Oct 9, 2024 | Weekly Devotional
The Bible is filled with illustrations of God’s people speaking passionately with Him. We see this vividly in the Psalms. The psalmists honestly poured out their hearts to God. Psalm 73 is a great example: This is what the wicked are like— always free of care, they go...
Oct 2, 2024 | Weekly Devotional
Pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people. Ephesians 6:18 When I come to the S in the ACTS formula, I struggle terribly. Supplication is painfully hard...
Sep 18, 2024 | Weekly Devotional
How lovely is your dwelling place, LORD Almighty! My soul yearns, even faints, for the courts of the LORD; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.Psalm 84:1-2 My eldest son Paul has provided many opportunities for me to express ardent gratitude to my...
Sep 11, 2024 | Weekly Devotional
But you, dear friends, by building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life.Jude: 20,21 Apart from my relationship with God, my...
Sep 4, 2024 | Weekly Devotional
And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.Ephesians 6:18 Unfortunately, some of us have gotten the idea that prayer is supposed to be an intense and...
Aug 28, 2024 | Weekly Devotional
And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. Matthew 6:7 Once, while swimming in the ocean, I shouted an exceedingly short but extremely earnest prayer. Susan and I had gone to the beach in New...
Aug 21, 2024 | Weekly Devotional
People have made suggestions throughout the history of the church for how to make prayer a vital and regular part of our lives. Many tools have been devised. While tools and formulas for prayer can be helpful, they can sometimes become a distraction from a personal...
Aug 14, 2024 | Weekly Devotional
Therefore, my brothers and sisters, make every effort to confirm your calling and election. For if you do these things, you will never stumble, and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. 2 Peter 1:10, 11 My oldest...
Aug 7, 2024 | Weekly Devotional
When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show others they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that it will not be...
Jul 31, 2024 | Weekly Devotional
In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being...
Jul 24, 2024 | Weekly Devotional
I tell you, even though he will not get up and give you the bread because of friendship, yet because of your shameless audacity he will surely get up and give you as much as you need.Luke 11:8 In Luke 11:8, Jesus tells of a man who was insistent. He didn’t go away. He...
Jul 17, 2024 | Weekly Devotional
My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.John 10:27 Jesus says powerful things about praying specifically. Remember the example Jesus uses of the man who says, “Friend, lend me three loaves”? The request was specific. Sometimes, I tend to get lazy...
Jul 10, 2024 | Weekly Devotional
Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.Matthew 6:8 When I was growing up, I was often ill and seldom participated in athletics. By the time I was in college, I was so insecure about my lack of athleticism that I tried to compensate...
Jul 3, 2024 | Weekly Devotional
“Suppose you have a friend, and you go to him at midnight and say, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread; a friend of mine on a journey has come to me, and I have no food to offer him.’ And suppose the one inside answers, ‘Don’t bother me. The door is already locked,...
Jun 26, 2024 | Weekly Devotional
Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.Matthew 6:12 There are many things that are hindrances to prayer, but the one thing I encounter more than anything else in counseling with people is the problem of unforgiveness. Improper relationships with...
