Psalm 119:149

Psalm 119:149 “Hear my voice in accordance with Your love; preserve my life, O Lord, according to Your laws.”

If God hears us in accordance with His love, then we can rest assured He always hears us. What a wonderful thought. “This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that we ask anything according to His will, He hears us – whatever we ask – we know that we have what we asked of Him” 1 John 5:14-15. 

God’s love is the same as His will. The love of God insists on mercy. To pray according to God’s will is to pray with mercy as the motive. If we pray for anything with the desire for God to be merciful, we pray according to His will. If our heart is sincere, when we pray for God to bless our life so we can continue to bless others, that is a prayer of mercy.

If we pray for God to bless our life so we can heap upon our lust, we pray outside the will of God. James puts it this way, “When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with the wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures” James 4:3. Mercy is our source of life. The mercy prayer is a prayer of life. We have life because God chose to have mercy on us. When we pray asking God to have mercy on others, we are in essence asking God to life that person, or to bring life to that person. When we have a desire for others to have life, we continue to receive life our self. The merciful continue to get mercy (see Matthew 5:7).

David in essence is saying, “Hear my voice in accordance with Your love, and life (preserve) me.” When we pray out of a merciful heart, that prayer becomes our very source of life. God will life us. He will put us to life through this simple prayer, “Lord have mercy.”

Now let me encourage you to take some time to meditate on this verse, as you do; examine the motive behind your prayers. Do you pray for the sake of mercy? 

Continued