Psalms 63 Prayer Pattern

This psalm was chosen to provide a model designed by God showing ways we can approach Him in a desperately dependent fashion. Use Psalms Prayer Patterns to pour out your heart to God while acknowledging your weakness and His strength, as you grow deeper in your relationship with Him.

Psalms Prayer Pattern

O God, you are my God;
     I earnestly search for you.
My soul thirsts for you;
     my whole body longs for you
in this parched and weary land
     where there is no water.
I have seen you in your sanctuary
     and gazed upon your power and glory.
Your unfailing love is better than life itself;
     how I praise you!
I will praise you as long as I live,
     lifting up my hands to you in prayer.
You satisfy me more than the richest feast.
     I will praise you with songs of joy.

I lie awake thinking of you,
     meditating on you through the night.
Because you are my helper,
     I sing for joy in the shadow of your wings.
I cling to you;
     your strong right hand holds me securely.

But those plotting to destroy me will come to ruin.
     They will go down into the depths of the earth.
They will die by the sword
     and become the food of jackals.
But the king will rejoice in God.
     All who trust in him will praise him,
     while liars will be silenced.       —Ps. 63 NLT

(excerpts from Desperate Dependency by J. Kirk & Melanie D. Lewis)


We would love for you to share in the COMMENTS the insights you have received on your journey.

How Can I Be Humble?

“I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility…” Eph. 4:1-2 ESV.

Do you have the tendency to defend, promote, or preserve yourself? Do you strive to be seen in the best possible light? Do you always want to be right and viewed as successful? The extent to which you engage in promoting your self is the evidence that you are lacking in humility.

When confronted with sin, the human condition seeks to respond by excusing the issue of sin or explaining the episode surrounding the sin, all for the purpose of escaping any exposure to sin. Selfish ambition and vain conceit are pervasive within our normal course of life, creating such a condition of heart where humility is a rarity. Humility as a construct has been so marred by self-centered intent that its meaning within our culture is obscure.

To prove this point, simply ask anyone to define humility. The response you may anticipate will be a very blank look followed by a random attempt to provide an answer. Most of the answers will be from previously heard sermons articulated without personal experience with what is being tendered. The reality will become obvious that humility is not apart of our social norm.

Christians today substitute humility for a pretense of being right. Thus within a conflict the modern day Christian seeks how they may best promote themselves while posturing to look the most righteous within the conflict. Therefore eliminating the need to be humble for being right. Such a demeanor concerning humility would demonstrate how far from the true meaning of meekness we have strayed.

There is a chasm between our theology and how we treat others, between our doctrinal faith and our deployment of our faith, between our position in Christ and our practice of Christianity. To appreciate this expanse, just consider that anything not done in love is preformed through selfish ambition. To understand the potency of this point simply read the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:1 – 7:29). Here you will be shown by Christ the nature of the issue. Consider the Beatitudes as a sample.

And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying:
      “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
      “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
      “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.
      “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
      “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.
      “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
      “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.
      “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
      “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. (Matt. 5:2 – 11 ESV)

Humility is all about what I am not. One who possesses the virtue of humility discerns from within their soul, that they bring nothing to God so as to increase Him. Additionally they know that they add nothing to God so as to enhance Him. Therefore, bringing nothing to God nor adding anything to God, the humble of heart grasp that they stand before God only by the love of His redeeming grace. Humility leads the broken to understand that only by divine enablement can personal empowerment be embraced.

Pride while bringing honor, praise, and exaltation to self asserts with pious tone, "I want to do great things for God or I want God to do great things through me." Pride misses the point completely for being emerged in the pursuit of greatness—only God is great, and apart from His enabling grace and the perfecting work of Jesus Christ we are incapable of industry for God.

Industry, compelled by our intimacy with God, prompts us within our service to glorify God, to edify God's people, and to solidify God's will on earth. There is no room for self to glory in what self has done. Nor is there time for self to bask in the residual effects of accomplishment, whereby one is validated to feeling significant and secure. Humility proclaims that self has nothing to contribute.

The two polar extremes that block dependency on Jesus are “I am not good enough” and “I am good enough.” The reality is that it is not about us—whether we are or are not good enough. It is about Christ and what He has accomplished.

Insight Journal
1. When do I try to defend, promote, or preserve myself?
2. How do I define humility?
3. Do I agree with the statement that anything not done in love is preformed through selfish ambition?

(excerpts from Desperate Dependency by J. Kirk & Melanie D. Lewis)

The Great Scam

(excerpts included from Desperate Dependency by J. Kirk & Melanie D. Lewis)

GOD ASSIGNED JOB the job of demonstrating desperate dependency amid plenty and loss. Our lives are driven by the desire to be successful, and many viewed the life of Job as being a grand success with his ten children, leadership positions, and vast possessions. But when Job was stripped of the people, positions, and possessions, his friends and neighbors would have been hard pressed to label him as a success while he sat on the ash heap mourning his unspeakable losses.

“All right, you may test him,” the LORD said to Satan. “Do whatever you want with everything he possesses, but don’t harm him physically.” So Satan left the LORD’s presence.

One day when Job’s sons and daughters were feasting at the oldest brother’s house, a messenger arrived at Job’s home with this news: “Your oxen were plowing, with the donkeys feeding beside them, when the Sabeans raided us. They stole all the animals and killed all the farmhands. I am the only one who escaped to tell you.”

While he was still speaking, another messenger arrived with this news: “The fire of God has fallen from heaven and burned up your sheep and all the shepherds. I am the only one who escaped to tell you.”

While he was still speaking, a third messenger arrived with this news: “Three bands of Chaldean raiders have stolen your camels and killed your servants. I am the only one who escaped to tell you.”

While he was still speaking, another messenger arrived with this news: “Your sons and daughters were feasting in their oldest brother’s home. Suddenly, a powerful wind swept in from the wilderness and hit the house on all sides. The house collapsed, and all your children are dead. I am the only one who escaped to tell you.” (Job 1:12–19 NLT)

At this point in the story, every fiber of our being stands in judgment against God, casting dispersion on His name. “If You love me, why would You allow this to happen?” Hardly can God be understood while being weighed in the balance of our pain. Yet, God in His love uses suffering as a platform to convey the depths of His sovereignty. God will save us. God will sustain us. God will promote our best interest. But His ways are beyond our comprehension.

One of the first challenges we face in the Christian growth process is resolving the incongruence between what is true of God versus how we believe those truths about Him should be experienced.

We believe God cares for and loves us, so how should these realities manifest within our lives? These notions are synthesized into expectations that we place upon God. Preconceived notions develop, setting us up to be frustrated. We judge that God has not acted in accordance to our interpretation of His attributes, and we respond with disappointment. Frustration sets in: “I want God to do what I think He should do!” and “I believe I have the right to think this way because His attributes, after all, give me permission to feel as I do.”

It is difficult to admit when our beliefs are shaken and we are soon overwhelmed with questions: “Can anyone really know how God works?” “Can anyone really expect anything from God?” Frustration morphs into a sense of alienation. Perhaps God simply is not pleased with me, or maybe He does not like me.

The spiritual communion prior to the unmet expectations has now become lost to the spiritual commotion of the deeper, darker assumptions that grow like mold in the damp shadowed recesses of the soul. Distorted views of God burst forth from the spores only to be inhaled by a gasping spirit.

Feeling mistreated is the logical conclusion that many a child of God has come to over and over again. “Why will God not treat me as He has the others whom He has blessed?” “What does God want from me?” “Maybe I will never please Him. Maybe I should just give up?” “Trying is just too hard.”

Job’s dire situation produced desperate dependency upon God and facilitated communion with God in response to his loss and suffering. Job had already given everything to God, so it was not without his permission that God followed through to use Job as He desired.

Job stood up and tore his robe in grief. Then he shaved his head and fell to the ground to worship. He said,

“I came naked from my mother’s womb,
      and I will be naked when I leave.
The LORD gave me what I had,
      and the LORD has taken it away.
Praise the name of the LORD!”

In all of this, Job did not sin by blaming God. (Job 1:20–22 NLT)

Job assumed God’s sovereign involvement in the course of life that he could not control. In Job’s mind God’s presence was not only acknowledged in his suffering, but His will was ascribed to it. In response to his bereavement, Job asserted a benediction of blessing to the Lord. In the midst of his tragedy, Job worshipped while submitting to God’s sovereign right to rule over his person, positions, and possessions.

When one believes that faith has become a set up for failure, than that one seeks to remedy the conflict by giving up on faith. With “I’ll show God” animosity one chooses to stop trusting, as if to punish God. The reality is this—-we have just been scammed by the wiles of the devil.

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. (Eph. 6:10-12 ESV)

The moral character of God held Job constant even though his mortal condition was completely in chaos. Overwhelmed by his limitations, he could only find comfort in total self-abandonment through trust. Delimited by his dependency, Job had no other choice but to interpret the nature of his anguish through the moral attributes of a holy, righteous, just, and good God who is full of truth. All of Job’s philosophical ponderings, including his frustration and confusion, were delineated by his dependence on God, making him more desperate than ever. In Job’s agony his dilemma was to understand life’s new normal consistently with the truth about God.

Insight Journal:
How would your life challenges look if you first viewed them as having come to you through God's truth, justice, righteousness, goodness, holiness, and love?

Finding Christ in the Storm Damage

It is said that a tornado is one of the most powerful meteorological forces on the earth. Communities in their entirety have been decimated by the incomprehensible power of tornados’ winds. Most recently, such a force encroached upon our very own city. Lives have been unalterably changed, never to be the same again this side of eternity’s veil.

Storm damage, such as experienced in Harrison, Tennessee last week, cannot be completely calculated in dollars and cents or even in tallying the loss of property and possessions. The loss of real estate cannot be compared to how lives have been affected by the collateral influence of a storm-touched life.

Damage such as this moves beyond that of the storm and touches us in places that the eye cannot witness, and in many ways that the mind cannot fully comprehend. The soul can be injured in a manner that can never be addressed in the physical realm. Injury such as this may manifest with feelings of powerlessness abounding, pervasive unrelenting guilt, and an ever-looming sense of despair. Solomon cites, "hope deferred makes the heart sick" (Prov. 13:12 NLT). So why does God allow us to be touched by evil?

Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death? . . . No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.

And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.
(Rom. 8:35–39 NLT)

God allows people to be touched by evil because He is capable of redeeming us from it. God’s sovereignty promises that when we encounter the evil of this world we will be encompassed by the love, mercy, and grace of God to the perfecting of our souls, the performing of God’s will, and the proclaiming of His faithfulness. Therefore, it is imperative for us to believe “ . . . that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love Him, to those who are called according to His purpose” (Rom. 8:28 NASB).

God is real, God is love, and God is sovereign; therefore, He is relevant, He is compassionate, and He is worthy of our trust. All who have given themselves to Him in brokenness, repentance, submission, and obedience benefit from His transforming power that is conforming us to His image. The fruit of His Spirit emerges as our own personal attributes reflect the fact that Jesus Christ is at work, faithfully keeping His promises.

His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence. For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust.
(2 Peter 1:3–4 NASB)

All He is accomplishing in our lives is for the purpose of establishing a deeper relationship with Him so that we may evidence Christ’s work in our lives.

Will we allow our calamities to be the window through which others may look upon the redemptive grace of Jesus Christ and thereby glorify God?

(excerpts from Desperate Dependency by J. Kirk & Melanie D. Lewis)

Christ Is Relevant to Entertainment

relevant: having significant and demonstrable bearing on the matter at hand; affording evidence tending to prove or disprove the matter at issue or under discussion. (Webster's dictionary)

This is Travis' story:

Although I was raised in church my whole life, I was really only saved about four years ago. I had lived a life full of idolatry. I had so many gods in my life – alcohol, motorcycles, dependency on women, rock music, and positions I had, not just at work, but my ranking with other people.

About two years after I became a Christian our small group started working through the concepts of Desperate Dependency. It was a huge eye opening experience for me. My perception of what it means to be a Christian fundamentally changed. It was not necessarily just a change in how I view God, but how God views me and therefore, how I am to live in light of that.

When I was saved I was very heavily involved in alcoholism. God didn’t just help me work through it, He took it from me. He literally took the taste for it out of my mouth overnight. Which is an amazing thing to say.

But I had two idols that didn’t go away as easily – my participation with the motorcycle culture and my involvement with rock music. I was struggling with those things still. The lure of my motorcycles sort of moved out by the wayside over time, but I was still clinging to my music. It had been an anchor of my life for over 20 years. It wasn’t just that I enjoyed listening to the music, but I invested my time, my money, and my energy in traveling around the country to tape concerts for my personal pleasure. I enjoyed the thrill of being able to capture the moment and the prestige that came from others as a result. And then I would spend countless hours categorizing my accomplishments to put on display. I was very proud of my treasures.

As our small group started studying Job, I was impressed by the concept that God said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job?” (Job 1:8) Then we came to Isaiah 44:8 where God speaks and says,

“‘Do not tremble and do not be afraid;
Have I not long since announced it to you and declared it?
And you are My witnesses.
Is there any God besides Me,
Or is there any other Rock?
I know of none.’” (NASB)

God used those Scriptures to hammer home to me what I was doing. I pictured God saying, “Have you considered my servant Travis?” and pointing me out to the world saying, “Here is my witness that there is no other god.” Then a lost world looks at me, but still I was hiding behind my back the idol of rock music that gave me my worth, value, and significance. It may seem simple to have something like that there, but it was a huge thing that took away so much time from my relationship with God. It was getting to the point that when I was presented with the choice between music and studying God’s Word, I was having a real tough decision about what I wanted to do.

That whole concept of me sitting there holding this god behind my back while people were looking at me just tore me up. It came down to the choice, “was I going to be obedient to what He was showing me?” It wasn’t that God was just going to take this from me like He did alcohol. I was faced with a decision as to whether or not I was going to be obedient to what God was asking me to do.

I struggled with that for two months. Once I started laying it down, the peace came to me and it started being easier and easier. The concept of divine enablement meeting with personal empowerment became clearer to me. God is giving me the strength I need to accomplish the task He asks me to do.


What idol is God asking you to put away?

Christ Is Relevant to Freedom

Thousands of stories have been told about the deprivation and horror of the Second World War, there is one aspect that has received comparatively little attention: the story of those who lost the same war twice, the people of Germany. Not the military, the Nazis, or the government itself, but the villagers, the grandparents, the wives, and the children—the people who had little more control over their future than did the victims of the concentration camps.

In the book, Refuge, Liane Guddat Brown [Melanie’s mother], recounts sixteen months of her life as a young German girl under Russian occupation in an area that is now part of Poland. Those in her little family were the last representatives of a town of twenty thousand residents. All others had been murdered, forced to flee, or starved to death. Despite brutal treatment and harsh conditions, the Guddats survived, escaped, and reunited their family, bringing with them to the free world a compelling story of God’s marvelous grace.

There have been few reports about the suffering Germans had to endure after the war. The peace treaty, while giving hope to the West Germans, did not alleviate suffering for millions of East German refugees, forced from their homes by the Soviets. Starving and exhausted, few survived the treks during the harsh winter. But in her book, From Fear to Freedom, Liane Guddat Brown [Melanie’s mother], completes a bridge between the Berlin refugee camp, and the new home in the United States of American.

Emmy Guddat [Melanie’s grandmother] and her four children managed to arrive in the West despite near starvation and bodies riddled with boils only to move from one refugee camp to another. With God’s help she had survived sixteen months of the communistic ravages of their Russian enemies. . With His help she would also survive the abusive West Germans who considered refugees scum and dirt. God preserved the entire family, including the father whose whereabouts were not known for over three years.

Truly, the Lord does care for His own. The Guddats’ story, while containing hardships and trials of which most people will never know anything, clearly shows the Lord’s protecting hand on their family. While all around them other families were being killed or split up, dying of disease or starvation, and suffering untold horrors, the Guddats emerged into freedom, intact as a family unit and relatively healthy.

Above are excerpts from Melanie’s mother’s books. Throughout my [Melanie] life I grew up hearing the stories of how a relationship with God impacted my heritage. Because of these stories I know it has been easier for me to trust His care and guidance in my life. Christ is relevant to freedom, not just from the standpoint of living in a free country like America, but also being free from the bondage of all that seeks to enslave us.

So we praise God for the glorious grace he has poured out on us who belong to his dear Son. He is so rich in kindness and grace that he purchased our freedom with the blood of his Son and forgave our sins. He has showered his kindness on us, along with all wisdom and understanding. (Eph. 1:6–8 NLT)

As our Savior He purposed to free us from the bondage of sin that keeps us stuck in the mire. His gracious action was prompted by His eternal desire to be in an intimate relationship with His creation. The resulting freedom and union enables His child to live devoted to God and totally committed to doing good deeds.

For the grace of God has been revealed, bringing salvation to all people. And we are instructed to turn from godless living and sinful pleasures. We should live in this evil world with wisdom, righteousness, and devotion to God, while we look forward with hope to that wonderful day when the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, will be revealed. He gave his life to free us from every kind of sin, to cleanse us, and to make us his very own people, totally committed to doing good deeds. (Titus 2:11–14 NLT)

A Job for Job

(excerpt from Desperate Dependency by J. Kirk & Melanie D. Lewis)

God assigned Job the job of demonstrating desperate dependency amid plenty and loss. Our lives are driven by the desire to be successful, and many viewed the life of Job as being a grand success with his ten children, leadership positions, and vast possessions. But when Job was stripped of the people, positions, and possessions, his friends and neighbors would have been hard pressed to label him as a success while he sat on the ash heap mourning his unspeakable losses. However, God does not define success in the same manner we perceive it. “The LORD doesn’t see things the way you see them. People judge by outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart” (1 Sam. 16:7 NLT). God’s definition of success is submitting faithfully to His plan for the purpose of glorifying God. In the books of Kings and Chronicles, each king is evaluated on the basis of his commitment to God. Either “he did what was pleasing in the LORD’s sight,” or “he did what was evil in the LORD’s sight.” Job’s success stemmed from his commitment and willingness to unreservedly submit to the Lord.

As we are introduced to Job, he is characterized as a man who exhibited a relevant relationship with God. Submitting faithfully to God, he lived consumed by his connection to God. Every facet of his existence and the concerns of his heart evidenced a dependency on Elohim and an authentic desire to please Him. The community recognized Job as a man who was blameless, full of integrity, and one who feared God and stayed away from evil.

God was intricately involved in Job’s life because Job invited God into his life. Although we may not readily embrace this truth, when we invite Christ into our lives it is for better or for worse. The invitation for God to become part of our lives grants Him permission to transform our sinfulness into godliness through whatever means He deems necessary. God’s divine enabling shaped Job’s identity, molding a lifestyle that had a profound influence upon his society and moved people to take note of God.

The moral character of God held Job constant even though his mortal condition was completely in chaos. Overwhelmed by his limitations, he could only find comfort in total self-abandonment through trust. Delimited by his dependency, Job had no other choice but to interpret the nature of his anguish through the moral attributes of a holy, righteous, just, and good God who is full of truth. All of Job’s philosophical ponderings, including his frustration and confusion, were delineated by his dependence on God, making him more desperate than ever. In Job’s agony his dilemma was to understand life’s new normal consistently with the truth about God.

More than just an experience with suffering, God was perfecting Job’s relationship with Him. In the kiln of trials we must yield as God conforms us into the image of His Son. It is in the dark places that the metal of a relationship is hammered into the form God desires it to be. Crisis ignited the flame, which provided the necessary heat to forge Job into deeper desperate dependency on God. Suffering draped the backdrop and created the context and the impetus through which purification could occur. God views our limitations not in terms of how much we can withstand, but in terms of what will it take to bring His children closer to Him and produce simultaneously His likeness within us.

After a fresh encounter with God and His sovereignty, Job could see with new eyes the awesomeness of God. God is relevant to every area of life because He alone “causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them” (Rom. 8:28 NLT). Instead of striving to understand why, we should endeavor to know who God is. As we grow in our knowledge of Him we can move more easily past the barriers that obstruct a trusting relationship.

“And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John 8:32 NLT).

Perhaps we are pawns on the chessboard of the Master, but we can choose to be participants and be confident that He has placed us as part of His strategic plan. Our sovereign God designates each person’s position—some to be kings, some to be queens, others to be bishops, knights, and pawns. But we are all mere servants of our great God and stewards of the ministry of Jesus Christ. In God’s government, even kings are pawns. He sets them up and takes them down to accomplish His purposes. God can do whatever He wants and, yes, we are supposed to be okay with that.

Are you willing to live for the glory of God? Many will equate this question with achieving excellence. Yes, they proclaim, I will be successful for His glory. However, God’s definition of success is submitting faithfully to God’s plan for the purpose of glorifying Him. God created and designed you so He could be in a relationship with you. Everything that happens is for the purpose of leading you into a deeper relationship with Him. Are you ready for that kind of adventure?