Posts Tagged ‘Prayer’
Name It & Claim It Praying
Those of you familiar with my writing and speaking know I am nowhere near even the outskirts of the “name it and claim it” movement. Abusing scripture with this theological construct is both insulting to the sovereignty of God and depressing to the one naming and claiming when their claims go unfulfilled. For the eyes…
Read MoreIntercession is a Privilege
If there were any area of my life in Christ I would like to heal, it would be my prayer life. I know brothers and sisters in Christ who pray with such ease – as easily and naturally as I converse with Alean. My prayer life is not like that. But as tattered as it…
Read MoreA Bizarre Prayer From Jesus
Just this morning I read a heartbreaking thread from a young woman on Twitter who has decided that prayer is pointless and she has stopped praying as a result. Not cut back. Stopped. Completely. Several others chimed in with some form of, “Yeah, me too. Gave up praying years ago.” I’ll admit that I struggle…
Read MoreGod, Do You Even Care?
I preached a sermon recently as part of a team preaching through 1 Peter. The second point of that sermon was, “Life is Pain.” That’s just a fact. Life is pain. Peter jumps with both feet directly into that reality. Jesus modeled a life of prayer for us. The apostle Paul directs us to “pray…
Read MorePanting After God
My prayer life is a true struggle for me. I pray, but I wouldn’t say I pray well … whatever that means. (How does one “pray well?”) Jesus prayed often. This is so much the case that Luke 22:39 describes Jesus as going off to pray and characterizes that with the phrase, “…as was his…
Read MorePestering God
In Luke’s gospel, immediately on the heels of teaching the disciples to pray, Jesus launched into a story that expands a bit on the idea of prayer. This is a longer blog posting, so before diving in, grab your coffee, a blanket, and your Bible. Pestering God And he said to them, “Which of you…
Read MoreWhen You Pray . . . (Part 7)
This is our final look at the prayer Jesus taught his disciples. Next week, we will look at how Jesus expanded on the teaching, but not look at the prayer itself. Lead Us Not Into Temptation This instruction from Jesus is difficult because we know that God tempts no man, and he cannot be tempted…
Read MoreWhen You Pray . . . (Part 5)
Thus far in our “When You Pray…” series, we have focused on honoring God, establishing that he is the Father of us all, he is holy, he owns the kingdom, and it is his will that is to be carried out. God-centered, rather than me-centered. Father, hallowed, kingdom, will. Now we shift our focus just…
Read MoreWhen You Pray . . . (Part 4)
For the past few weeks, we have been letting our minds marinade in the sauce of the Lord’s prayer. This week we are looking at . . . Thy Kingdom Come In brief, a kingdom is a domain. It is a reign or a rule; a realm over which one has control. As followers after…
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