{"id":50,"date":"2009-08-03T05:00:00","date_gmt":"2009-08-03T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/prayerplainandsimple\/2009\/08\/friends-with-god-psalm-1431.html"},"modified":"2009-08-03T05:00:00","modified_gmt":"2009-08-03T05:00:00","slug":"friends-with-god-psalm-1431","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/prayerplainandsimple\/2009\/08\/friends-with-god-psalm-1431.html","title":{"rendered":"Friends with God: Psalm 143:1"},"content":{"rendered":"

Prayer is based on an assumption: We believe <\/i>God hears and is able and willing to respond to what we say. Prayer in its purest form assumes a relationship. In its best form, it assumes a relationship of friendship. Friendship in the Bible friendship was not merely a relationship of affinity. Friendship came with a commitment codified by a covenant. Each side knew exactly what to expect and what was expected of them. God made a friendship covenant with us and in that arrangement established clearly what we could count on and what he’d require from us. The privilege to talk to and with God has always been the foundation of a relationship with him. It’s a legally established right<\/i>. In other words, friendship with God can be a certainty and the dialog can rest on predictable terms. It’s not a stretch; you can say, “I am God’s friend” and talk with him accordingly. <\/font><\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

Psalm<\/span><\/i> 143 is a song written by King David. It’s a poem about friendship, where David acts on the certainty that he can relate with God in an intimate way. In the first line David calls on God to answer his appeal because<\/i> he knows God to be faithful and righteous. <\/span><\/font><\/font><\/p>\n

\n

Hear my prayer, O Lord<\/span>; listen to my plea!
Answer me because you are faithful and righteous.<\/font><\/span><\/b><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

 <\/span><\/span><\/b>We pray beginning with one established fact: God is faithful and good! He’s told us ahead of time what he is and what he will do. Before I appeal to God with my requests I remember – to him – that he is good and will always keep his word. I remember that I am – officially – his friend. I can bank on the predictability of his loyalty and shoot straight knowing I can predict his response. Friendship is the basis of our communication.  <\/span><\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

Today, as I pray, I begin with a statement: “You are faithful and right!” Sometimes, this is hard to say.  <\/span>Perhaps my emotions doubt that God really is good. But I muster my faith, and speak this truth based on his promises. <\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

Try beginning your prayer today with this first line of Psalm<\/i> 143. Whatever other elements you express in prayer, you begin with a certain friendship. <\/font><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Prayer is based on an assumption: We believe God hears and is able and willing to respond to what we say. Prayer in its purest form assumes a relationship. In its best form, it assumes a relationship of friendship. Friendship in the Bible friendship was not merely a relationship of affinity. Friendship came with a…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":200,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-50","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bible-prayer"],"yoast_head":"\nFriends with God: Psalm 143:1<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/prayerplainandsimple\/2009\/08\/friends-with-god-psalm-1431.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Friends with God: Psalm 143:1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Prayer is based on an assumption: We believe God hears and is able and willing to respond to what we say. Prayer in its purest form assumes a relationship. In its best form, it assumes a relationship of friendship. Friendship in the Bible friendship was not merely a relationship of affinity. Friendship came with a…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/prayerplainandsimple\/2009\/08\/friends-with-god-psalm-1431.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Prayer, Plain and Simple\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2009-08-03T05:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Mark Herringshaw\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Friends with God: Psalm 143:1","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/prayerplainandsimple\/2009\/08\/friends-with-god-psalm-1431.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Friends with God: Psalm 143:1","og_description":"Prayer is based on an assumption: We believe God hears and is able and willing to respond to what we say. Prayer in its purest form assumes a relationship. In its best form, it assumes a relationship of friendship. Friendship in the Bible friendship was not merely a relationship of affinity. Friendship came with a…","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/prayerplainandsimple\/2009\/08\/friends-with-god-psalm-1431.html","og_site_name":"Prayer, Plain and Simple","article_published_time":"2009-08-03T05:00:00+00:00","author":"Mark Herringshaw","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/prayerplainandsimple\/2009\/08\/friends-with-god-psalm-1431.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/prayerplainandsimple\/2009\/08\/friends-with-god-psalm-1431.html","name":"Friends with God: Psalm 143:1","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/prayerplainandsimple\/#website"},"datePublished":"2009-08-03T05:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2009-08-03T05:00:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/prayerplainandsimple\/#\/schema\/person\/e51fa8f80737818cd4c3350772b30948"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/prayerplainandsimple\/2009\/08\/friends-with-god-psalm-1431.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/prayerplainandsimple\/2009\/08\/friends-with-god-psalm-1431.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/prayerplainandsimple\/2009\/08\/friends-with-god-psalm-1431.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/prayerplainandsimple"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Friends with God: Psalm 143:1"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/prayerplainandsimple\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/prayerplainandsimple\/","name":"Prayer, Plain and Simple","description":"Prayer, Daily Prayer, Simple Prayers, Quick Prayers, Prayer Requests","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/prayerplainandsimple\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/prayerplainandsimple\/#\/schema\/person\/e51fa8f80737818cd4c3350772b30948","name":"Mark Herringshaw","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/prayerplainandsimple\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/prayerplainandsimple\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/b8e\/b8e027f03bf8fd532b692d0c68d2744ex96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/prayerplainandsimple\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/b8e\/b8e027f03bf8fd532b692d0c68d2744ex96.jpg","caption":"Mark Herringshaw"},"description":"Mark Herringshaw is writer, speaker, spiritual life coach and pastor at North Heights Church in St. Paul, Minnesota. He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the author of \"Six Prayers God Always Answers: Results May Vary,\" and \"Nine Ways God Always Speaks: Only Available in Certain States,\" both co-written with Jennifer Schuchmann. His third book is \"The Karma of Jesus.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Mark is a native of Santa Cruz, California. He has studied at Azusa Pacific University, The Academy of Performing Arts, Cambridge, Ontario, and Luther Seminary. He holds a Ph.D. from Regent University. Mark and his wife Jill have four children. His true passion is walking with people in the exciting adventure of communicating with God.","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/prayerplainandsimple\/author\/mherringshaw"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/prayerplainandsimple\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/prayerplainandsimple\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/prayerplainandsimple\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/prayerplainandsimple\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/200"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/prayerplainandsimple\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=50"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/prayerplainandsimple\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/prayerplainandsimple\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/prayerplainandsimple\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/prayerplainandsimple\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}