What We Can Learn from Jesus’ Prayers One of the great blessings of being a follower of Jesus is to know that right now He is interceding for His people before the Father (Roman 8:34; Hebrews 7:25). While we do not know exactly what Jesus says to the Father, we do have examples of many…
Zip It and Pray!
How to Talk to God Before You Talk to Others Prayer will make a man cease from sin, or sin will entice a man to cease from prayer. ~ John Bunyan When I was in college in the 1980s, I came across a pamphlet entitled “How to Spend an Hour in Prayer.” I had been a Christian for just a…
Praying to Move On with the Lord
“I’m still on shaky ground,” I said to myself as I drove to church one Sunday morning nearly a year after coming to know the Lord. Even though my life was much improved, I still had this uneasy feeling that at any moment I could lose the stability I’d gained. I feared that my glimpses…
The Lord My Rock
Yahweh Tsuri What better word than “rock” to represent God’s permanence, protection, and enduring faithfulness? When you pray to the Lord your Rock, you are praying to the God who can always be counted on. His purposes and plans remain firm throughout history. The New Testament identifies Jesus as the spiritual rock that accompanied the…
Pray for Greater Love
One of the most productive things we can do to pursue a life beyond amazing is to read Paul’s prayers for the churches he was involved with. He didn’t pray for greater attendance, bigger offerings, or even more people becoming Christians. When we examine his prayers, we discover something far more challenging. For instance, to…
Consistent in Prayer: Picked Out of the Crowd
As they were going out, they met a man from Cyrene, named Simon, and they forced him to carry the cross. — Matthew 27:32 When you were a child, did you ever get roped into the post-meal kitchen cleanup? You could always tell that it was about that time because the adults would start pushing…
What Happens When Holy Women Talk to a Holy God
Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just…
Putting God First in Your Marriage Through Prayer
On our wedding night, Nancy and I knelt by the side of the bed in our bridal suite and prayed. We didn’t know it then, but that night we began to lay a foundation of regular prayer together that has made an indescribable difference in our marriage. Prayer together has literally been the glue that…
Pray Pray Pray: How to Hug a Porcupine and Squeeze a Skunk
Do you know someone who is difficult to love? The nosy neighbor. The grouchy grocery store clerk. Your child’s teacher who never cracks a smile. The hot-tempered boss. The church curmudgeon. Here are some things to keep in mind as you try to share the love with them. PRAY. PRAY. AND THEN PRAY SOME MORE.…
When You Believe in God but Not in Prayer
A pastor once asked his church to pray that God would shut down a neighborhood bar. The whole church gathered for an evening prayer meeting, pleading with God to rid the neighborhood of the evils of this bar. A few weeks later, lightning struck the bar and it burned to the ground. Having heard about…