Hi ladies!
This is the recap for lesson 1 part 2, including the scripture references. I pray you find it helpful in your study and prayer/worship times with the Lord.
We reminded ourselves of these truths about the God we are pursuing-
God is GOOD
God LOVES us
God is ALWAYS with us
God HEARS us
God wants to SPEAK into our LIVES!
AND we added this truth to our reminder:
GOD wants us to DRAW near to HIM!
Scripture 1- Ps 4:1-5
Answer me when I call to you,
my righteous God.
Give me relief from my distress;
have mercy on me and hear my prayer.
2 How long will you people turn my glory into shame? How long will you love delusions and seek false gods[b]?[c]
3 Know that the LORD has set apart his faithful servant for himself;
the LORD hears when I call to him.
4 Tremble and[d] do not sin;
when you are on your beds,
search your hearts and be silent.
5 Offer the sacrifices of the righteous
and trust in the LORD
In distress, David cries out to GOD for help and rescue
David expects God to answer His prayers! He bases his expectation on God’s RIGHTEOUSNESS.
God created us to be emotional. LOVE is an emotion…. We don’t have to deny our emotions , and we also don’t have to allow our perspective of GOD be affected by our emotions. How can we utilize our EMOTIONS in prayer? POUR it out to GOD! HE can handle whatever we give Him in prayer!
Scripture 2: Psalm 5: 1-3
1 Listen to my words, LORD,
consider my lament. <—- means “complaint”
2 Hear my cry for help,
my King and my God,
for to you I pray
3 In the morning, LORD, you hear my voice;
in the morning I lay my requests before you
and wait expectantly.
Lament= groaning, cry, complaint
What do you think the first thing David thought about each day was? GOD.
What was David praying for? Why?
He needed HELP. King David always had people after him. He had many enemies. He also fought the same enemy we all fight. The evil one. David sought the Lord for help, rescue and comfort, and peace, and when God blessed him with it, he received it. He took it and thanked God for it. He did not give in to his circumstances. He came to KNOW GOD would do this for him and he prayed ready to accept this spiritual blessing.
Do WE pray like that? If not, WHY? What is hindering us?
Prayer is more than just crying out to God for His help and rescue. Prayer can serve a greater purpose. Let’s look at the next verse:
Isaiah 29:13-14
13 The Lord says:
“These people come near to me with their mouth
and honor me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me.
Their worship of me
is based on merely human rules they have been taught.[b]
14 Therefore once more I will astound these people
with wonder upon wonder;
the wisdom of the wise will perish,
the intelligence of the intelligent will vanish.”
God is talking about the people of Israel.. and identifying their sin. What is their sin? ( they were not sincere of heart.)
How were they drawing near? IN WORSHIP, but not sincerely seeking God.
Were they worshipping sincerely with their hearts all in? Nope
Define “drawing near” ( Draw near to Me and I will draw near to you.)
How did you think God feels about how they responded to him? Show in the scripture passage where you are basing your answer.
God won’t answer prayers that do not come from a pure sincere heart that is truly seeking to be with Him. (I will astound them. I will confuse them.)
I believe that God will also refuse to answer prayers that come from a manipulative place. We need to be careful about manipulative thoughts that sneak in. I believe He will first show us that sin in our nature, and convict us to confession. THEN… He will begin to reveal to us how He is answering our prayers.
We can come to God with everything; even to ask Him for help changing our wrong thinking! GOD WANTS US TO DRAW NEAR TO HIM!
So… what kind of God are we trying to draw near to? One who GETS us, and has MERCY on us-
Heb 4: 14-16-
14 Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven,[f] Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. 15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. 16 Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.
Jesus Himself understands everything we go through here! He walked this earth and He understands the difficulties , He was tempted Himself. Yet… He did not SIN. God knows we NEED HELP. We can run to Him with ANYTHING we struggle with and He will help. He asks only that our hearts be sincere.
God is tired of watching His daughters give in to their circumstances. He is tired of watching the enemy have so much victory over us.
1- He has LOVE that He wants to shower us with. We have to make the choice to receive it.
2- He has HOPE for us. He wants us to seek Him for it.
3- He has PURPOSE for each of His children. He created you, He wants to use you. Every single thing you have been thru in this life is for ONE reason.. For HIS good pleasure.
4- He wants to HEAL the heart wounds you have sustained. He was there when it happened and He is here now as it is being opened up for cleaning and it’s time for HEALING.
5- He will NEVER leave you. He will NEVER forsake you. It’s time we learn to trust Him at His word, ask Him to reveal Himself to us and allow Him to do His work in us.
Beloved, I have made a way for you to come … to Me. . In order to take ( fullest) advantage of this opportunity, you must let go of everything that has become an anchor and a hindrance. You must release all things that have become a source of agitation, irritation, or conflict in your soul. Hear My voice as I call to you. Allow My nature to be developed in you that will bear the fruit of My Spirit. Let your light shine in the darkness of difficult and disturbing circumstances, for I am with you, says the Lord.
Next week- we will look at this question:
Can an ORDINARY Christian have the same kind of powerful prayer life that MOSES or ELIJAH had?
PS ( the answer is YES!) and we will begin to talk about HOW this can be!
Love you all- and yes, I am PRAYING for you!
Cheryl
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