Confessing Prayer from
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Study
Questions for February 10, 2013
Sermon:
Confessing Prayer (Psalm 51)
by:
Vermon Pierre
For this
particular session it would be best to start off in separate male and female
groups.
1. Why is
confession of sin in prayer so necessary? What things get in the way of us
truly confessing our sins? Cf James 5:16, 1 John 1:8-9
2. How
can you tell the difference between having godly grief over sin versus having
worldly grief over sin? Cf 2 Corinthians 7:8-11
3.
Discuss the story of Saul in 1 Samuel 15 and how he failed to really confess
and repent from his sin. What things personally impact you about this story?
How is it instructive for understand what confessing prayer and repentance
should not look like?
4.
Discuss the story of David in 2 Samuel
11 and 12 and how he dealt with his sin (see also Psalm 51). What things
personally impact you about this story? How is it instructive for understand
what confessing prayer and repentance should look like?
At this
point break up into smaller groups of 2 or 3. Link up with people you think you
can be honest and open with, people who are able to give sound biblical support
and prayer for one another.
Use the
following questions to help you identify and work through some areas of your
life that are not of the Lord – habits or thoughts or attitudes you should not
have in your life or habits or thoughts or attitudes that you should have in
your life. This is meant as a starting part towards true confessing prayer and
repentance. It will be up to you to continue down this road. BE SURE TO LEAVE
TIME FOR PRAYER BEFORE YOUR TIME IS DONE.
Please
note that these questions are adapted from the article entitled “Psalm 51
Repenter’s Guide” by David Covington and “X-Ray
Questions: Drawing Out the Whys and Wherefores of Human Behavior” by David
Powlison. Don’t feel that you need to answer every question here; pick the ones
that will be most helpful to your process of confession and repentance.
Questions to analyze yourself:
1) What do you love? Is there something
you love more than God or your neighbor?
2) What do you want? What do you desire? What do
you crave, long for, wish? Whose desires do you obey?
3) What do you seek? What are your personal
expectations and goals? What are your intentions? What are you working for?
4) Where do you bank your hopes? What hope are
you working toward or building your life around?
5) What do you fear? Fear is the flip side of
desire. For example, if I desire your acceptance, then I fear your rejection.
6) What do you think you need? In most cases a
person's felt needs picture his or her idol cravings. Often what we have called
necessities are actually deceptive masters that rule our hearts. They control
us because they seem plausible. They don't seem so bad on the surface and it
isn't sin to want them. However, I must not be ruled by the "need" to
feel good about myself, to feel loved and accepted, to feel some sense of accomplishment,
to have financial security, to experience good health, to live a life that is
organized, pain-free, and happy.
7) What are your plans, agendas,
strategies, and intentions designed to accomplish? What are you really going
after in the situations and relationships of life? What are you really working
to get?
8) Where do you find refuge, safety,
comfort, and escape? When you are fearful, discouraged, and upset, where do you
run? Do you run to God for comfort and safety or to something else? (To food,
to others, to work, to solitude?)
9) What do you trust? Do you functionally rest
in the Lord? Do you find your sense of well-being in His presence and promises?
Or do you rest in something or someone else?
10) Whose performance matters to you? This
question digs out self-reliance or self-righteousness. It digs out living
through another. Do you get depressed when you are wrong or when you fail? Have
you pinned your hopes on another person? Are you too dependent on the
performance of your husband, wife, children or friends?
11) Whom must you please? Whose opinion counts?
From whom do you desire approval or fear rejection? Whose value system do you
measure yourself against? In whose eyes are you living?
12) What do you desperately hope will last in your
life? What do you feel must always be there? What can't you live without?
13) How do you define success or failure in any
particular situation? Are your standards God's standards? Do you define success
as the ability to reach your goals? The respect and approval of others? Is it
defined by a certain position or the ability to maintain a certain lifestyle?
By affluence? By appearance? By acceptance? By location? By accomplishment?
14) What makes you feel rich, secure, and
prosperous? The possession, experience, and enjoyment of what would make you
happy? The Bible uses the metaphor of treasure here.
15) What do you see as your rights? Whst do you
feel entitled to? What do you feel is your right to expect, seek, require, or
demand?
16) What do you really want out of life? What
payoff are you seeking from the things you do? What is the return you are
working for?
17) What do you pray for? The fact that we pray
does not necessarily mean we are where we should be spiritually. On the
contrary, prayer can be a key revealer of the idols of our hearts. Prayer can
reveal patterns of self-centeredness, self-righteousness, materialism, fear of
man, etc.
18) What do you think about most often? In the morning, to
what does your mind drift instinctively? When you are doing a menial task or
driving alone in your car, what captures your mind? What is your mindset?
19) What do you talk about? What occupies your
conversations with others? What subjects do you tend to discuss over and over
with your friends? The Bible says it is out of the heart that our mouths speak.
20) How do you spend your time? What are your
daily priorities? What things do you invest time in every day?
21) What are your fantasies? What are your
dreams at night? What do you daydream about?
Questions to promote
confession and repentance
1) Are you defensive about your sin? Do you make excuses for
or try to justify your sin? What motives and attitudes are behind you being
defensive or making excuses?
2) Are you more eager to clear your reputation with man than
to clear it with God?
3) What word does God say to you to expose you and to give
you hope? In particular, how does the death of Jesus expose you and the
resurrection of Jesus give you hope?
4) Do you sense the weight of conviction? Are you regularly
crying out to God for relief and help?
5) Is your thinking and praying about your sin moving from
“that was wrong” toward “that displeased you Lord”?
6) Can you believe and say from your heart, “You are all-just
in punishing my sin, and amazing grace, you are the justifier of the one who
has faith in Jesus”?
7) What has God promised to do in your heart? Think of some
specific promises. What has God already done for you?
8) How can you better embrace Christ’s death to sin for
yourself? How can you better trust and rely on Christ’s union with you?
9) How can you hope in Christ for restored joy and
fellowship?
10) How can you turn more towards the wise faithful God and
away from your false hopes and desires?
11) How can you begin to ask for help in dealing with your
sin? In particular what role should your church community play in this (hint:
it should play a significant role!) What steps do you need to take tomorrow to
begin doing this?
12) If you find asking for help hard, why is this? What treasures
of yours does seeking help threaten?
13) What actions should flow from your repentance? What
should you do today and what can wait until next week? How can you start?
14) Should you ask forgiveness? From whom? For what? When?
How?
15) Should you make restitution? In kind, time, or money? How
much?
16) Should you exercise godly discipline instead of selfish
neglect? How to start?
17) Should you see someone you’ve wronged instead of avoiding
him or her? When? How?
18) Whom has God called you to love? What sort of service
would be fitting?
