The Pastor’s Confidence

You are a Christian pastor. You have dedicated your life to preaching the gospel, giving men and women answers for their questions, comfort for their sorrows, hope for their fears, and wisdom for their doubts. You spend your days and years strengthening the faithful, restoring the fallen, and warning the foolish. You love the people…

Read More

Praying for an Understanding Spirit

When you’re not sure how to pray for other Christians, you should follow the example of Paul by thanking God for them (Eph 1:15-16). You can also follow his example by asking God to give them a spirit of understanding (Eph 1:17). That is what he did when he “mentioned” them to God in prayer…

Read More

Contradictory Prayer

In 1987 a toddler from Texas named Jessica McClure somehow fell into a narrow abandoned well. She ended up wedged in place 22 feet down with her foot up against her head. The drama of “Baby Jessica” dragged on for two days as rescue workers labored to save her. Television crews spread to story to…

Read More

God’s Grace in the Narrow Place

Are you feeling stressed? These are difficult days. You find yourself going through times of stress (interrupted by distress). As a believer, what should you do? Turn away from your distractions for a few moments to consider the relief offered to you in Psalm 4:1 Hear me when I call, O God of my righteousness!…

Read More

Genuine Prayer: Fellowship

Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love Me, he will keep my words: and My Father will love him, and We will come unto him, and make Our abode with him (John 14:23). Many different things make up genuine prayer. Usually we say that prayer is communion with God. In the next…

Read More

Praying for the Glory of God

With the opening line of John 17, John shifts abruptly from teaching to praying. Having devoted four chapters to giving us the lessons Jesus taught the night before his crucifixion (John 13-16), he then turned his attention to an extended prayer which Jesus offered to the Father on that fateful night (John 17). This prayer…

Read More

Crying Out to God

And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to CRY OUT, and say, Jesus, Thou Son of David, haver mercy on me. Mark 10:47 There are many reasons why our prayers and not always answered. We all know that sin interferes with successful praying (Psalm 66:18; Isaiah 59:1-2). The other common…

Read More

What Brings Revival? — Moody’s Secret

Recently I have been reading the inspiring biography of evangelist Dwight L. Moody written by his son, William. During the last quarter of the 19th century, until his death in 1899, Moody preached on average to over 40,000 people per week – without the aid of modern electronic voice amplification. The descriptions of halls, opera…

Read More

Praying for the Kingdom to Come

Whenever I announce the topic of prayer as the focus of a message or a series in our church, I find a response of keen interest from our people. We all have the sense of the disciples when they begged the Lord, “Teach us to pray.” Last summer, we published an edition of FrontLine devoted…

Read More

Prayer that Leads to Joy

The night before his crucifixion, Jesus prepared his disciples for the challenges they would experience when he left them (John 16:1-4, 31-33). He assured them that though he would leave them soon through death, he would return to them soon through the resurrection (John 16:19-22). By leaving them, he would make it possible for the…

Read More