farmboy

1. As has been stated so well before, a nation at war may soon meet disaster without a continuity of leadership. Hezekiah did what was right in the eyes of the Lord and trusted in the Lord. How awsome it would be to have that kind of leader. I would bet that Hezekiah became even more devoted and worked harder in God's name after this. It must have been something for the people to see this and to be lead in this way. 2. A continuation of the line of David. Hezekiah knew that only God could fulfill this promise, Hezekiah was allowed to be part of it. Was there a pureness of heart where Hezekiah's only concern was that God be honored?

1. A very powerfull recognition of who God is, His power and majesty, and there is one true God who created all. 2. Our Father - the God of Israel, enthroned between the cherubim-who are in heaven, The one and only true God, who created all: without taking this corner stone into our heart there is no faith. Without this we are too close to having faith in gods mentioned in v18. 3. Without this faith in our heart we are praying to the wind. Of course God has the ability, but we must know that. God's power, honor, majesty, love, must be taken into our heart. We must also know that He alone is God.

1. Hezekia is submitting to God's leadership and giving God's battle to Him. God will see in the message what we can't. God doesn't need us to protect his honor, He does that himself much better, we need to show faith and allow ourselves to be used by God to do His work. 2. Our wisdom is foolishness in God's eyes. It is God that was insulted not our honor. The honor, glory, power etc belongs to God. God will take care of things in the best way, his Holy way, not our foolish reactionary way. Submission and dependance on God. 3. In prayer before we start the day. By studying God's word. By doing these we are getting the guidance to handle issues God's way. But we must submit and follow His direction. God has given us direction in this passage; lay it all before Him and He will handle the battle. 4. A great big mess!!!!

1. To receive it we have to give it first no matter what it is. What does it say about our praise if we become so self centered that we don't give of what we are only a temporary steward. Strength, possesions, earnings, needs, experiences, and on and on are gifts from God. God, to whom all belongs, has given from his to us. Our praise becomes hollow and phony if we don't do likewise. 2. God created and gave all. 3. Our possesions are not to be worshiped. Our focus is on God and not else where. True joy is an obedient heart.

1. When we approach prayer with the heart typified by David we recognize God's greatness. We acknowledge that only God has the glory, honor, and might as we talk to him. For me the key is to keep this in mind as I break from prayer and go about my daily life. Also God's character is always his and unchanging no matter how we approach him; even when I prayer as if in ritual or as if following a formula because I have to. God's character doesn't change, but mine will, for good or bad, depending on my heart as I go to Him. 2. To me the Lord's Prayer is entirely a recognition of God's greatness. 3. Our God is an awsome God.

1. How do we praise God? Do we carry that praise with us as we go about the day? Or do we leave it inside or in this bible study as I have done this last week or 10 days. Do we praise and exalt God through the day by what do think and say. 2. By not doing so we are saying we don't buy into all this God stuff. That is a reflection of our heart. Our goose is cooked. 3-4. My thought train is what happens if we don't exalt God. A messed up heart is no place to be. To make a long story short my actions this last week or so did not praise or exalt God. The peace of heart that comes from that was missed.

1. I'm probably making an assumption that our hearts are in the right place, but; our prayer acknowledges the Allmighty God. That we can go before God without cleaning up (come as you are) to accept what he has for us. The only cleansing that is enough for God is with the blood of Christ. 2. Our heart 3. Self centered. No heart. Ceremonial, if I jump through the hoops I get the goodies.

1. The heart we had before salvation msut be broken down. The spirit must be guided by the Holy Spirit. We are a spirit being. Our guidance must not come from our own intellect. These barriers become broken when like David we hurt because that we have done wrong. That wrong being against the God who is always helping us in a forward direction. David was not sorrowful that he got caught or was facing punishment, he hurt because of what he did to God. Repentance and turning away from sin would be impossible without this. 2. How can we be pardoned or accept the need for pardon without the brokeness. Without brokeness we don't truly see the need nor will we accept a pardon. 3. A sacrifice of control and the belief that we aren't that bad. We have bought a brand new ultimate luxary car and without driving it, the keys are handed over to God and He does the driving. 4. Control. We aren't that bad. We think we can drive that car just fine until we wreck and maybe total it. We tend to think we don't do too bad and that our sins are too minor to be concerned about. How soon we forget that sin is sin and the penalty for sin is death. I was fornunate enough to work in law enforcement for a time. I believe the one thing that kept me from a multitude fights with bandits was one thing: They did wrong things and I did wrong things. Their wrongs were not worse than mine, just different.

Awhile back I thought it would be a lot easier if God would reach out and spank me when i messed up. Learning would sure be a lot easier. But that wouldn't develop a pure heart. David had that pure heart. David wasn't sorrowful or seeking pardon because he got caught or was going to be punished. David was sorrowfull because of what he did to God. At one time I did a lot of horse training, from the ground up. No matter how well, with gentlehands, i did my job or how easy the horse learned there was one catch. It didn't happen out of love. Everything the horse learned to do, even at the lightest cue, the response came because something uncomfortable would happen if it didn't. The horse couldn't have the pure heart because he learned out of punishment and reward not a sense of right and wrong. Thank God we are not animals. Praise God that he allows us to develop a pure heart. We can learn to be more like Jesus and do things out of love.

1&2. Yes. As was posted before when we accept the sacrafice that Jesus made for us and our need for it, the blood of Jesus cleans us and we start to grow a new pure heart. 3. this answer will come later today

1. No. David calls his sin what it is without excuse. David doesn't try to say his sin isn't that bad or that his sin isn't as bad as some one else. 2. No. David doesn't place himself above or below the mark. Sin is sin. I don't recall seeing a ranking of sins in scripture. As I understand it the penalty for any sin is death. You can't do a worse sin and be more dead. My sin is different than someone else, no better no worse. 3. We can't posses the grace of forgiveness for what we don't believe or acknowledge is wrong. If we don't accept that something is wrong and that we are wrong, we are saying that God is wrong.

1. We don't pray for pardon just in case it might work, we are not hedging our bets. We either believe God's word or we don't. We must have faith that God is God and there is no "if" to Him. God is not an unapproachable master, that we need to clean up for, so we can talk to him. Come as we are and ask forgiveness, for we can not clean up enough on our own. Trust (part of scripture's definition of love) that God is who He is and does what he says. 2. Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. Faith is based on God's word in scripture and the many forms He uses to impart scripture to us. 3. By loving God and spending time with Him. The more time we spend with God the more of His character we see and experience.

I find myself speachles. This subject has been tough for me for years. I had often wondered or questioned my faith because I wouldn't pray once and have the faith to let it go from there. I can't add to what has allready been written down.

1 & 2. Yes. Abraham's boldness is a strong statement of faith. Abraham demonstrated that he believes in God's instruction-teaching- grace. God does not sit on a throne granting audiance only to those who have earnedit or are good enough. Abraham understood that he(we) would never be good enough or earn that priviledege. Because of God's grace and by the power of that grace alone we can talk to God. 2. God is our Father. How could we be part of the family if we didn't talk to Him, prayer is that line of communication.

1. Abraham is well aware that he is nothing without God: I am nothing but dust and ashes; acknowledges that God is judge of all and that He doesn't have to listen to us or allow us to speak with Him. 2. Without humility pride enters in and we start believing that we are pretty special, and above needing anything from God. It becomes what we did, not what God has done through us. Boldness is the courage to apply what God has taught us.

It would be the easy way out(Lot?) for us to just simply say may your will be done and go on with no more thought to things. Abraham was not lazy, he took the time for the understanding of things of God. He took the time and effort to communicate with God, does not prayer truly deepen our understanding of God, and appeal to his understanding of God's character, God do I have it right?? God revealed his character to Abraham and expected him to act with boldness and trust in this revelation.

This is a real tough one for me to grasp. God told us to pray and left us with some help on how to. I have to agree that prayer makes us more Christ like. I don't begin to comprehend it all. The best I could explain to my kids was: our understanding of the things of God was like looking at a photograph, 2 demensional. God is 3 demensional or more. I have rough thoughts in my mind but they are not yet clear, will take more time meditating on God's word. I don't believe that God changes his mind. To me for God to change his mind would be to say "mistake" . God doesn't make mistakes. God is the same today as he was yesterday. We worship exactly the same God as Moses did, for there is only one God.

Thank you all for help helping me understand what for me was difficult to understand and answer!! PRAISE GOD!!! 1. Boldness, confidence, and concern for others based on a pureness of heart. Humbleness? 2. The only logic I understand is knowing God's word. 3. To pray the promises of God means that we know Him and have faith and trust in Him. Love? 4. I believe all prayers are answered. Sometimes yes, sometimes no, sometimes we wait for God's timing. 5. If we are praying the promises of God, we know what they are and know something about God and who he is. These questions for me are all closely related to one central point. For us it means study our bible. That is how we understand God's character, will, and essence. Moses didn't have the Bible. He had a different communication with God. Moses didn't have the benifit of studying the Bible and figuring it out, we do. With the Holy Spirit's guidance we can have that, minus the problems of pride and self rightousness. In each of our walks with Jesus there are differences, and the questions and answers have a different meaning. Let's be who God would have us be, and not try to be like someone who we think is cool. God created one Moses for his purpose. Praise God for what he did through Moses.

1. The people failed to trust God, lack of faith. God is always present with us even though we can't see Him. If but for a moment we look around us it is obvious His presence is there. If we ponder a minute what He created, it becomes impossible for us, the created, to fashion an image of the Creator. This is part of what the people did. A direct violation of Ex20:5-4. God created them. God delivered them from Egypt. God provided for them. Yet they decided to worship another being. God placed them perfectly to receive his blessing and get the most from it. They became impatient and unfaithful, instead deciding to worship anything that would give more. 2. We tend to forget that love is not an emotion. 1Cor13:4-7 tells us what love is. In modern society the trend is to focus on a loving(emotion) God. Let us not forget there is more to God! For God to be who He is anger must be a part of Him. Don't confuse holy anger, justice, love sadness, joy etc. with our human ideals. 3. Yes!! God makes no mistake or error!! Again for God to be God justice must be a part of Him. I know what I deserve, and it isn't the gift God has handed me at no cost. The people didn't have a book of scripture to ponder and study as we have. However, they were close to hearing God's own voice talk to them.

A thought just recently hit me that shook me to my knees. I seek independence because I want the glory, riches, and reverence that belongs only to God. Later I will share how that came about. farmboy

Are we not also to forgive ourselves?? Sometimes (many) I don't understand why, I try to do things just because God says. If this is off base please correct me false thinking. The Bible is not a set of rules and regulations. I have found that God's word is laid down as a benefit to me, not just a way to control me. If I remember to follow His word I am much better off and experience the joy of belonging to him. What helps me to put this in perspective is an acronym I heard. Basic Instruction Before Leaving Earth. This tends to be overly simplistic If our hands are overflowing with sin we don't have room for God to hand us his blessing. I truly wish I could just empty my hands completely and accept what God has to give me.

Initial reactionary thoughts: 1.I do believe that God forgives unconditionally. Asking forgiveness reminds me that I am not God and need His forgiveness. Asking forgiveness makes me aware of my sin and reminds that I am not perfect and can't go on doing what I feel like. 2.I cheat myself by unforgiveness. A peacefull heart comes to mind as well as other things that aren't there when clouded by unforgiveness. 3. In part see aboove. By not forgiving are we playing God and passing judgement on someone??

After seeing the Katrina disaster on the news it really makes me think about the difference between needs and wants or desires. How much do we forget about our spiritual needs. How often do we cast away God's gift when he supplies what is needed to meet that need. Is there a tendancy in us to think that we have to earn God's grace, love and what he does for us? Do we become afraid to speak of certain things with God because we aren't spiritually correct enough to approach his throne? Some might react by becoming independent and trying to do for themselves. Ride your own bronc sonny, nobody else can do it for you. It doesn't take long to get way out of line with this one. We become too indendent when we forget what God through us. It isn't what that darn pride says we did all by ourselves.

My thoughts/responses are taken from a personal perspective and I interchange we/I often. 1. We are taught from the beginning to be able to do for ourselves, think about what is going and just get it done. If you can't do it yourself you are a failure. Don't bother someone they have enough of their own to take of. We will be ridiculed by our helper for not being able to take of it or figure the problem out and fix it whether we have the right equipment or not. Too often the line gets blurred as to what we can do and what we need help with: tie our own shoes or needing someone to help. (PRIDE) 2. See above (PRIDE) 3. We must recognize that our abilities and what we have is a gift from God. It all comes from Him. Our understanding of the things of God is a gift from Him. I don't quite understand in my own thought but, Jesus said "I am the bread of life". Satan's fall came because of pride, and that pride made him think he is the equal of God. oops!! We can't fall in the trap of thinking (getting lazy) that it will come to us anyway, we deserve it and have it coming. What we deserve is eternal damnation. Take to remember God it all comes from Him and is all His anyway.

1. To me it is like asking for help in submission. God's kingdom should be reflected in how we conduct our lives. If God's glory can be reflected to the world in how we play the hand we are dealt that would be something. 2. The thoughts of man are foolishness and troublesome. God's will being done is nothing short of perfection despite what we think we want. 3. Again submission. if we don't live it do we really believe it? Help!!!!!! I have been struggling with a definition for repent. What does it mean??