Lisa Rupert

Q4. How can prayer change God's mind without conflicting with the doctrine of the Immutability of God? First, since everything is written, then we as humans see it as a change. It could be a test. To see if we are following the will of God and not our own wills. Everything in this existence has been constructed to serve the will of God. So when Moses' appeal to God, I believe it was to show his loyalty to God's will. Not to prove that he could change God's mind. As we experience living, there are circumstances that appear to be bad but with a positive end result. Everything on this earth works in accordance with the will of God. Can God answer a prayer for something outside of the scope of his will? God can not even hear prayers that are out of his will. He can not even hear the prayers of the unrighteous. He answers all prayers of a righteous man with a yes or no answer. It might not be the answers we search for but he does answer us. Without even releasing it sometimes our prayers are selfish and are not of his will.

[/b]Q3. How can a wrong understanding of determinism and predestination keep us from the kind of gutsy prayer that Moses prayed? [/b] God has both foreknown and determinined all things from all eternity. Everything is predetermined. The following scriptures should explain what I am saying: [FONT=Courier]"In your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them" (Ps. 139:16). And Job says that man's "days are determined, and the number of his months is with you, and you have appointed his bounds that he cannot pass" (Job 14:5) Jeremiah, to whom God said, "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations" (Jer. 1:5).Proverbs 16:1 affirms, "The plans of the mind belong to man, but the answer of the tongue is from the LORD." Predestination and determinism can keep us from the kind of prayer that Moses prayed if we believe that it doesn't matter weather we pray or not because it is already determined. But this is not true weather we want to believe this or not because it is determined that we will do exactly what we do. There are those who want to feel that they are in full control of their destinys but as scripture has shown us we are not. That God is in full control and that we should follow the scriptures. I believe that prayer lets God know that we want to worship, praise him and know him. We want to communicate with our Father, our creator. Not just praying for something, but keeping an openline of communications with God. To let him know he matters in our life.[/font] What do you call a belief that our prayers make no difference to God's response? I call this kind of belief one that is not in line with God's word. Remember as James tells us, "The effectual fervant prayer of a righteous man availeth much. Either we believe it and will act on it, or we are passive and unbelieving in prayer. God knows the hearts of man. I believe that our prayer does make a difference to God's response. It lets him know that we want him in our lives. We want him to be a part of our every existance. We acknowledge through prayer that no matter the outcome we know he has our best interest at heart and the conclusion will be a conclusion of love and not of evil. Good will prevail even though this is not always easy to see but belief helps you know that it will all work out in the end and God will prevail over all as he has promised in his word.

Q2. What aspects of Moses' prayer of intercession should we emulate in our own prayers? I BELIEVE THAT MOSES' MINDSET WAS MATCHING GOD'S WILL BECAUSE REMEMBER GOD HAD TO PERSUADE MOSES TO DO HIS WILL WHICH WAS TO ASSIST HIM IN KEEPING HIS PROMISE TO THE PEOPLE. SO MOSES WAS THINKING IN HEART AND IN MIND WHAT GOD'S INTEREST WAS WHICH HAD ALSO BECAME MOSES' INTEREST. I BELIEVE THAT GOD KNEW MOSES WAS GOING TO SHOW HIM THAT HE WAS ON THE RIGHT PATH, THAT HIS LOVE FOR THE PEOPLE WAS THE SAME LOVE THAT GOD HAS FOR HIS PEOPLE. MOSES PASSED THE TEST. THAT IS WHAT GOD LOOKS FOR IN HIS PEOPLE. GOD KNEW MOSES WOULD REMIND HIM OF THE MISSION HE WAS ASSIGNED TO, WHICH GAVE GOD GREAT FAITH IN HIM JUST LIKE HE HAD IN HIS SERVANT JOB. SO IF WE KEEP GOD'S WILL IN OUR HEARTS AND MIND WE WILL ALSO SERVE HIM AS FAITHFUL SERVANTS. AND WE WILL BE ON OUR RIGHTFUL PATHS IN SERVING AND WORSHIP AND PRAISING OUR FATHER. Upon what logical grounds does Moses offer this bold appeal to God? HE OFFERED THIS BOLD APPEAL TO GOD BY REMINDING HIM WHAT THE PROMISE WAS, TO REMIND HIM THAT THESE ARE THE DESCENDANTS OF ABRAHAM, ISAAC, AND ISRAEL. THESE ARE THE PEOPLE WHO WERE DESTITUTE AND CRIED OUT TO GOD FOR SOME TIME. GOD HAD PROMISED ABRAHAM, ISAAC AND ISRAEL HIS SERVANTS THAT HE "WOULD MAKE THEIR DESCENDANTS AS NUMEROUS AS THE STARS IN THE SKY AND WOULD GIVE THEM THIS LAND PROMISED TO THEM TO BE THEIR INHERITANCE FOREVER." What do you think it means to "pray the promises of God"? TO PRAY THE PROMISE OF GOD MEANS TO PRAY IN THE WILL OF GOD. TO BASE PRAYERS UPON HIS PROMISES, CHARACTER, RIGHTEOUSNESS, AND PRECEDENTS. How does knowing the Bible help you get your prayers answered? THE BIBLE IS THE WORD OF GOD. BY KNOWING THE WORD OF GOD WE CAN PRAY USING THE SCRIPTURES AS OUR GUIDE. THE BIBLE TEACHES US HOW TO KNOW, COMMUNICATE AND SPEAK AND SERVE OUR FATHER THROUGH HIS WILL. How does this help our prayers be within God's will? BECAUSE IT INSTRUCTS US ON WHAT OUR FATHER'S WILL IS. IT TEACHES US HIS CHARACTER, THE LOVE HE HAS FOR US, HIS POWER AND GLORY. IT PROVIDES US WITH THE MEANS TO UNDERSTAND OUR FATHER AND IT HELPS US TO UNDERSTAND OUR EXISTENCE. IT GIVES US OUR TRUE PURPOSE. DOES A CHILD WANT TO BE BORN WITHOUT KNOWING IT'S PARENTS? A CHILD WANTS TO KNOW EVERYTHING ABOUT HIS/HER PARENTS. AS CHILDREN WE ASK A MILLION QUESTIONS AND THE QUESTION ABOUT OUR TRUE FATHER IS ALSO SOMETHING WE WANT TO KNOW ALL ABOUT. SO COMMUNICATING WITH GOD THROUGH PRAYERS IS THE WAY TO ESTABLISH A RELATIONSHIP WITH OUR ONE TRUE GOD (FATHER).

Q1. Read Exodus 32:1-14. What had the people done that was so bad? The people became impatient while Moses was away and created visible gods ( golden calf idol) like they were use to worshipping. It was hard for these people at the beginning because they didn't know what or who to trust, they felt like foreigners in an unknown land. Moses their leader was away, so what does one do when they become insecure with their current positions, they go back to their old familar habits. How can a loving God be angry? God is angry at sin. He is holy and he is separate from sin. Sin is ugly. His nature is oppose to injustice, sin, and human degradation. Sin offends God's character. Is God's sentence to destroy Israel and raise up a new nation through Moses justified? Yes, everything God does is justified. Especially with something as offensive as SIN. Remember SIN goes against everything he is. The question is will he do it knowing he is a loving God and he loves his people?

Q4. Why should we continually ask forgiveness? We should continually ask for forgiveness because we are sinners. There is no perfect man on earth. So forgiveness is something we must ask for continually. How can unforgiveness on our part block God's blessing? Because God is forgiving and we must live in the example of Jesus who demonstrated the ultimate form of forgiveness. God forgives and we must also forgive in order to receive forgiveness from our father. How can unforgiveness block God's forgiveness? If we don't forgive than we can not be forgiven by our father.

Why do we seek to be independent of asking anyone for help? Most would like to believe that they are in control of their lives their situations, and the events that surrounds their exisitance. They didn't have to humble themselves to ask anything of anyone. Why do we seek to be independent of God? Mostly because we don't want to feel that we've had to rely on anyone for anything because we are in control of providing for ourselves and our families. We like the prize at the end of the day knowing we were self sufficiant in providing our needs. These are the folks that disregard humility. Why should we ask God to "give" us this day our dail bread so long as we can earn a longivig for ourselves? By requesting that God "give" us this...our daily bread we can guarantee that he is in control of our lives and he directs us on the correct paths.

Thou Kingdom come: We are asking that God's plans for us on this earth are completed. Thou Will be done: That God's ultimate will, plans, and decisions are done. So that we can no longer be a part of sin instead God's will shall triumph throughout this earth.