munroron

When Hezekiah laid everything out before God, it was a demonstration that even though he and his city were immediately threatened the real attack was a spritual one against God. Hezekiah was reasonably sure he could not win the physical battle and he knew for sure he could not fight the spiritual one. Hezekiah recognized that a military defeat would represent a spiritual defeat in the eyes of the world. As a man of God, this was perhaps an even greater concern to Hezekaih than the physical defeat of his city. There are certain parallels in our own lives. Satan seeks to attack us and defeat us so that the name of the Lord will be ridiculed in the eyes of the world. We must not, of course, adopt the attitude that "the devil made me do it" and use that to sidestep our own personal responsibility for our sinfull actions. With this in mind however, we would perhaps deal with sin issues, especially those which could totally defeat us and render us useless to God, in a different manner. There are times when we need to lay everything out before God. We would acknowledge our own sinfulness and seek forgiveness. We would also acknowledge that we are under satan's attack and that he wants to defeat and destroy us so that God's name will be brought down. I find this encouraging as I face difficult attacks in my own life and from this perspective see the victory coming in God's hand and in His perfect time. I am no longer bearing the burden of responsibility for victory.

Hi, I'm Ron. I live in British Columbia, Canada. I have enjoyed several of these studies in the past and am looking forward to this one. I look forward to learning more about prayer and how to pray more effectively.

The NIV defines this faith as "the God given capacity to trust in Christ for salvation". If this is accurate, then our faith is equal to Peter's since it is resonable to believe that God gives this faith to all equally. I think the real question is whether or not we regard it as "precious" as Peter did. We tend to be very complacent about our faith and almost regard it as something we ourselves have done and not something that God through His graciousness has enabled us to do. When we see it as a gift from God and recognize that we are totally undeserving of it it becomes truly precious.