Praying for God’s Guidance
Read: Psalm 25:1-7 Show me your ways, Lord, teach me your paths. Guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior. (vv. 4-5 NIV) In the movie It’s a Wonderful Life, George Bailey, the main character of the film, is seated at a bar, praying for God’s guidance. A large […]
God’s Mouthpiece
Read: James 3:3-12; Psalm 19:14 Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O LORD, my rock and my redeemer. (Psalm 19:14) The words of Psalm 19:14 are another prayer that pastors often use in worship, especially before the preaching of the Word. We often call […]
Prayers of Blessing
Read: Numbers 6:24-26; 2 Corinthians 13:14 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. (2 Cor. 13:14) As we continue looking at the subject of prayer, I would like to turn our attention to some of the actual prayers that […]
Replacing Worry with Prayer
Read: Matthew 6:25-34; Philippians 4:4-7 Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. (Phil. 4:6) Worrying is something that comes naturally to most of us—we are good at worrying! I worry about all kinds of things—the state of the world […]
Prayer from the Heart
Read: Matthew 6:1-8 When you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. (v. 6) I read recently about a woman who was very distressed about a particular problem in her life. She was sharing this with a friend, and the friend said to her, […]
Power in Prayer
Read: James 5:13-18 The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective. (v. 16 NIV) Today’s verses bring to mind a mission trip to Chicago that I went on with the young people of the church I was serving in Iowa. Like many such mission trips, we did various physical work like painting and […]
Confidence in Prayer
Read: Hebrews 4:14-16 Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace. (v. 16) Recently I was talking with a friend and the name of a certain individual came up. I had heard of this person but didn’t really know him. “What’s he like?” I asked. My friend responded, “Oh, he would […]
Devote Yourselves to Prayer
Read: Colossians 1:1-8; 4:2-4 Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. (Col. 4:2 NIV) “Prayer today is the most neglected area in the life of the believer and in the life of the church.” Those are the words of Dr. J. Vernon McGee, a prominent Bible teacher, pastor, and theologian who ministered in the […]
The Sabbath Keeps Us
Read: Isaiah 30:12-17 In returning and rest you shall be saved. (v. 15) Today is the final devotion in our Sabbath series. The irony is not lost on me that as I write this, I’m using my Sabbath to finish in order to meet my deadline! It’s so easy to slip back into patterns of […]