Category Archives: Prayer

by | September 12, 2016 · 6:30 am

Daily Devotions: Definitions and Suggestions

How would you define “doing your devotions?”

What is it, exactly?

Honestly, I am a preacher/pastor who has a difficult time doing my “daily devotions.” Frankly, I am even unsure the term “devotions” is actually appropriate. Something about it often strikes me as magical, prescriptive, or simply religious.

You see, I’m the type of person who sorta recoils from scripted religious stuff; I don’t even like responsive reading in church! Whenever a preacher says “Repeat after me…” in a sermon, I usually don’t. Therefore, when I go into a Christian book store like Lifeway and see shelves of “devotionals” and devotional aids – many written by the most popular authors of the day – I feel like I’m being pandered to, the object of some Nashvillian marketing team.

Whatever happened to the promise from Jesus that the Comforter would come and guide me into all truth (John 16:13)? What about the discernment of the Spirit (1 Corinthians 2:14)? Do I need the products of publishing elites to draw me closer to the Lord? Do I really need to read the polished words of some slick conference speaker to better understand the Word of God? Of course not.

But there does need to be some regularity of personal conversation with my heavenly Father. There needs to be regular communication with Jesus. How else could one develop a personal relationship with Someone if they never spent some one-to-one time together?

But again, how does one do it without it becoming mechanical? How does one keep it from becoming routine? How does one do it without letting someone else do all the work? How does one do it without it becoming just one more thing to check off the list?

I don’t believe there is a right or wrong way to regularly spend time with God; yet, you may have some way that works best for you. Would you mind sharing it?

 

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by | June 27, 2016 · 9:04 am

Monday Morning Prayer

Dear God,

Help me to not make You look bad today.

Amen.

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by | March 8, 2016 · 3:14 pm

Why So Sad?

Prayer

This morning I had the opportunity to meet with several other pastors from our area for a time of prayer. We met at White Oak Baptist Church where Dr. Tony Wilson is pastor.

Let me just say, it’s a great thing when pastors can get together and pray for each other, without having to worry about being jealous. Too many pastors are jealous of the ministries of their peers, but it shouldn’t be that way. We should be praying for each other and for the greater good of the Kingdom.

Picture

While we were there in the kitchen area of the church where we met to pray, I noticed several tables covered with stuffed animals and a few toys. Evidently, all of these were about to be taken to Jamaica on a mission trip.

Something about those piles of stuffed toys made me pause. I don’t know why – maybe it was all the color catching my eye – but I had to take a picture.

image

Once I finished editing this picture (with BeFunky), I looked at it and then realized that this was probably the saddest picture I’ve ever seen in my life! I just couldn’t figure out why.

UPDATE: I figured out why this picture makes me feel sad. The little teddy bear all alone, just tossed on a pile of other unloved toys. It’s just lying there, staring upwards with unblinking eyes, wondering where everybody has gone, unable even to right itself. Abandoned.

Good grief. I’ve got issues.

What are your thoughts? (about the picture, that is)

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by | January 10, 2016 · 8:00 am

“Sinner’s Prayer” Controversy: My Response

What better to post on a Sunday than something having to do with salvation? 

As much as I love monkey videos and sarcastic responses to political idiocy, those things have little relevance if they never point people to Jesus Christ, the Author and Finisher of our faith.

I am writing this on Saturday morning and scheduling it to be posted on Sunday. The reason I am writing it is because I was just notified of a “like” to a comment I made EXACTLY a year ago today (Saturday) on another blog, The River Walk.

Subject: The “Sinner’s Prayer.” Is it biblical or unbiblical? Should it be encouraged or banned? Can it be effective, or is it as David Platt called it, “superstitious” and “damning”?

The following was and is my response:

Where do I start? Where do I end? I’m a Baptist. I’m a Baptist pastor. I prayed the “prayer” as a child. I am born again. I have given altar calls. I have invited others to pray the “prayer” during invitations. There’s no way I can know who was born again…or not; only God knows. However, I can tell you about fruit.

No, the prayer doesn’t save; Jesus does. But what I see so often today is an attempt by many to belittle, malign, berate, and denigrate something that is precious and effective if presented in context with the true gospel message. I have seen it so many times: young, intellectual, up-and-coming theologians stirring up strife within the body of Christ, all the while holding on to the banner of grace, attempting to change, as if change itself was something divine. Why not accept the “sinners prayer” with a little more grace and along with it teach the fundamental doctrines on which it depends to be effective?

We ARE commanded to call upon the name of the Lord to be saved (Rom. 10:13). Is it not a “sinner’s prayer” when a sinner prays for salvation? Yes, I believe that there have been many false conversions brought about by head-hunting preachers and evangelists leading silent, congregational “sinner’s prayers.” That is why when I give an invitation I always explain that true salvation will result in public confession (Matt. 10:32-33). In other words, I never say “Pray with me…” and then ask people to come forward. I say that if one is truly repentant, truly understands his need of new birth, truly finds himself humbled at the foot of the cross, then he will have no problem coming to an altar, making a public profession, and then being baptized.

So, to sum this up…sorry for the length…I was saved at the age of 6 (I’m 47) when I realized that I was a sinner, was going to hell, and that the only way to heaven was to accept God’s gift of forgiveness through Jesus Christ. I wouldn’t have been able to recite the Apostle’s Creed, the Baptist Faith and Message, or even the Ten Commandments, but I knew I was lost. My dad led me to a little Sunday school room where we knelt at a little table, and it was there that my dad, a humble, former moonshiner, led me in the “sinner’s prayer,” because I didn’t know any better way to say what was in my little heart. That was the day I was saved, and I thank God my dad prayed with me.

That’s my 2 cents.

Do you disagree? That’s fine; it was only 2 cents. I am His, and He is mine, and that’s what matters.

bible

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by | October 30, 2015 · 1:06 pm

I Support Coach Joe Kennedy

This week a high school football coach in Washington was fired from his job,

  • not because he molested a student;
  • not because he stole from the locker room;
  • not because he posted offensive language on the school’s website;
  • not because he exposed himself to other teachers while in the teacher’s lounge;
  • not because he was encouraging excessive violence on the field;
  • not because he was conspiring with terrorists;
  • not because he threatened the coach of another team;
  • not because he tried to contaminate the food in the concession stand;
  • not because he was caught cheating;
  • not because he was caught paying students to play;
  • not because he cursed a player’s parents during a game.

No, the reason he was fired was because he dared to kneel and silently pray on the 50 yard line of the ball field AFTER the game. The audacity!

Congress begins with prayer, and the most liberal president we’ve ever had attends national prayer breakfasts, but a high school football coach can’t silently pray on his own time for fear that it might send the message that a public school endorses religion? Makes perfect sense, doesn’t it? Not.

Now, the school where Coach Joe Kennedy USED to work, Bremerton High School, DID give him an option: he could pray silently alone inside the school, in a room chosen by the administration, just not on the field.

Senator Lankford of Colorado stood on the senate floor and said the following: “Government doesn’t have the authority to confine your faith to the location of government’s choosing.” However, this is where we are heading if people of ALL faiths don’t stand up and speak out.

This is STILL America. We are STILL unique in the world with regard to religious freedom. Don’t let those who want to prohibit the expression of faith in public – our Constitutionally-affirmed right – get away with this.

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by | October 4, 2015 · 1:12 am

Preparing for an Encounter

Like many pastors, whether they’d admit it or not, I’m still in my little study/office with an open Bible, a note pad, some colored pencils, coffee that’s no longer hot, and a deep, yearning desire to hear from God. 

It’s after midnight, and while many folk are already in bed, still partying, or watching another increasingly perverted installment of Saturday Night Live, I’m wiping away tears as I beg for the souls of lost young men and women, boys and girls, and adults who think there’s nothing left to hear that will change their minds about Jesus. 

I know that I’m only human, but the task before me is inhuman; it is more than I can accomplish in my own strength with my own words. But I must try. I must depend on God’s endless grace and mercy. He called me, but He will empower me, speak through me, for I am but a vessel. 

Nevertheless, I struggle, for the words I choose to say must adhere to a universal Truth, the gospel that transcends cultures and circumstance. It can’t – it MUST NOT! – be a message relevant only to those here in America, but a message of Truth that could fit right in to whatever culture in which it’s shared. Otherwise, instead of a universal Gospel, all I have is my opinion on an Americanized gospel which will be irelevant to some who may attend and hear nothing more than me pontificate. 

The eleven o’clock hour at church, for many, is just another box on a list that must be checked off in order to earn a few religious brownie points. Rarely does one come, so it seems, expecting an encounter with the Living, Holy, Creator God. If I stand and preach in my own strength, with my own words, there’s no reason for any expectation. 

But if I’m broken, humble, obedient, and yielding, not to mention passionate for the heart of my Saviour,  and faithfully expound the Word of God, the universally applicable gospel of Jesus Christ, the Hope that is the same no matter where in the world a person is from, will be preached and, should the Spirit move, lives will be changed. That is my prayer. 

There’s never enough study and preparation time, so for many like me, the dark and quiet loneliness of Sunday morning is the time to wrap things up, settle my heart with God, and pray, if nothing else, that I’m not a hindrance to the glorious work set before me. 

Dear Father, may we experience an encounter with you. Where we will gather, please be in our midst. May we as Saul, as Ananias, as little Samuel, hear You call our names. May we also, with obedient and submissive hearts, say, “Here I am, Lord…what would you have me to do?” 

May it happen around the world! 

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by | May 20, 2015 · 5:00 am

My Confession

Honestly, I don’t know how I’m going to make it through this day. The burdens on my heart, the fear, the guilt, the unanswered questions, the mistakes I know I’ll make, and the constant pressure to be what I’m expected to be…it’s almost too much for me to stand, much less walk. 

So I’ll have to start on my knees.  

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by | May 7, 2015 · 1:17 pm

National Day of Prayer 2015

Our Resource

“We seek out panaceas to resolve the conflicts of the world and to heal our own personal and private wounds. Many are consulting the psychiatrist, the doctor, the minister, and anyone else who will listen. But we do not seem to recognize that the great need in our own personal lives is prayer. Prayer is the greatest neglected resource that we have; it’s a power that we simply are not using today.” – J. Vernon McGee (emphasis mine)

Today is the National Day of Prayer, and so I want to encourage each of you to pray. We need to be on our knees for our country, our cities, and our homes instead of rioting, protesting, and cursing each other. Oh, how much could change if we would just take advantage of the resource that’s been provided to us!

However, be careful; prayer is nothing but idle words and wishful thinking, motivational self-talk at best, if the Object of our prayer is not God.

“These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God. And this is the confidence that we have in him (Jesus), that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us: And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him.” – 1 John 5:13-15 (emphasis mine)

Pray, but go to God in prayer. Prayer doesn’t change things – He does.

Specifics

When you pray, pray with intent. Don’t pray in generalities; be specific. If you don’t already have a list of specifics, let me suggest a few to get you started. Let the Holy Spirit guide you after these.

  • Praise God for the opportunity to pray. Thank God that He even allows us into His presence.
    • “Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, [and] into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, [and] bless his name.” – Psalm 100:4
  • Confess your sins to God, and repent. 
    • “I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the LORD; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin. Selah.” – Psalm 32:5
    • “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us [our] sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” – 1 John 1:9
  • Pray for your President (or Prime Minister), your regional officials, and your local government leaders by name, if possible. 
    • “I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, [and] giving of thanks, be made for all men; For kings, and [for] all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. For this [is] good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.” – 1 Timothy 2:1-4
  • Pray for Wisdom.
    • “Give me understanding, and I shall keep thy law; yea, I shall observe it with [my] whole heart.” – Psalm 119:34
    • “Wisdom [is] the principal thing; [therefore] get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding.” – Proverbs 4:7

“A man is powerful on his knees.”  – Corrie ten Boom (1892-1983)

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by | April 20, 2015 · 10:29 am

Thanks for Your Prayers

My last post was a call for intercession. I am most grateful to all who prayed.

I am sorry that I cannot go into detail, for it can be difficult praying for something when you don’t know specifics. However, if you would just continue to remember my family and me as we deal with a particular issue. In our own wisdom and strength the path is scary and the load is heavy, but with the Spirit leading and in God’s strength the path will be lit and the burden won’t be carried alone.

Let me also add, pray that my eyes be open to what snares the Enemy has laid before me. Even though that old devil is defeated, I don’t want to encourage his state of denial or make his retreat any easier.

There is much I would like to blog about, but there are many other things which must take precedent. Keeping things in their proper perspective are important right now, not viewer stats. For those of you who regularly visit here, please forgive me for the recent lack of pithy posts.

You and I may never know down here the affect your prayers are having, but one day we will know as we are known, and on that day will can rejoice together for God’s providence and grace. In the meantime, just know that you are appreciated and our Father sees all.

Until next time, God bless!

OH! By the way! This is my 700th post! That’s cool! 🙂

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by | April 15, 2015 · 6:43 pm

Sounding the Trumpet

“And I said unto the nobles, and to the rulers, and to the rest of the people, The work [is] great and large, and we are separated upon the wall, one far from another. In what place [therefore] ye hear the sound of the trumpet, resort ye thither unto us: our God shall fight for us.” – Nehemiah 4:19-20

The children of Israel were trying to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem, yet they had to be spread out because of the size of the work. And since there were but few of them, and the threats from the enemy was ever-present, they worked with one hand, kept a sword in the other, and listened for the sound of a trumpet.

Nehemiah saw that their few numbers, if attacked in one spot, could be overrun. However, if when one group working on one section of the wall would sound a trumpet when under attack, the rest of the groups would come to their aid, increasing their fighting power.

For those of you who understand, the parallels between the Jews rebuilding their wall and those of us who fight spiritual battles are striking. If nothing else, we should understand that Satan always looks for the greatest points of weakness, and that’s where he will attack. If we never sound the trumpet for reinforcements, and if we, the reinforcements, never show up when called, is it any wonder so many battles are lost?

Friends, I’m sounding a trumpet. I need you to intercede for me, my family, and my church congregation. I cannot, in my own strength, bear up under the demonic attack being launched. I don’t need to give you details…I don’t need anything from you…all I am asking is for you to hold up my arms (Exodus 17:11-12) through intercessory prayer.

This is the proper use of the internet, wouldn’t you say?

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