Bible Study

 

 

Studies for Lent 2010 – 26th Feb 2010

If you can’t get to a Lent Study Group, I hope that the studies over the next weeks will help you through the season of Lent, which is an opportunity to reflect on our life and faith.

With thanks and acknowledgement to Bill Hybels study series on Prayer which I have used for my own study and so the following will undoubtedly reflect what he has written as well as my own thoughts.

 

Philippians 4:6-7 – Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

True prayer has a way of releasing the love of God in your life, of activating and liberating the ministry of the Holy Spirit in your life, and the difference that can be made in our relationship with God as we learn to talk with God through personal prayer.

 

Pray: Search me, O God, and know my thoughts. Examine me and reveal my faults. Cleanse me and make me new. Touch me and make me whole. Equip me and give me strength. Meet me and speak you word. Hear me and accept my praise in Jesus’ name. Amen.

 

Think about:

What comes to your mind when you hear the word Prayer?

Is it guilt for the times you don’t think you pray enough?

Is it frustration when nothing seems to happen?

Is it being fearful when you don’t really know how to pray?

‘Doing’ prayer can be difficult if you don’t want to speak out loud and are not sure that you sound clever enough, don’t have the right words. Talking about prayer can be an easier option.

 

Luke 18:1-8: Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. He said: ‘In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared about men. And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea. ‘Grant me justice against my adversary’. For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself. ‘Even though I don’t fear God or care about men, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won’t eventually wear me out with her coming.’ And the Lord said, ‘Listen to what the unjust judge says. And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?’

Jesus told the story of the widow and the judge in order to motivate people to pray. Often people read this story as a comparison: The woman represents us and the judge represents God. I wonder if that is the best way to interpret it. At the end of the story Jesus says something that shows us what the story may mean. He says, ‘And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly’ (vv7-8a).

Jesus was saying that we are not like the widow. She was forgotten, abandoned, disconnected, and had no access to the judge. We, on the other hand, are in the family of God if we are in a relationship with Jesus Christ. We are sons and daughters of God. We have been adopted into His family through Christ. We have a favoured position before God.

In the same way, God is nothing like the judge. He is not stoic, uncaring, seated behind some intimidating bench. He is not heartless and disconnected. He is not moved to act because He is sick and tired of our nagging. Instead, He loves His people and is deeply concerned about them. We matter to Him, and He wants to answer our prayers.

Why do you think Jesus went to such great pains to describe the judge? Because He wanted us to know that our heavenly Father is totally unlike that character. Our God is righteous, holy, responsive, tenderhearted, sympathetic, and kind. From cover to cover the Bible teaches that God is giving, encouraging, nurturing, and empowering. He loves to bestow good things on His children. God has given us a direct line to Him. He wants to hear about our joys, victories, and successes as well as about our burdens, concerns, fears and needs. Through Jesus Christ we can approach Him in prayer at any time.