December 30th, 1989                                       "Put Me Not to Confusion"                                       Mrs. N. D. Daniel

Psalm 71:1-8

This is the prayer of converted king David. He starts with asking that he should not be put to confusion because he had put his trust in God. People are making a confusion of religion these days. The Psalmist David prays that he should not be put to confusion and that his walk of faith should be steady and sure. He knew that only God could give him that steady walk with Him. He prays, "O Lord, be thou my strong habitation whereunto I may continually resort." He always made God, his habitation. For every little thing, he would go to God and pray. Whatever trouble he had with people, he would resort to this habitation. God was his habitation. He learnt praising God. Psalm 71, 8th verse he prays, "Let my mouth be filled with thy praise continually all the day." He learnt to praise God with all his heart. That is a great blessing, if we can praise God with all our hearts. He says in the 17th verse, "O God, Thou hast taught me from my youth," and then he says, "Hitherto I have declared thy wondrous works." We also must be learning His wondrous works and proving to people that our God is a wonder-working God.

In our Fellowship, we are learning how to walk with God. Married people are learning how to bring up their children for God. Children are taught to obey parents and to obey the Word of God. If we are faithful to this teaching, God will use all of you wonderfully to His great glory. There is however a caution for us to take---not to put our trust in the gifts of God. We must have the giver of the gifts--God Himself. There are people who confuse young people. Because young people are inexperienced and not fully equipped with the Word of God, they can be confused. Some people come along and say, "There are gifts of the Holy Spirit. Speaking in tongues is the highest gift. You have to speak in tongues." Young people quickly set their minds on getting the "tongues of angels." It sounds very good to speak the languages of angels. The path is simple. You have just to say, "Praise the Lord, Praise the Lord, Praise the Lord," and you will speak in tongues. Here king David says, "Teach me to praise, fill my mouth with praise." But he always understood for what he was praising God. When I was converted and young in the Lord a family came to our home. The Lord was using that husband and wife. The husband was a living concordance. It was a gift. His wife was a simple woman who would always keep saying, "Praise the Lord, praise the Lord." Our church invited this couple for special meetings. As the man was a friend and schoolmate of my husband, we invited them to stay in our home. I was learning prayer and praise. We were winning souls for the Lord. These friends said, "You do not have the gift on tongues. You would do well to receive that gift." We agreed to pray. They said we should pray and wait in the presence of God saying, "Praise the Lord, Praise the Lord." We started to pray at 9 P.M. We saw no harm in saying, "Praise the Lord, Praise the Lord." But we did not get any joy out of such praise. We continued till 12 midnight. The man said, "We should stop now because from 12 o’clock to 3 o’clock is the devil’s hour." So we retired. We did not get the gift of tongues. My husband prayed to God and asked why the gift was not granted. God spoke to him. "I have given you a much higher gift of knowing My will and following me. I Corinthians 13th chapter, "Even tongues will cease." Now hope, faith and love are the gifts that abide. The greatest of these is love.

King David was filled with the love of God. He was able to love even his bitter enemies. He was deeply devoted to God and God also regarded him as His servant. David was not accustomed to say, "Praise the Lord, Praise the Lord,", but he said, "Fill my mouth with praise." He was always conscious of God’s presence with him. For all his problems he would go to God and get His solution and His will in the matter.

God has given us precious gifts. He has given us first a clean heart. He has put His Spirit within us and the Spirit of God makes us to walk in His statutes. For every problem of ours we have to go to God and receive His solution. He will teach us how to praise Him. Heaven is filled with praise. All the angels are continually praising God. A close contact with heaven and the heavenly hosts will teach us to praise God for all His mercies. Do not learn the religion of confusion. Our trust must be a calm confidence in Jesus Christ. If God puts us in His will, we will be safe and we will have the Holy Spirit’s guidances. And God wants us to steadily walk with Him. Converted king David loved God, followed Him and glorified Him to the end of his life. He preaches to us also in our day to make God our habitation, whereunto we can continually resort. God wants us to know His will and be in His will and glorify Him. He has given us His Holy Spirit to guide us into all truth. God wants us to have the Spirit of discernment also, to know who is guiding us-if Spirit is of the Lord or whether it is of the devil. God wants to guide us with His word- His good Spirit will teach us to pray. God’s desire is that we must be perfect as our Father in heaven is perfect. If we are holy, we will be led into that perfect life also. God has got great plans for us. God wants to reveal those plans to us. So let us make God our prayer-habitation. Let us receive His gifts to help us win souls for Him to His glory.