PATCH

Have you ever prayed for a fellow believer that he or she might be "filled with all the fullness of God"? No I have not but now I am motivated to begin praying this prayer for myself and others. What would you be praying for with that kind of prayer? I pray I and those I am praying for will emulate Jesus - seriously! How does this prayer relate to Ephesians 5:27 and Colossians 1:28? We will lead holy lives and when the time comes, God will find us faithful.

Our undertanding of God's love is basic, at the very foundation level. Because of our humanity we can never understand the love of Christ. Yet, we have to pray for an understanding which surpasses human comprehension so that we would not continue to live our christian lives as though we are orphans. Once we understand the fullness of His love for us, our walk with God will be very different. It will be a trusting, faith-filled relationship between father and child. Out of his love for us, we will also be able to love others unconditionally. God is love - there is no end to Christ's love for anyone.

Paul prays for the inner man to be strengthened so that we will have the power to live a full christian life with Jesus living in our hearts. The inner man is where the Holy Spirit dwells. Our flesh weakens everyday and gives in to temptation. We have to pray for the strengthening of our inner man so that by the power of the Holy Spirit, our inner man which is being renewed daily will be stronger than our flesh. This will help us overcome temptations, walk in obedience and have a deeper relationship with God. Even when our outer bodies grow old and are dying, our inner being will remain strong and does not die. Jesus does not want to come into our hearts as a temporary guest. Paul prays that Christ dwells in our hearts so that he will be our Lord and master. Then we will experience the fullness of a christian life because the Holy Spirit will be counsellor, leading and guiding us. Jesus is a gentleman - He does not force his way into our lives and hearts. At the point of salvation, soe of still do not want Jesus to dwell in our hearts. We are too uncomfortable with the small still voice and we continue living our degenerate lives. So we like Paul must pray for Christ to dwell in our hearts.

Why is a revelation of "his incomparably great power for us who believe" essential to a vital faith? If we know that the same power that raised Jesus from the dead is in us, we will have "nothing is impossible" faith. We will not be praying and yet be wondering if God is going to answer us. Instead our prayers will be faith-filled and highly charged. When we are confronted with problems, we will not be overly anxious. We might still worry - that is human. But we will have the confidence that our faith and our prayers will make the devil stop in his tracks. We will lead victorious christian lives. How do you develop this faith in yourself? How do you pray for it for others? By working on the first 4 questions in this study, I have become very motivated to concentrate on the scriptures we have touched on especially verses 17 - 23. I am going to make sure these verses get into my head and I am going to use these new-found revelations in my prayers. I have always been praying for my children to walk in ways of God but now i am going to pray for them to actually know him. This way they do not have to piggy-back on my faith. They can confidently go to God for any help they need and they will experience spiritual growth.

What is the result in prayer and faith if believers think that God is poverty-stricken? Why bother to pray and have faith then - after all God wont be able to help us. We will all be sucked into the world system because that is where we will go to get help. How does knowledge of a "glorious inheritance" motivate our lives? Our prayers? We will be motivated to persevere even when we face difficult times because such times are only temporary. We become confident of who we are in the Kingdom of God and nothing should actually faze us. Our prayers will be filled with faith and confidence that God hears us and answer us. How can you pray for others to glimpse this inheritance? We have to pray as Paul prayed that they will be filled with wisdom and understanding and they would know God.

How has your Christian "hope" changed your way of living? Now, I am not so worried about my future and my children's future. I used to fret over everything - sleepness nights, no appetite when things go wrong. Whenever things go wrong, I used to run to my pastors and my christian friends for help, opinions and prayer. God always delivers me and because of his deliverance, I have more and more hope. I still worry from time to time but when I do, I take the issue to the Lord and hope tells me He will help me. The outcome and the timing may be completely unexpected but things always work out in the end. What is the result of Christians with only a meager or minute hope? They become pessimistic and bitter, or even bored. They become very difficult to talk to and reason with. They depress those around them. Their view of God becomes negatively skewed and they do not enjoy their christian walk at all. They are christians but their duty is to attend church every Sunday, and try not to break the 10 commandments. How would you pray for hope to be borne in others? I pray for God to reveal himself to them, to water their hardened hearts and when they are in church, the sermon would speak to their situation.

What do you learn from Paul's manner of prayer for the Ephesian believers? When we pray (for ourselves and for others), we do not only pray for our needs and/or the request we need God to answer. We should not only know about God ie have head knowledge. Even unbelievers know about God. But we as believers should pray spiritual growth which is to have a deeper understanding and greater revelation of who God is, and intimacy with God. Only then can we say we have a relationship with God and our walk will be fulfilling and exciting, as well. If Christians stopped praying for people to receive a revelation of God, would people come to know God on their own? Would God work in them at all? Yes, they will come to know God on their own if they prayed for themselves. God is merciful. Even when nobody prayed, God has revealed Himself to many people who were deperate and at the brink of giving up. Afterall Jesus is at the right hand of the Father, interceding for us so surely God will work in all of us. How important is this kind of prayer? Very very important. If we do not pray this prayer, then we become either bored, stiff, lost or dead christians (if we can even be called christians). God appears to be unreachable and Christianity becomes a once a week event.

Why is continual asking, seeking, and knocking so essential to our looking forward to the Kingdom? God answers our prayers in his own time and in his own way. By being persistent in prayer, we grow in our walk with God. Our faith increases if we do not give up. And whilst we are asking, seeing and knocking, God will reveal more of Himself to us. Why do we give up so easily? 1) We have become too demanding and we expect God to answer us according to our timeline. We give up when He does not answer us immediately. 2) Some of us are too worried and ansxious to wait upon the Lord so we take matters into our own hands - we think God is too small to handle our big problem 3) Some of us do not have enough faith to wait How do we gain boldness and persistence in prayer? We must have faith in God and faith comes by hearing and reading the Word of God. We must also come to the realization of who we are in the Kingdom of God. If we are aware that we are God's children and He is keen to answer our prayers according to His will, we will be bold and persistent in our prayer.

No, Jesus did NOT mean that we cannot seek wealth and God simultaneously. After all God is the one who gave us power to create wealth (Deut 8:18). There are many people in the bible who were wealthy for example Job, Abraham, Jacob, Isaac, Joseph, etc. They were all highly blessed by God. When Jesus said we could not serve both God and money, he was stating a fact. And the fact is money should not take the place of God. We are to trust God for our every need even though we may have a very healthy bank balance that provides for our every need and want. Our focus should be that God is our provider, we are dependent on Him and all we have comes from him and belongs to him. This way, we will not panicked if we lose the high flying job that pays the impressive salary, the bank which keeps our bank deposits go bankrupt, or the value of our extensive portfolios of stocks and bonds depreciate significantly. Of course wealthy people can serve God. If fact, God blessed them with wealth to be a channel of blessing to others. There is a tremendous amount of work in God's kingdom that they can contribute to with their wealth.

As disciples, we are good soil for the growth of the word or message of the Kingdom when we receive God's word into our hearts and our lives are transformed according to the Word. However, we must receive the Word with discernment as seeds of strange and wrong teachings can also be tossed in to the field of good soil. We are to water the Word (good soil) with prayer, faith, fellowship with other sound believers, good works and most importantly living a life completely yielded to the Holy Spirit. Good soil can also be hardened and be weed-infested. Therefore we must be on our guard against complacency and pride, and be watchful over the company (even christian company) that we keep. Making good use of our God-given gifts will also make us good soil. We have to diligently seek God for what he has called us to do, and do it well. Not all of us are called to be in the fore front of the church and its various ministries. Some of us are called to do small things. Whatever we are asked to do, we are to do it joyfully for God. The 30-fold, 60-fold and 100-fold is determined by our obedience and faithfulness, as well as God' grace.

In my opinion, all 3 are dangerous. I would not rank them in any order. All 3 can make us take our focus away from Jesus. Many people with riches (wealth) think they obtain their wealth through our own efforts when actually it is God who gave them the power to get wealth. They think that just because they have money and loads of it, they are untouchable and their lives will always be problem free because their money can help them get out of any difficult situation. Thus they do not have faith in God. Others enjoy having money so much they spend their time over working to increase their wealth, and spending little or no time with God at all. As long as we are still breathing we will always have worries. For some, worrying becomes a way of life and they spend most or all of their time worrying. They become very negative people, difficult to live with and be friends with. Instead of bringing their problems to God and trusting him with it, they spend time worrying about their worries. Whatever faith they have in God will diminish over time because of their worries. When we spend too much time seeking pleasures, we become spiritually bankrupt. We put ourselves and our desires first - we do not deny ourselves and put Jesus or others first. We become insular and selfish, and even greedy.

No Jesus did not get special treatment as the Son of God. Jesus released his own desire and embraced the will of the Father. God's will still had to be carried out but God knew Jesus was agonizing so he sent an angel to strengthen him. It is the same with us. When we need help, all we have to do is to cry out to God who will certainly help us in his own creative ways.

When Jesus prayed "not my will, but yours be done," was the Father pleased? Yes, the Father was pleased when Jesus prayed for His will to be done. Although Jesus preferred for the cup to be removed, he still yielded wholeheartedly to the Father's plan. Why is the Father not pleased when we are passive and uncaring and dispassionate in our prayers that his will be done? When we are passive, uncaring and dispassionated in our prayers that his will be done, God is not pleased because we are not even bothered about the way we are to pray. It is as if we are saying "what will be will be". We do not bother to find out about his character, his promises, his names, the way he has answered prayers in the past, and make our petitions accordingly. What is required for us to pray the prayer of submission with authenticity? We can go to God and tell him what we want. However, we must surrender our desires to God. God may choose not to answer our requests or the answer may be completely unexpected. Whatever the outcome may be, we must be willing to accept it and know that God's answer is always the best even though we may not understand or like it.

Jesus knew he had to drink from the cup of wrath, the cup which was to be poured out on sinners. He was bearing the wrath of God in the sinner's place. Of course he was intense about it - he alone knew the full measure of God's wrath, and the filth and weight of all the sins that would be laid on him. These sins were the ones that separated men from God. He did not want to be separated from God. When Jesus walked on earth, he was all-man, he was not God. Therefore he agonized over drinking from the cup of wrath. He was not resisting the Father's will. He knew this day would come and he was aware of the painful death he had to suffer. He was praying for God's grace and mercy for man, for God's grace for him to go through the painful punishment for man and for himself not to be separated from God.

The spiritual atmosphere was dark, intensed and highly emotional. Both Jesus and his disciples were overwhelmed with sorrow. Jesus asked his disciples to pray so that they would not fall into temptation. Jesus knew that his disciples would give in to their fear and confusion and the actions they take would be based on their own understanding. It would be as if they would forget his teachings and that the miracles they witnessed had never happened. The disciples were to pray that the Father's will be done, that they will trust him no matter what happens and that they will not be tempted to do things according to what they see and feel. Unfortunately, the disciples gave in to their anguish and despair and were not able to pray diligently. The Lord's prayer is worded Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done ..... Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. A spiritual warfare was taking place. Jesus needed to connect with God (not that he was ever disconnected and prayer was the only way. He wanted to do God's will but the anguish and sorrow was too overwhelming. He had to be alone to draw strength from God.

God is holy and pure. We are sinful. Our sins separate us from God. Although Jesus paid in full the price for our sins, his message to everyone is "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near". He will come back to judge! In order to turn to Jesus, we must turn away from our sins. It is a conscious effort on our part. Repentance sets us free from all that binds us - guilt, condemnation, shame, etc. If we choose not to repent, Jesus cannot reign in us. An unrepentant heart is hardened and disobedient. It disconnects us from Jesus. Baptism is a symbolic representation that we have died to our old sinful way of living and the new life we now embrace, we live in Jesus. It is an act of obedience.

Both actions involved immersion. The difference is that John's action was immersion in water, and the Messiah's in the Holy Spirit. Water Baptism is the outward demonstration that one has died to the old and sinful life, and is now beginning a new life in Jesus. Baptism by Holy Spirit equips and enables the believer to live a more victorious Christian life. Yes I long to be overwhelmed by the Holy Spirit, and I will be if I spend more time with God, praying and reading His word. Then only will I be sensitive to His promptings. Deliberate sinning, stubborness, disobedience and leading a superficial Christian life will prevent the Holy Spirit from working in my life.

John's baptism involved an act of repentance, purification and forgiveness of sins. This did not go well with the Jews who considered themselves deeply religious and extremely righteous. Since they were Abraham's children, they could not very well be sinners. To them, John's baptism was meant for the gentiles who were all sinners. Those who welcomed John's baptism were those who were cut to the core by John's message of repentance and responded to the once and for all turning from the old way of life to the new. They humbled themselves by being baptized publicly like a non-Jew. These people have in the past taken many repeated ritual cleansings but have never experienced the cleansing that only John's baptism offered. Those who resisted were those who felt that since they were already leaders in the religious and political arenas - the Pharisees and the Sadducees. They were knowledgeable about the Law, there was no need for them to participate in something which was meant for those who were despised in society.

What happens when people adopt the Christian faith without repenting of their known sins? When people do not repent of their known sins, their conversion is an outward one only and they are actually rebelling against God with their disobedience. Their hearts (and therefore the conduct and attitudes) are not changed. They deceive themselves. They will not experience the fullness of being a child of God - they will continue to get stuck in the rut they have put themselves in. They will be condemned as sinners when the Lord returns. [/i] Why do people avoid repentance? They want to continue living life their own way. They are enjoying their sins too much. The world and all its foolishness teaches us that if we live a righteous life, we are boring people who are missing out on life. Some people are even embarrassed to change their sinful ways because they do not wish to be laughed at by their friends. Others think they can sin now and repent when they are old and dying. What percentage of Christians today do you think are unrepentant, unprepared in heart? A very high percentage - unfortunately even those who call themselves leaders.

What danger is Nehemiah in? Nehemiah was considered a servant and as a servant, he was not supposed to reveal his feelings which in this case was sadness. He was supposed to mask it and continue with his job. Furthermore when questioned by the King, Nehemiah spoke the truth which was in a way blaming the King for the dreadful situation that Jerusalem was in. The King could have him killed. 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 spent 4 months in prayer, fasting and weeping before the Lord. I think he prayed quickly and silently before he answered the King so that God will direct his answers. He was not answering according to his flesh. His short and sharp prayers were also an extension of the prayers he prayed during the 4 months. He already had a "God-connection" where this issue is concerned - therefore he was confident that God heard his arrow prayers.