Stanley Tavaziva

God is omnipresent—he is present everywhere. Because this is so, you can never escape from his Spirit. This is good news to those who know and love God, because no matter what we do or where we go, we can never be far from God’s comforting present. Paul’s hypothetical situations would turn into painful realities. In Romans 8:v 35 God reaffirms his profound love for his people. No matter what happens to us, no matter where we are, we can never be separated from his love. Suffering should not drive us away from God but help us to identify with him and allow his love to heal us.

Repented

“Wholehearted is the desire to obey” means to be entirely dedicated to God. This is what David desired, above all else, to serve God. Sometimes we find it hard to do what God wants, or find it harder to want to do it. God can give us in return wholehearted through devotion. Believing in Jesus Christ, this is already is all we need. “For God is working in us, giving us the desire to obey him and the power to do what pleases him

God loves the person who gives cheerfully.” When we are generous because we are thankful, our attitude can inspire others. We need to give generously to God’s work. David contrasts God’s everlasting nature with the fleeting lives of his people. Nothing lasts unless it is rooted in God’s unchanging character. If our most impressive deeds fade to dust before God, where should we place our confidence? Only in a relationship with God can we find anything permanent. His love never fades, and nothing can take it away

We exalt God with singing, praising and music.We exalt God when we value what He views as important. We are saying that His opinions and heart are supreme, hence, exalting Him. We exalt God when we obey His commands. We are saying that His ways are best, hence, exalting Him. We exalt God when we line up what we do with His Word, following His ways. We are saying that He is the final standard, hence, exalting Him. We exalt God when we help other people in their struggles by pointing them to God. We are saying that He is the ultimate source of strength, comfort, peace, and hope, hence, exalting Him.

We Honor God for His goodness and power. Tell Him the specific things He's done for us and that we are thankful for it. We praise God even if are going through hard times and ask God to continue blessing our lives. To “bless” the Lord means to give Him praise, to actually “kneel before Him;” to recognize His goodness and Sovereignty over our lives, by giving Him respect and honor. God forgives our sin. There are times when we’ve missed the mark, turned our back on Him, or gone our own way, He forgives. He graciously extends mercy for every sin, when we simply come to Him and confess our need.

Nothing lasts unless it is rooted in God’s unchanging character. If our most impressive deeds fade to dust before God, we must be able to give and praise God that's where we should place our confidence? Relationship with God can we find anything permanent. His love never fades, and nothing can take it away.

O Lord, I will honor and praise your name, for you are my God. You do such wonderful things! You planned them long ago, and now you have accomplished them. You turn mighty cities into heaps of ruins. Cities with strong walls are turned to rubble. Beautiful palaces in distant lands disappear and will never be rebuilt. Therefore, strong nations will declare your glory; ruthless nations will fear you. But you are a tower of refuge to the poor, O Lord, a tower of refuge to the needy in distress. You are a refuge from the storm and a shelter from the heat. We exalt and praise God because He completes our plans as He promised us. God also fulfills his promises to us. He answers our prayers, Lord we praise you for Your goodness and faithfulness.

We exalt God when we value what He views as important. We are saying that His opinions and heart are supreme, hence, exalting Him. We exalt God when we obey His commands. We are saying that His ways are best, hence, exalting Him. We exalt God when we line up what we do with His Word, following His ways. We are saying that He is the final standard, hence, exalting Him. We exalt God when we help other people in their struggles by pointing them to God. We are saying that He is the ultimate source of strength, comfort, peace, and hope, hence, exalting Him.

To bless God means to recognize his great richness, strength, and gracious bounty and to express our gratitude and delight in seeing and experiencing it. God he is not helped or strengthened or made better off, man’s blessing God is an “expression of praising thankfulness” When the OT speaks of blessing God it does not “designate a process that aims at the increase of God’s strength”

“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God” (Matthew 5:8). Jesus spoke this during His famous Sermon the Mount. So what did He mean by “pure in heart?”

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.

Our natural inclination is to please ourselves rather than God. David followed that inclination when he took another man’s wife. Like David, we must ask God to cleanse us from within, filling our hearts and spirits with new thoughts and desires. Right conduct can come only from a clean heart and spirit. We should ask God to create a pure heart and spirit. Sometimes shame clenches tightly around our hearts, and we hide our true feelings. Sometimes fear makes us small, and we miss the chance to speak from our strength

Our natural inclination is to please ourselves rather than God. David followed that inclination when he took another man’s wife. Like David, we must ask God to cleanse us from within, filling our hearts and spirits with new thoughts and desires. Right conduct can come only from a clean heart and spirit. We should ask God to create a pure heart and spirit. Sometimes shame clenches tightly around our hearts, and we hide our true feelings. Sometimes fear makes us small, and we miss the chance to speak from our strength

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? David was truly sorry for his adultery with Bathsheba and for murdering her husband to cover it up. He knew that his actions had hurt many people. But because David repented of those sins, God mercifully forgave him. No sin is too great to be forgiven. When don't have faith you feel that you could never come close to God because you have done something terrible. God can and will forgive you of any sin. While God forgives us, however, he does not always erase the natural consequences of our sin. Therefore, since we have been made right in God’s sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us.

When we make acceptable sacrifices to God as signs a broken spirit, and a broken heart means only Gods word revives us the broken heart. It is essential in the prayer for pardon because God hears our prayer if we go before Him in earnest. Having lack of deep repentance renders the broken heart. Sometimes we think God will despise in lack of deep repentance that's contrite heart.

David, though he had sinned will come before God. He desired to walk into his destiny. He desired to walk right, in the light and truth of God. Nothing to hide. He always desired to walk close to God again.

David did not hide his sins, he confessed his sin and asked forgiveness. David had no desire to be absent from God’s presence, with the absence of the Holy Spirit in his life. David desperately desired the Lord’s presence and favor.

When we pray in confession we will receive an assurance of pardon from God. It is so easy to lose faith and think our prayers go unheard and unanswered. God does hear our confession, we need to have faith. God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and we can stand before Him as clean children.

We cannot sweep the righteous with the wicked” This shows Abraham’s understanding of the nature and character of God (i.e., “Shall not the Judge of all the earth deal justly. God certainly had acknowledged the situation, but He wanted Abraham to understand his unique relationship with Him, and the necessity for intercessory prayer on the behalf of others, which he will certainly use with Abimelech. I think Abraham must have been thinking about Lot and his family in Sodom and save them.

God showed Abraham that asking for anything is allowed, with the understanding that God’s answers come from God’s perspective. They are not always in harmony with our expectations, for only he knows the whole story. God delights in our prayers possible answers always.

God changed Abraham’s mind. Abraham knew that God is just and that he punishes sin, but he may have wondered about God’s mercy. Abraham seemed to be probing God’s mind to see how merciful he really was. He left his conversation with God convinced that God was both kind and fair. Our prayers won’t change God’s mind, but they may change ours just as Abraham’s prayer changed his. Prayer helps us better understand the mind of God.

Was God being unfair to the people of Sodom? Did he really plan to destroy the innocent with the guilty? God’s fairness stood out. (1) He agreed to spare the entire city if only 10 innocent people lived there. (2) He showed great mercy toward Lot, apparently the only man in the city who had any kind of relationship with him (and even that was questionable). (3) He showed great patience toward Lot, almost forcing him to leave Sodom before it was destroyed. God is patient when you are tempted to think he is unfair. Even the most godly people deserve his justice. We should be glad God doesn’t direct his justice toward us as he did toward Sodom.

As the potter molded or shaped a clay pot on the potter’s wheel, defects often appeared. The potter had power over the clay, to permit the defects to remain or to reshape the pot. Likewise, God had power to reshape the nation to conform to his purposes. Our strategy should not be to become mindless and passive—one aspect of clay—but to be willing and receptive to God’s impact on us. As we yield to God, he begins reshaping us into valuable vessels. Prayer is our approach to God, and we are to come “boldly.” Some Christians approach God meekly with heads hung low, afraid to ask him to meet their needs. Others pray flippantly, giving little thought to what they say. Come with reverence because he is your King. But also come with bold assurance because he is your Friend and Counselor.

Moses pleaded for mercy, and God spared them. This is one of the countless examples in the Bible of God’s mercy. Although we deserve his anger, he is willing to forgive and restore us to himself. We can receive God’s forgiveness from sin by asking him. Like Moses, we can pray that he will forgive others and use us to bring them the message of his mercy. God had often told the people that if they changed their ways, he would not condemn them. They changed, and God did as he promised.