Sonshine777

What is the significance of Hezekiah spreading out the enemy's message before the Lord? Hezekiah knew that the battle belongs to the Lord!! What is the underlying principle illustrated here? How can we apply this principle to our own lives? What happens when we don't apply this principle? If we bring our trials to God, He will work out the details to make them manageable to us. Sometimes we dont think or feel like they are manageable, but He never gives us more than we can handle. I've learned that He doesnt care about our comfort, He cares about our growth and maturity in Him. But He is faithful! And He has brought me a long long way thru trials!! When we dont apply this principle, we take on the stress of the whole problem which can negatively affect your health, career, relationships, etc...

Why is a person's attitude with regard to giving related to that person's attitude towards praise? If we are clinging to resentment and filling our minds with negative thoughts about ourselves or our relaitonships and other people - what does that say about the condition of our hearts?? The saying 'you cannot love others unless you love yourself' has merit. Thank You Lord for loving us first and teaching us how to love. Why does an attitude of possessiveness with regards to giving get in the way of worship? God expects us to be responsible stewards of our money and possessions but if we are not willing to share with others - how does that glorify God?? When we worship God, it can be in many many ways. Everything we do can be done with an attitude of praise. But if we horde food at home, pens and pencils at work, etc....we are not trusting God to give us what we need when we need it AND God may not be able to use you to bless someone else. In what sense do all your possessions belong to God? Everything comes from God! He created us and He has given us the knowlege and ability to manipulate our environment. He has provided EVERYTHING we use. What then should be your relationship to your possessions? My possessions are borrowed from God! I can hold on to them loosely because God will provide new/more apporpriate ones for me later on. How will these truths re-energize your giving? Your praise? I have FREEDOM to give thru my trust in God! And I have FREEDOM to open my heart completely to Him when I praise and worship Him. He WILL take care of us! Although we must guard our hearts with unsafe people, we are FREE to put ALL our trust and hope in Him. Thank God we have God!

Verses 11 and 12 both attribute various characteristics to God, such as glory, honor, and might. How might you begin to mention God's greatness in your own prayers? Typically I will start with appology for being short on all accounts for just being human with a selfish heart. Then I tell Him how amazing He is to me and to help me learn how to love Him right. I might add some ponderings about how enormous in every way He must be compared to me and my world. And how limited I am compared to Him. Where is this kind of praise found by example in the Lord's Prayer? Forgive us our debts; lead us not into temptation; for Yours is the Kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever - Amen! What are your favorite songs that point to God's greatness? There are so many! Here are a few: El Shaddai Amazing Grace The Wonderful Cross Holy You Are Lord Good for Me - to lay it down at your feet (by Watermark)

In what way does praise exalt God? Praise exalts God because thru it, we are recognizing The Diety that He is. And when we do it openly, others see His Majesty. Why should we exalt God? We should exalt God because He is the Great I Am! He is our creator. Without Him, we are nothing. Amen! What does this exaltation do in us? This exaltation helps us to remain humble and thru this we can bless God. What does it say about us? We need our beautiful God!!

In what way do our prayers of praise "bless" God? I didnt know that there was anything we could do to bless God. Many of my prayers include a desire to treat Him well - "Lord!" I pray, "I want to know how to treat you right!" In the bible, Jesus says something about "If you love Me, you will keep My commandments." I am so thankful for what He has done for me and my family that I am thrilled to know that I can bless Him back. What do we mere humans have that God desires in a blessing? When we give God our hearts, our minds and our souls in prayer to Him and trust Him in His goodness and know that He knows what is best, that would be blessing to Him too. God desires us to give up our lives completely to Him. What are prayers like, that don't include blessing God? When we pray only for what our flesh desires, despite God's commandments. Just wanting God to give us worldy riches and not even to share with anyone else.

What does it mean to have a broken heart and spirit? I think to have a broken heart and spirit means feeling discouraged, hurt and regretful. Why is this essential in the prayer for pardon? I think you need to have the brokenness so we will let God make repairs and we will truly know that He needs to be calling the shots in our lives. I think the pride we have can limit God's blessings in our lives. In what sense is this a "sacrifice"? Why do we tend to resist a "broken and contrite heart" in ourselves? We like to feel comfortable, in the right, and in control of our lives. To let go of this on purpose would certainly be a sacrifice to God. And its hard to do!

Is it possible to have a pure heart? How does God bring about a pure heart? What is our part in this? It is possible to have a pure heart only thru the Blood of Jesus. Jesus will take the blame for us so God can cleanse our hearts. Our part in it is confessing the sin, asking for cleansing, and then repenting from the sin. We should try with all our heart, mind and soul to please our Lord. Thank You God for your Forgiveness and Love.

In his prayer does David seek to minimize his sins? To maximize them? Why does an authentic prayer for pardon require clear, unvarnished acknowledgement of sin to be effective? David does not minimize or maximize his sin! He acknowledges to God his sin for what it is. If one is willing to confess to sin, then one is willing to let go of the sinful behavior and hence be ready to receive God's grace and mercy. - Hallelujiah!

In what way does a prayer for pardon require faith? What is that faith based on? How does a person gain the faith to pray this prayer in confidence? If you do not believe you CAN be pardoned, then it will not be real to you - even tho God will pardon us. Faith is based on experience and a development of trust thru relationship. A person gains faith to pray this prayer in confidence when they have had enough personal experience with the Lord's faithfulness and loving kindness. Because God loved us first, He teaches us about His love thru example. In time, we realize we can TOTALLY count on Him! Hallelujiah!

In what way does Abraham show persistence? Why is persistence necessary in prayer? Have you ever experienced "praying through"? What was it like? Abraham shows persistence thru bringing up the topic again and again and again. Hee hee, this would drive me crazy - to have someone begging over and over again until I gave in. I just figure if someone doesnt want to give me what I want - maybe there is good reason for that. Maybe I dont deserve what I am asking for. Or maybe I would be putting someone out too far. Its rude to keep bugging! But in this lesson, I am learning that God wants me to keep bugging Him! I am fascinated! In fact, it seems as though He wouldnt even consider my unrelenting prayers as "bugging Him." This lesson is teaching me that persistence sometimes really is necessary. I have never experienced "Praying Through". I have had answered prayer - including prayer that gets answered years after the prayer was prayed. But I have never prayed a prayer over and over and over for days to years, etc... until I get an answer. I think I will have to try it. I will begin by praying for a life-time mate!

Do you think Abraham's boldness pleased God? Why or why not? What might cause God to take delight in your prayers to him? Abraham's boldness pleased God because he did it in a respectful way and he did it in a way that acknowleged God's character. Since God wants a relationship with us, He is not angry with Abraham's prayer. Its hard for me to always realize that God delights in my prayers! I suppose that as I come to recognize Him in my life, He will delight in my acknowlegment of Him and His character! It is good to know that the Lord WANTS me to come to Him bold like Abraham more than just once and more than just when I have a crisis.

How did Abraham demonstrate his humility before God? Why must boldness be tempered with humility? Abraham openly acknowleged his lowliness to the Lord by pointing out that he is only of dust and ashes and also hoping that the Lord would not be angry with him for asking for God's mercy of the righteous. The way I see it, humility is kind of a form of respect - you are not exalting yourself above the other person. In this case, God. Boldness without humility is rudeness at the very least.

What is the basis of Abraham's argument that God should spare Sodom? How does it relate to God's character? Abraham wanted the righteous to be spared the punishment meant for the wicked. God is merciful!

How can prayer change God's mind without conflicting with the doctrine of the Immutability of God? Can God answer a prayer for something outside of the scope of his will? The way I see it, God will always act according to His character, desire and purpose. Our prayer can change God's mind only if we know His immutability and therefore can petition for a response from Him that matches it as well as taking care to respond in a way that would be pleasing to Him. I dont believe that He would answer prayer for something outside of the scope of His will. I would say that if someone prayed for opportunities and permission to sin against someone (ex: get even with an enemy), then the opportunity arose - that would be more of a test from God as opposed to answered prayer.

If I dont believe that my prayers will be heard and that God will act to answer them then I wont pray until I have a crisis that only God alone could help me with! And even then, I'd be counting on the idea of only a slight chance that He might just consider my plight. This approach is so limiting and truly robs us of the joy of getting to know and recognize Him in our daily lives. Is it not true that God wants us to test His faithfulness? What better way to do this than to pray some gutsy prayers!!! The way that the Lord has been handling my affairs since I asked Him to take over my life is proof enough for me that, even tho He knows my heart and the outcome of my life, that He enjoys hearing my prayers and that He is present with me whereever I am at in life. I dont know what to call a belief that prayers make no difference to God's response outside of predestination and determinism, except to point out that there would be no need for us to have a relationship with Him.