Do you value the Lord’s Prayer? It is a fixed part of worship services and also a regular part of my family’s evening devotions. Jesus himself taught it to us. It is wonderful that we can approach God as our own Father and we can address him informally, ask him whatever we need and surrender to his care. As a friend of my youth once said ‘if something has been forgotten when prayed in our words, the Lord’s Prayer will cover…
Did you know that the Lord’s Prayer is dangerous? This week the Church of England’s cinema add featuring the Lord’s prayer was banned. I was curious to see this add and I absolutely loved it. How about you? Even the web site for prayer they’re advertising for is worth of visiting. But let’s discover the beauty of the Lord’s Prayer. Why is it so powerful, even dangerous? Bishop Steven Croft gives us seven reasons in his blog post: First, this…
Do you pray daily? Or do you save it for special occasions? Jesus taught us to ask for daily bread. He told us to ask daily for anything we need, nothing more, nothing less. God is our heavenly father who wants to take care of our needs and sustain us to victorious living. (But realize that Jesus advised us to ask for our needs not wants.) Give us today the food we need. (Matthew 6:11, NLT) Mary DeMuth wants us…
Are you interested in doing the will of God? If you are reading this I assume that’s the case. With the words of Elizabeth Elliot “The will of God is not something you add to your life. It’s a course you choose. You either line yourself up with the Son of God…or you capitulate to the principle which governs the rest of the world.” Hence doing the will of God is following Christ. Mary DeMuth helps us to understand better…
Lately I’ve been thinking how our faith could be expressed in love. You know, even the Bible tells us that our faith should be activated through love. How can we do it? Because it’s not so easy. Life is messy and relationships complicated. Our initial response in life, unfortunately, is not often love. So. What to do? How to get from war to love, from angst to alleluia? For in Christ, neither our most conscientious religion nor disregard of religion…
Last week our seven year old son said something after the Lord’s Prayer that I have been thinking ever since. It was nothing earth-shattering but profoundly true nonetheless. He said that the Lord’s Prayer was a practical prayer. Indeed! I just had never thought about it that way. Jesus wanted us to pray practical prayers. “The world is full of so-called prayer warriors who are prayer-ignorant. They’re full of formulas and programs and advice, peddling techniques for getting what you…
Do you have prayer requests? Good news! We have a prayer hearing God who lovingly responds to us. One day he was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said, “Master, teach us to pray just as John taught his disciples.” So he said, “When you pray, say, Father, [How wonderful it is to approach God as Father! This never happened in the Old Testament. What a gift it is to be a child of…
