If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. 2 Cor 5:17
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These pages are designed to aid study or investigation for Christian discipleship through individual Bible study, Cell groups, Home groups, or meeting one to one. The questions could be used alone allowing each person to use their own Bible.
Introduction
In prayer, God’s children go to their heavenly Father. Our attitude in prayer shows who we really think we are and who God is. We can be doing all the right things and saying all the right words, but if our attitudes are out of place, then the Lord in His love might have a bit of an attitude towards us!
Bible Zone
- Attitudes Jesus looks for - Jesus, a person, cares about how we come to Him.
- Jesus deals with root issues - Attitudes betray issues to be dealt with.
Jesus met many people with all sorts of requests, and all sorts of attitudes towards prayer. Here are three examples from which to pick out attitudes that people have and how those attitudes affected Jesus. Luke 17:12-19, Luke 18:9-14 and Luke 19:14-15
- What variety of attitudes are demonstrated by the people in these texts towards - God, themselves and other people?
- What are the attitudes that Jesus commends / frowns on?
- What attitude might you have towards God / yourself that would lead to this approach to God?
Luke 17:12-19 12 As he entered a village there, ten lepers stood at a distance,13 crying out, "Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!"
14 He looked at them and said, "Go show yourselves to the priests."* And as they went, they were cleansed of their leprosy.
15 One of them, when he saw that he was healed, came back to Jesus, shouting, "Praise God!"16 He fell to the ground at Jesus' feet, thanking him for what he had done. This man was a Samaritan.
17 Jesus asked, "Didn't I heal ten men? Where are the other nine?18 Has no one returned to give glory to God except this foreigner?"19 And Jesus said to the man, "Stand up and go. Your faith has healed you.*"
Luke 18:9-14
9 Then Jesus told this story to some who had great confidence in their own righteousness and scorned everyone else:10 "Two men went to the Temple to pray. One was a Pharisee, and the other was a despised tax collector.11 The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed this prayer*: 'I thank you, God, that I am not a sinner like everyone else. For I don't cheat, I don't sin, and I don't commit adultery. I'm certainly not like that tax collector!12 I fast twice a week, and I give you a tenth of my income.'
13 "But the tax collector stood at a distance and dared not even lift his eyes to heaven as he prayed. Instead, he beat his chest in sorrow, saying, 'O God, be merciful to me, for I am a sinner.'14 I tell you, this sinner, not the Pharisee, returned home justified before God. For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted."
Luke 19:45-46
45 Then Jesus entered the Temple and began to drive out the people selling animals for sacrifices.46 He said to them, "The Scriptures declare, 'My Temple will be a house of prayer,' but you have turned it into a den of thieves."*
If you find an attitudes highlighted here in yourself, they will not disappear by trying not to have them. Confess to God the attitudes and invite Him to work on the root issues.
In the following text Jesus deals with a root issue of a bad attitude. Simon, a religious leader had invited Jesus into his house, but then been critical of him for accepting the attention of a sinful woman.
- What was the Pharisees attitude towards Jesus?
- What was the woman’s attitude towards Jesus?
- How do the Father and Son, working together, expose the Pharisees attitude?
- What is at the root of the Pharisees attitude towards Jesus?
- How might Jesus expose the roots of our attitudes if we asked Him to?
Luke 7:44-47 36 One of the Pharisees asked Jesus to have dinner with him, so Jesus went to his home and sat down to eat.*37 When a certain immoral woman from that city heard he was eating there, she brought a beautiful alabaster jar filled with expensive perfume.38 Then she knelt behind him at his feet, weeping. Her tears fell on his feet, and she wiped them off with her hair. Then she kept kissing his feet and putting perfume on them.
39 When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, "If this man were a prophet, he would know what kind of woman is touching him. She's a sinner!"
40 Then Jesus answered his thoughts. "Simon," he said to the Pharisee, "I have something to say to you."
"Go ahead, Teacher," Simon replied.
41 Then Jesus told him this story: "A man loaned money to two people—500 pieces of silver* to one and 50 pieces to the other.42 But neither of them could repay him, so he kindly forgave them both, canceling their debts. Who do you suppose loved him more after that?"
43 Simon answered, "I suppose the one for whom he canceled the larger debt."
"That's right," Jesus said.44 Then he turned to the woman and said to Simon, "Look at this woman kneeling here. When I entered your home, you didn't offer me water to wash the dust from my feet, but she has washed them with her tears and wiped them with her hair.45 You didn't greet me with a kiss, but from the time I first came in, she has not stopped kissing my feet.46 You neglected the courtesy of olive oil to anoint my head, but she has anointed my feet with rare perfume.
47 "I tell you, her sins—and they are many—have been forgiven, so she has shown me much love. But a person who is forgiven little shows only little love."48 Then Jesus said to the woman, "Your sins are forgiven."
49 The men at the table said among themselves, "Who is this man, that he goes around forgiving sins?"
50 And Jesus said to the woman, "Your faith has saved you; go in peace."
ATTITUDE IN PRAYER
