How does it feel listening to someone praying for you? Isn’t it delightful and utterly precious? It is a huge blessing. Like Charles Finney has said “Nothing tends more to cement the hearts of Christians than praying together. Never do they love one another so well as when they witness the outpouring of each others’ hearts in prayer.” Exactly. We can get a glimpse into people’s hearts while praying. People don’t lie before the Lord. Hence when others earnestly pray…
How do you obtain wisdom for Christian living? Do you bank on your own reason or do you somehow rely on God? I think we all would like to think we are trusting God and not ourselves, right? But are you really seeking God’s wisdom? Or do you end up accidentally relying on your own reasoning day after day? Too often what really happens is far from the ideal. We intend to pray but we forget. We want to read…
On Monday of Holy week Christians traditionally read and contemplate on Jesus praying in Gethsemane. Luke concentrates on Jesus’ prayer and not on the failings of the disciples. Let’s see if there are any blessings hidden in the story. Let see what we can learn from Jesus’ agony in Gethsemane. And He came out and went, as was His habit, to the Mount of Olives, and the disciples also followed Him. And when He came to the place, He said to…
How is your prayer life? Do you know you are called to pray? You know, Martin Luther has said “As is the business of tailors to make clothes and cobblers to make shoes, so it is the business of Christians to pray.” It is our business to pray. It is our duty to pray. It is our calling to pray. Like Watchman Nee has written “our prayers lay the track down which God’s power can come. Like a mighty locomotive,…
Do you avoid choosing? Do you push decision-making as far as possible? Or do you like everything settled, clear and precise? I guess that depends on your personality (Whether you are P or J in the Myers-Briggs type indicator). I’ve learned of myself that I would like to keep my options open until I am 100% sure that my decision is the right one. But rarely do we have that kind of certainty in life, do we? We have to…
Why do you pray? Is prayer necessary? What do you think? God knows everything already anyway. Why should we take time to pray then? What’s the point of prayer after all? Good questions. Let’s find out whether prayer is necessary at all. Sometimes when we don’t understand something, it helps to change perspectives. So let’s do it now. Let’s take God’s perspective on prayer. Why do you think God wants us to pray? God does not need our list of…
Why should I pray? Does it really make any difference? God knows everything anyway, you might think. But prayer has been part of Christianity from the beginning. Jesus prayed and he taught us to pray. The Bible is also full of exhortation of prayer. The first thing I want you to do is pray. Pray every way you know how, for everyone you know. (1 Timothy 2:1, MSG) Prayer seems to be important. I personally vouch for it. I could not…
What if fasting is a blessing? The early church put fasting and prayer together as ways of seeking God’s guidance. Why don’t we? So they commissioned them. In that circle of intensity and obedience, of fasting and praying, they laid hands on their heads and sent them off. (Acts 13:3, MSG) Dietrich Bonhoeffer in his famous book Cost of Discipleship reminds us of the importance of fasting as a part of discipleship ” If there is no element of asceticism in our…
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 believe in the power of prayer? Or do you think that Jesus promised too much for us? He told his disciples that God will give them whatever they ask in Jesus’ name. And, yet, we don’t get everything we ask, right? Very truly I tell you, my Father will give you whatever you ask in my name.Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete….
