DEIRDRE INAMDAR

Q2. (Luke 23:39-43) Why is the thief

Q1. (Luke 23:34) Who was most responsible for killing Jesus? What responsibility do you and I bear in this? In what sense was Jesus praying for us? I think we can see the crucifixion in two ways. 1. As an event that tok lace 2000 years ago 2. Spiritually as the Son of God dying for us. Now having said this then seeing it as an event I think the Chief priests and the scribes were the main culprits and the rest aided in the crime. I being a follower of Christ would like to look beyond this and look at it from a spiritual angle and see the reality and truth and then I see Jesus dying for all mankind and as being personally responsible myself for His death because of my sin. Jesus was praying for us because He knows if we have a true revelation of who He is we will never sin against Him. He also knows our Spirits are willing but our flesh is weak.He knows without the Holy Spirit we are powerless over sin.

God knows us and what we are made of and if we want a relationship with the lord we need to know Him and when we seek Him with all of our hearts we will find Him and we will know that He loves us. Experiencing the love of God drives out all fear and gives us that tremendous confidence in God our Father.We will long for His presence and will stive to grow our relationship with the God who loves us.

The Psalmist is experiencing deep anguish and a seperation from God. He longs for the presence of God. He combats his spiritual depression by 1: Self Talk He questions his anguish and faces his fears and then based on his past experiences he reassures himself. 2: Remembers God's goodness to him in the past. He recalls the times God has seen him through and this encourages him. 3: He sings praises to God. I have felt this way many times and I know there will be more times in the future that I will feel this way.I have always involved God in my life and have called out to Him in my troubled and anguish ridden times. HE has never failed me Praise Him always. He in His time has answered me and brought me through every single time and I know He will continue to do so He is my Redeemer.There were times I fasted and cried out to Him there have been times when I have asked others to join me in calling out to Him, I remind God of His many promises and I dont give up when it comes to God I know He will answer.

David knows the goodness of the Lord, for he has tasted it and here we see him reflecting on the faithfulness and goodness of God and he expresses a desire to dwell,live, abide in the presence of the Lord the house of the Lord is the place where God dwells. In David's time it was the temple but today we know that we can be in God's presence anywhere and any time for we are His children. Seeking God's face is to seek His attention, wanting Him to hear us. David is convinced that when we wait on the Lord He will provide us the courage to go through the difficult times and we have the assurance that if we do we will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living that is in this life.

In this psalm I se the Psalmist seeing God as his Creator and realises that God has made him wonderfully well Each one of us has been fearfully and wonderfully mad knitted together in our mothers womb by God and our days are numbered before even one of them comes into existence.Gods thoughts towards each of us is more than the grains of sand how precious we are to God. Knowing this is humbling. Knowing this he makes the prayer of surrender asking God to search him and find out his thoughts and to see if there are any offencive ways in him he wants to be cleansed by God for the Glory of God.How awesome to know God loves us so much.What a great and mighty God we have.

In verses 1-6 we see the Glory of God through His works. Creation hhas no voice nor words but yet it displays the glory of the Creator. The Wor on the other hand is written and can be read and it is the Word of God which enlightens our eyes rejoices the heart makes us wise and restores our soul.The written Word can affect our lives and change us it has the Power of the Writer.The works of God and the Word of God arepowerful and show us His love for He has us in mind as benficiaries.The Psalmist is so caught up with God's Word God's Word brings us into an intimacy with Him where we want to be pleasing to Him after we realise who we are.The Psalmist realises that he would like to be close to the God of creation and follow His Word. He implores and one can sense the desperation where he desires that his words -that which can be heard and the meditations 0that which cannot be heard both will be pleasing in God's sight .Our gola in what we do say or think and feel should be pleasing to our God.

I learnt that God is Glorious and Majestic over His creation the earth and the heavens.Human beings are miniscule and finite in comparison. Christ being God humbled Himself and became lower than the angels by becoming man and came down to earth to suffer and die so we could be restored to a right relationship with the Glorious and Majestic God.The God who created the infinite universe gave man charge over it and we can only do this if we bend our knee to God our Father He will give us His children the ability to care for the universe.

Q4. (22:43) Did Jesus get "special treatment" because he was the Son of God to have angels help and strengthen him in his spiritual struggle? Do we get that help, too? I dont think Jesus got special treatment being the Son of God,The angels were sent to strengthen Him as He went through the agony in the garden. Yes we do and it is a pity many of us miss out on Heb 1:14 God has commissioned Angels to help all those who are heirs to Salvation.I ask God every day to send His angels to protect us.

Q3. (22:42) When Jesus prayed "not my will, but yours be done," was the Father pleased? Why is the Father not pleased when we are passive and uncaring and dispassionate in our prayers that his will be done? What is required for us to pray the prayer of submission with authenticity? Yes I do believe that the Father was pleased. The Father is not pleased with passive uncaring and dispassionate prayers.Our Father wants an active relationship with us He has given us a free will and a mind to think with and He would like us to use them and be involved.We are not asked to be puppets or slaves,but we are called the Sons of the Father and what concerns God should concern us so we cannot have a daont care attitude.we need to be excited with the things of God. We need to understand that God is a loving God.He also knows what is best for us,we need to know that our primary purpose is to do the will of the Father.Knowing all this we should submit to His will.

Q2. (22:42) Why did Jesus pray that the Father take the cup from him? According to Mark and Matthew, Jesus repeated this prayer three times. Why was he so intense about it? What did this mean? Why was Jesus resisting the Father's will? Or was he? The agony that Jesus went through is inexplicable,the weight of the sin of all humanity ,the very thought could kill can one imagine going through with it,besides I believe the seperation from the Father was agony,for One so pure and holy as Our Lord. The very fact that Jesus prayed so often shows us what He went through I dont think we can even feel an iota of the pain He went through I dont know if eternity will reveal it to us.It only makes me cry with gratitude to my God for what he has done for me and for humanity in general. Jesus was not resisting the will of God.The Word says that He had come to do the Will of Him who sent Him.I am sure that the Triune God were in this together.I think that this prayer of Jesus was a prayer for help to the only One who could help Him.The agony that He experienced His sweat was like drops of blood who could He call out to at a time like this.When we look at His sacrifice as we see it today in His own words'It is Finished' Oh how we must love Jesus.

Q1. (22:40-41, 45-46) Why did he ask his disciples to pray? What temptation did Jesus know they would be facing? What was the content of their prayer to be? Did they actually pray this prayer diligently? How does the Lord's Prayer word this kind of prayer? Why do you think Jesus wanted to be alone during his own prayer? Jesus knew the time had come for Him to face what He had come to earth for,He also knew that when His disciples faced this time they wolud be distraught and overcome by fear.He had warned them on various occassions that He had to die however they did not fully comprehend what He was saying.Jesus asked them to pray for the help they needed at the time of this crisis as help cold only could only come from the Father. They were to pray that they would not succumb to temptation.They did not pray this prayer diligently ,for they were tired and fell asleep.The Lord had taught His disciplies to pray to the Father asking Him not to lead them into temptation.We very often misunderstand this prayer ,thinking that it is the Father that leads us into temptation.We live in a fallen world and we dont have to go looking out for temptations,they are around us all the time.What Jesus ment was that we should pray and ask the Father to give us the strength to say no to temptation. I do believe that our relationship with the Lord is a one on one,There are paths that we have to walk alonewith God.It is in these intimate moments that God is able to minister to our specific needs.The alone times with God are the most profound times in our life,and it is in these times He reveals His will and equips us for our tasks.There can be no substitute.

Q4. (2:4) What danger is Nehemiah in? Why does he pray quickly and silently before he answers the king? How does this quick "arrow prayer" relate to the four months of prayer he has just finished? Nehemiah goes in to serve the King with a sad countenence and this could back fire on him and he could have been dismissed from service as a servant is not supposed to betray any emotion. Nehemiah needed God's wisdom and favor when he answered the king and so he prayed a quick prayer. Nehemiah had been praying for four months for his land.His arrow prayer was his final effort of getting what God wanted for him through the king.

Q3. (1:11) In what way does Daniel's situation compared to Esther's. Why does God place his people in strategic positions today in the community, in business, in the military, in government? What responsibilities do we have to God that can cause danger to our positions and our lives? Has this ever happened to you? How do you pray in situations like this? Daniel and Esther were both in positions of influence.Both of them had to act on behalf of their people. I believe God has all things worked out and He has His people in strategic positions.I do believe that we are in the positions we are to further His Kingdom and His Righteousness. In the positions that we hold we at times have to go against the grain inorder to obey the Lord.We may need to take a stand and there could be some sort of fall out.This has happened to me and my family many times.I have had to deal with situations in school at my work place and in our social set up.We have been ridiculed and called fanatics.My husband is a politician and has held high office many atime and we have to be very conscious of our behavior as we are in the public eye,we are aware that at all times no matter what position we hold we are first and foremost the children of the Living God and we need to obey Him.It is not easy but when you know God and the plan He has for His people it makes it worthwhile.

Q2. (1:7-11) What is the basis of Nehemiah's appeal? How does he argue his case before God? What do we learn from this about intercession? Nehemiah appealed to God on the basis of His Word.God had scattered His people and only He could gather them.God promises to do that and Nehemiah puts God into rememberance of His Word. He goes to God humbly asking for forgiveness and then He reminds God of His promise and appeals to His mercy. We must know God and His will and His promises then we can and should stand on the promises of God.