jdjohnson_74

- How can a wrong understanding of determinism and predestination keep us from the kind of gutsy prayer that Moses prayed? A wrong understand of predestination will be basically saying "I won't take any action to affect the outcome of what God wants to be done." That isn't what God wants us to be doing. He wants us to be able to affect the lives of our friends and family in a positive way. To be able to show the love of Christ, we must be able to express that love. And to do that, we must be able to come to our Father and plead with Him to change our friends and families hearts, to soften them to God's will. - What do you call a belief that our prayers make no difference to God's response? I would call a belief that our prayers make no difference to God's response a lack of faith. Jesus, Himself, told the Roman soldier that "As you have believed, it will be done for you." If a person doesn't believe that their prayers will be answered, then they won't be.

- What had the people done that was so bad? They created an idol to worship instead of putting their faith in God. - How can a loving God be angry? If God didn't love His people so much, then He wouldn't have gotten so angry. - Is God's sentence to destroy Israel and raise up a new nation through Moses justified? I believe it was. The people knew better, and they broke God's law. The wages of sin is death.

-Why should we continually ask forgiveness? Because we, as people, are continually sinning. We are not perfect, and God understands us, but He has also set out the Law. Jesus said that if a person even thinks about breaking one of the Laws, then he has already done it in his mind, and is therefore guilty of sin. -How can unforgiveness on our part block God's blessing? Unforgiveness blocks God's blessings from us because we are not following His commands. If we, as parents, take away a child's toy, it is to teach that child a lesson. Withholding a part of His blessing is God's way of disciplining us, to teach us a lesson. -How can unforgiveness block God's forgiveness? If we are not willing to forgive others, what makes anyone think that they would deserve forgiveness? Granted, nobody actually does deserve forgiveness, but God still gives it as a gift. And what God does give, He also has the right to take away.

- Why do we seek to be independent of asking anyone for help? Most of us are taught as children that we should be able to support ourselves an adult and to be able to take pride in the things that we can do for ourselves. People want to be proud of the things that they can accomplish on their own, so they don't want to ask someone else for help. -Why do we seek to be independent of God? A lot of people don't want to be dependant on God because if you are dependant on Him, then you will have to follow His "rules". People would rather follow their own rules straight into destruction, than follow a 2,000+ year old set of rules that most people believe to be "out-dated". -Why should we ask God to "give" us daily bread so long as we can earn a living for ourselves? Because we can't even breathe without God allowing it, let alone earn our own living.

-In what sense are we asking that the Father's kingdom should come? We are asking that the Father's kingdom should come in the present tense. Meaning we should be praying that as we are saying these words, we are looking for Jesus to be coming down from Heaven in all His glory and expecting Him at any time of the day or night. -Why are we asking for the Father's will to be done here on earth? When I ask for God's will to be done here on earth, it is so that I can see the results of God's plans. I know that this sounds selfish at first, but I enjoy seeing God's love at work in the lives of my friends, family, neighbors, and everyone that I meet. It really makes me feel good knowing that when my life is in line with God's plans, there is so much more good that come from it than what I would be able to accomplish on my own. -How should this prayer affect our living? We should be focusing less on ourselves and more on other people. Matthew 10:16-42 lists all of the things that Jesus said that we should be focusing on. And when we focus on these things, living becomes much easier.

- What about our lives and words "hallows" the name of our Father? To me, "hallows" in the context and explination that is given in the context of the bible study means that we are to live holy lives because God, our Father, is holy. We should be "loving God first and foremost and loving our neighbors as ourselves" because that is what Jesus said we are to always do. The way that we should be doing that is by showing others that we love them, not just saying it. We should be treating others with the respect that they deserve as God's children. If we wouldn't want someone to treat our children badly, then we shouldn't be treating anyone else badly. - What desecrates and besmirches it? Treating others like they aren't worth the time that it takes to just say "Hi, How are you" and then spending just a minute or two with them desecrates the name of the Father, in my opinion. We are called as children of God to try to help our brothers and sisters. By not spending a few minutes with them, we aren't doing what we are told to do. - How should we "hallow" the Father when we begin to pray? We should be clearing our hearts and minds before we begin to pray. By focusing all of our attention toward God, we can, and should, expect God to focus all of His attention on us.

Hi everyone, I'm John in Lapeer, Michigan. I have been studying the Bible now for about 5 years on my own and am going through a really rough spot in my life. I have been feeling more and more lately that God is answering my prayers, but I am looking to learn more about how to pray the way that God wants me to. This is also my first on-line Bible study, so if I don't catch on too quickly, I may need some help.