love.serve.know

The basis for this asking was his being honest and just in his life. God listens to reghteous people. Unrighteousness gets in the way of our communication with GOd

It was important that the nation have a leader who believed and trusted in God. They needed to maintain a bloodline that honored God

It acknowledges that God in heaven is holy. It is important to understand that all creation is under His control. When we acknowledge that He has control, it shows how much faith we have.

It is significant because it shows that Hezekiah understood that God is in charge and He is sovereign. We need to always remember in everythign we do that God is sovereign. If we try to do things in our own strength we mess up and are so sorry later.

God created everything. It's all Him. He has allowed us to use some of these things and we should thank Him. He doesn't need us to give back to Him. It's for our own benefit that we can have a closer relationship with Him and honor Him

I might say, "You are a great God and a great King above all gods". Great is thy faithfulness.

We should exalt God because it lifts Him up and honors Him, not that He needs to be lifted up. It respects the position He already has. Exaltation makes us aware of who God really is. It says that we have a personal relationship with Him

I think God is blessed when we come humbly to Him and praise Him sincerely, rather than always being selfish and asking about ourselves. Mere humans have a desies to love God and please Him. Prayers that don't bless God are just lists of our wants and desires.

Just to be totally shattered by what we have done. We need to understand how serious our sin is. They sent Christ to the cross. Our pride keeps us from being broken hearted

It is possible to have a pure heart when God cleanses us from our unrighteousness and our part is to confess our sins and turn away from them

David does not try to minimize or maximize his sin. In order to be authentic a prayer needs to be honest. We want forgiveness for exactly what we did wrong

When a person asks for pardon that person has to believe that they have the right to ask and the faith is based on having a relationship with God and knowing He forgives sin. A person can gain the faith by accepting Christ's free gift of salvation. He died to take our place and our punishment. We just have to ask

as time went on he kept asking God to spare the people even if there were only a few righteous. The number kept getting smaller and smaller. I have never experienced praying through.

I think Abrahams boldness pleased God because it showed a confidence in their relationship. GOd might take delight in my prayers if they also showed a confidence in my relationship with HIm.

Abraham demonstrated his humility by begging and pleading and not by threatening and demanding. He acknowledged that God is Lord. BOldness must be tempered with humility because God is in charge of all things and all decisions are His. He gives grace to the humble.

The basis of Abraham's argument is that there are some righteous people that live there and it relates to God's character because God blesses the righteous but will by no means spare the guilty.

Prayer can be within God's will - like a river can move within boundaries. God cannot do anything outside the scope of His will.

If we think that everything is "set in stone" there is no point in asking God to change things. The Bible show instances where people of God communicated with Him and things did change. We have that example in the Bible to encourage us to communicate with Him also. "Ask and ye shall receive" - but don't ask anything outside of God's will. I think our timeline is a short span in comparison to what God knows and sees, so of course He knows what will actually happen, because He knows everything. He knows what will happen throughout all eternity - "Of Him and Through Him and to Him are all things".

Moses had a real love of the people he was leading and he also understood God's compassion. Moses knew that God had chosen these people and may give them a second chance. Moses reminded God of His promises and we, too, can claim God's promises. When we know the Bible we know what God has promised. We should not ask for things that would not please God and by studying the Bible we know what pleases Him.

The people were fickle. While Moses was on the mountain with God, they got tired of waiting, made an idol, and worshiped it. God commands us not to have and worship other gods. He is angry when people disobey. We don't get it that when we worship Him we will be most happy. God's sentence is justified - He created people and He can do what He choses when they disobey.

We should continually ask forgiveness because we continually do things that need to be forgiven. Un-forgiveness of others will prevent God from forgiving us and we won't feel His blessing if we are not forgiven. Our being forgiven will be in proportion to how much we forgive others.

Independence is such an American way of life. We like to be self-sufficient and not have to depend on anyone else. When we don't depend on anyone else, we don't have to answer to anyone else - we aren't accountable. When we are independent of God we don't try to do His will, but do whatever we please to do. God can withhold daily bread, He controls the weather and our health and whether we get laid off. He is sovereign. He gives us the intelligence to understand our job and the health to do it.

We don't fit in to this kingdom here on earth. We are anticipating the time when Christ will return and reign. We are asking that what happens on earth will be according to God's will and personally, that His will will guide our thoughts and actions.

I think if we remember that God is holy and treat Him and His Word with respect and awe it's a good step toward making sure we hallow His name. People desecrate His name when they treat it casually and take His name in vain. When we begin to pray we should address Him in a respectful way.