AKSquires

Q4. (Psalm 34:18-22) What encouragement does David give to the brokenhearted? What does it mean that God "redeems" you? How can we avoid condemnation according to Psalm 34:22? God is near to the broken hearted, He is close by and is listening to us. He redeems us and delivers us. He has saved us, paid the ultimate price for our sin through His only Son so that we might have a relationship with Him. Trust in God. He is your sufficiency, and when you give your life to Him trust Him! So that you know that you are saved!

Q3. (Psalm 34:1-3) Why should we praise God continually? What are barriers to continual praise? What does continual praise do to our spirit? How are you training yourself to praise continually? Purely because He is God. Then think about what He has done for you, and then others, and praise Him for what He will do. Ourselves is the main barrier to continual praise. We don't find time or we aren't in the mood. Our friends and those we spend time can be too, if they are not doing things or saying things that are acceptable to God and bringing us along for the ride. Continual praise lifts our spirit, it pulls it out of the everyday mundane kind of feeling and shows us the hope that we have in Christ Jesus. It allows us to see what He is doing in our lives too. I try to remember to praise Him when I pray but I need to remember to pray first ! When I sing I like to praise Him, i find that easier than praying but I need to balance it out more.

Q2. (Psalm 118) What does "the stone the builders rejected" (verses 22-23) have to do with the Messiah? What do verses 25-27 have to do with the Messiah? I guess you can class Pharisees etc as 'builders' of the church and God's kingdom, they did try. Jesus is the main component to the church, the cornerstone and the builders rejected Him. The words "blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord" were used as on Palm sunday when Jesus rode in on a Donkey. "Bind the sacrifice with cords to the horn of the alter" is very similar to what happened to Jesus, he was the sacrifice for us on an alter, some images of Him on the cross show rope around his arms. But he was fastened to the cross so that he couldn't move easily.

Q1. (Psalm 100) What is the predominant emotion in Psalm 100? How does this psalm make you feel emotionally about God? What are the reasons for praise given in verses 3 and 5? What are the commands in this psalm? The predominant emotion is joy. It makes me feel happy about Him, but of course a much deeper happiness than the one we feel for earthly possessions. We know that He is so much more greater and he is worth so much more than we can ever imagine. Praise because we are His people-even though we have sinned He still wants us to belong to Him and He loves us. He is truthful to all the nations, and has mercy towards us-he is good to us even though we don't deserve it. --Make a joyful shout -serve Him with gladness -come before Him with singing -know that He is good -enter into His gates with thanksgiving -be thankful to Him -bless His name

Q4. (Psalm 51:17) How does one achieve a "broken and contrite heart"? What are the earmarks of this condition? How does this differ from "being sorry" for a sin? How does humility relate to this condition? To achieve a broken and contrite heart, one must have a relationship with God, one where their desire to please Him is so great that even the utterance of foul word can upset the person and their conscience tells them not to do it again. We need to be so connected with God that our heart beats in time with His, that the thought of something wrong clicks in our feeling of guilt and remorse. You must be willing to follow the ways of the Father. A sincere heart is a mark of a broken heart. One that can be honest with others and that knows how to work in tune with God. A closer relationship with Him is another earmark because you are getting more in touch with His desires and you are putting away your own pride and admitting to failure over something. Also an earmark could be a heart that accepts correction better from others around it. This differs as it is a deeper level. Sorry is a felling that usually comes from a person not wanting to do something again because of the reaction to their action. Having a broken heart is saying "Jesus, I stuffed up. It makes me sad that I let you down again because I did not want to be responsible for the death of a man." HUMILITY= a modest or low view of one's own importance. It relates because you see yourself as not as important to God, unworthy of this attention or even thoughts about you. Humility lets God in to do a work in your heart because your own pride does not block Him out.

Q3. (Psalm 51:10-12) How is it possible to have a "pure heart" after great sin? What does a "pure heart" consist of? What is the relationship between a "pure heart" (Psalm 51:10) and a "united" or "undivided heart" (Psalm 86:11)? Who purifies the heart? What is the process? It is possible to have a pure heart after sin if you ask for forgiveness from the Father. Tell Him your mistake, tell Him you love Him and that you still want to know Him and walk in His paths and He will forgive you. Acknowledge that He is Lord over your life and that He was raised from death so He now has the power over death. A pure heart consists of no sin. It is filled with God and has His desires and plans in it. The relationship between a pure heart and a united heart, is one that only has one God in it. My NKJV says in the side notes that instead of unite you can put 'singleness of heart.' This tells me my heart needs to be set on one thing and when purity is brought in, if you desire to be pure you need to have a united heart on the matter of your relationship with God. So to compare purity with a divided heart, you can't have a pure divided heart because there is something else there that still has a hold over you. Is is God alone who purifies the heart. The process is admitting you are wrong, acknowledging that Jesus was put to death for our sin and that He then rose having the power over death and then asking God to wash us clean by putting His innocent Son's blood on our hearts. And when this forgiveness is asked for, (as KimC said), accept it! Don't dwell on the sin, think of what you learnt, not what you did

Q2. (Psalm 51:3-6) When David says, "Against you only I have sinned" (4a) is he minimizing his sin against Bathsheba and Uriah? What does he mean by this? When he mentions his sinfulness from before birth is he excusing himself or blaming Original Sin? What does he mean by this? No, He is acknowledging that his offense is higher towards God, given that God created Him and that God is the one who sets in place laws like 'do not commit adultery.' Bathsheba and Uriah are human and yes he did sin against them, but his true forgiveness is only found in Christ. Again, he is acknowledging that he is a sinner, not blaming himself or original sin. Things get passed down generations, and sin does too. He means to repent and ask for forgiveness because you cannot escape original sin.You need to realize it is there and ask for forgiveness

Q1. (Psalm 32:2-5) How does self-deceit operate with sin to enslave us? How does confession enable us to get free from sin? Why do we sometimes resist the truth about ourselves? What does it take to get us to see truth sometimes? Self deceit is lying to yourself. You will end up in a circle, going round and round and eventually down as you create lies to cover up and to try and hide the truth. It messes with your mind as you begin to reason with yourself on how to justify your actions. This then can bring in others, and it enslaves us as we usually don't know what to do. Confession helps us to know that we are forgiven, we can feel free to tell others of our failures and if you tell the right person they can hold you accountable and help you to see where you went wrong and how to fix it so it won't happen again. Sometimes truth scares us, I know it has done for me. truth can hurt us as we just want to stay in our happy or safe place. Other times we can also be so out of touch with God that we think our sin is unforgivable. Holy Spirit and his conviction. Sometimes it takes an outsider looking in to help you to see the truth, but at the end of the day it is up to God because it is Him that reveals all that is hidden. If you cannot see it, God will intervene.

Q4. (Psalm 22) What similarities do you see between the words of Psalm 22 and the events of Jesus' crucifixion? Do you think Jesus understood Psalm 22 as referring to himself? Why do you think the Spirit inspired David to pen these words? "My God, My God, why have you forsaken me" "In the night season I am not quiet (Jesus sought God in the night). "ridicule me" Jesus was before he was hung on the cross. "poured out like water" Jesus was thirsty. "they divide my garments among them and for my clothing they cast lots" Jesus understands all things. I think so, but am not completely certain on this. We do not always know the reasons for things Holy Spirit 'makes' us do, we are told simply to put our faith in Him and if we need to God will make sense of things for us. God may have used this Psalm for the first preparations of mans' heart for Jesus' death. Who really knows! "For my ways are not your ways"

Q3. (Psalm 22:1) Why do you think Jesus spoke the words of Psalm 22:1? What was he seeking to express? What was he feeling? How did God answer his plea? When Jesus took on our sins, God could not look at Him anymore because He was not pure. It would have been a disgusting site to see all of the worlds sins on one man. God forsook Jesus, but still Jesus chose to cry out to Him as the only person that could save Him was God. What Jesus would have been feeling would have been indescribable. To be with God for his 'whole life' and then to be separated from Him with such an awful situation is hard for us to comprehend. GOd answered His plea when Jesus rose from the grave. Jesus got the keys from Satan himself and has the power over death!

Q2. (Psalm 110) Why do you think that Jesus asked the Pharisees about verse 1, "If then David calls him 'Lord,' how can he be his son?" What point was Jesus making? How does Jesus combine the roles of Warrior-King and Priest in his ministry to us and to this world? How do you reconcile the violence suggested in verses 5-6 with Jesus as "Prince of Peace"? Jesus wanted the pharisees to see their error on calculation about who the messiah was. He wanted to challenge their thinking on this topic and make them think rather than telling them. The point He made was that yes, physically He is a descendant of David, but if you look at His spiritual being He is something far greater than we can imagine. He is a warrior, fighting for us and with us in the battle against satan. He is the King, whilst being a warrior, as He rules over all things. He also is the head over the church. Even though these things are different, He is all in one, making Him ultimate and amazing. We need to understand that if we choose Him, we have life and peace found in Him-even though things may be hard because He is our rock, our fortress. At the same time this peaceful God has a 'violent punishment for all those who do not choose Him because when we choose God, Jesus' perfect blood covers our hearts so God does not see our sin. Whereas those that do not have Jesus, God sees their sin and cannot be near them. hell is the only place where God's presence isn't.

Q2. (Psalm 110) Why do you think that Jesus asked the Pharisees about verse 1, "If then David calls him 'Lord,' how can he be his son?" What point was Jesus making? How does Jesus combine the roles of Warrior-King and Priest in his ministry to us and to this world? How do you reconcile the violence suggested in verses 5-6 with Jesus as "Prince of Peace"? Jesus wanted the pharisees to see their error on calculation about who the messiah was. He wanted to challenge their thinking on this topic and make them think rather than telling them. The point He made was that yes, physically He is a descendant of David, but if you look at His spiritual being He is something far greater than we can imagine. He is a warrior, fighting for us and with us in the battle against satan. He is the King, whilst being a warrior, as He rules over all things. He also is the head over the church. Even though these things are different, He is all in one, making Him ultimate and amazing. We need to understand that if we choose Him, we have life and peace found in Him-even though things may be hard because He is our rock, our fortress. At the same time this peaceful God has a 'violent punishment for all those who do not choose Him because when we choose God, Jesus' perfect blood covers our hearts so God does not see our sin. Whereas those that do not have Jesus, God sees their sin and cannot be near them. hell is the only place where God's presence isn't.

Q1. (Psalm 2) What does Psalm 2 teach us about Yahweh's "anointed" king? Why do you think the apostles saw this passage as referring to Jesus the Messiah? What does the passage teach about the importance of submission to Jesus the Christ before it is too late? He is above all others, above all rulers of the world, above all powers and a part of God. It was after David's time, and talks about the King as [His] Son. Submit to His ways and will. Fear Him, and rejoice in Him

Q3. (Psalm 117 and Lamentations 3:22-23). Why are love and trustworthiness so important as the bedrock of the Old Testament faith? What kinds of terms does the New Testament use to talk about these characteristics? Can you think of any New Testament verses that speak of these themes? Love and trustworthiness go hand in hand, they are what holds a relationship together. God wants us to love Him, we need to trust Him when we do love Him so that when He asks something of us we can step out in faith knowing that He will still love us. 1 Corinthians 13:13 1 Timothy 1:5 1 John 4:8 - He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.

Q2. (Psalm 145) Which aspects of God's character mentioned in Psalm 145 stand out to you in particular? Why is it important for "every creature," every human being, to praise him? What are you doing to help that happen? The main part to me which stands out is verse 18, "The Lord is near to all who call upon Him, to all who call upon Him in truth." I feel comforted by this because it reminds me that God is only a word a way. I know that if I find myself in a situation I can't handle, all I have to say is God and he will be with me, to uphold me when I fall. I will trust in you, because you Lord will keep me safe! God made us comfort Him, so He wasn't lonely. All living things need to praise God because He made us! He didn't have to but He chose to. We are blessed to be alive, that we might be able to even whisper or think His name! I am not doing enough. Lately I have been thinking more about myself than Him, and I am embarrassed to admit this. I need to praise Him more each day, by thanking Him for things, telling Him that something looks good or works well, and even praising Him for the people around me that help shape who I am.