When we ask God for something, is it a “once and done” effort or should we pray repeatedly until our request is granted? I think the answer is yes! If we truly believe God hears our prayers, then we only need to ask once. (And what’s the point of praying if we don’t think he […]
When some people pray, they pray expecting God will answer their prayers and good things will happen. When other people pray, they pray expecting there’s only an outside chance God will come through; bad things are bound to happen. When you pray do you expect God to say “yes” or expect him to say “no?” […]
Which Version of the Lord’s Prayers Do You Say? Did you know there are multiple versions of the Lord’s Prayer—the prayer Jesus used to teach his followers how to pray? Matthew records the most common version, which goes something like this: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be […]
At a church I recently visited, members shared prayer requests as part of the service. One lady raised her hand and simply said she had an “unspoken request.” Though I’ve not heard that phrase in a long time, it was a common utterance at a church I once attended. It was almost always said by […]
A good friend was all excited. He had something he couldn’t wait to share. “God revealed something to me,” he announced. “I’ve not yet found it in the Bible, but I know it’s there somewhere.” I completely missed what God had revealed to him because I was so taken aback contemplating his statement. I have […]
My wife and I are on track to start our “52 Churches” adventure this coming Sunday—look for my first update on Monday. As friends prayed about this, they prayed that we would have a positive impact on each of the 52 churches we visited. This surprised me. Though it is generally my goal to make […]
Avoiding Christianese I once shared a story with a new friend and fellow followers of Jesus about a young boy praying for his teacher. My friend was perplexed and silent for a moment. Finally, she stammered out an explanation, ”I’ve never prayed for people before.” I didn’t know how to take this. Did she mean […]
Sometimes when praying or meditating I’m profoundly struck with the powerful realization of just how much God loves me, that he really, really loves me. In fact, he loves you, too! God’s love is always there. I shake my head in amazement and wonder why. I don’t deserve God’s love; I have not earned his […]
The word meditate is a verb. Verbs are action words; they are doing words. To mediate means to reflect on; to contemplate; to think about something deeply (especially spiritual matters). I often meditate on what God tells me in the Bible and through his Spirit. The result of one such season of meditation culminated in […]
As a child, I was taught that prayer was talking to God. That is a concise definition and offers an excellent child-appropriate primer on prayer. Later, I was provided with an expanded explanation, that prayer was one-way communication from us to God, with the Bible offering God’s communication back to us. For many people that […]