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Work of Prayer
Prayer is work. To be effective in prayer takes discipline and diligence, both of which are necessary ingredients in any successful endeavor. If we suggest prayer is not work then I think we deceive people, and perhaps ourselves. We may enjoy praying, as we might our jobs, but it is work nevertheless. But prayer also works. I…
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Mundane is Glorious
Mark Altrogge is a name some may recognize as the author of such worship songs as I Stand in Awe and I’m Forever Grateful. Most probably won’t recognize the name or the songs. Mark is also a pastor in Western Pennsylvania, affiliated with the Sovereign Grace Ministries network. Mark has written a recent post, Mundane is…
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Prayer at the Plate
The World Series begins tonight, and I’ve been thinking about prayer. What do those things have in common? Perhaps not much. But consider: We all like home runs. We like to watch them. And if we are playing, we like to hit them. But if a player goes to the plate trying to hit a…
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Prayer: A Way to Take Your Spiritual Pulse
We may judge the state of our hearts by the earnestness of our prayers. You cannot make a rich man beg like a poor man; you cannot make a man that is full cry for food like one that is hungry. No more will a man who has a good opinion of himself cry for…
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Sharing the Father’s Welcome
Tim Keller’s new book, The Prodigal God: Recovering the Heart of the Christian Faith, will be released in a few weeks, on October 31. In the book Keller presents a powerful expression of the gospel, rooted in the parable of the Prodigal Son. Having heard Keller teach from this parable, I am looking forward to the…
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Frontline Prayer
Jack Miller, in his book Outgrowing the Ingrown Church, makes a distinction between two types of prayer meetings: Maintenance and Frontline. Miller confesses to having led both kinds in churches he pastored. Here is how Miller describes each: The Maintenance meeting was largely designed to maintain the the existing life and ministry of our congregation. Believers…
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Valley of Vision
My friend David Zavadil has begun posting the beautiful prayers from The Valley of Vision, a collection of Puritan prayers & devotions. Inspired by his example I want to do the same thing. I don’t plan to make this a regular practice, but one prayer, the one giving the title to the book, has…
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Pastors & REAL People
My friend Nathan Lewis has written a profoundly heartfelt, insightful post titled: Why So Many Pastors Don’t Get Close to Church Members. Nathan is an excellent writer, and has a broad spectrum of interests, so that he has written a good post is no surprise. But the theme he dares to address treads into sensitive territory: the…
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Making the Most of Worship
Worship is the most important activity that a believer participates in during any given week. My purpose is not so much to make that case in this post as it is to offer some suggestions about how we might get the most out of the worship experience. In short, like anything else worth doing, it…
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Tips That Change the Taste of Worship
As a pastor I have come to understand that some people have difficulty concentrating throughout the Sunday message. Sometimes it’s just me people can’t follow. But sometimes it is them. It may be a short attentioon span, external distractions, or just the overwhelming wealth of insight being offered. (That last one is my favorite.) If you’ve ever…
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Wheting Our Apetite for Worship
Worship does not satisfy our hunger for God – it whets our appetite… Our need for God is not taken care of by engaging in worship – it deepens… It overfloows the hour and permeates the week… – Eugene Petereson
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Respectable Sins
One of the books on my bedside table is Respectable Sins, by Jerry Bridges. The subtitle of the book is: Confronting the Sins We Tolerate. The theme becomes self explanatory. In his preface Bridges explains the motive behind the book: “The motivation for this book stems from a growing conviction that those of us whom I call conservative…
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