5 Ways For a Pastor and His Congregation to Pray
In this sermon by Mark Dever, he gives five ways for pastors and his congregation to pray: Pray Paul’s prayers from Ephesians, Colossians, etc. Pray the preaching of the gospel would be clear. Pray for increasing maturity in the congregation. Pray for sinners to be converted and for members to be built up through the...
In the Waiting Room
My father-in-law is in the ICU after a brain aneurism threw a clot and caused a massive stroke. He’s a healthy, strong, young 57 years old, and a selfless, humble man of God. This took us all by surprise. I cannot share the whole story here because I am mentally, emotionally, and physically tired from...
Trust-Training
My five-year-old likes to play outside. Because he can’t play outside when it’s raining, he frequently prays and asks God to make it sunny. Invariably, the sun will pop out (often immediately!), the rain will subside, and our little boy is happy that God answered his prayer. Now, we are careful to teach him that...
Being Honest In Prayer
I have had trouble lately in being honest with God in my prayers. Not sure why. I know the things I should be feeling at the moment and should be thinking, so I just kinda pray those things. But in my heart, that’s not what’s going on. Sometimes I feel like there’s a certain way...
Whitney On Praying Through the Psalms
Prayer can often be boring. Tiresome even. Why? Because we pray the same old things in the same old way, says Donald Whitney in his Spiritual Disciplines book. He’s right you know. Most prayers are about someone being sick, someone needing to know Jesus, someone needing money, someone needing comfort. They start to sound the same...
The Purpose for Fasting
International Missions has encouraged our movement to fast and pray for the sake of the gospel in the world. Cofer’s Chapel is also in a 40-Day fast for the future of our church. I just finished a class on spiritual disciplines with Dr. Whitney (one of which is fasting). Seems like God’s trying to tell...
Barth on Prayer
This morning I reflected on one of my favorite passages by Karl Barth. Barth was a brilliant pastor-theologian. His writing and teaching hacked away at the diseased liberalism that captivated the Christianity of his youth. Like many brilliant people, Barth was brilliantly wrong about some important things. However, this morning as I contemplated two upcoming...
The Dangers of Prayer
It’s just a fair warning: When you pray, you better be sure you want to know God’s will for what you’re praying over before you begin seeking it out. You better prepare yourself for hearing what He has to say. Far too many people that I know express this HUGE desire to understand what the...
5 Things To Do When You Don’t Hear God
Have you ever been in a situation where you needed God to make Himself clear to you RIGHT NOW? Maybe you’re a college freshman thinking, “I just stepped out in faith Lord; please confirm this!” Maybe you’re thinking about launching your own business or going to the mission field and it’s as if your prayers...
How Good is Good Enough?
When I first came to Kirby Church 6 years ago, I realized something about myself that I was not too fond of. When our church would cancel Wednesday night services for whatever reason whether it be Christnet (a program where we open up our church to homeless people in the community to live for a...
Enemies
While preparing for Sunday’s message, I came across this moving prayer by Nikolai Velimirovic. An Orthodox pastor, Velimirovic was imprisoned at Dachu by the Nazis around 1941. Perhaps as you face opposition this week, this prayer will remind you of a Christian way of viewing “enemies.” Bless my enemies, O Lord. Even I bless them...
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