What about you? Do you realise that all of history is moving towards the moment when every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is LORD? Have you bowed the knee to him? Have you acknowledged Jesus Christ as the Lord of all? Or are you still fighting against him? If so, be warned, that in the

Because God had promised to be with him, David's victories in this chapter are inevitable. Just as it is with the progress of the church of Jesus Christ. The church may look doomed in this country, just like it has looked extinct in certain countries before. But we have Christ's promise: 'I will build my church and that gates of

What we see in this chapter is a king who is on the up. This is a king who is rising in power. The key word in the chapter is the word 'defeated'.v1: David defeated the Philistinesv2: And he defeated MoabV3: David also defeated HadadezerV5: David struck down - which is the same word in Hebrew - David struck down,

If we knew what was going to happen in the future, it would affect what we do here and now. There are always people trying to work out what's going to happen next. But our problem in many areas of life is that we don't know where life is going, so we just have to guess. But there are some

The focus on a king of Israel who is also described as the Son of God is preparing the ground for the coming of Jesus Christ, the true seed of Abraham in whom all the nations of the earth will be blessed. Just in case we still think this covenant with David is irrelevant to the New Testament, the Apostle

Jesus commands us to 'seek first the kingdom of God'. The extent to which we're doing that will be reflected in the sort of things we pray for. How often do you pray 'your kingdom come'? How often do you pray for the proclamation of the gospel, for people to be added to the kingdom, and for Christ to do

The heart behind the prayer is more important than the words. The Puritan, Thomas Manton reminds us: 'the heart must be the fountain of the words; otherwise it is but a vain babbling. Much speaking is not praying'. What we need above all is to have our hearts right before God. That means having a heart that longs for God

David is almost overwhelmed as he begins his prayer in v18: 'Who am I, O Lord God, and what is my house, that you have brought me thus far?' He's just amazed at what God has already done for him to this point. Which is a reference to God bringing him from the sheepfolds to reign as king over Israel.

David responds to God's word both by praise, in verses 18-24, and then by petition in vs 25-29. In other words he responds to what God has said both by praising him for it - and by asking that God would do what he's just said he will. Even that structure teaches us something very simple, but also very significant

The Bible doesn't suggest we pray - it commands us to pray and expects us to pray. Nor does it leave us without any guidance in terms of how to pray. Instead it gives us both instruction and examples. Jesus' disciples were men who had been praying all their lives, but when they hear Jesus praying, and realise how different