Sufficient Self's Bible Study Group

[FarmerJamie]

When I am in my car driving is when I talk to the Lord and thank him the most I think...and ironically enough when I am sitting out on the porch having my coffee in the morning. ( as a smoker I sit out there with my coffee every morning, no matter how cod it is LOL!I do thank him daily, but for different things, not always everything though He has shown me many marvelous things in the last couple of years, and the latest is getting over fears...soooo thankful for that part!
I am also thankful that I have a Christian boss...going to work is often very spiritually refreshing, and we have great conversations there! Life really is good, no matter what is going on to discourage, if you stay close to Him and accept that whatever is happening is happening for a reason, either to teach you, someone else, or both!
It is so enouraging to be able to come to this thread and see where the Lord is leading you all, and to learn from the many experiences you all post.

Oh yes, and WBF....clothing...good point! LOL! Can you imagine? I sure can't

Morel - for those of still working in a formal work environment celebrate), having such a boss is a blessing. I am thankful every day for it. I could go on in detail, but I will stop at that. Thank you for mentioning it.

 

[rebecca100]

I am learning. He has done so much for me that I have learned to just rely on him to take care of it all but I do have issues with patience and wanting to take it into my own hands. Or wondering when I should act or just leave it to Him. I know he knows my needs and will take care of them. I want to ask for certain things but I just hate too because they seem so unimportant compared to the big things. Like I need a buck to breed to my doe but im broke and don't have a pickup....lol I have learned to praise His name no matter the circumstances. I can see and block Satans attacks more clearly now. I am learning to pray scripture and be a prayer warrior. I can actually read the bible and understand more of it when before it was all too confusing. And I have a peace like never before AND a desire to TELL OTHERS!

Wow!!! Me too!!! Do you think we are experiencing these things because He is getting us ready for the spiritual battles that are becoming more present during these last days? I never used to talk about God except with my near and dear friends and immediate family but now I can't stop talking about Him and what He has done for me and what He can do for others if they only trust Him.

I thought I was just getting...you know...er...fanatical in my old age.

I think, and the Scriptures say, that we can even ask Him for things like rabbits when we have a need. Nothing is too small or big for Him to notice and accomplish...His eye is on the sparrow! Think about the magnitude of a God who knows the doings of every minute creature on Earth....I can't even wrap my mind around it!

Yes I have thought that very much. This new church I was led to lives it. Pastors new year preaching was" standing in the gap" and that we would all stand in the gap for each other and he would stand in the gap with us. I've seen so many people being saved in tears and it wasn't long ago I was there in tears. And everything they taught is true! You really do become a new creature! My eyes were opened and I see things differently! I think Hes calling His people like never before! I know I sound crazy but I'm serious! I have a passion that I never had before! Okay getting down now and looking kinda sheepish.... I always thought the ones with their hands in the air in church were nuts. Now I guess the kids and I are nuts too. Lol

 

[Beekissed]

Nope...not nuts, just joyful and grateful to a loving and forgiving God who shelters us under His wings.

I feel simply amazed at it all and also very sad that I wasted so many years wanting my own way and not growing~or even trying real hard to get closer to God. Just did a lot of whining about how unfair it was that I didn't get the little life I had wanted and asking God to let me have my own way.

 

[Wannabefree]

Ya have to be grateful for the bad too though, and all the wasted years because sometimes I think we need the distance to prove to ourselves we can't do it alone. It makes us lean harder on God than we would if we hadn't had a few negative experiences and wasted a bit of time being dumb by ourselves. I know I wasted alot of time too. I think we all do. I'm just tickled He decided to make me smarter before I die!! God is so cool

 

[Beekissed]

Yes...all those whiny years had a purpose. During those years God was still using me in my job and for my kids, though I protested the job I was in all those years. I am very thankful now that He chose me for that job because now I see all the chances I had to be kind, show compassion, to ease the stress and pain of others...and I wouldn't have had all those chances if I had been what I wanted to be all those years. I had just wanted to be a farmer's wife!

As a nurse I came in contact with thousands of sick, old, dying, pained or otherwise people...as a farmer's wife I would have been a complete hermit, only coming in contact with family, friends and church members. God knew all along where He needed me most and now, as I look back, I'm so glad we don't get to dictate our own lives. My work or wants on this earth mean very little compared to God's work and purpose.

Yes...for all the years I was beating my head against my own walls, I am still grateful!

 

[Old Sew'n'Sew]

Hello I was reading the thread and decided to give my two cents.

Thankfulness is a very fine quality to cultivate as a Christian it helps to shape our personalities, but prayer can be used not only to petition God for our needs, but also to have a personal relationship with God.( see Philipians 4:6,7)
One of the ways to do this would be to study what Jesus taught us about prayer in the Bible. Jesus already knew what his Father's will was, but he prayed to God with tears and sweating blood so that He would have the strength to carry out His Father's Will. (see Luke 22:41-44)
Jesus taught us how to pray and what to pray for, Matthew 6:9-13 (with commentary added)

YOU must pray, then, this way:
Our Father in the heavens, let your name be sanctified."
( What name? see Psalms 83:18) *

Let your kingdom come. (What is God's Kingdom? This is a real Government with Jesus as the "King" see Daniel 2:44)

"Let your will take place, as in heaven, also upon earth. ( Very soon now this part of the "Lords prayer" will be fulfilled. see Mattew 24:14, 5:5, Revelation 12:7-12 , and 16:16.)

"Give us today our bread for this day; and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors."
(Our needs come in 4th in importance in this prayer, the previous 3 requests are going to provide salvation for all human kind when they are fufilled. )

"And do not bring us into temptation, but deliver us from the wicked one." ( This is the one that I try my best to include everyday.)

After fulfilling what is important to Jesus to pray for, I usually start with of all of my Relatives and Friends who are sick, and also the ones that have material needs and so forth. We must pray in harmony with God's will and also pray when we make important decisions in our life. Prayer is not the same as a wishing well or a letter to Santa.
In order for our prayers to be heard we must pray with an unselfish, and humble heart, (see 1Kings chapter 8 Solomon's dedication of the first temple) and accept the answer to our prayers even if the answer is NO!

Bible books that emphasis Prayer : 1 Kings, Luke, 1 and 2 Thessalonians.

*P.S. Off Topic, there is an exciting new translation just released the KJV Divine Name Bible where the Divine name is restored from where it was removed by the translators in the 1600's. I will post a link if I can find it again.
Great topic ! Thanks, OS'N'S

 

[Beekissed]

You know what? Reading the Scripture that contains that prayer was sort of the turning point in my Christian life. I mean, I'd always been taught that prayer and had said it many times as a group, memorized and quoted it as a youth, but had never really contemplated the meaning and instructions in the prayer.

When I realized that Jesus was giving an example of how we ought to pray, it contained all the aspects I should have been using in my own prayers:

Praise of the Lord first and foremost, recognizing His rightful place as my King and Lord(Our Father who art in Heaven, Hallowed be Thy name)

Giving my will over to His(Thy will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven)

Depending upon Him for my needs instead of leaning to my own understanding and thinking I had accomplished anything on my own (Give us this day our daily bread)

Forgiveness and love for others if I would want Him to forgive and love me(Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us)

Faith in Him(Lead us not into temptation, deliver us from evil)

Worship and Honor to Him(For thine is the power, the Kingdom and the Glory forever)

Up until then I hadn't realized that I had never really structured my prayers to include these distinct factors...usually it was sort of a "help me, Lord" and "forgive me, Lord" or "thank you, Lord"......never really gave any thought to what God wanted to hear from me.

Then I read the words before and after the Lord's Prayer...it really set me straight and taught me how to pray the right way. The minute I learned to pray that His will be done and not mine, things started to change in my life and they continue to change daily. I do indeed praise His Holy Name for that change...for such a wretch I have been, am and will continue to be unto the day of Resurrection.

I can't wait to see what I will learn in the Scriptures tomorrow..and the next day....

 

[MorelCabin]

Years ago I bought this little old book called "God's Pychology" In it it breaks down four key parts of the Bible, the Lord's prayer being one of them, and I sure learned alot about how to pray from that!
It also breaks down Psalms 23, WOW! what alot we can learn from that Psalm as well! The beatitudes was also one of the chapters.
Anyway, I have kept that book all these years, and when I need a little psychology from God I delve into it's pages.

 

[BarredBuff]

Bee, thank you for breaking that down! I LOVE it!!

 

[Beekissed]

BB, I cannot take any credit for that breakdown....just heard a good preacher line it out for me a good while ago(my version isn't exactly what he said but all I remember) and a light dawned somewhere in my thick skull. I thought, "WOW...all these years I just said the words but didn't really know that Jesus wasn't telling us WHAT to say, exactly, but HOW to pray our own prayers."

As long as we praise Him first, recognize His sovereignty, give our will to His, ask for forgiveness of our sins, forgive others, trust Him, thank Him, have faith in Him and worship Him...then our prayers should cover all the things that they should.

I too was amazed to have it broken down so that I could finally understand it.