Category: Prayer
The Priority and Potency of Prayer
My wife and I recently realized we’ve become quite the “strategists” with our children. This is unfortunate. When our children share dilemmas for our consideration, we are too quick to offer (oftentimes) dogmatic counsel without asking clarifying questions and, more shamefully, without praying. You would think...
Pathetic Reasons for Little Prayer
I have spells when I don’t pray much. I’m so ashamed of that, but thankful to God that He is always faithful to bring me out of a prayerless stupor. Recently, I was contemplating these times of little prayer, and I asked myself, “What are some...
Praying Specifically
My dad tells a story about an old deacon who was asked to pray during a church meeting. The man stood up and after other typical worn out phrases said, “Lord, we pray for all those for whom it is our duty to pray. Amen.” I...
Nine Characteristics of Biblical Prayer
True prayer is not merely a matter of saying the right words. Biblical prayer is characterized and motivated by the right attitude-right thinking about the greatness of God, the beauty of Christ, and our own unworthiness and weakness. Ask yourself if your prayers are characterized by:...
Losses of a Prayerless Christian
Though God is sovereign over all things, He ordains the means of prayer. There are some things He will not do unless we pray, though He always does all He purposes (Psalm 135:6). The mystery does not change this truth: You do not have because you...
Let Us Pray… Without Delay!
They didn’t complain. They didn’t doubt. They didn’t even strategize. Once Peter and John reported their imprisonment and the threats they had received for preaching the gospel, they immediately prayed with a gathering of believers in Jerusalem (see Acts 4:23-31). As I once heard, “Prayer was...
Learning to Pray from the Praying Jesus
“Steeeeve, come in here! It’s time to praaayyy!” I heard those words from Pastor Floyd Baker often during the summer I served as his church’s youth pastor. I couldn’t go to the office without his invitation to the throne of grace. He never prayed briefly, though...
Do Our Prayers for Missionaries Really Matter?
A man once spent twenty minutes and twenty seconds of his life one day looking at two different emails. The first email was from a local store that shared all of its weekly deals. He studied it in detail, not only hoping to find a great...
Audacious Prayer
Christians must be people who pray with audacity, not because we deserve an answer, but because God will give it. When one of Jesus’ followers requested of Him, “Lord, teach us to pray just as John also taught his disciples,” Jesus’ response was two-fold. He first...
Better Prayer Meetings and Prayer Groups: Less Confusion, More Communion
Most of us have experienced both “good” and “bad” prayer meetings. Eventually we may find out that the “good prayer meeting” which seemed to go very well was actually tainted. Those who prayed sounded spiritual, but they were full of pride. And Peter tells us, “God...
