Pastor Fredo Ramos: For whatever reason, I have always struggled to pray. And so, as this new year begins and as many of you think about new routines that you wanna give yourself to, especially for those of you who follow Jesus, I wanna invite you to learn to pray the Psalms with us. It's a practice I picked up years ago that really saved, my ability to learn to pray, to speak to God honestly about how I was feeling and what I was thinking. And so every single day on sandalschurch.tv on YouTube, we're gonna be releasing, praying the Psalms, a psalm a day. We started in January 1st and every day you're gonna get a new psalm, but the opportunity to read the psalm with us, to reflect on a phrase, and then to respond to God in prayer, how to pray through the psalms.
This has been a gift to me in my own journey with Jesus. I pray that it's a gift to you and so would you join us. Grace and peace. As we continue praying through the Psalms, we come now to Psalm 27. David writes, the lord is my light and my salvation, so why should I be afraid?
The lord is my fortress protecting me from danger, so why should I tremble? When evil people come to devour me, when my enemies and foes attack me, they will stumble and fall. Though a mighty army surrounds me, my heart will not be afraid. Even if I am attacked, I will remain confident. The one thing the one thing I ask of the lord, the thing I seek most is to live in the house of the lord all the days of my life, delighting in the lord's perfections and meditating in his temple, for he will conceal me there when troubles come.
He will hide me in his sanctuary. He will place me out of reach on a high rock. Then I will hold my head high above my enemies who surround me. At his sanctuary, I will offer offer sacrifices with shouts of joy, singing and praising the Lord with music. Hear me as I pray, oh Lord.
Be merciful and answer me. My heart has heard you say, come and talk with me, and my heart has responded, lord, I am coming to you. Do not do not turn your back on me. Do not reject your servant in anger. You have always been my helper.
Don't leave me now. Don't abandon me, oh, God, of my salvation. For even if my mother and my father abandoned me, the Lord will hold me close. Teach me how to live, oh, Lord. Lead me along the right path, for my enemies are waiting for me.
Do not let me fall into their hands, for they accuse me of things I have never done. With every breath they threaten me with violence, yet I am confident I will see the Lord's goodness while I am here in the land of the living. Wait patiently for the Lord. Be brave and courageous. Yes, wait patiently for the Lord.
My goodness. What a psalm. David was on 1 when he wrote Psalm 27. And I love the movement, this opening question of the Lord is our light today, he is our salvation, why should we be afraid? He is our fortress.
He is our refuge. He protects us from danger. Why should we tremble? When evil people seek to devour him, it says, when an army encamps against him, like, he paints a very vivid picture of danger surrounding him, yet he's remaining confident in something. Now, I don't think that's because David is dismissing legitimate things to be afraid of, but I think what's allowing him to move from what feels like a battlefield to a sanctuary is that David is attentive to the very presence of God.
And so, even today, as you enter in what feels like a battlefield, what feels like people seeking to devour you, what he later goes on to say in verse 10, even if the closest people in his life, like a mom or a dad, abandoned me abandoned him, he is fully aware that God will not forsake him. He is confident that the Lord that the Lord will show up. He has heard the Lord say to him, come and draw near to me, David. So even in the midst of your circumstances today, what's going to allow you to move from the battlefield to the sanctuary is your ability to have your eyes opened to the reality that God is near you. Whether you feel him or not, God is near you.
And today is a wonderful opportunity for us to no longer give so much value and credit to how we're particularly feeling when it comes to the presence of God, knowing that whether we feel it or not, he is very close to us. And it's his presence that becomes a very sanctuary and a place of refuge for us. And so today, Jesus, we hear you inviting us, that even in the midst of our circumstances, even in the midst of legitimate things that might lead us to be afraid today, we can be patient and we can wait underneath the safety and the shelter of your presence. Knowing full well, Lord, that you have taken on yourself the greatest danger of all in sin and death, and you broke its power over us. And so, as we move about our day today, we do so attentive to your presence that your dwelling place is with us.
If we're in trouble, so are you because your address, your home address is our home address. And so we rest in your presence now. In Jesus name we pray, amen. Amen. Grace and peace.