Emmanuel Evangelical Church Chippenham

From 25^th January 2007:

In this session we will consider how it is we can approach God in prayer.

Background

Prayer is personal communication from us to God.

We asked the question: “Why does God want us to pray?” As we studied Matthew 6:5-13 and Matthew 7:9-12, we saw that God doesn’t want us to pray because he doesn’t already know what we need, but because we are expressing and gaining from such a dependence on our Heavenly Father who loves us.

Considering the effectiveness of prayer, the Lord Jesus said that there is a clear connection between seeking things from God and receiving them: e.g. Matthew 7:9-12; 1 John 1:8-9; etc.

This week we’re going to look further at the ‘mechanism’ of prayer:

Jesus Christ, our mediator

God is Holy, we are sinful. We therefore have no right to speak with God. Scripture says that we have a mediator: 1 Timothy 2:5 “For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.”

1. Will God therefore ‘hear the prayers of those who do not trust in Jesus? John 14:6

2. What about those believers in the Old Testament, how could they be accepted? Romans 3:23-26

3. Please read Hebrews 4:14-15 and Hebrews 10:19-22 and answer the following questions:

   1. What are we encouraged to ‘do’ in our relationship with God

   2. What position do we occupy when approaching God?

4. Compare Hebrews 10:22 with Exodus 29:4,21. What ‘are’ we then when approaching God? (c.f. 1 Peter 2:9)