“Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. 3. For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me.”
“Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation: and uphold me with thy free spirit. 13. Then will I teach transgressors your ways; and sinners shall be converted unto you.” This psalm was written after David committed adultery with Bathsheba and had been confronted by the great prophet Nathan. Nathan told David a story about a wealthy man who owned a lot of sheep and took away the one sheep that belonged to a poor man. When David heard that story, he was irate. Nathan answered back to him, “You are the man.” Of course, David was conscience stricken and this psalm was a result. We don’t have room on this page for the whole psalm, but I have quoted four verses that give us the gist of the meaning of the psalm. Verse 3 gives us the clue as to how we should react when we know that we are not right with God: “For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me.” Acknowledging our sins is absolutely necessary in getting right with God. After Nathan’s story, David came face-to-face with the murder of Uriah, Bathsheba’s husband, and his adultery with her. David had to stop denying that he had sinned and that he needed to acknowledge what he had done. We will get right with God when we acknowledge our own sins. Like David, it is so easy for us to see the sins of other people, but we whitewash our own sins. Until we acknowledge our sins, we cannot be right with God. God is willing to forgive us for any sin, but He wants us to admit that we have sinned. Verse 2 shows us what it was that David wanted from God in relation to his sins. When we realize that we have sinned, we feel unclean. There is no uncleanness like the uncleanness of our souls, for this is what sin does to us. The realization of the greatness of his sins left David feeling guilty and dirty. Being “a man after God’s own heart,” David was not accustomed to feeling that way. The sad thing is that many people come to feel at home with feeling dirty and they are satisfied with it. If you want to be cleansed of guilt, you need to repent, confess and ask God to cleanse you from sin. There is no need for sin to rob you of the joy that you can have in your life. God is ready and willing to forgive you and cleanse you. Come to Him like David and ask God to cleanse you. Verse 12 shows us what David really lost when he sinned and did not seek God’s forgiveness. He said: “Restore unto me the joy of your salvation; and uphold me with your free spirit.” Overt sin caused David to lose the joy of the salvation that God had given him. Jesus died on the cross to cleanse us from sin, and He wants us to enjoy the salvation that He has given us. Sin has a way of coming between us and our joy. If you are not joyful now, perhaps you need to look deeply within your heart and discover the source, if you don’t already realize it, and rush to God for forgiveness as David did. Verse 13 gives us the result of being forgiven and cleansed. Until he confessed, David could not “teach transgressors their ways.” David was accustomed to being the one right with God, and felt comfortable helping others see the right way. But until he confessed, and was cleansed, he knew that he was in no position to witness and minister to other people. If you want to be an effective witness for Jesus, follow David’s example and repent, confess and ask for forgiveness. Bro, Joe
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“Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and everyone that loves is born of God, and knows God.”
Here is the profound request: “Give me love; give me chastity, give me faith.” This is a quote from Columbanus, a missionary in the 6th and 7th centuries. This should be our request if we are to live in obedience to the Lord. I want to share my thoughts on it with you. “Give me love…” Who does not need to pray for God to shower His love upon and through us? 1John 4:7, expresses it: “Beloved, let us one another, for love is of God.” This is not actually a request, but it is a command. It is a command that has come through the centuries to the present day. Love is the essence of the Christian gospel, and we sorely need to practice it in our daily lives. When Jesus was asked “which is the great commandment of the Lord?” Here is His answer: “Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment, and the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. In these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets." “Give me chastity…” “Chastity” is not a word that we use today. We use the word “pure,” or “holy.” What it means is that we want God to enable us to live pure lives. This is more easily asked than accomplished. That is why we need for God help in living pure lives. When Jesus ascended to the Father, He sent the Holy Spirit to help us to live pure lives. Paul nailed the essence of this in Philippians 4:8: “Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are of good report: if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.” “Give me faith…” Of course, what he was asking for was greater faith in Jesus Christ. Actually, we do a lot of things by faith on a daily basis without really thinking about it. We need to consciously look to Christ in every aspect of our lives. John wrote about this in 1John 5:4: “For whatsoever is born of God overcomes the world: and this is the victory that overcomes the world, even our faith.” We have all of the faith that is needed to overcome, we just need to claim it in the name of Jesus. We need to pray for the Lord to give us love, chastity and faith. Bro. Joe The healing of a crippled man in Acts 3 became a cause of trouble for the fledgling Christian church. The authorities were telling the apostles to stop preaching in the name of Jesus. They did what Christians should always do when trouble comes - they prayed. Here is part of their prayer from Acts 4:29-31: "And now, Lord behold their threatenings and grant unto thy servants that with all boldness they may speak the word. By stretching forth thine hand to heal; and that signs and wonders may be done. And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke the word of God with boldness."
What really impressed me in this text at this time was not what was prayed, but what was not prayed. They asked for boldness and for God to act with power, but they did not pray, "Keep us safe while we do it." One would think with the threat as immediate as it was that the apostles would have asked to be kept safe. We want to serve and please God, but we don't really want to have to make sacrifices to do it. Frankly, I have to deal with this in my own prayer life and in my own Christian service. Christians all over this world are serving without a "safety net." Last year I heard an international missionary say that "persecution is the norm for most of the world's Christians." To the apostles, boldness in the power of God was enough. I will pray that this will be enough for us. I am convinced that the days are coming when we will have to have boldness without a safety net. It was a powerful prayer because the place was shaken where they were, and they spoke with boldness. They got in some trouble, but they did what God wanted them to do. Let's pray for boldness to speak up for Christ - regardless. This will take some good old New Testament praying. Bro. Joe “I waited patiently for the Lord; and He heard my cry. 2. He brought me up also out of a miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock and established my goings. 3. And He hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God: many shall see it and fear, and shall trust in the Lord.”
Waiting patiently has never been one of my virtues. I have always wanted what I wanted instantly. Patience is still not a virtue of mine, but life has convinced me that I can’t always have what I want now. I have also found that I really have no choice but to wait on the Lord. He just does not move on my timetable, nor does He move on yours. Being the impatient person that I am, I had to learn that it really is best to wait for the Lord and see Him do things in His own way - in His own time. Psalm 40:1-3 is a good example of what I mean. He hears us and takes us “out of a miry clay.” I know what it means to get “bogged down.” I grew up in Southwest Georgia where there is an abundance of red, gooey, clay that is easy to get “bogged down” in. When one gets bogged down, all he can do is to spin his tires. Spinning tires will not take us anywhere. When we get “bogged down” in life and start spinning our tires, it is good to talk to God and wait for Him to get us out of the bog. He has helped me stop “spinning my tires” many times. When the Lord takes us out of the ”miry clay,” He “sets (our} feet upon a rock and establishes (our) going.” It is the Lord who can ultimately put us on solid ground and get us going again. I see a lot of people living life in a bog. I want to take them by the hand and lead them to the Lord and let Him get them out of it. The only thing is that the person has to want the Lord’s help enough to ask for it and wait for it himself or herself. It is not something that someone else can do for you. If you need to get your life going, talk to God about it, wait for Him, and follow His leadership when He answers. The important thing to know is that the rock that He sets our feet on is the “Rock of Ages,” Jesus Christ. It is He who puts us on solid ground in our lives and helps our lives move forward. Give it a try: wait patiently for the Lord. What happens when we wait on the Lord? He brings newness into our lives. The psalmist recorded, “And He hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God.” A “new song” represents that which is new that happens in our lives. I have discovered that there is a “sameness” in life that we have to deal with. If we are not careful that “sameness” will get awfully boring. I have found that as I have served Jesus over the years, He has made sure that I did not get caught in the boredom of “sameness.” It has always seemed that when I have needed “a new song,” He has been willing a ready to put it in my mouth. When we wait on the Lord, we do not get bored and tired of life. The Lord awakens every nerve and takes us to that which is new and fulfilling. If I find myself getting bored with life, I just talk to God, wait on Him, and wait to sing – so to speak. That is when I find real joy in praising Him, and I think that you will find it the same. Verse 3 informs us that when we wait on the Lord, “many shall see it and fear, and shall trust in the Lord.” When the Lord does a work in our lives, He does not let us keep it to ourselves, but enables us to influence others. When we stop spinning our tires, get on the Rock, get a “new song” and praise the Lord, other people will notice. You say,“Yeah, but you’re a preacher, that’s what you are supposed to do.” My answer: “Yeah, but you are a Christian that is also what you are supposed to do.” Wait on the Lord in your life and see what He will do with it. You will find it worth the wait. Do it! You have nothing to lose but a weary way of life. Bro. Joe (I brought this article over from October, 2014.)
“They surround me with hateful words and attack me without cause. 4. In return for my love they accuse me. But I continue to pray.” HCSB Prayer is a necessary aspect of Christian living. David certainly agreed. He was surrounded by enemies and his main recourse was prayer. It is also our main recourse. I want to share with you why I think that it is necessary to pray. First, we need to pray because it is our means of fellowship with God. Prayer is not just talking to God and giving Him our wish lists. It is being still and quiet and listening to Him as he speaks to our hearts. It is impossible to stay close to God if we do not take time for prayer and meditation. Second, we need to pray because it is our means of spiritual defense. Paul wrote in Ephesians 6 that we should put on the armor of God as a means of defense against our main enemy Satan. In verses 13-17 he described the armor of God, and in verse 18a he wrote, “Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit.” After we have put the armor on, we will still need to pray in order to defend ourselves against the devil. In Acts 12 when Peter had been imprisoned because of preaching Jesus, we are told that the church “prayed without ceasing for him.” In the night an angel of God came to his cell and rescued him. It is noteworthy that the Holy Spirit had Luke write that the church prayed before Peter was rescued. It was their first line of defense. They didn’t lay plans to go and rescue Peter themselves. They didn’t say that they needed to go hire a lawyer to get him released. They went right to the source of defense – to God. Third, prayer is our means of offense. Before we attempt to do anything, we should pray about it. When you teach a Sunday School lesson, sing a solo, prepare to preach or anything that you do for the Lord, you need to consult Him in prayer and get His leadership. He is your main resource to really get the job done. In the latter part of Ephesians 6:18 and in verse 10 Paul gave them a reason to pray, not just for themselves, but for him as well: “Praying always with all supplication in the Spirit and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints: 19. And for me, that utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel.” Paul knew that he needed the prayers of his fellow Christians if he was to be an effective preacher. That’s why it’s so important, not just to pray for your own service, but for the service of others as well. I have heard missionaries who were on difficult international fields say that the main thing they want us to do for them is to pray. I will even suggest that if you want your pastor to be effective, you should pray for him on a daily basis that the Spirit will bless his ministry. (That works better than criticizing him.) Fourth, prayer is a means of helping us love our fellowman. For example, if there is someone in your life that you just don’t like, put him or her on your prayer list. I have found it difficult to dislike anyone that I pray for on a daily basis. You should make it a point to pray for all people in your life, but you should especially pray for those with whom you have a difficult time. I have found that when I have had detractors in a congregation, if I prayed for them the relationship could be resolved. I’m not telling you that it is easy, but it is necessary. At least two things happened: (1) they changed their attitude about me, (2) I changed my attitude about them, and even saw why they felt as they did. That last one is tough and it can only come about by prayer. Finally, prayer is our power source because it connects us to the power of God. It is impossible to live the Christian life and do Christian service without praying down God’s power. Yes, it is necessary to pray. Yes, prayer is a necessity in your life! Bro. Joe “O our God, will you not judge them? For we have no might against this great company that comes against us; neither know we what to do: but our eyes are upon you.”
Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, felt overwhelmed. He, and Judah, were facing a mighty army from the Moabites and Ammonites. His prayer in this moment of seeming helplessness is a good reminder to us of how we should pray when we feel overwhelmed. (If you are like me, this is often.) The following is what we can learn from this prayer: We can give an honest appraisal of our situation as Jehoshaphat did: “For we have no might against this great company that comes against us.” Sometimes the might of the things that overwhelm us is in our imagination, but sometimes the threat is real. This was certainly true of Jehoshaphat and Judah’s situation. It is difficult for us to admit our weakness, but it is a good idea to know our limitations. According to Paul in Ephesians 6, we are at war with a formidable enemy – Satan. Satan also has a mighty army that seeks to overwhelm us. We just have to admit that we do not have resources to battle him without outside help. I am amazed at times at what human strength can do, but human strength is not all-powerful, and we need to give an honest appraisal of our own weakness. We won’t overcome this weakness until we do. We can make an honest confession of our own ignorance as to what to do. Jehoshaphat was by no means an ignorant man, but as smart as he was, he knew that his knowledge was not adequate to meet the great army that was coming against him. It is difficult for us to admit ignorance. We Americans take a great deal of pride in our knowledge. After all, today we have the internet, which literally gives us knowledge at our fingertips. But in this moral and spiritual battle that we are in, we just have to admit that it is “above our pay grade” to know how to outsmart Satan. He deals with us like he did with Adam and Eve. He makes sin look so good that it is difficult for us to refuse him. Satan is smart enough to make our sins seem small in comparison to the sins of other people. After all, we might think, “We do not commit adultery and we are honest in all of our dealings." But he sneaks pride in on us and we fall for it and downright feel good about it. It will do us good to honestly confess that we do not have the moral power, nor the mental capacity, to overcome Satan. He is to us like the Moabites and Ammonites were to Jehoshaphat and Judah. Which brings us to Jehoshaphat and Judah’s conclusion: They made an honest plea to the right source - “but our eyes are upon You.” The conjunction “but” is important here. In spite of the honest appraisal of the power of the enemy, and in spite of the honest confession of ignorance as to what to do about the situation, Jehoshaphat knew where to turn for help. The song, “Turn Your Eyes upon Jesus” comes to mind here. We need to set our eyes on the Lord Jesus Christ, who is our shield and help. We need to set our eyes upon the power of the Holy Spirit, who can enable us to overcome. We need to appeal to the love and power of God. Jehoshaphat’s was a smart move. Here is what God said to him in 2 Chronicles 20:15b: “Be not afraid nor dismayed by reason of this great multitude; for the battle is not yours, but God’s.” What comes to my mind here is that we just need to let God be God and do what only He can do. In Ephesians 6:10-18, Paul tells us about the “whole armor of God.” God has not left us defenseless in our battle against Satan. He is our greatest defense. It is a great comfort to know that “the battle is not (ours), but God’s.” What are you facing today? “Turn Your Eyes upon Jesus,” and trust Him to help you over, through or around whatever it is that you are facing. Bro. Joe “Be careful for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.” (Philippians 4:6)
“Pray without ceasing.” (1 Thessalonians 5:17) Both of these texts from Paul’s writings remind us of our need to stay in touch with Jesus. Prayer is our means of communication with Jesus, but it is also our means of having daily fellowship with Him. God created us in His image so that we would remember that He wants to be part of our lives. We can stay in touch with Him or drift into worldly living. Why do we need to stay in touch with Jesus? We need to stay in touch with Jesus because He is the source of our strength. The Bible teaches us that we are not strong enough to face Satan and the world on our own. We need the strength that is far above our own. Prayer is a means of exercising our spiritual muscles. Physical exercise is important, because it gives our body strength that we would not have without it. Prayer is what I call “spiritual exercise.” The more we pray and depend on the Lord for our strength, the stronger our faith becomes. We should be as concerned about our spiritual fitness as we are about our physical fitness. Paul dealt with this in 1 Timothy 4:7-8: “But refuse profane and old wives’ fables, and exercise yourself rather unto godliness. 8. For bodily exercise profits little: but godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come.” Paul did not say that we shouldn’t exercise our bodies, but that we should be more interested in exercising our faith. I personally think that both are important, but the spiritual exercise of prayer is the most important. In fact, I have discovered that I can pray and exercise my spiritual muscles while I am exercising my physical muscles. We need to stay in touch with Jesus because we have needs that He alone can meet. I don’t think we realize the seriousness of our spiritual and physical needs. We are met with temptations day after day after day that seek to drag us down and steal the victory that we have in Jesus. There is no way on earth that we can meet Satan daily without the weapon of prayer at our disposal. Jesus knows our needs even before we pray, but those needs are not met until we take them to Him. Jesus is waiting for us to pray and to seek His wisdom and guidance in the maze of temptations that we face in life. We need to take everything to the Lord in prayer. There is no need too small, and certainly no need too large for Jesus to meet. We just need to “take it to the Lord in prayer,” as the old hymn reminds us. We need to stay in touch with Jesus because He loves us and wants the best for us. I don’t think a lot of people realize the depth of love that Jesus has for them. I don’t think that most people realize that Jesus wants the best for them. They have a negative view of Jesus, and think that He is working against them instead of for them. I would hate to have this view of Jesus. I am reminded that He loves me in spite of myself – we call it grace. We can take everything to Jesus in prayer. You probably have thoughts that you don’t want anyone to know that you have. I’ve got news for you; Jesus already knows those thoughts and is waiting to help you with them. What He wants us to do is to confess our sins to Him and repent of them. When we take our worst thoughts and deeds to Jesus, He is ready and willing to forgive. Perhaps you think that your sins can’t be forgiven. If Jesus could forgive the thief on the cross, He can forgive you. The old hymn is really true: “Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so.” Take it to the Lord in prayer, whatever “it” is. Bro. Joe "Knock and it shall be opened unto you.”
The text above is a promise that Jesus gave about prayer. If we will persist in prayer , the Lord will open up to us. I had a thought this morning that the word “open” is an important word in the Christian faith. The Lord wants to open up things for us and He wants us to open up to Him and to His word. It is about the latter that I want to write today. As the Lord opens up to us, we need to be open to what He wants in our lives. Following are my thoughts on this subject: We need to open our hearts to the Lord and to His word. Jesus speaks to our hearts through the Holy Spirit. This is one of the reasons that I am writing on this subject today, because the thought about being open caught my imagination and I knew that I had to write about it. I’m as sure about that as I am about anything in my life. There is a hymn that says: “Speak to my heart, O speak to my heart, Speak to my heart Lord Jesus…” We need to open our hearts to what the Lord wants of us. Open up your heart today, for the Lord wants to speak to your heart. We need to open our ears to hear what people are saying to us. Jesus saved us to be His ambassadors on this earth, and that includes hearing what people say to us. Some of our greatest opportunities to minister to people come from what they say to us. We need to make our ears sensitive to cries for help. Unfortunately, there have been times when I have walked away from a conversation, and realized that my ears had not been open to an opportunity for ministry. We need to open our eyes to see the needs of people around us. Of course, we need to keep our eyes open to opportunities to tell others about Jesus. I believe that the Lord prepares people’s hearts for us to talk to them about the Savior, and we need to be aware of the opportunity. Here is Jesus' advice to His disciples: “Lift up your eyes and look on the fields, for they are white already to harvest.” (John 4:35b) Jesus gave this command after His encounter with the sinful woman at the well of Siloam. Perhaps, Jesus was pointing to that encounter as an example for His disciples. Our own fields are “white already to harvest.” The county in which I live is 80% unreached for Christ. And this is in the middle of the so-called “Bible Belt.” We need to open our eyes to the opportunities all around us for witness and ministry. We need to open our lips and speak a word for the Lord whenever we have an opportunity. In David’s prayer of repentance in Psalm 51:15, he saw the need for opening his lips: “O Lord, open thou my lips; and my mouth shall show thy praise.” We need to be careful when we talk, that what we say is “showing forth God’s praise.” We need to talk to people about the Lord, and we also need to be careful what we say when we talk to people under any circumstances. We need to pray daily that God will open our lips that we may “share gladly His warm news everywhere….” We need to open our hands in order to serve the Lord. We need to open our hands to give to the work of the Lord through our churches. We need to open our hands to serve other people who need a helping hand of some sort from us. Jesus set the example for His disciples in John 13 when He washed His disciple’s feet. There are many other areas of our lives that we need to open up the Lord, but opening up to these that I have shared should keep us busy “opening up” for a while. Open up your life to the Lord and to the people around you. Bro. Joe "As the hart (deer) panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God. 2. My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God: when shall I come and appear before Him."
These are two of my favorite verses in the psalms. They express a need that every Christian has. Our greatest passion should be God/Christ. Whatever gifts of the Spirit we might have, and whatever desires we might have in our service to Him, we need to thirst for Him - period. The psalmist compared himself to a thirsty deer in his thirst for God. I have never really seen a thirsty deer, but I have seen thirsty cows, etc. When they are thirsty, they really go after it. This is how we should long for more of God/Christ. These "thirsty" times are the times when we can't wait to get to our personal prayer closets and fellowship with Him. In those times, we are not really asking for anything. We just want more of Jesus. We want to be closer to Him. We want to express our love and devotion to Him. These are the kinds of prayer moments that change our lives, draw us closer to Jesus and to each other. Of course, the Lord wants to hear our petitions, for He wants to meet our needs. He knows what our greatest needs are, and He will meet them, but we need to grow enough spiritually to worship the Lord simply because He is the Lord, not just for what He can do for us. I think that this was what was happening in these two verses from Psalm 42. The psalmist was going through a difficult time when he wrote these verses. .He wrote. “Why are you cast down oh my soul?” (Verse 7) If you will read the whole psalm you will see that this was not a victorious time for the psalmist. The point is that God allows these times so that we will feel the need to draw closer to Him. We need to be reminded that we need the Lord at all times, and that only He can fulfill the deep needs of our souls. Notice that the prayer is, “so panteth my soul after thee.” This prayer came from the deepest longings of the psalmist’s soul. I will confess that there are times when I feel a deeper need for the presence of God than at other times. The need is always the same, but we do not always feel the need the same. When our souls are “cast down” we find ourselves not just talking to God, but reaching out to Him from deep inside of ourselves – from our souls. Let’s think about David just before he faced Goliath. I think that David was reaching out to God from his soul. He had to be because he knew that he really needed God at that time. There was no way on earth that this young fellow could face up to Goliath in the flesh. David was probably reaching out to God from his soul. We can understand these times, because we face them ourselves if we seriously serve the Lord. I have found myself in many situations where my soul was panting after God. I think that this is what Paul meant when he wrote in Romans 8:26-27: “Likewise the Spirit also helps us our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. 27. And He that searches the hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God." The amazing thing is that when we seek more of the Lord, we find that He is willing to give more of Himself and to bring blessings into our lives. I wish that I could say that every prayer session I have is like that, but it would not be true. But what great times await us when we thirst for more of God. Get thirsty! Bro. Joe "Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me and know my thoughts: And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting."
David is transparent in this prayer. He admits that he does not always understand why he does what he does, and that he needs God to help in his behavior. He asks God to know his heart. Of course, David never read Jeremiah, but he knew the meaning of Jeremiah 17:9 "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?" He knew that he needed God's help in dealing with his heart. If we are wise we will pray the same prayer. He asks God to "try (him) and know (his) thoughts." He wanted to be in control of his thoughts. If this psalm is after the Bathsheba affair, and I'm not sure about the date, he is probably remembering how his thoughts went wild that night and led him to do terrible things. It is true that "the thought is the father of the deed." Do we dare invite God into our thoughts? He wants God to uncover any wicked way in him and lead him "in the way everlasting." What he wants is to live with eternity in mind each day. We really need the courage to pray this prayer. We need to be honest with ourselves and, in turn, be honest with God and seek His help to help us live better lives. I don't know about you, but this prayer would be good for me. Bro. Joe |
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