Page 67 - Psalms Ebook
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prayer  relate  to  that?    We  can  look  at  the  various  human  emotions
        touched  on  in  the  Psalms.    Frustration  and  uncertainty  and
        prayerlessness and changing circumstances and so on.  Verses that deal
        with all of that.  How does prayer relate to all of that?

        Let  me  give  you  a  simple  principle  and  then  try  to  illustrate  it.    The
        principle  is this  and  don’t  be  shocked.    Here  is the truth of  the  Bible.
        “God never answers prayer”.  Do not be afraid of that statement.  Here
        is the rest of it.  God always over answers prayer.  That is the thrill of it.
        He never answers prayer.  He always over answers prayer.  I did a study
        looking at how God over answers prayer.  I had quite a bit of fun with
        this.  This is just suggestive and you may want to do it or you may not.  I
        found  forty  illustrations  of  prayer  starting  way  back  in  the  Old
        Testament.  The answer to those prayers is also recorded in the Bible.  So
        you have not only the prayer, but the answer to the prayer.  In every case,
        the prayer is over answered.  In other words, they got a lot more than
        they asked for.  It is fun to go through that and say, how did God over
        answer  this  prayer?    And  how  did  God  over  answer  that  prayer?    I
        thought you might like that just as a devotional exercise someday.

        When you are studying the Old Testament, keep coming back to the New
        Testament  and  say,  How  does  God  clinch  this?    Ephesians  chapter  3,
        verse 20 is the full development of this truth.

        “Now to Him who is able to do exceeding abundantly beyond all we ask
        or think, according to the power that works within us, to Him be glory
        in the church and in Jesus Christ to all generations forever and ever.”

        One way to get this into your heart is to add the modifiers one at a time.
        What does that verse say?  It says God is able to do.  What does it say?
        God  is  able to  do all we  ask.    What  does  it  say?    God  is  able  to  do
        beyond all we ask.  What else?  God is able to do abundantly beyond
        all  we  ask.    What  does  the  verse  say?    He  is  able  to  do  exceeding
        abundantly beyond all we ask.  What does it say?  He is able to do
        exceeding abundantly beyond all we ask or think.  He adds, or think.
        What an amazing verse to illustrate the truth of Psalms that God always
        over answers prayer.

        Now, we looked at some of those wonderful figures of speech.  I hope
        you will turn them into prayer.  When you see one of those great figures
        that God thinks about me more than the sands of the earth, you can figure
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