Do we lament when life is so rotten and dark that we have no where else to turn? Yes. Do we lament when there is still hope, but much work yet to be done? Yes. What we have seen this Advent as we’ve studied psalms of lament, is that lament is a faithful, clinging toContinue reading “A Guided Lament you can use right now”
Tag Archives: Prayer
When Thoughts and Prayers Are Not Enough
In the morning, my family has a routine. Our two kids still at home, one middle schooler, one elementary, get ready for school while we are watching the local news. Then at 7am we switch over to CBS for their morning show. A few days ago, we were surprised to hear that CBS fired oneContinue reading “When Thoughts and Prayers Are Not Enough”
Practical suggestions to help you pray
This winter/spring I read an amazing book on prayer I wish I had come across years ago. It is called Prayer: Conversing with God by a missionary named Rosalind Rinker. She first published it in 1959, but it is so relevant. Could have been written yesterday. Easily one of the best books on prayer I’veContinue reading “Practical suggestions to help you pray”
Do you want to learn how to pray?
Do you know how to pray? Before we talk about that important question, let me back up a bit. It took me a while to find this image. To be honest, it almost always takes longer than I want to find the right image for my posts, or for the PowerPoint slides I make toContinue reading “Do you want to learn how to pray?”
Could prayer meetings and hand-raising be the worship that God really wants?
Last week I mentioned the massive investment Christians have made in building-centered, staff/program-heavy, Sunday worship. I wondered if God might evaluate us concluding, “I wish you would have done something different.” But how do we know what God would say? Most of us involved in leading church worship do want to know God’s evaluation of our worship.Continue reading “Could prayer meetings and hand-raising be the worship that God really wants?”
The extremely important teaching of Jesus that Google (and maybe your church) is missing
Today while writing this post, I googled “the one thing Jesus taught us to do.” I was looking for an image to illustrate the reflection that I usually write about the previous Sunday’s sermon. The results of my image search were very interesting. Can you predict which result was the most frequent? Prayer. I guessContinue reading “The extremely important teaching of Jesus that Google (and maybe your church) is missing”
Why our worship will be silent this Sunday at Faith Church – May 8, 2016
A few years ago we started holding Silent Sunday around the time the Christian Church world-wide observes Jesus’ Ascension. We’re told in the earliest historical account of the first followers of Jesus, the Book of Acts, in chapter 1, that after Jesus ascended to heaven, the very first act his followers decided to do wasContinue reading “Why our worship will be silent this Sunday at Faith Church – May 8, 2016”
Why an increasing practice of prayer is so important – Luke 18:1-17
If we never or rarely pray, what are we saying? Maybe that we are Christian atheists, unbelieving, like I mentioned last week? It is not enough to believe intellectually that Jesus is God and that he died on the cross and rose again for the forgiveness of our sins, we also show that our faithContinue reading “Why an increasing practice of prayer is so important – Luke 18:1-17”
Are you a Christian Atheist?
I need to make a confession: I have been weak in prayer lately. Does that make me a Christian atheist? What I mean is that for the past number of years, five or so, I haven’t prayed much. I lead Faith Church’s weekly prayer meeting, we pray before Serve Team and Leadership Team meetings, andContinue reading “Are you a Christian Atheist?”
Overcoming our fears, Part 2 – God’s role in calming our fears – Luke 12:1-2
People say that their two greatest fears are death and speaking in public. In Luke 12:1-12 Jesus talked with his disciples about these two fears. Perhaps what he said will help you overcome those fears! In Verses 4-7 he refers to the fear of death. Do not be afraid, but do fear God, he lovesContinue reading “Overcoming our fears, Part 2 – God’s role in calming our fears – Luke 12:1-2”
Engaging Scripture 