Session V, Day 2

This is the day that the Lord, our Father, has made.  Let us rejoice and be glad in it.

ASSIGNMENT:

The following is taken from Hosea 11:1 ff (some portions have been eliminated for the purpose of our discussion):  When Israel was a youth, I loved him and out of Egypt I called my son.  But the more I called, the further they went from me…I taught Ephraim(Israel) to walk, taking them by the arms, I healed them, bent down to feed them … My people are determined to turn from Me.  How will I give you up Ephraim, How can I hand you over Israel?(adapted from the New American Standard translation)

 We who are parents may be able to identify with the longing God expresses here in Hosea (especially if our children no longer need us as they once did – or if our relationship is strained in some way).  As our children grow up (and perhaps away from us), we remember earlier and perhaps better days.  We remember when they were dependant on us; we remember feeding them as babies, teaching them to walk, to ride a bicycle; we remember how they came to us with all their hurts.

In this passage from Hosea, we get a glimpse into our Heavenly Father’s heart – and we can hear His anguish as He says, How can I possibly give you up?

As you spend some time today with Our Father,  meditate on what His name means to you personally.  Consider the longing He has expressed for His children.  Allow Him to comfort you as a loving Father comforts His children.

Hallowed be Your name

We now turn our attention to the first petition of the Lord’s Prayer from Matthew 6.  The word hallowed means “to make or declare holy.” 

1.  What do you think is implied here?  How do we make God holy (hallowed)? 

Tony Ash, Pray Always, says there is a request implied here.  As Christians pray, we are asking God to help us live His holiness through our lives.

Read Exodus 20:1-7.   As God delivered His laws to Moses and the Israelites on Mount Sinai, He first addressed the matter of His honor in the first 3 commandments.  As Jesus taught the disciples how to pray, the very first petition was about honoring God.

2.  There are many ways we may dishonor God’s name.  In our culture’s speech, His name is commonly misused (taken in vain).  Even those of us who revere God’s name and wish to keep it holy, must guard against the language of the world slipping into our vocabulary.  As we pray, hallowed be Your name, we might ask our Father to keep us from taking His name in vain.

Psalm 141:3 reads:  Set a guard over my mouth O Lord; keep watch over the door of my lips.

(We probably all need to memorize this verse!)

3.  Can you think of ways we dishonor God and misuse His name other than by cursing, swearing, etc?

As you pray today,  “be still (cease striving)” and allow yourself to be a child in your Heavenly Father’s arms.  After that time of stillness, envision Him in all His glory, this may be a good time to kneel (or remove your shoes as Moses did at the bush) and hallow His great and glorious name.

Suggested reading:  Psalm 36:5-9

Blessed be the name of our Lord!

Session V, Day 1

Welcome back this beautiful Lord's day.  We will begin our study this week focusing on the preface (Our Father) and individual petitions of the Lord’s Prayer from Matthew’s Gospel.

ASSIGNMENT:

Read Matthew 6:9-13.  (note:  some later manuscripts add: “for Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.  Amen” at the end of :13).

This prayer has six petitions – beginning with Hallowed be Your name through Lead us not into temptation and deliver us from evil. 

1.  Which petitions would you identify as spiritual and which would you call physical?

2.  Notice the order of the prayer:  Your name, Your kingdom, Your will.  The petitions that follow are       give    us, __________ us,  _________ us and ___________ us (the last two are usually counted as one - for the 6^th petition). 

All things are subordinate to His Name, His Kingdom, His will!!  As we abide in Christ, our desire to honor and submit to Him will take precedence in our prayers and in our lives.

The prayer begins with Our Father who is in heaven.

Andrew Murray, author of With Christ in the School of Prayer, wrote, “a knowledge of God’s Father-love is the first and simplest, but also the last and highest lesson in the school of prayer.”

3.  What do you think Mr. Murray meant by that?

4.  As you think of God – especially as you pray to Him – do you tend to envision Him as a great and mighty King on some far-away throne… or do you have a more intimate picture of a father-figure?

Tony Ash, Pray Always, wrote that the way Jesus referred to God as Father was not customary in Israel at this time.  It is interesting to compare the entries of  Father/father in a concordance.  By far, in the majority of entries in the Old Testament, the “f” is not capitalized and refers to earthly fathers.  However, in the New Testament the majority of entries is spelled with a capital and refers to God, the Father.

5.  Read Jeremiah 3:19-20 and note what this passage says about God’s longing.

 ________________________________________

As you complete your study for today, read I John 3:1-3 and then spend some quiet time with God, focusing especially on the blessing of your Father/child relationship. 

Session IV, Day 3

As we come to the end of another week, may the Lord bless your study of His word.

ASSIGNMENT:

1.  As we continue to focus on John 15:1-17, read :7 and :16 again.  What are the “conditions” placed on the granting of our prayer wishes or requests? 

3.  As we abide in Christ (and continue to grow spiritually), we should catch His vision and our prayers will reflect that vision.  In one sentence, what would you say is (not “was”) the mission of Christ Jesus?

2.  So far this week we have limited our study to John 15.  For you, personally, what does it mean to abide/remain in Christ?  (Feel free to think “outside the box”)

3.  Read Romans 8:28-29.  Can you make the same statement (with confidence and from a personal perspective) that Paul makes here?  Notice that he says we know… (not “we hope”).  Rewrite those verses – use your own words – as you form a personal statement of your faith and trust in God, our Father.

Lord, teach us to pray

Session IV, Day 2

As we continue our study of prayer today, we'll continue our focus on the gospel of John.

ASSIGNMENT:

Read John 15:1-17 again today.

1.  In your notebook copy the following list of metaphors.  Out to the side of each pair, list the attributes they have in common.

God/gardener

Jesus/vine

Christ’s followers/branches

2.  What is/are the fruit(s) described in :7 and :8?

*Discussion Question*

(Please click the "Let's Discuss" link on the right to share your ideas on the discussion board and read the thoughts of the fellow studiers.  This discussion thread will be under the title "Wishes")

3.  As we abide (NASB)/remain(NIV) in Christ, what do you think would be the focus of our wish(es) (:7)?

The following quote has been adapted from a commentary on John’s Gospel by B.F. Westcott: 

“The blessings of union with Christ are shown in prayer fulfilled and fruit borne.

 ‘Ask whatever you wish’ is related to ‘abide in my words…’

The petitions of the true disciple are echoes of Christ’s words, so to speak.

Their prayer is His teaching transformed into a supplication which will be heard.

It is important to notice how the promise of the absolute fulfillments of prayer

is connected with the personal fellowship of the believer with Christ.”

4.  Using your own words, how would you summarize Mr. Westcott’s statement?

Session IV, Day 1

Our plans were to begin focusing today on each line/petition of the Lord’s Prayer.  However, before we do that, let’s revisit John 15.  On Wednesday, 9/29, we read John 15:1-11 and discussed :7 and :8 briefly.  Today we want to go a little deeper.

ASSIGNMENT:

READ John 15:1-17

1.  Thumb through the chapters before and after John 15.  What is the timeframe?

 2.  How might the timing influence what Jesus is saying to His disciples?

 Jesus begins this discourse in John 15:1 by saying I am the true vine…

Throughout the Old Testament, the vine has been a symbol of Israel. 

Psalms 80:8ff describe Israel as a vine which was brought out of Egypt and planted in Cannan.

In Old Testament prophecy, the metaphor of the vine is most often used in a negative way.  In Isaiah 5, a vineyard that only produces bad fruit is likened to Israel; and in Ezekiel 15, the vine is described as useless.

3.  As Jesus says that He is the true vine, what are the implications here?

4.  Read through these seventeen verses again and write down what you see as key words.  Which one of these occurs the most?

Session III, Day 3

Pray to your Father

Last week (on Monday, Sept. 27) we looked at some warnings Jesus gave His disciples immediately before and after He gave them the Lord’s prayer in Matt 6.  He warned them about giving, praying, and fasting in order to impress others.  He warned them about praying on the street corners and in the synagogues as the hypocrites did; instead, He advised that they go into a room (NASB: inner room), close the door and pray to your Father.

Today we want to consider what it means to pray to our Father.  You might ask, “Aren’t all Christian prayers offered to God?  Probably most are – but as we pray out loud before others, our praying may be more for others than to God.  We must always be mindful that our prayers are offered to God – whether in our closets or before others. 

Our intent as we pray should never be to impress others, to teach a lesson, or remind God of things He already knows.  (notice what Jesus says about what our Father knows – Mt. 6:8). 

As we pray publicly, we recognize that it is hard NOT to consider the impression/impact our prayers make on others.  Nevertheless, we must always be mindful we are praying to our Father.

We may have experienced times of praying when God seemed far away.  We may not sense His presence each time we pray, but we need to remember that God listens and answers our prayers because of who we are through Jesus and not because of our eloquence or depth of feeling.  

On the other hand, we may have times when we are acutely aware of our Father’s presence – however, the emotional intensity of our prayers does not cause God to listen more intently nor cause Him to be more inclined to answer.  We cannot measure the validity of our prayers or our spiritual maturity based on any kind of personal “high” that we do or do not experience as we worship or pray.

As we come before the throne, let’s try to “come mindfully” and enjoy being in God’s presence.  Psalms 16:11 says that He will fill me with joy in His presence.  Occasionally as you pray, be content to just be in His presence and refrain from asking for anything specific other than a time of quietness and calm in His presence.  Always remember that you are praying to, and in the presence of our Father.

ASSIGNMENT:

Be Still and Know that I Am God

Turn to Psalm 46.  Before you read this passage, consider the following:

1)  Many translations include the word, selah, after verses 3, 7, and 11 in Psalm 46.  The Bible Dictionary says this about selah:  it is “a word of unknown origin and meaning found in certain psalms.”

Some believe selah could have been a notation for a musical rest when chanting the psalm; or a reminder for the reader to pause and reflect on what preceded a selah. 

2)  Notice verse 10:  Be still and know that I am God.  That verse may have challenged some of us with ADD-type tendencies!  However, a look at the Hebrew may clarify the meaning of “Be still”.

Be still from the Hebrew, raphah, has several shades of meaning in the Old Testament.  Among those, we find raphah can mean:

that which is slack;

or to let drop;

or to be disheartened or weak. 

In this verse, Be still is referring to a “spiritual disposition of divine dependence.”  It is NOT about being still, physically, but about dependence upon God who is the I AM.  The NASB translates it as cease striving and know that I am God.  In other words, “chill and depend upon God!”

Now you are ready to READ PSALM 46!!  Observe the selahs, consider what it means to have God as your refuge and strength; your ever-present help in trouble in times of calamity.  As you read verse10, take a deep breath and be mindful of being in God’s presence, ask Him to quiet your soul as you commit to placing your trust in Him.  Cease Striving!!

Today as you conclude your time of study, turn your eyes upon your Lord.  Enter His presence mindfully.  Forget your “lists of needs.”  Remember what Jesus said about that in Matt 6:9. 

                         

You may discover that the most precious times of prayer are those times in which you say very little – but times when you have a clear sense of God’s presence and Who He Is!

Lord, teach us to pray.

Session III, Day 2

Today we continue with our overview of the Lord’s Prayer.

ASSIGNMENT:

READ Matt. 6:9-13

Our Daily Bread

Some have suggested that the bread here may be spiritual bread, after all Jesus identified Himself as the bread of life in John 6.  Tony Ash, Pray Always, disagrees.  He reasons that the Lord’s Prayer is meant to include the entire scope of human needs.  In Luke’s Gospel, Jesus frequently deals with human needs – and often those needs relate to food. 

This petition for daily bread could be understood to cover all human needs; such as those related to safety, health, jobs, family relationships, etc.

1.  Read Luke 9:23-24.  What is similar in this passage and in Matt. 6:11?

2.  What is at least one of the lessons here?

3.  Read Matt. 6:25-34.  What message did you take away from that reading for yourself for today?

Forgive our Sins

3.  Although Jesus does not specifically say in His prayer that we ask for forgiveness daily – this would be a good thing.  Why?

As we Forgive

4.  On the other hand, what is the advantage of extending forgiveness daily? 

Fred Hartley (Lord, Teach us to Pray, pg 27) says this about daily forgiveness:  “This part of the (prayer) pattern helps us to pull the weeds of bitterness and resentment from the garden of our hearts every day – before they have the opportunity to grow into life-destroying bushes or trees.”

Lead us not into Temptation

5.  The last petition,  Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from the evil one, has prompted many questions – especially in light of what scripture teaches about God tempting man (James1:13-15 is just one example).  

*Discussion Question*

(Please click the "Let's Discuss" link on the right to share your ideas on the discussion board and read the thoughts of the fellow studiers.  This discussion thread will be under the title "Temptation")

What are your thoughts on this last petition?

Today as you conclude your study, pray the Lord’s prayer and focus on your needs – especially in light of some of your daily needs (you might want to thank God for specific provisions).  Also consider what God’s forgiveness and the sacrifice of Jesus mean in your life.  It might be a good time to specifically name people whom you need to forgive in this prayer.  You may commit before God that you are forgiving them or you may need to ask for the love and courage you lack in extending forgiveness to them.