April 2016 Blog Posts (23)

Because prayer is a work done mostly in secret, it is rare for an intercessor to immediately know whether his prayers are effective. It is rarer still for someone to realize they are being prayed for, since humility constrains us from boasting about our praying!



Yet from time to time, we do hear of amazing answers to prayer, and have the joy of…

 Do you think God's timetable is too slow for you in answering your prayers? We read in John chapter 11, where Mary and Martha sent word to their dear beloved friend Jesus to let him know their brother Lazarus was sick. Mary and Martha became impatient when Jesus didn’t come when they thought He should come to heal Lazarus. However, Jesus had different plans, He told the disciples, and “This sickness will not end in death, No, it is for God’s glory so that God’s…

Life is full of demands. It's hard meeting these high demands causing one to become frustrated and overwhelmed. There is a demand that will be help one meet all other demands. That demand is prayer. Life demands prayer everyday all day long. When one depends on God for directions, answers, guidance and solutions, life becomes more balanced and beautiful. Prayer, the rose garden for the soul. Yes, the calmness of the soul depends on a quiet spirit. Don't become ruffled or dismayed with life.…

The first guy who got away with decision making without the impact of a woman was Adam, when he still had a full set of ribs (Genesis 1:18-23). Why does God so often communicate with women first? On our first date, my then future wife told me what God had called her to be, and what that meant in terms of the husband she needed to fulfill that revelation. Prior to that my mother had been a bit more subtle, in telling me what she and God had determined would be my future. In both cases, the…

Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth (Psa. 46:10).

Solitude is the creation of holy space and time for God, but it is not stillness; that is an inner condition. In Psalm 46:10, the word for still in Hebrew is raphah (raw-faw’). It means to sink, to relax by necessity as it were, to fall…

How do we look at radical Muslims? Shortly after 9/11 a child in our church said, "We need to pray for the terrorists!"

Without thinking, I answered, "Pray that they will be caught and killed." Because of that 4 or 5 year-old boy, I had to examine my heart and my thinking in this matter. I have come to some thoughts that I would like to share with you.

Is it wrong to pray for judgment to come on our enemies? God is a God of judgment. He could not be good, holy or even loving,…

Many years ago I heard this illustration: Imagine a set of scales with a one-pound weight on one side and a pile of sugar cubes to be added to the other. The first few cubes added seem to make no difference in shifting the weight. Neither do the next ten cubes…or the next ten. However, by the time one hundred cubes have been added, a point is reached where the addition of one or two more sugar cube starts to tip the scales.

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Praying Grandparents are in a battle for the next generation, however the battle isn't ours, it is the Lords. We read in II Chronicles 20:15, "Do not be afraid or discouraged . . . . For the battle is not yours but Gods." The way to walk through this battle is to grip the hand of Jesus tightly and stay in close communication with him.   

It is only as we release our concerns for our grandchildren and their parents we are free to cling to the hand of Jesus. It is hard to…

Where are you going? You are going somewhere. In recent Thinking in The Spirit blog entries I wrote on repentance. And I keyed off of Psalm 139:23-24. It reads,

"Search me O God and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting."

In the previous entries I focused on the dependence and devotion of your heart. But notice the wording of this passage. David does not ask God to search his…

As we move through life, we flow with predictable patterns of interaction with others. Sadly, so often the emotions, the cognitive content exchanged, the decisions and the delights of the world with which we interact are not in unity with God. On the contrary, they are adverse to Him. Consciously, sometimes unconsciously, we are pressured to compromise…

Have you seen the Facebook post that reads, “I wouldn’t change my grandkids for the world, but I would like to change the world for my grandkids?” As I was thinking about the quote, I was reminded there is something we as grandparents, can do to change the world for our precious grandchildren by link arms with other grandparents to intercede for our grandchildren. We can pray they will develop a soft heart for Jesus and learn to know and follow Him wholeheartedly. …

Much is being written here and elsewhere these days about praying for our country.  Good thoughts, wisdom shared, encouragement and hope given.  Hopefully, we're praying even more than we're writing about prayer.

I wanted to take a minute to contrast two approaches that I've personally experienced to praying for our country. 

• Pride brings God the answers and asks him to act on them; humility brings God questions and asks for his wisdom.
• Pride tells God who needs…

Blaise Pascal observed, “All of man’s troubles stem from his inability to sit quietly alone in a room.”^[1] Prayer demands solitude times, and perhaps seasons, in which we shut out the world and seek only God. At such times, God is our…

1 Timothy 2:1,2 reads,

“First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way.”

Are you submitted to this injunction? Have you been praying for your president?  Are you praying daily for your governor, your senator and congressmen?

This command includes those you do not agree…

In the Northwest, where we have four seasons the beautiful tulips are in full bloom reminding us of the new life that spring brings, the cherry trees are loaded with blossoms. It is a beautiful time of the year with the trees and plants that have lied dormant during the cold winter months are getting new life almost over night.   …

Samuel Lee, the great Puritan writer, argued,

Prayer is the soul’s colloquy with God, and secret prayer is a conference with God upon admission into the private chamber of heaven. When you have shut your own closet, when God and your soul are alone, with this key you open the chambers of paradise and enter the closet of divine love.…