I’ve just spent a week visiting and praying with young pastors and church starters in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. They are courageous (only 2% of their city is in church on any given Sunday, the same percentage as in Bagdad, Iraq). They are committed at all costs (most spend 60 to 70% of their income…
As you read this, I will be leading a prayer team in a major North American city. Among other places visited, we will tour an Islamic Mosque, A Hindu Center, A Sikh Temple, and a Buddhist Temple. We will listen patiently and respectfully as their leaders tell us of their beliefs. Then we will move…
Having spent more than half of my vocational ministry in theological education, it has always been a wonder to me why we spend so much time teaching would-be ministers how to talk for God and how little time we spend teaching them how to talk with God. We teach them much of how to relate…
We live in a day of urgencies and emergencies. We have addresses but we may not be there. We have e-mail addresses but we may not answer. We have phone numbers but we also have answering machines to take our messages. Planned agendas often get bumped in favor of some sudden need either of our…
How many times have you used or heard someone use the phrase, “unanswered prayer.” Where did that phrase originate? Not with Jesus. In His teaching on prayer, our Lord never once referred to unanswered prayer. Sometimes the answer is “no” as it was for Jesus when in Gethsemane, He asked the Father to let the…
Have you ever balked at something God impressed upon you to say? Sure you have and so have I. Well, we’re not the first to do so. Jeremiah’s response to God’s instructions was that he was too young to speak. You and I might respond that we are too old to speak, too untrained to…
Birthdays are usually about gifts and gains and growth. They can also be about losses. Shortly after Jesus’ twelfth birthday, his parents took Him to Jerusalem and lost Him. In the midst of the return caravan, they discovered Him missing and hurried back to Jerusalem to look for Him. They found Him in the Temple,…
Have you ever noticed in the life of Jesus that mountain revelations were often followed by valley applications? No sooner had Jesus ended his spectacular sermon on the mount than, coming down, He was confronted by a leper (Matthew 8:1). Truth taught on the mountain, had to be applied. Later, the almost unbelievable experience of…
In what ways do you try to please God? Perhaps you try to please God through worship, or maybe Bible study, or even acts of ministry. Some seek to please God through prayer, or giving, or simply being obedient. Beware lest you select incorrect methods. Nadab and Abihu displeased God by offering a “profane fire…
I was never very good at mathematics and I have embarrassing academic transcripts to prove it. Last week I discovered mathematical praying. I’m not sure it will improve my mathematical skills, but it sure enhanced my prayer life. I was in the final stages of preparing to speak to a group of students who were…