Tim_NY

Q3. (Judges 6:12-16) How did God see Gideon? He saw him as a mighty warrior. How did Gideon see himself? He saw himself as scared and a nobody, and felt overwhelmed. Whose self-perception is most accurate? We need to see ourselves the way God sees us, as overcomers who He can use. How can our own self-perception prevent us from becoming what God has made us to be? When we identify ourselves with our sins and shortcomings, we feel unworthy and worthless. What is God's answer to Gideon's self-image? He promised to be with Gideon as he stepped into his new identity. He gave him a mission and a purpose. What might be an appropriate prayer to pray in light of what God has taught you from this passage? Lord, I often see myself as weak and unable to do ministry because of where I have failed and still fail. Help me to see myself as capable of serving You and as a vessel for Your use, and help me stick close to you so You can do this work in me.

Q2. (Judges 6:13) In what way does Gideon blame God for his troubles in verse 13? Gideon says, 'If the Lord is with us, how come we are in this bad place with bad things happening to us? He has abandoned us!' Is Gideon's assessment accurate? Why or why not? His statement is not accurate, because with God's promises to be with Israel there was always a condition that they need to obey Him and put Him first. God's Law said that if they didn't do this, that bad things would indeed happen to them! Much of Deuteronomy talks about these promises, conditions and consequences. Why do we blame God? What's the danger and how can we stop short of this in the future? We blame God because the nature of our flesh is never to take responsibility for our sin. Ever since the Garden, man has blamed others for his sin. Look at Adam and Eve! both blamed someone else. But if we blame God for our sin, we are calling Him a liar, because we have his Word that tells us we make our own choices to obey or not and there will be consequences. So when we sin, there is no one to blame but ourselves. We can easily get a hardened heart and even get 'cut off' by God if we don't repent.

The Israelites were being oppressed because they were worshiping idols, the gods of the Amorites. They were breaking the first commandment 'You shall have no other gods beside me.' They had not listened to God's Law that had been taught to them for years from Moses' writings, reciting the Law in the temple and during times of feasts and sacrifices. By now they were doing none of these activities. Today we have left God as a people in much the same way. So many who knew God at one time have gotten drawn in by people, things, riches, and activities in this world that they no longer acknowledge Him as God in their lives. Even we believers do this at times, and we need to repent of it.

Q1. (Romans 5:1-2) According to verses 1-2, faith is a key to salvation. For Abraham (4:3), what was the relationship between faith and justification? For us (5:1-2), what is the relationship between faith and justification? In your own words, what does it mean to be justified? For Abraham, his faith brought about his justification; it was cause and effect. We saw Abraham go by faith when God said, 'Go', even though he didn't know where he was going. He trusted God by faith to provide him with an heir in his old age. Finally, we saw Abraham believe God for the sacrifice, even if it was his only son. Hebrews 11 covers that part of his story. We also gain peace with God and grace - favor that we don't deserve - through our faith in His work. Once again, it's cause and effect. We believe in what Jesus did for us on the cross, and that's all it takes to be justified. For me, justification has always meant what I once heard someone teach in Sunday School - God makes it 'Just as If I had never sinned'. Not guilty, as the lesson said.

Hello, my name is Tim and I live in Yonkers NY near NYC. This is my first Jesus Walk Bible study and I'm looking forward to it. Lots of great material. I invited a friend to join also, so he may check in here sometime soon as well.