February 2016 Blog Posts (19)

The Syrian refugee crisis is the worst refugee crisis of since World War II. More than 13.5 million Syrians are in need of humanitarian assistance. More than 4 million have fled the country and are living as refugees in Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey, Iraq, European countries and around the world.

This is how the PrayForRefugees website summarizes the huge crisis currently facing Syria and neighboring…

And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, "Abba! Father!"

Galatians 4:6

This is one of the most powerful statements of prayer in the entire Bible. It is a wonderful statement of intimacy. You may be aware that Abba is a Hebrew word. That is only partially true. It was, in fact, an Aramaic word. Hebrew was the language taught in the synagogue. It was the language of the Torah, the Old Testament…

Everything you need to live an abundant life comes from the Lord. At least that’s what Jesus said – “I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly” (John 10:10).  So how then, can you have an abundant life without continual communication with the Lord?  The answer is, “You can’t.”  Have you ever thought, how many things we think have to be modified by the adjective, ““abundant” in order to be meaningful, and successful?  Abundant money.  Abundant time. …

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Today, our grandchildren have many positive and negative influences we didn’t have when we were growing up. We didn’t have the many avenues of media, with the video games, and Internet that are desensitizing our grandchildren.  They are also faced with legal recreational marijuana, drugs, sex-trafficking, alcohol, sexual identity, Homosexuality, pornography, pre-martial sex…

Is not…

The etymological root of the word bless in the Old Testament is, to kneel! The implications of the idea are explosive. In northern Europe, inside one of the great cathedrals, there is a triptych of paintings depicting prayer. The first portrays a marketplace scene full of hurried activity, merchants selling and shoppers bartering. The second offers…

Matthew 21:20-22

“When the disciples saw it they marveled, saying, ‘How did the fig tree wither at once?’ And Jesus answered them, ‘Truly I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what has been done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, 'Be taken up and thrown into the sea,' it will happen. And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have…

There is a whole category of people who are called to Christ and have a passion for the nations & for the weak & marginal and have sought to go with a variety of service groups and who are repeatedly told no, don't go, be quiet, just settle down young man.

The reality is that if I were to go to my field of focus, I would probably die in short order because I would of my zeal or I would be disregarded as a lunatic because I would lose all my sleep because the medicines that…

All prayer is not a struggle, but some of the best prayer is like Jacob wrestling with the Lord.

There are several reasons we must struggle in prayer. They are diverse enough that they could not be covered thoroughly in a single blog entry. I will pray about writing a series of blogs on this important subject. But for now I want to overview the issue.

We need to struggle in prayer because of the condition of the fallen world where God has assigned us to minister. In Joel's…

To continue our "Better Together!" series on Corporate Prayer, I want to introduce you to a pastor friend of mine. John Whitsett is the Lead Pastor at Lakeside Community Church of the Nazarene in Hastings, Nebraska. I…

CCNews Portal invites praying people to PRAY the News and ACT Wisely or Responsibly.  https://www.facebook.com/CCNewsPortal

Believing it was essential to pray at the bridges on each end of our peninsula last month, we first prayed at the Chesapeake Bay Bridge, then at the Bay Bridge-Tunnel. Afterward, we reported our strategic intercession to our network.

In response, one of our friends e-mailed, “I do not have a prayer strategy that I know of. I praise, then thank, then petition and thank. Is that what you mean?” We…

PRAYING YOUR ANGER

Most of us are familiar with Paul's admonition in Ephesians 4:26,

"Be angry and sin not."

This command requires some thought for most moderns. Both verbs in the original language are in the imperative mode. We are not only told not to sin, but we are commanded to be angry.

This is actually a quotation from Psalm 4:4. Most of us are not aware of this because our English translations of Psalm 4:4 generally read "Stand in awe and sin…

If you were to create an annual prayer calendar with the most significant prayer events included, one of those "must-have" events would be Seek God for the City, the Lenten prayer campaign promoted each year by Waymakers.

God Wants an Intimate Relationship with you.

  Isn’t it exciting to have your precious grandchild come running

into your arms with hugs and kisses? Your six-year-old granddaughter calling to tell you she lost her first tooth and the tooth fairy is coming to her house or your seven-year-old grandson thrilled to tell you how many…

"I would know what he would answer me and understand what he would say to me."

Job 23:5

All of us come across things we do not understand about God. Some of them certainly bother us. I recently talked with a close friend who was struggling with one of those things. I told him I thought he might gain deeper insight than those of us who do not struggle with his particular question. But I don't believe that is always…