How long does it take to create a culture of prayer in a church? No matter how much your church needs a culture of prayer, it won’t happen after a single sermon on prayer, or an announcement of your vision or one dynamic prayer meeting. Have you ever visited Mount Rushmore in South Dakota? The enormous memorial to four presidents – Washington, Jefferson, T. Roosevelt and Lincoln – whose realistic likenesses are all carved into a mountain side, took about eight years longer to complete … [Read more...]
Four prayer goals to pursue in the New Year
EDITOR'S NOTE: This article first appeared on Baptist Press. Do you have any goals for your prayer life? C. S. Lewis once said, “You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.” About 60% of young adults will make New Year resolutions this year, hoping new goals will lead to self-improvement. Since we never grow spiritually by accident, here are 4 prayer goals to pursue in the new year. Think why not just how There are innumerable resources on “how” to pray – a … [Read more...]
Praying to get things done
Do you pray to get things done? Do you believe some things will only occur if you pray, or that God can refuse to act until someone prays? How Jesus sees prayer An event in the life of Jesus clarified the relationship between prayer and God’s activity. Mark’s gospel tells the story of Jesus and three of His disciples who, along with Moses and Elijah, gathered on the Mt. of Transfiguration (Mark 9:2-8). In His absence, the other disciples at the base of the mountain were overwhelmed by a … [Read more...]
The case for early morning prayer
Does your morning schedule affect your prayer life? Is the time you pray important? Someone once said that there are two kinds of Christians: One wakes up and says, “Good morning, Lord!” The other says, “Good Lord…morning.” Should this difference affect your prayer life? The morning difference In the Harvard Business Review, Dr. Christoph Randler, a neuroscientist from the University of Tübingen, writes about the advantages of early rising. His research finds that early risers, “…get … [Read more...]
Prayer, fasting, the power of God
John Wesley took a dim view of pre-revival America, but he had a plan to change it. Wesley spent time in the colonies and reported, “I desired as many as could to join together in fasting and prayer, that God would restore the spirit of love and of a sound mind to the poor deluded rebels in America.” Even a side glance at the current cultural moment demonstrates that prayer and fasting are just as urgently needed for the “poor deluded rebels in America” today as they were when the nation … [Read more...]
How to pray when you don’t feel like praying
EDITOR'S NOTE: This article was first published on Baptist Press here. Are you motivated to pray? The word “motivation” doesn’t appear in older dictionaries since it wasn’t coined until the mid-19th century and didn’t come into common use until the 20th century. The question of why we act as we do gave rise to a field of psychology determined to analyze the “motivation” of personal choices. Interest in the psychology of motivation continues to the present. What does any of this have to … [Read more...]
Prayer and meditation
EDITOR'S NOTE: This article was first published on Baptist Press. Can Christians meditate in prayer? The eastern practice of meditation associated with Yoga and Hinduism has gone mainstream in American culture. Consider, for instance, this meditation advice, “If your mind gets caught in a chain of thoughts, gently step out of the thought stream and come back to your breath.” That counsel was not given by a guru leaning into Dhyana on a mat in a Yoga center in New Delhi; instead, it is a … [Read more...]