Week 4: Prayer

Feb 11, 2008 12:13 PM
I think that God is saying that there is nothing that we go through no temptation that he has not experienced and does not understand. He has overcome on our behalf. So we can CONFIDENTLY and honestly come to him with our weaknesses and short comings to receive his grace and mercy. He fills in our gaps.

Feb 11, 2008 02:26 PM
I love that thought
"He has overcome on our behalf."

Feb 13, 2008 05:29 AM
Hebrews 4
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Hebrews4:12-16

The writer is talking about how the Word judges the thoughts and attitudes of our hearts and how we all must give account when everything is laid out in the open.

Given this bit of info, confidence is the last thing on my mind! But, there is a therefore... whenever you see a therefore in scripture, make sure you stop and ask what the therefore is there for!

Everything is going to be revealed, my every dark and twisted thought, every deed I put my hand to with malice, greed, selfishness, perversion. Every sharp and poisonous word I ever spoke, it's all going to be put on display for the Judge to examine.

THEREFORE... I'm screwed! Right!?!

No - I have a high priest, a Great High Priest.
The High Priest is not a magician who is going to make these things I have done disappear. He is not a car salesman who is going to convince the judge that those things are not really all that bad, especially compared with the lot across the street over there. He is not a social-engineer who is going to find some honorable justification for my evil behavior. He is not a psychotherapist who is going to promise rehabilitation if I am only given the right treatment.

He is a Priest, and the job of a priest is to slather and spray blood on everything.

If I approach that throne covered in snake-oil, psycho-babble, engine grease or cream cheese, I can only be confident of my own destruction. But, if I approach covered in sacrificial blood applied directly by my High Priest, I have a more than reasonable expectation of acceptance.

I know it sounds kinda gross, or just super-archaic to talk about being covered in blood, but do you understand what this really means to you today?

Feb 13, 2008 06:43 AM
If it's arcane, then let me be arcane! Amen! Thank you, Jesus!

Feb 13, 2008 06:39 PM
Shea - can you explain what you mean by: "the job of a priest is to slather and spray blood on everything". It intrigues me - and I'm not absolutely sure I understand it.

Feb 13, 2008 07:05 PM
I was refering to the types and shadows seen in the old testament. The priest offers the sacrifice to God on behalf of humans. Everything in the ceremony had to be "washed" with the blood of the sacrificed animals. The priest did the washing by pouring or sprinkling the blood.

Feb 14, 2008 01:44 AM
The KJV uses the word boldness for confidence.
In daily life, to me it means sometimes to approach Him with reverence and humility;
sometimes asking first for purity because He deserves purity;
sometimes with laughter and happiness;
always with joy.

Feb 14, 2008 06:37 AM
Boldness, at least in todays sense of the word, almost implies approaching with a bit of a swagger or even perhaps flippancy.

You are right, the fact that we are to approach in confidence does not mean without reverence and humility.

It brings to mind the "strange fire" incident from Leviticus 10.
Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, tried to approach God in a manner different than was detailed by God. The NKJV calls it "profane fire" rather than strange. I'm guessing maybe they used incense that was typically used in pagan worship ceremonies rather than the prescribed blood.
I found this on the net
The word here is zuwr (zoor) which means “to be strange, or harlotous.” This “strangeness” is like the harlot’s bedroom. Not strangeness as in “weird” but as in foreign or adulterous.

Anyway, they approached, not only with confidence, but (presumably) with arrogance, and they got smoked for it!

Feb 20, 2008 09:23 AM
'What If His People Prayed' in confidence, what would happen...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UXoPuIN8jes&feature=related

2 Chronicles 7:14 ~ If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.