Lord , the king rejoices in the strength you give; he takes great delight in the deliverance you provide.
You grant him his heart’s desire; you do not refuse his request. (Selah)
For you bring him rich blessings; you place a golden crown on his head.
He asked you to sustain his life, and you have granted him long life and an enduring dynasty.
Your deliverance brings him great honor; you give him majestic splendor.
Psalms 21:1–5 NET Read More
Today David shows us a unique way to pray for someone. Typically when I pray for somebody I’m either telling God all of the awful things that are happening in their life or I’m thanking God for all of the things that person does for me. Reading this seems like I’ve just got a lesson in blessing!
Whether David sung this song about Saul or whether he spoke about himself as the king here, we don’t know. Let’s take for our purposes today that it is about someone else. Look at the way he praised God and prayed for the king:
He praised God for the King’s hope in God
He praised God for times when God answered the King’s prayers
He detailed things that God had done for the King
He honored God for doing things that exalted God’s kingdom in the life of the King
He didn’t dwell on what the King needed deliverance from, but instead praised God for being the rescuer
Instead of turning prayer into an excuse for gossip or dwelling on all of the hopelessness of the King’s case, David puts all of the attention on God. That, in turn, makes an otherwise specific prayer applicable to all of us. There is probably somebody you have in mind right now that God has abundantly blessed. He has rescued them and put them into a great place. Take some time to praise God for them and to praise God for the things He is doing in their life.
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