Bible Study A Simple Lesson On Prayer.

[Chopper]

John 4:10 "Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water."

To start off here, I'd like to present what Theologian John Gill had to say about this verse of Scripture....
"Thou wouldst have asked of him; a favour and benefit; for such who truly know Christ, the worth and value of him, and their need of him, will apply to him for grace, as they have encouragement to do; since all grace is treasured up in him, and he gives it freely, and upbraideth not; and souls are invited to ask it of him, and take it freely; nor is it to be had anywhere else: but knowledge of Christ, is absolutely necessary, to asking anything of him; for till he is known, he will not be applied to; but when he is made known to any, in his fulness and suitableness, they will have recourse to him, and ask grace and mercy of him; and which is freely had: the Vulgate Latin very wrongly adds, "perhaps"; reading it, "perhaps thou wouldst have asked"; whereas our Lord's meaning is, that she would certainly have asked:"

Prayer is our "life-line" to Jesus and His Father. What I'd like to point out is, knowledge of Jesus, and especially His Nature is critical to receiving what we pray for. See what the Scripture says about that....If thou knewest the gift of God, and Who it is that saith to thee. I see two important facts here. One is "If you knew the gift. That suggests that we must have a good knowledge of God's promises to His children.

2 Corinthians 7:1 "Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God."....
6:17 Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you,
6:18 And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.

To know God's promises is a start. That which follows is a life style (KJV conversation) A Professor at college once said, "God won't put sugar in a garbage can." That's funny, but true. So many folk complain that they don't get their prayers answered, and all the while, don't separate from the "world's" influence.

Clean living equals clean prayers. Now second. We must know what is available to us by way of God's promises, more than that, we must know the Giver of all the promises....
2 Peter 1:1 "Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ:
1:2 Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord."

It amazes me when I counsel folk who know so little about Jesus Christ beyond the facts of His death and resurrection. I have recommended to those of whom I counsel, in this Forum, and in my other avenues of counsel, that folk study the four Gospels. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. I recommend that they study these Gospels many times over the span of their life. Not just read, for the sake of reading, but to study! This is where we become familiar with Who Jesus is, what He does, and how important He is in our lives.

So, every Christian needs to pray according to....
1John 5:14 "And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us:
5:15 And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him."

Not only that, we must remember the teaching of what James says about prayer....James 1:14 "But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed."

I have been blessed with a very close relationship with my Savior Jesus Christ. This is how, that has come about for me. Every morning I present my body (life) according to....
Romans 12:1 "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
12:2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God."

In my prayers, personal and for others, I ask my Heavenly Father for the love that He has for His Son Jesus. Jesus is the Vine and I'm only the branch. I need that love for Jesus that He deserves.

I hope that every one of my Bible Study Friend's have a blessed Christmas remembering that Jesus Christ's birth is the reason for our celebration. I love you all.

 

[smaller]

Ah, the moral imperative. Such a deep subject.

A man who prays, in truth, is exemplified to us by the man in Luke 18, who hung his head before his Maker, knowing the truth, that he needs Gods Mercy, because of what? Because he is quite factually, a sinner.

No moral imperative, no prayers, no amount of "right living" is going to escape the factual state of being a sinner. The "believer" who accepts this factual state receives what? Gods Justification in Christ. Not his own justification, but God grants His Mercy and His Justification to the honesty that is expressed in the man of Luke 18. Contrary to the religious pharisee who thought he obtained his own right standing, not being "as other men are."

So, why do we then live a "morally upright life" becomes the real question. And for that, we again look at our state of being, that being, a sinner. We know sin dwells in the flesh as a resistance to the things of God, the Ways of God, the TRUTH of God. Paul defined "indwelling sin" as a foreign matter, "no more I." IF we do not recognize and "separate" ourselves from SIN, we lose the UPPER HAND over it, and can again (and again and again) become captives to that working in the flesh as a progressive form of "captivity." Sin progresses from first "thought" to then "word" and culminates in "external deed" which proves to everyone, even the unsaved, that a person is an open captive of sin.

We lead a "morally upright life" to keep ourselves from being "captured" and "enslaved" by 'NO MORE I.' What I might observe however is that we remain sinners in any case of sights. Paul delineates this in many places reminding us we are for example "NO BETTER" than anyone else regarding being sinners. Romans 3:9. Paul even defined himself as the chief of sinners, after salvation. 1 Tim. 1:15. On an external view it is unlikely we would view Paul that way, but that sight IS HOW he viewed himself. And there are "spiritual reasonings" that Paul employs that will divulge "how" he made that quite factual determination.

Paul sets our faces toward our HOPES in our prayers. And aligns said HOPE with the Plans and Intentions of God in many places. Prayers in this direction align our minds and hearts with Gods Intents, and such prayers are always answered, if we align our intents with His Intents, and that in the process and fullness of TIME.

Do we pray for our new body? Phil. 3:21
Do we pray for all mankind (1 Tim. 2:1) and all of creation (Romans 8) to be free from the bondage of sin and death?

I could list quite a number of totally legitmate scripturally aligned prayers in the directions above. And these prayers tend to draw us out of the realm of our individual problems with our present individual subjectivity.

I'd like to pray to be sinless, but, I recognize that there is a larger picture involved here that is not just about "me." So, on the way to Gods Eventual Culmination of His Events, it would be very nice for the picture to be MUCH LARGER than just "me and mine."

And, when the prayers come to the table along these lines, we also see there is a lot of work and a lot of planting and harvesting to be done, yet. This puts us all to "work" in alignment with such prayers and intents.

 

[Pegasus]

John 4:10 "Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water."

To start off here, I'd like to present what Theologian John Gill had to say about this verse of Scripture....
"Thou wouldst have asked of him; a favour and benefit; for such who truly know Christ, the worth and value of him, and their need of him, will apply to him for grace, as they have encouragement to do; since all grace is treasured up in him, and he gives it freely, and upbraideth not; and souls are invited to ask it of him, and take it freely; nor is it to be had anywhere else: but knowledge of Christ, is absolutely necessary, to asking anything of him; for till he is known, he will not be applied to; but when he is made known to any, in his fulness and suitableness, they will have recourse to him, and ask grace and mercy of him; and which is freely had: the Vulgate Latin very wrongly adds, "perhaps"; reading it, "perhaps thou wouldst have asked"; whereas our Lord's meaning is, that she would certainly have asked:"

Prayer is our "life-line" to Jesus and His Father. What I'd like to point out is, knowledge of Jesus, and especially His Nature is critical to receiving what we pray for. See what the Scripture says about that....If thou knewest the gift of God, and Who it is that saith to thee. I see two important facts here. One is "If you knew the gift. That suggests that we must have a good knowledge of God's promises to His children.

2 Corinthians 7:1 "Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God."....
6:17 Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you,
6:18 And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.

To know God's promises is a start. That which follows is a life style (KJV conversation) A Professor at college once said, "God won't put sugar in a garbage can." That's funny, but true. So many folk complain that they don't get their prayers answered, and all the while, don't separate from the "world's" influence.

Clean living equals clean prayers. Now second. We must know what is available to us by way of God's promises, more than that, we must know the Giver of all the promises....
2 Peter 1:1 "Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ:
1:2 Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord."

It amazes me when I counsel folk who know so little about Jesus Christ beyond the facts of His death and resurrection. I have recommended to those of whom I counsel, in this Forum, and in my other avenues of counsel, that folk study the four Gospels. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. I recommend that they study these Gospels many times over the span of their life. Not just read, for the sake of reading, but to study! This is where we become familiar with Who Jesus is, what He does, and how important He is in our lives.

So, every Christian needs to pray according to....
1John 5:14 "And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us:
5:15 And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him."

Not only that, we must remember the teaching of what James says about prayer....James 1:14 "But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed."

I have been blessed with a very close relationship with my Savior Jesus Christ. This is how, that has come about for me. Every morning I present my body (life) according to....
Romans 12:1 "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
12:2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God."

In my prayers, personal and for others, I ask my Heavenly Father for the love that He has for His Son Jesus. Jesus is the Vine and I'm only the branch. I need that love for Jesus that He deserves.

I hope that every one of my Bible Study Friend's have a blessed Christmas remembering that Jesus Christ's birth is the reason for our celebration. I love you all.

Another gem post by God's Grace. Thank you for posting. I learned a lot.

 

[abide]

John 4:10 "Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water."

To start off here, I'd like to present what Theologian John Gill had to say about this verse of Scripture....
"Thou wouldst have asked of him; a favour and benefit; for such who truly know Christ, the worth and value of him, and their need of him, will apply to him for grace, as they have encouragement to do; since all grace is treasured up in him, and he gives it freely, and upbraideth not; and souls are invited to ask it of him, and take it freely; nor is it to be had anywhere else: but knowledge of Christ, is absolutely necessary, to asking anything of him; for till he is known, he will not be applied to; but when he is made known to any, in his fulness and suitableness, they will have recourse to him, and ask grace and mercy of him; and which is freely had: the Vulgate Latin very wrongly adds, "perhaps"; reading it, "perhaps thou wouldst have asked"; whereas our Lord's meaning is, that she would certainly have asked:"

Prayer is our "life-line" to Jesus and His Father. What I'd like to point out is, knowledge of Jesus, and especially His Nature is critical to receiving what we pray for. See what the Scripture says about that....If thou knewest the gift of God, and Who it is that saith to thee. I see two important facts here. One is "If you knew the gift. That suggests that we must have a good knowledge of God's promises to His children.

2 Corinthians 7:1 "Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God."....
6:17 Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you,
6:18 And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.

To know God's promises is a start. That which follows is a life style (KJV conversation) A Professor at college once said, "God won't put sugar in a garbage can." That's funny, but true. So many folk complain that they don't get their prayers answered, and all the while, don't separate from the "world's" influence.

Clean living equals clean prayers. Now second. We must know what is available to us by way of God's promises, more than that, we must know the Giver of all the promises....
2 Peter 1:1 "Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ:
1:2 Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord."

It amazes me when I counsel folk who know so little about Jesus Christ beyond the facts of His death and resurrection. I have recommended to those of whom I counsel, in this Forum, and in my other avenues of counsel, that folk study the four Gospels. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. I recommend that they study these Gospels many times over the span of their life. Not just read, for the sake of reading, but to study! This is where we become familiar with Who Jesus is, what He does, and how important He is in our lives.

So, every Christian needs to pray according to....
1John 5:14 "And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us:
5:15 And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him."

Not only that, we must remember the teaching of what James says about prayer....James 1:14 "But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed."

I have been blessed with a very close relationship with my Savior Jesus Christ. This is how, that has come about for me. Every morning I present my body (life) according to....
Romans 12:1 "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
12:2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God."

In my prayers, personal and for others, I ask my Heavenly Father for the love that He has for His Son Jesus. Jesus is the Vine and I'm only the branch. I need that love for Jesus that He deserves.

I hope that every one of my Bible Study Friend's have a blessed Christmas remembering that Jesus Christ's birth is the reason for our celebration. I love you all.

Thanks Chopper we all love you too. Keep posting.