“But may all who seek you rejoice and be glad in you; may those who love your salvation always say, ‘“Let God be exalted!”’
~ Psalm 70:4
Hi James and Ellen,
When you pray are you talking to God or are you talking with God? When you pray, you are talking with God. Your grandpaa believes that it is very important that every Christ-follower guy, gal and kid should always be talking with God. Do you know where God is right now? God’s presence is everywhere. God’s eyes are seeing everything that is happening. God knows exactly what is in your hearts and what is in your minds. Is there a time when you talk with your dad? Do you only talk with your dad at a certain time each day – like for a minute or so as you are getting into bed at night? What do you say to your dad when you talk with him? Do you thank your dad for being your dad? Do you thank your dad for keeping you safe? Do you thank your dad for making sure that you have something to eat? Do you ever tell your dad that he is the best dad ever? Your grandpaa is pretty sure that when you are talking with your dad that you are probably asking him if he will do something for you or you are telling him about your day in school or you are asking him to play a game with you or . . . how would your dad feel if you only wanted to talk with him just for a minute or so once a day? Do you think that your dad would feel sad if you only wanted to talk with him for a minute or so once a day? How would you feel if your dad told you that he only had time to talk to you for a minute or two each day? Would you feel sad? How do you think that God – your Heavenly Father, feels when you talk with Him just for a minute or so? Do you know that God created you before He placed planet Earth in His cosmos. How often does God – your Heavenly Father, talk with you? God – if you are listening for His voice, is talking with you all the time. Your grandpaa really hopes that you are learning to talk with your Heavenly Father. Your Heavenly Father wants to hear you saying to Him thanks for giving me the best dad and/or ma on planet Earth, thanks for having God the Spirit open up the grace/faith door into my heart so that I may live in hope, thanks for having God the Spirit keep me from all those hidden dangers around me, thanks for . . .
David talked all the time with his Heavenly Father – Who is God the Father. David would write down the words that he wanted to say to his Heavenly Father. What David wrote down in poems and songs are called psalms. David wrote a lot of the psalms that are found in the Psalm book. David wrote Psalm 70. This psalm does not have many verses. It is real easy to get it what David is talking with his Heavenly Father about in this psalm. David needs help real bad. David is being attacked by an enemy. David knows that if his Heavenly Father does not help him that he will be killed by the guy or guys who really want to see him dead. David may have used this poem or song at other times when he talked with God about a guy who really wanted to see him dead. As you grow up, you will find yourselves needing help from your Heavenly Father – God the Father, all the time. You are going to be facing hard decisions about relationships, schools, jobs, . . . your grandpaa knows that you will always be facing having to make another decision. How do you make decisions? Who do you talk with when you have to make a decision? Do you talk with your dad and/or ma? David would always talk with God. David knew that God would always be there for him. Verse 4 says “But may all who seek you rejoice and be glad in you; may those who love your salvation always say, ‘“Let God be exalted!”’ David knew that he needed to always exalt God – to put God first in his life, to have his pleas heard and answered by God.
Your grandmaa and grandpaa have their Heavenly Father helping them all the time. It would not be hard at all for your grandpaa to fill every one of these . . . with a time when God was there with him and your grandmaa. Your grandmaa and grandpaa know that their Heavenly Father – God the Father, has His eyes always on them. When your grandmaa and grandpaa lived in Bolivia, your grandmaa and grandpaa traveled often on roads filled with potholes. Your grandmaa and grandpaa one day were traveling alone from the rural resident training program that was in Concepción, Ñuflo de Chávez back to Santa Cruz. The road that your grandmaa and grandpaa were on was a very rough road. At one place during the at least seven hour trip, your grandpaa had to drive through a stream. While your grandpaa was going through the water in the stream, your grandpaa did not see a rock. Your grandpaa hit the rock. The rock cut open a hole in the gas tank of the pickup that your grandpaa was driving. Your grandpaa stopped when he reached the other side of the stream to check to see if everything was okay with his pickup. This is when your grandpaa noticed that gas was streaming out of the hole that the rock had made in the gas tank. As the road your grandmaa and grandpaa were on had very, very little traffic, your grandpaa knew that he was not going to get any help from anyone. Your grandpaa did not want to leave your grandmaa all alone to go for help. What would you do if this ever happened to you? Your grandpaa kept his finger over the hole that the rock made in the gas tank while your grandmaa took out the soap and the piece of cotton cloth that your grandpaa kept in his pickup’s cubbyhole. Your grandmaa took some water and softened the soap. Your grandmaa mixed cotton threads from the cotton cloth with the soap. When your grandmaa had made a wad of cotton thread and soap, your grandpaa put this wad over the hole in the gas tank. The wad worked. The wad stopped the gas from streaming out of the hole in the gas tank until your grandmaa and grandpaa got to their house. Your grandpaa does not remember who told him about the soap and cotton threads but . . . it really does do the trick. Talking with God is the way to go for you to fill your holes is life.
Psalm 70 (135)