Thursday Bible Study

  PSALMS [Praying our salvation]   Psalm 103_     What God has done for us far exceeds anything we have done for or against God.   The summary word for this excessive, undeserved, unexpected act by God is salvation. Prayer explores ‘the country of salvation’... rambling through the contours, smelling the flowers, hearing the birds. There is more to do than recognise the sheer fact of salvation and witness to it; there are un-numbered details of grace, of mercy, of blessing to be appreciated and savoured .   Prayer is the means by which we do this...     [Group discussion starter] Think of one of the best things that ever happened to you.   Describe some of the details of why it was so good.     Psalm 103 expresses the experience (not the doctrine) of salvation.   This is what it feels like to be saved...     [Read Psalm 103]     What are your general impressions of the Psalm?         N...

  PSALMS [Praying our sin]   Psalm 51_     Alongside the fact that God made us good (that we explored in Psalm 8) is the equally basic fact that we have gone wrong. We ‘pray our sins’ to get to the truth about ourselves and to find out how God treats sinners. Our experience of sin doesn’t consist in doing some bad things , but in being bad. It’s a fundamental condition of our existence, not a temporary lapse into error. ‘Praying our sin’ isn’t resolving not to sin anymore; it’s discovering what God has resolved to do with us as sinners...     [Discussion starter] “Sin” has become an unpopular and little-used word in our culture. Why do you think this is?     [Read Psalm 51]     How many different synonyms for sin are in David’s prayer?       How do we describe what we dislike about ourselves?   What does this tell us about the nature of sin?       As Christians, we know we are sinful.   Why the...