John 11.41 observes Jesus looked up to heaven and said, “Father, thank you for hearing me.”
One of our hindrances to prayer is our belief that God hears us. God the Son had no such hindrance with believing that God the Father heard His prayers. Why? (more…)
Luke 22.46 challenges, get up and pray, so that you will not give in to temptation.
God takes sin seriously. Sin is everything we do that defies the will of God.
This defiance is measured by God by our words, attitudes and actions toward Him and others. God has demonstrated His commitment to punish sin since humanity began their rebellion against God. (more…)
Esther 4.16 comments, If I must die, I must die.
One of the heroes of the Bible is the young woman Esther. An oft quoted statement from the book in her memory is ‘perhaps you were made queen for such a time as this.’
The story of Esther is one of tragedy and triumph, of faith and courage, of God’s faithful work behind the scenes when people risk all for His purposes. (more…)
Matthew 21.22 promises, you can pray for anything, and if you have faith, you will receive it. 
This verse makes many Christians nervous because on the surface it appears God is promising us anything we ask for in prayer. This is what we want His words to mean for there are many things we wish we had but don’t have but if having them was only a matter of asking for them then that would be awesome.
Our experience however tells us this is not what He meant for we have all asked God for things in prayer and did not receive them. So what does this verse mean? (more…)
Luke 18.42 comments your faith has healed you. God begins His teaching in this section by telling us to
pray with perseverance.
When Jesus makes His comment it is to a man who persevered in crying out to Him despite rebuke and demands to stop, in the end, His perseverance was rewarded. What’s interesting is that God said it was the man’s faith that healed him. Jesus did not say it was his persevering prayer or the power of God but faith that caused his healing. (more…)
Matthew 26.39 records, He fell with His face to the ground and prayed, My Father, if it is possible, 
may this cup be taken from Me. Yet not as I will, but as You will.
The goal of our prayer should be for the wisdom and strength to do God’s will. True prayer seeks God for the resources to do God’s will because doing His will always exceeds our resources.
God promises to always be with those who do His will because we need Him to complete His will. (more…)
Matthew 6.8 reminds us your Father knows what you need before you ask Him.
One of the foundational beliefs about God is that He knows everything. If He didn’t know everything how could He really be God, goes the logic.
God confirms this suspicion when He reminds us that He already knows what we need before we ask Him in His teaching on prayer. This information seems counterproductive to encouraging prayer. (more…)
Psalm 66.20 describes God, Who has not rejected my prayer or withheld His love from me!
All Christians should go see the movie War Room. It is both a challenge and encouragement in the areas of prayer, marriage, parenting and priority.
The question gets asked in the movie about the priority of prayer in a professing Christian’s life. The character admits to not spending much time in that discipline. Most of us would probably echo that sentiment. (more…)
Luke 18:1 declares Jesus told His disciples a story to illustrate their need for constant prayer and to show them that they must keep praying until the answer comes.
Prayer is a mystery to most of us and therefore a difficult thing for us to consistently engage. On the one hand we think God knows everything so why should we pray?
Because God told us to pray doesn’t help us become more motivated to pray, we need a more compelling answer to our question. Because God modeled a life of prayer doesn’t help us either, we tend to dismiss some of Jesus’ activity because He is God and we don’t believe we have any chance of measuring up to Him anyway.
So why pray if God already knows everything anyway? (more…)
1 Chronicles 4:10 records he prayed to the God of Israel, “Oh, that You would wonderfully bless me and help me in my work; please be with me in all that I do, and keep me from all evil and disaster!” And God granted him his request.
A few years ago a book was written about making this prayer a normal part of the Christian life because it affirms the notion that God wants us blessed and successful as long as He receives the glory. We have often been deceived with this idea that our success leads to God’s greater glory.
If He just gives us all that we want we will make sure to tell others about Him so they can get what they want too because God wants people to want Him and He wants to bless them.
Interestingly, when God lived among us and had His very best opportunity to demonstrate such a life He chose the very opposite of such a successful life. (more…)
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