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10 Nov 98

Transforming Grace

Discussion Guide, Chapter 8a: Appropriating God’s Grace (Prayer)

Central Idea: God’s grace is applied to our lives and made real in our experience through prayer, the Bible, submission to His sovereignty, and the ministry of other believers.

Warm-Up Question: Describe a recent time when you experienced God’s grace in a specific way. What did God use to give you His grace?

• What do you think it means to appropriate God’s grace?
• "To set apart for specific use; to take possession of; to make one’s own" (American Heritage Dictionary).
• To appropriate God’s grace is to apply it to our lives to meet a specific need over the period of time that we need it.

• (Quick review of the sufficiency of grace) Do I have any needs at all, whether big or small, physical or spiritual, that God’s grace cannot and does not meet?
• God’s grace is sufficient and, in fact, is given for our every need.
• Quote (TG, pg 151): "God said to Paul, "My grace is sufficient for you." God, who is "the God of all grace" (1 Pet 5:10), is the giver of grace, but that does not mean we Christians are passive recipients of it. Rather, we are to appropriate His grace…. Just as the Israelites had to gather day-by-day the manna God graciously provided, so we must appropriate day-by-day the grace that is always sufficient for every need.
• So if I’m downcast, and I need God’s joy, does God’s grace fulfill that need? 2 Thess 2:16-17. May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope, 17 encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good deed and word.
• If I need the strength and skills to minister Christ to people, does God’s grace fulfill that need?
• Rom 15:15-16. I have written you quite boldly on some points, as if to remind you of them again, because of the grace God gave me 16 to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles with the priestly duty of proclaiming the gospel of God, so that the Gentiles might become an offering acceptable to God, sanctified by the Holy Spirit.
• Eph 3:8. Although I am less than the least of all God's people, this grace was given me: to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ,
• If I need strength just to endure an excruciating trial, does God’s grace fulfill that need? 2 Cor 12:8-9. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. 9 But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me.
• If I am struggling with overcoming laziness, does God’s grace fulfill that need? 1 Cor 15:10. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them--yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me.
• If I am struggling with personal holiness, does God’s grace fulfill that need? 2 Cor 1:12. Now this is our boast: Our conscience testifies that we have conducted ourselves in the world, and especially in our relations with you, in the holiness and sincerity that are from God. We have done so not according to worldly wisdom but according to God's grace.
• If I am struggling with not being thankful, does God’s grace fulfill that need? 2 Cor 4:15. All this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God.
• If I am struggling with being self-serving, does God’s grace fulfill that need? 2 Cor 8:7. But just as you excel in everything--in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in complete earnestness and in your love for us --see that you also excel in this grace of giving.
• Quote (TG, pgs 151-2): "Timothy needed moral strength because he was prone to timidity. So Paul wrote, "Be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. What is your greatest need just now? Is it contentment in a very difficult situation? Paul would say to you, "Be content in the grace that is in Christ Jesus." Is it patience or forbearance in very trying circumstances? Then be patient in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. Is it moral purity in a romantic relationship? Then be pure in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. Whatever your need at the time, you too can experience the reality of God’s words to Paul: ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ God’s grace is sufficient. It is sufficient for all your needs; it is sufficient regardless of the severity of any one need. The Israelites never exhausted God’s supply of manna. It was always there to be gathered every day for forty years. And you will never exhaust the supply of God’s grace. It will always be there every day for you to appropriate as much as you need for whatever your need is."
• 2 Cor 9:8. And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.

• We’ve established that God’s grace is something to be gained, because it provides for our needs. So how do we use it? What are some ways that we can appropriate, or apply, God’s grace to our lives?
• Prayer
• Word
• Submitting to our daily circumstances
• Being ministered to by others
• Ministering to others

• Read Heb 4:14-16. Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. 15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are--yet was without sin. 16 Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.
• SG #1.a. This passage encourages us to go to God in prayer, asking for the grace we need. What does this passage give as some of the reasons we can approach God with confidence?
• We have a great high priest, who is the Son of God.
• Our priest sympathizes with our weaknesses because He’s been tempted in every way, but without sin.
• Jesus is able to help us because He suffered Himself. Heb 2:18. Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.
• SG #1.b. How do you find those reasons encouraging?
• We tend to be more willing to talk to Someone who has been through what we’ve been through. In light of these reasons, I should never use, "God can’t identify with my struggles" as an excuse for prayerlessness.
• The fact that the God of Creation would willingly subject His only Son to a life of suffering and persecution, and ultimately the gross injustice of a Roman cross helps me realize the depth of the love that God has for me. Why would he go through so much to save me, but then not provide for me through prayer?
• Rom 8:32. He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all--how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?
• Mt 7:7-11. "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened. 9 "Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? 11 If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!

• How much of a privilege is prayer?
• We need to have a healthy fear of God in order to understand the high privilege of prayer. Eccl 5:1-2. Guard your steps when you go to the house of God. Go near to listen rather than to offer the sacrifice of fools, who do not know that they do wrong. 2 Do not be quick with your mouth, do not be hasty in your heart to utter anything before God. God is in heaven and you are on earth, so let your words be few.
• In the Old Testament times, entering God’s presence was a big deal. Only the high priest could enter, and even then blood had to be shed. Heb 9:7. But only the high priest entered the inner room, and that only once a year, and never without blood, which he offered for himself and for the sins the people had committed in ignorance.
• The sacrifice of Jesus opened up the Holy of Holies to anyone who turns to God. So now, Jesus is our High Priest, and we can enter into God’s presence unharmed because Jesus protects us from God’s wrath.
• Mt 27:50-51. And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit. 51 At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook and the rocks split.
• Heb 10:19-22. Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, 20 by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, 21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22 let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.
• Quote (TG, pg 173): "We need to remember that it was God Himself who presented Jesus as the atonement for our sins, as the One who satisfied the justice of God and by that satisfaction turned aside God’s wrath from us. And because of Jesus’ atoning sacrifice, God’s throne is no longer a throne of judgment and wrath for us, but is now a throne of grace."
• How do these verses help us properly appropriate God’s grace through prayer?
• Your appropriation of God’s grace is directly linked to your view of God. These verses draw us into a much higher view of God in prayer.
• When I realize how much of a privilege prayer is, prayer itself becomes a blessing from God. Just being able to be with our awesome Creator should, in a sense, appropriate comfort, security, etc.

• Do we approach the throne of grace alone?
• Rom 8:26-27. In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. 27 And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God's will.
• Rom 8:34. Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died--more than that, who was raised to life--is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.
• Heb 7:24-25. but because Jesus lives forever, he has a permanent priesthood. 25 Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.
• How do these verses help us in prayer?
• When I realize that I’m not alone, I feel strengthened. When I realize that it’s Jesus Himself and the Holy Spirit Himself that are with me, interceding for me, then I can rest on their ability to help me appropriate God’s grace to my needs.
• The effectiveness of my prayers are not dependent on my fancy and convincing words. This helps me realize that I can enter into God’s presence just as I am, as clumsy and inefficient as I am with my words, and God will still meet my needs.

• How are faith and prayer linked?
• Prayer seems to be an expression of our faith.
• Rom 12:12. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.
• Mk 11:24. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.
• Mt 21:22. If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.
• In these verses, does God promise to answer all our prayers the way we want?
• No. The unspoken condition in these verses is found in the following verses.
• Js 4:2-3. You want something but don't get it. You kill and covet, but you cannot have what you want. You quarrel and fight. You do not have, because you do not ask God. 3 When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.
• Jn 15:7. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you.
• So when we seek to appropriate God’s grace, our faith must kick in as we call to mind all the things God has done for us, and as we lean on all the future promises God has given us. We need a strong element of faith in order to effectively appropriate God’s grace in our lives.
• How do we overcome our unbelief and prayerlessness?
• Realize that even faith is from God, and ask Him for more. We do believe perfectly in Christ, because when God looks at us, He sees Christ. But we don’t believe perfectly in our daily living. We should cling to Mk 9:24. Immediately the boy's father exclaimed, "I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!"

• SG #2. If we are to experience God’s grace through prayer, we must pray. But even for Christians, this seems to be the last thing we get around to doing.
• SG #2.a. Why do you think many Christians don’t pray more than they do?
• Unbelief
• We tend to forget how much we need God every day.
• We think we can handle it on our own. Prayer presupposes dependence on God.
• SG #2.b. How do you feel about your prayer life at this point in your daily walk with God?
• SG #2.c. What specific things do you need to do to improve your prayer life?
• Develop the habit of daily, protected prayer time (special time, special place).
• Take care of your body (proper food, exercise, and rest).
• Deliberately remove distractions.
• Don’t pray for the sake of prayer; Pray out of a hunger for God.
• Ask God to help make you a man or woman of prayer.

• God is the God of all grace. He delights to meet our every need.
• God meets these needs with His grace through:
• Prayer
• Word
• Submitting to our daily circumstances
• Being ministered to by others
• Ministering to others
• Prayer is a great privilege
• We are allowed to enter the "Holy of Holies" through prayer, anywhere, anytime.
• We enter God’s presence through Christ, who protects us and intercedes for us.
• Our prayer is an expression of our faith
• When we pray, we should pray in faith. As we pray more in faith, then our desires start to become God’s desires, and we ask for things that interest God.
• When we don’t pray, we are saying, in practical terms, that we really don’t believe God.

• Write down five needs that you have.
• Write down five needs that people you know around you have.
• Pick one or two from each list. Focus on these in prayer this week. Watch God answer.

These are just some verses that lifted my Spirit while preparing for this study. They can be used as passages just to reflect on, not necessarily to tear apart and study in great detail.

• This passage speaks of God’ delight in doing His children good. Jer 32:38-41. They will be my people, and I will be their God. 39 I will give them singleness of heart and action, so that they will always fear me for their own good and the good of their children after them. 40 I will make an everlasting covenant with them: I will never stop doing good to them, and I will inspire them to fear me, so that they will never turn away from me. 41 I will rejoice in doing them good and will assuredly plant them in this land with all my heart and soul.
• This passage speaks of the depth of God’s love for us. Eph 3:16-21. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18 may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge--that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. 20 Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

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This page was last edited on 19 Dec 1999.