Skip to main content

PRAYER #3

 {pray} COSTLY FORGIVENESS & TACKLING TEMPTATION_ 

Matthew 6:9-15 

 
The fifth request in the Lord’s Prayer is for forgiveness. Jesus knew that we would stand in need of forgiveness every day. And so we pray, “Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.” 

 
[Read Matthew 6:9-15] 

 
When you ask God to forgive you a sin or failure in your life, are you confident of His cleansing or do you have doubts? 
Explain why you feel secure or insecure. 

 
Christains believe that we receive forgiveness from God by grace alone. Why, in this request, does Jesus make it sound like our forgiveness of others is a condition for our forgiveness from God? 

 
What price did God pay to forgive us? 
What price do we pay when we forgive others? 

 
Peter tried to impress Jesus one day with his willingness to forgive other people up to seven times. Jesus wasn’t impressed. Genuine forgiveness doesn’t keep a record, and genuine forgivers don’t keep count... 

[Read Matthew 18:21-35] 

 

What does the servant’s attitude toward the man who owed him money tell you about his response to the king’s gracious forgiveness of him? 

 
In verse 35, how does Jesus apply the parable to us? 
Does this mean that God will take away our forgiveness if we refuse to forgive others? 
Explain. 

 
What are some specific ways that you can demonstrate that you are a forgiven person? 

 
 
The next two phrases in the Lord’s Prayer fit together: “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one”. The word temptation can mean to entice to do wrong, but it can also mean to put to the test. The same experience can be both a temptation to do wrong and a test of our commitment to do right. Satan, the evil one, wants us to fail the test and sin; God gives us everything we need to pass the test and, as a result, strengthen our walk of obedience... 

 
In James 1:13, it says, “When tempted, no one should say, ‘God is tempting me.’ For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He tempt anyone.” 
Why pray that God would not lead us into temptation when God doesn’t tempt us to sin anyway? 

 
On the night of his betrayal and arrest, Jesus asked the Father to protect his followers from spiritual attack... 

[Read John 17:6-19] 

 
In verses 6-10, what did Jesus’ followers know for certain about Jesus and about their own relationship with God? 

 
What was Jesus’ role in the spiritual protection of his followers during his time on earth (verses 11-12)? 
How would that role change? 

 
In verses 14-17, what resources for spiritual defense are provided for Jesus’ disciples to draw on? 

 
What suggestions can you draw on (from verses 14-17) that will help a friend struggling with some temptation in his or her life? 

 
It seems that life would be a lot easier if Jesus would just take us out of the world or keep us totally protected from testing or temptation. What would be the results of those options? 

 
Jesus has sent you out into the world (verses 18-19). What confidence does this prayer give you as you face your world? 

As you face temptation, how does it make you feel to know that Jesus is praying for your success to resist its power? 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

{SEVEN CHURCHES} #3

  {SEVEN LETTERS}    The Attractiveness of Suffering_   Revelation 2:8-11     In the year AD 177 persecution broke out against the Christians living in what is today the French city of Lyon. Christianity had raised the suspicions and hatred of the Roman  bureaucrats who governed the city. The vicious persecution that raged, touched Christians at every level of society. After the persecuti on subsided, church father Irenaeus, arranged for a letter to be written to Christians in other parts of the Roman Empire describing the faithfulness of the  martyrs...   We  can’t  even begin to put into words, much less describe in detail, the  magnitude  of the persecution here: how the pagans raged so terribly against the saints, and how the ble ssed martyrs endured so patiently... To begin with, they nobly endured all the abuse the whole mob collectively piled on: screaming  at them, punching them, dragging them through the stre...
Post a Comment
Read more

{SEVEN CHURCHES} #1

  The Lord Who Speaks_   Revelation 1:9-20   We  don’t  tend to get many letters these days. We get emails, text messages,  WhatsApp  and other electronic messages, but rarely  a handwritten, pen-and-paper letter.    I tend to save any good ones I get... notes from when Leah was little. Letters that encourage or bless me.   I’ll keep them in my  bedside  drawer or  tucked  into books on our shelves. Then I get to read them again and feel loved and blessed by their words. ..     [Discussion starter]    Tell the group about a significant letter you have received and why it meant so much to you.     Revelation 2-3 records seven letters written by Jesus to seven churches.   It must have been a thrill for an early church congregation to receive a letter from the apostles Paul, Peter, or James... but here were letters from Jesus himself . And we all get to read everyone else’s ma...
Post a Comment
Read more

David #12

  [DAVID] Generous giving_   1 Chronicles 29     Giving has become a sore spot for many Christians. Every day we are bombarded with appeals for money – from TV and radio evangelists, from missionaries, from parachurch organisations , from charities and from our own churches. Sometim es we might feel like shouting, “Enough is enough!” How can we adopt godly attitudes toward giving so that we don’t live with a closed fist but an open hand and a generous heart?     [Group discussion starter] How do you tend to respond when people ask you for money? Explain.     David had a refreshing attitude toward giving. In this chapter he illustrates what it means to give joyously and generously to the Lord...     [Read 1 Chronicles 29]     What does this chapter reveal about David’s perspective on giving?       In verses 1-5, how does David provide an excellent example of what it means to give generously to God?    ...
Post a Comment
Read more