Tag: Prayer
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Prayer Mirrors the Gospel
“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…
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In Constant Prayer
Here is a challenging insight from Robert Benson, taken from his book In Constant Prayer: Our modern church has some distinct advantages over the early church. Or at least I suspect it does. We have better youth programs and better acoustics and finer buildings. We have better literature that is more easily available to…
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A Call to Prayer
With today being National Day of Prayer, I thought I would post a wonderful and challenging message from one of my favorite writers from the 19th Century, J.C. Ryle, Bishop of Liverpool in England. The message is titled: A Call To Prayer One of the great things about Ryle is that his style is not…
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Seek God for the City 2009
Beginning today and continuing through Palm Sunday members of our church, individually and corporately, will join thousands of others in churches throughout the world to Seek God for the City. Seek God for the City is an anual season of prayer initiated by Waymakers. Using a prayer guide designed by Waymakers individuals and groups will pray…
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Siamese Twins: Godliness & Prayer
[W]e know that prayer is the most important thing for a Christian to do from the example of godly men in history. It can be safely said that there never has been and never will be a truly godly man who does not pray. Godliness and prayerfulness are Siamese twins; never is one without the…
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Prerequisites for Effective Prayer
In order to have an effective prayer life Scripture teaches that there are certain prerequisites. Among them: 1. Relationship We must have a relationship with God the Father, which comes only through a relationship with Jesus. (John 14.6) The preface to the Lord’s Prayer makes a distinction between those who have a right to call…
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God Made Us to Pray
While studying this afternoon I stumbled upon this thought from J.I. Packer: It is not too much to say that God made us to pray; that prayer is (not the easiest, but) the most natural activity in which in which we ever engage; and that prayer is the measure of a man in God’s sight.…
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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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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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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…
