Paul Miller

I Pledge My Life to Jesus & the Gospel

/ Dennis Griffith / 1 Comment

Stanied Glass Pathway

I pledge my life to Jesus and the Gospel. I want Jesus not to be just part of my life or something that makes me feel good, but to be the very center – controlling everything. I want only the knowledge of the love of God. I want to know Christ.

I want no desire, idol, or sinful way of dealing with hurt to control any part of my life no matter how small. I put away from myself the love of money, power, comfort, and success. I count everything rubbish.

I bind myself to Christ as bond-servant for life. I want no master other than Christ. I purpose to own nothing. I surrender to Jesus my family, my friends, my ministry, my ideas, my possessions, and my future.

I commit myself to submission to others and a willingness to learn from all kinds of Christians. I commit myself to speak only your words, not my own. I commit myself to speak the truth in love to others.

I want to love people. I want to lay down my life for others, especially those closest to me, as God gives us grace. I want to love people by telling them about Jesus.

I understand that this will mean suffering in my life, that I will join in the sufferings of Christ. But that I always want to be dying, so that I can always be living in Christ.

~ Paul Miller

Prayer Mirrors the Gospel

/ Dennis Griffith / Leave a comment

“Prayer mirrors the gospel. In the gospel, the Father takes us as we are because of Jesus and gives us his gift of salvation. In prayer, the Father receives us as we are because of Jesus and gives us the gift of help. We look at the inadequacy of our praying and give up, thinking something is wrong with us. God looks at the adequacy of his Son and delights in our sloppy, meandering prayers.”

– Paul Miller, A Praying Life

More Like Jesus

/ Dennis Griffith / Leave a comment

Aqua

“To become more like Jesus is to feel increasingly unable to do life, increasingly wary of your heart. Paradoxically, you get holier while you are feeling less holy. The very thing you were trying to escape – your inability – opens the door to prayer and then grace.”

 – Paul Miller, A Praying Life

A Praying Life

/ Dennis Griffith / Leave a comment

Praying Life“Lord, teach us to pray.”   That’s the request of the disciple of Jesus. (Luke 11.1)  That’s a request that should not be limited to ages past or the pages of the Bible. It is the heart request of any disciple of Jesus. 

My friend, Paul Miller is Jesus’ tool to answer that request in this generation.  In his book, A Praying Life: Connecting With God in a Distracting World, Paul helps people like me, people who sometimes struggle in knowing how or what to pray; people who find their minds wandering often whenever trying to commit longer periods of time to pray; people who sometimes wonder if God get’s tired of these simple, random, and inarticulate petitions.

Paul reminds us what it means to be a child of God, and the implications that has for our prayer life. He helps us see that God will never reject those who come to him with a child-like heart, and therefore will certainly not be disappointed in us if we come to him with child-like characteristics.  Paul “redeems” the mind-wandering, and sets us free to enjoy our Father in prayer.

Check out a sample chapter and a review from NavPress.

The Jesus Pledge

/ Dennis Griffith / 1 Comment

 

cross-in-the-sky1

 

What does it mean to be a disciple of Christ? What does it mean to be Gospel-driven?  I think my friend, Paul Miller, expresses it beautifully in The Jesus Pledge:

I pledge my life to Jesus and the Gospel.  I want Jesus not to be just part of my life or something that makes me feel good, but to be the very center – controlling everything.  I want only the knowledge of the love of God.  I want to know Christ. 

I want no desire, idol, or sinful way of dealing with hurt to control any part of my life no matter how small.  I put away from myself the love of money, power, comfort, and success.  I count everything rubbish. 

I bind myself to Christ as bond-servant for life.  I want no master other than Christ.  I purpose to own nothing.  I surrender to Jesus my family, my friends, my ministry, my ideas, my possessions, and my future. 

I commit myself to submission to others and a willingness to learn from all kinds of Christians.  I commit myself to speak only your words, not my own.  I commit myself to speak the truth in love to others.

I want to love people.  I want to lay down my life for others, especially those closest to me, as God gives us grace.  I want to love people by telling them about Jesus.

I understand that this will mean suffering in my life, that I will join in the sufferings of Christ.  But that I always want to be dying, so that I can always be living in Christ.