love.serve.know

Hi: My name is LaVerne and I live in Georgia. This is the third study for me and I enjoyed the other two. I have four grown sons and three grandsons.

The law is all about loving God and loving others and the "Golden Rule" helps us to honor God and honor others

God's relationship to us is that of a loving, caring Father. God's response to us always has our best interest at heart. A cynical view of God says that He will hurt us or trick us when we ask unwisely. When we understand that God loves us we can trust that He will provide the very best for us.

The lesson that is taught is that when something is important enough we won't give up until we get results. The commandment in Matthew 7: 7-8 also says to keep on pursuing if something is important.

Ask, seek and knock are all actions that we do in relation to God, our Father. The word ask is a prayer request. For example, I may ask that God will show me ways to love Him more. Then I may seek, through scripture, God's will for my life and once I find a ministry that is His will, I may knock on the door to move into that area. The present tense imperative means that we continue with what we are doing

In Jesus' day dogs and pigs were both unclean animals. Neither holy food nor pearls were meant to be eaten and both were special. Believers would not continue to share the gospel when people rejected it. After the Jews rejected the gospel they began to share with Gentiles.

It's funny to think of me with something large in one eye trying to help someone with something small in their eye (how could I even see to do it; aside for the pain and the feeling that I need help with my bigger problem first?) I think Jesus compares a speck and a plank because we have a tendency to think that our sins are not as bad as they really are and that other's sins are worse. The speck might represent a bad thought and the plank might represent acting upon a bad thought. It's okay to remove the speck after the plank had been taken care of and it's not okay while the plank is still there.

If we measure out judgment with a critical spirit we can expect to be critically judged in return. According to Luke if we measure positive things in large amounts e will be blessed abundantly. We should be generous to others instead of judgmental

I have criticized others and I think the attitude is "I would never do that" - judgmental. When I have that attitude I must confess it and show love.

Yes, humor is intended. The point is that we have enough to deal with each day and often the "troubles" of tomorrow never materialize. God wants us to relax and trust Him.

We are commanded to seek God and put His kingdom before seeking anything else - to put this desire ahead of all other desires. Seeking food and clothing should not be as important as seeking God and His kingdom. God has promised to take care of us,

He was talking to His children, who can trust Him to provide. The pagans are not His children and He has no obligation to provide for children of the world. Before I ever ask for something He knows I need it, but He wants me to ask - to have communication with Him. Also, if I am in the Word and praying, I will be asking "according to His will". We will be in agreement.

The phrase appears 4 times. Worry and trust are opposites. If we trust God to supply our needs we will not worry about things

I think His point is that God is sovereign and in total control. We are His children and He will take care of us and we should trust Him.

If a person risks relationship and a close walk with God to have material possessions he/she will be disappointed and unhappy with the result of these choices. Rejecting Christ's free gift of salvation (for any reason) will **** a person. When the rich young ruler walked away from Jesus because he delighted more in his riches than in following Christ, Jesus said, "it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God". (He also said "With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible).

The key word is "seeking" wealth and putting the acquiring of wealth ahead of everything else. Then money becomes your God. Wealthy people can serve God. I know people who give much of their own money to ministry.

One stores up treasures in heaven by doing God's work; being used as an instrument in the redeemers hand. Heaven is our eternal home. Nothing we have on earth will last. We are uncomfortable with this concept because it feels like "works" instead of grace. We can see earthly treasures and we cannot see heavenly treasures

The treasures that Jesus wants us to focus on are the gifts He gives - love, joy, peace, longsuffering, etc. All material things will pass away. This is a thread that runs throughout the Bible

Jesus condemned him for covetousness. He commands us to be good stewards of what He gives us and this includes helping the poor and needy. The key verse is "be on your guard against all covetousness". We should rely on God for our "daily bread". He has control of everything in our lives. The sermon on the mount says that if God gives us good things we should be wise and share, but our whole goal in life should not be to get possessions.

I think we should ask God, when we pray, to real to us our hidden sins and remind us of sins we committed. When He does reveal them we should confess them and turn away from them. At the same time we need to carefully examine ourselves, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, to see if we have not forgiven someone else. God will only bless us and forgive us in proportion to how much we forgive others.

I think asking for help is a humbling experience. When we seek to be independent of God we are putting ourselves on the throne of our heart instead of God. Everything belongs to God and in an instant all that we have could be taken away - look at Job!

Until Jesus returns we are living "in the world, but not of the world". We so easily do our own will. Our prayer should be that God's will become our will. We should live submitting to what God wants minute by minute

The way we respect and cherish our relationship with God hallows His name. Saying God's name in anger, as a curse, desecrates it. I think our attitude of humility and love when we begin to pray hallows the Father.

We need to pray to be in agreement with God and to feel a sense of connection. Our prayer does edify and encourage us, but I'm sure God gets joy from seeing our hearts desire to spend time with Him.

_ We won't be thinking about who is watching or what they think of us. We can focus on God and not be distracted by what we are saying. _ Public prayer is not appropriate when it's something I need to deal with between me and God. _ Flowery prayers are based on the words rather than the intent of the heart.