Barbiemac

Why do you think Daniel's visions and prophecies have been an encouragement to Christians throughout the centuries when they are undergoing severe persecution? We read this and know that at some point in time God will deal with the injustices , we always hope it is in the time we live.

Q3. (Daniel 9:24-27) Why do you think there are so many interpretations of Daniel’s vision of the Seventy Sevens? What is your interpretation of the various key parts of the vision? There are many interpretations to this prophecy because of the perspective you have when reading it. I feel Jesus fulfilled part of this in his first coming. I tend to feel that the numbers are precise, especially when reading about the last week. We are given in other passages, referring to the end of days or the day of the Lord, the time period as three and a half years, forty two months and 1260 days. This would support the 360 day prophetic year. I believe as these things come to pass we I'll find understanding. Jesus fulfilled many prophecies exactly in his first coming which makes me believe he will do the same in his second coming.

The reason we fight over difficult passages is because when studying we do so with a particular mind set. So everything we study comes from that perspective. We should be careful with one another in discussing our interpretation because God reveals as the time approaches. He sealed up the prophecy till the time of the end. We are to love one another.

Daniel 9:24) In what ways can we find in Jesus the fulfillment of the six tasks found in verse 24? Seventy 'sevens' are decreed for your people and your holy city to finish transgression, to put an end to sin, to atone for wickedness, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up the vision and prophecy and to anoint the most holy." (9:24) Jesus atoned for our sins at Calvary, atoned for wickedness. In the book of Revelation it shows how Jesus will accomplish the other five things.

Daniel 9:15-19) What was Daniel's essential prayer? What are the various grounds of Daniel's appeal? How did God answer the prayer (see Daniel 9:20-23)? Now, O Lord our God, who brought your people out of Egypt with a mighty hand and who made for yourself a name that endures to this day, we have sinned, we have done wrong. 16 O Lord, in keeping with all your righteous acts, turn away your anger and your wrath from Jerusalem, your city, your holy hill. Our sins and the iniquities of our fathers have made Jerusalem and your people an object of scorn to all those around us. God,s precedent. God's glory, God's righteous and God's identification with Israel. God sent an angel to speak to Daniel and the Israelites did return to the land.

Daniel 9:5) Since Daniel is such a righteous man in his generation, why does he identify himself with the sins of his people? He didn't commit these sins. How does this compare to how Jesus sought forgiveness for his people? Daniel puts himself in the middle of the sin Israel committed. In a sense he bore the sins of the nation in intercessory prayer, a preview of what Jesus did on the cross by bearing our sins.

Daniel 9:3-4a) What is Daniel's demeanor as he prays? How does he prepare? Why is this so important in this case? In what ways might you and I prepare for intercession? Daniel comes to God in a humble manner he "sets his face toward God". He fasts and dresses in sack cloth and ashes to have a humble attitude to pray that God would complete His work. I believe to intercede we need to strip away the outside busyness and "set our face toward God". The act of fasting and humbling ourselves before God helps us to hear from Him and receive the answer to our prayer.

Daniel 9:1-2) What encourages Daniel to seek God for the forgiveness and restoration of Israel to its homeland? What practice on Daniel's part leads him to pray? He realized from the scriptures that Israel's desolation of 70 yrs was almost up. Daniel studied the scriptures daily.

I believe the angel reassuring Daniel that the saints of the most High will receive the kingdom land possess it forever is to help us through the hard times coming. It will be most precious to us as we see all these prophecies come to pass. Due to the many prophecies that are being fulfilled it seems like we are close to Jesus return. But only God knows.

Psalm 34:18-22) What encouragement does David give to the brokenhearted? What does it mean that God "redeems" you? How can we avoid condemnation according to Psalm 34:22? The Lord is close ro the broken-hearted. He saves those who are crushed in spirit. There was a price to pay for our redemption and Jesus paid this price at the cross. We avoid condemnation by taking refuge in Him.

Psalm 34:1-3) Why should we praise God continually? What are barriers to continual praise? What does continual praise do to our spirit? How are you training yourself to praise continually? We should praise God at all times, this keeps our mind stayed on Him. When we let the cares of this world keep us from praising God we lose our focus. When we praise Him it lifts our spirit. I try to thank Him even for the simple things, just looking around there is so much to thank Him for.

Psalm 118) What does "the stone the builders rejected" (verses 22-23) have to do with the Messiah? What do verses 25-27 have to do with the Messiah? The stone the builders rejected is the Messiah, verses 25-27 is what the people proclaimed as they were waving palm branches as Jesus entered Jerusalem. These verses foretold Jesus coming to earth to be our sacrifice .

(Psalm 100) What is the predominant emotion in Psalm 100? How does this psalm make you feel emotionally about God? What are the reasons for praise given in verses 3 and 5? What are the commands in this psalm? Praise and worship is what Psalm 100 is about. When reading this Psalm my heart rejoices. We are His people and He is our Shepard, His mercy endures forever as well as His truth this is the reason to praise of this Psalm. We are to be thankful to God and enter His courts with praise and to bless His name. We are given a key here to prayer which is also reflected in the Lord's Prayer.

Daniel 7:13-14) How do these verses describe "one like a son of man"? What makes us think he is a divine figure? What authority and glory does he receive? Why do you think Jesus called himself "the Son of Man"? One like the son of man is brought to the throne room to be seated with the Father. He is divine because He comes on the clouds of glory. He receives all power and authority . Jesus referred to himself as the son of man to point us to the prophecy in Daniel so we would understand who he is and what is to come.

Q1. (Daniel 7:1-2) What is the relationship of the Ancient of Days (God) to the various beastly nations that rage against each other and against him and his people? What happens to these beast-nations? Why is it sometimes so difficult to believe that God is in charge of the world we live in? The Ancient of days, our Heavenly Father, is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. He will judge the nations and destroy the evil ones. It is difficult to believe God is in charge sometimes because of the evil that continues to prevail. Especially this time we live in.

Psalm 51:17) How does one achieve a "broken and contrite heart"? What are the earmarks of this condition? How does this differ from "being sorry" for a sin? How does humility relate to this condition? When you are truly sorry for your sins is the point of a broken and contrite heart. A heart in agony and repentant . Just being sorry is not the same as true repentance, you must turn and walk the other way. Humility is important for true repentance because that is the only way to allow God to do the work in your heart.

(Psalm 51:10-12) How is it possible to have a "pure heart" after great sin? What does a "pure heart" consist of? What is the relationship between a "pure heart" (Psalm 51:10) and a "united" or "undivided heart" (Psalm 86:11)? Who purifies the heart? What is the process? The only way to have a pure heart after great sin is by confessing and asking for forgiveness from the Father. A pure heart is free from guilt and shame and is tender and open to God's voice. A pure and undivided heart is one that longs for God's presence and direction in everything. God purifies the heart, He teaches us through His word and the lessons we learn in life if we have our ear inclined to him.

Q2. (Psalm 51:3-6) When David says, "Against you only I have sinned" (4a) is he minimizing his sin against Bathsheba and Uriah? What does he mean by this? When he mentions his sinfulness from before birth is he excusing himself or blaming Original Sin? What does he mean by this? I don't believe David is diminishing his sin against Uriah and Bathsheba however he realizes that what he has done separates him from his relationship with God. In his disparity he understands that he is a sinner that needs to fight the fleshly desires that have been with him from conception. It is an acknowledgement of the battle we all deal with on a daily basis.

Psalm 32:2-5) How does self-deceit operate with sin to enslave us? How does confession enable us to get free from sin? Why do we sometimes resist the truth about ourselves? What does it take to get us to see truth sometimes? Self-deceit is a protection mechanism that we use to shield against the pain of facing our sin. We then are bogged down by the thoughts of being out of fellowship with God. It' like a brick wall that we build, it affects our prayer life. When we confess and repent it tears down the separation between us and God. Unfortunately sometimes it takes loss of something important in our lives to get us to realize that we need to repent.

Daniel 5:22-24) In the New Testament, Jesus doesn't present God as legalistic, but as holy -- "hallowed be thy name." We are to be God-fearers. How do Christians commonly act irreverently in ways that would offend God? How have you changed your ways to conform to God's holiness? I believe as Christians in America we treat our Bibles and the church house lightly. Respect is not taught as much anymore. I think our speech also reflects our lack of holiness. The church profains God's covenants by accepting sinful behavior that is against His will. We have lost the knowledge of holiness.

Daniel 4:34-35) What does Nebuchadnezzar's confession tell us about God? Have you ever given a public testimony of what you have learned about God through your trials? What might your testimony sound like? God is eternal, his kingdom is eternal, He is above all creation, He is the King of heaven, He is sovereign. I have talked with individuals about God's work in my life, He never fails and when He answers prayer He takes care of more than we even think to ask for.

Daniel 4:30; 5:18-21) How does pride show itself in Nebuchadnezzar's life? In what ways does it show up in your life? Pride is tricky. How can pride mask itself with humility? As he looks over his kingdom he marvels at what he has built up, he does not let anyone give him council to keep him humble. I think pride can sneak up on you in ways that are subtle, an attitude or proud look. As a Christian the pit fall can be that we take pride in our humbleness.

Daniel 4:27) What must Nebuchadnezzar do to demonstrate that he renounces and repents of his sins? What must you do to demonstrate that you repent of your sins? For us, what does it mean to be kind to the poor? That was certainly within Nebuchadnezzar's ability to accomplish. Is it within your ability? In what way can God's decrees be conditional? Nebuchadnezzar needed to do what was right and to be kind to the poor. When you repent of your sins you must turn away from them. Being kind to the poor is giving when you see a need and not tuning away when you see needs. God has put a lot of conditional promises in His word. I call it the if cause, such as , If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land. 2 Ch 7:14.

Daniel 4:23-26) What does it mean to "acknowledge that Heaven rules"? In what ways is this hard for a king? In what ways is this hard for us? How do we sometimes deny by our actions that God is in charge of all? To acknowledge that heaven rules is to admit that God is in control of making or breaking people. A king with so much power would have a hard time realizing that God had decided who rules. It is hard for all of us to grasp this because it is easy to think we our in total control of our lives. When we don't take the time to acknowledge our creator and ask for direction it shows that we do not think God is in control of our lives.

Daniel 4:10-20) Is Daniel actually afraid to interpret Nebuchadnezzar's dream? Why? Why are we afraid to say the hard things that must be said to help our brothers and sisters? What can we do about it? It seems Daniel is afraid to interpret the dream because it is hard to tell someone bad news. He also may have feared for his life because of what he needed to tell him. However God had spared his life before so maybe not. It is difficult to say hard things because of the other persons reaction, we must always speak in love and make sure our motives are right with God.