Helen Spaulding

Q3. Why is Hezekiah's healing important for his nation? How did it relate to God's promises to David? He was an upright man and a good king. So far, apparently, he had no heir. This was important as God had promised that there would be an unbroken line leading to the coming Messiah. If Hezekiah died without an heir, this would not come true. God's word would have been broken. This could not be. Also, the nation needed a good and faithful king to lead them in God's way and save the nation in it's war against evil intruders. Why did God say Hezekiah would die then? Perhaps He was testing him to see what Hezekiah would do. If so, Hezekiah's response showed that he trusted that God would do what was just, and would show the pagan kings that He was in control. It seems that Hezekiah passed God's test.

Q2. (19:15) How do the first two sentences of Hezekiah's prayer (verse 15) correspond to the first sentence of the Lord's Prayer? How are they important to faith? How are they important to God answering the prayer? They both show the awesome majesty of God and bow in humble submission to Him! I had not noticed before that Hezekiah referred to Judah as Israel, keeping the Jewish nation still as the nation that God said would bring forth the Messiah! Interesting. This awareness of God's majesty and the need for submission to Him is basic to our faith in Him. Why would we bow to anything less, when He, in His majestic power and might has shown He wants us as His children? I don't understand why He wants us when we constantly disobey and ignore His commands, but He does! How grateful I am! If we do not know and acknowledge God's glory and might, how can we expect anything from Him in response? What would be the use of praying to an impotent god, like those man-made gods of long ago? Or our self-made "gods" of today? No man-made god can do anything! Praise His Name! He is God and there is no other!

Q1. (19:14) What is the significance of Hezekiah spreading out the enemy's message before 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? Hezekiah knew that the battle essentially depended on God. He brought the problem to God because the threat was against God, and he knew that God could handle it. Also he knew that "those who are with us are more and greater than those with Sennacherib", so he trusted God to act. The principle is that we are to bring our problems to God, for He is our defense and will show us how He will deliver us from the enemy. then, we are to do what He tells us. We may not see how His way will work--but it does and will! When we think we can do everything in our own power, we will fall, for we do not know what we need to do, nor can we do anything without His direction and His power! We must realize that we cannot do anything in our own power, and if we try, we are jepardizing God's reputation among the world's peoples!

Q4. Why is a person's attitude with regard to giving related to that person's attitude towards praise? Why does an attitude of possessiveness with regards to giving get in the way of worship? In what sense do all your possessions belong to God? What then should be your relationship to your possessions? How will these truths re-energize your giving? Your praise? If we think what we "own" is due to our own efforts and has nothing to do with God's provision in our lives, we will give grudgingly--not joyfully, knowing He has provided what we give and can continue to give us whatever we need! "Possessiveness" prevents us from realizing the joy of knowing we can rest in His provision--today and forever! We don't need to hoard in order to have what we need for tomorrow. We came into the world with nothing. When we leave here, we will carry nothing into eternity with us. Only what we have given away will count then! So, we praise our Lord for providing us enough to help others and to give joyfully and with praise to His Name!

Q3. 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? Where is this kind of praise found by example in the Lord's Prayer? What are your favorite songs that point to God's greatness? Lord, You are so awesome! You care about mankind--even though we are so careless about obeying You and Your directions to us. May You Holy Spirit show Your might through my life as I dedicate it to You. In your greatness, even through my faulty life, bring honor and glory to You and Your Kingdom! Amen. In the Lord's prayer, "Hallowed be Thy name. Thy Kingdom Come Thy Will be done on earth as it is in Heaven. Forgive us our trespasses deliver us from evil Thine is the Kingdom, the power and the glory forever!" So many songs! "Allelelu, Allelelu, Alleleluia" "Spirit of the Living God" "This is the Day" "Jesus, Jesus, Jesus" Any number of the Gaither songs.

Q2. In what way does praise exalt God? Why should we exalt God? What does this exaltation do in us? What does it say about us? When we praise God, we recognize His multitude of mercies He showers on us. We lift up our voices and tell others about His love and mercies--something He as directed us to do. When we exalt Him, we rise to the highest that any human being can! We are made to worship Him, and we feel bereft if we refuse to do so and just spend our time "doing our thing" and ignoring God. That "God sized hole" in our chest will feel empty and deflated. Somehow, we will feel that we have missed the mark and lack the wherewithall to recover and head for the mark of a child of God. But, when we exhalt God, He lifts us up and gives us a sense of purpose and joy in what He proposes for our lives! What does it say about us? At best, we are "pew sitter" Christians. At worst, we fool ourselves and are far from the Lord! Thank you, Lord, that you gently woo us back to you when we begin to stray! Please help me to tie myself so close to You that I can see no other path that might distract me from You! Amen.

Q1. In what way do our prayers of praise "bless" God? What do we mere humans have that God desires in a blessing? What are prayers like, that don't include blessing God? We give ourselves to Him when we praise Him because we are then obedient to Him--and that He desires above all else. We show that we love Him and relate to Him as our heavenly Father. Prayers that don't include blessing God for His many mercies are usually just "gimme" type prayers. We need to praise His Name and rejoice in His salvation. God is not a cosmic santa claus--meant only to serve us. It is the opposite--we are His servants, made to serve and bring honor to His name. I pray that He will enable me to do so!

Q4. What does it mean to have a broken heart and spirit? Why is this essential in the prayer for pardon? In what sense is this a "sacrifice"? Why do we tend to resist a "broken and contrite heart" in ourselves? When we are "broken" in heart and spirit, we realize our sinful nature, and it breaks our heart that we have sinned--again--against our loving Lord and Master! If it doesn't break our hearts, then we are in big trouble! That would mean that we are still making excuses for our sin, rather than admitting it and asking forgiveness! If we can not, or do not, admit this sin is us sinning, then we cannot be forgiven. As long as we can't see our sin, we fool ourselves that we are okay with God. Therefore, we would not "debase" ourselves by confessing it. It is hard to admit we have sinned again. How many times does that make?? The sacrifice that the Lord requires is "a broken and a contrite spirit". Psalm 51: 17 We know that we have sinned, but we hate to admit that! Stupid! God already knows our sinning. But we try everything to avoid having to show up before Him again, covered with the filth of our sins. Yes, this can seem like a sacrifice when we think better of ourselves than we have any right to!

Q3. Is it possible to have a pure heart? How does God bring about a pure heart? What is our part in this? Only when we turn to God in repentance for our sins. Even if we are soul-blackened by our sins, He can and will purify us if we truly repent and turn back to Him. that means more than just lip-service. We have to be sincere in our repentance, not just sorry we got caught! But, He can and will make us pure in heart! Our part is to accept that we have sinned and are repugnant in God's sight. We cannot change that. Only God can make us pure. We must come to Him, truly repent, and place ourselves before His mercy. He in His goodness and love will respond to forgive us (only because of the substitutionary death of Jesus on the cross), and we can start over pure. This doesn't mean that all consequences of our sin are gone. We often must face those consequences, just as David did in the death of his son by Bathsheba, but the eternal consequences of separation from God and eternity in hell is removed from us!

Q2. 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 try to minimize his sins, rather he lists them and admits he is guilty and deserves God's punishment. However, he pleads for mercy. If we refuse to acknowledge our sin, we are not truly repentant, so of course, our sin will remain on us until we do truly repent!

Q1. 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? We have to admit that we have sinned--no question about it! Then we must know God intimately enough to know His compassion and His mercy. If we are just a pew-sitting Christian, we don't really know Him well enough to be certain that He will forgive us. So, if we don't know Him this well, we cannot truly have faith that He will forgive us! Many people feel they have to earn their pardon. Not so. As Paul said, our pardon is not due to our works--so no one can boast in their "Goodness"--it is totally God's mercy! We gain this faith only by drawing near to God, asking Him into our hearts, and studying His word so that we come to truly KNOW Him! Only when we know Him, can we dare pray this prayer with confidence.

Q4. In what way does Abraham show persistence? Why is persistence necessary in prayer? Have you ever experienced "praying through"? What was it like? He continued to ask God for saving the city for fewer and fewer ones who were not evil. We need to persist--to begin with--because God has told us to pray and not give up. It also shows that we feel this is according to God's Person and if He did otherwise, it would be contrary to His Person and would cause evil to win. Or, at least do wrong to His Name. I can't share the results of not following my deep feeling of being led because it would bring others into the picture. As far as "praying through", I have not experienced this per se.

Q4. In what way does Abraham show persistence? Why is persistence necessary in prayer? Have you ever experienced "praying through"? What was it like? He continued to call on God's help, noting that God's reputation would be faulted if He destroyed the good with the bad, etc. God wants us to know Him well enough to be persistent in praying according to His will. Just willfully demanding that God be a santa and give us what we desire, even though it is not according to His nature, is not being persistent. It is being a willful child, untrained in the knowledge of the Lord! I'm still praying for my 56 year old daughter who turned her back on the Lord in college. I'll keep praying until she finally returns to Him. "Train up a child in the way he/she should go and when he/she is old, he will not depart from it." I know it is His will that all be saved, so He will bring her back to Him eventually. (It doesn't specify how 'old' the person has to be to return to Him!)

Q3. Do you think Abraham's boldness pleased God? Why or why not? What might cause God to take delight in your prayers to him? Yes. Abraham's prayer was respectful, according to the known will of God, and showed Abraham understood God and His priorities. It showed Abraham's trust in God as well. These same attributes would cause God to delight in anyone's prayers--including mine. I pray they do!

Q2. How did Abraham demonstrate his humility before God? Why must boldness be tempered with humility? He admitted he was as dust before the Lord. He also requested God to forgive him for asking again and again, lowering the number that would bring salvation to Sodom. Why temper boldness with humility? We are only dust before Him! We really have no right to come before Him and ask that He change His mind on anything! So, we must admit this and be humble before Him. He will hear us if we admit our nothingness before His Majesty! If we think we have the right to demand something from the Lord Almighty, we will quickly find that He will not hear anything that comes from pride of self! The only thing we have to boast in is that God has adopted us--not because we deserve it, but that He has mercy on us!