Helping you grow in God's all-sufficient grace and truth
Last night, a couple brothers and I were discussing the power of empathy when ministering to those who are mentally troubled, that is, the loving ministry of listening to one another and entering each other’s story with genuine compassion. When
Continue readingLord of the Church, As we anticipate gathering together as Your people for the purpose of worship, tomorrow morning, we pray Your name will be glorified and Your will accomplished in our hearts and the hearts of all those who
Continue readingThe old hymn affirms, “Jesus knows our every weakness, take it to the Lord in prayer.” How true this is! Therefore, reminding ourselves of the depth of the Savior’s understanding of our humanity compels us to become people of prayer.
Continue readingAfter reading yesterday’s post about the ACTS of Prayer, one of my readers informed me that he has created a free app based on this prayer strategy, called Prayer Prompter. Currently, the app is suited for iPhone and iPad only
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Sometimes we struggle with prayer because we don’t have a specific plan for our time alone with the Lord. Therefore, for many years, the ACTS strategy has been a helpful tool for believers. Perhaps you are already familiar with this
Continue readingThis morning, during a time of prayer with a brother in Christ, my heart was blessed by this prayer from Matthew Henry: Give us the grace to believe, for the faith that saves does not come from ourselves, but only
Continue readingIn prayer we tell God nothing He does not already know. Instead, our prayers acknowledge our awareness of something He has always known and that we regularly forget—that we need Him and cannot live without Him. We need understand more
Continue readingIn Psalm 27:7, David pleads with God to answer him. But what is significant to recognize is that he does not base his request on himself, but on God’s grace and mercy: “Be gracious to me and answer me!” This
Continue readingIn a previous post, I passed on biblical encouragement and counsel from Larry McCall’s book Loving Your Wife as Christ Loves the Church. Today, I pass on another portion in which he gives to us four reasons we should persevere
Continue readingValley of Vision, a collection of Puritan prayers and devotions, has been a significant blessing in my personal, devotional life for many years. But a couple weeks ago, when I had to spend the good part of a day on
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James 5:16-18 teaches us, The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much. Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the earth
Continue readingLord, enable us to be very careful about everything we say, so that we do not offend either you or men with our tongue. Help us to restrain our mouth as with a horse’s bridle, that we may not be
Continue readingLord, Allow us to experience joy and gladness so that the bones you have crushed because of our sin may rejoice. Say to each one of us, Son, daughter, celebrate! Your sins are all forgiven! (Ps 51:8; Matt 9:2). Let
Continue readingFulfil in us all Your good pleasure. Carry forward the work of faith by Your divine power. Since You have begun a good work in us, perform it until the day of Christ Jesus. Gracious Lord, perfect everything that concerns
Continue readingThis morning, the following prayer from Matthew Henry’s A Way to Pray fed my soul and lifted my spirit as it directed my thoughts to the greatness of God’s mercy. O our Covenant Lord, you are good and always ready
Continue readingHere are 6 articles that I found interesting and personally edifying this week. Distracted Shepherds? – Matthew Olson writes, “Technology certainly speeds things up, but not all of the effects are good. Pastors are not exempt.” Supporting the NANC Proposed
Continue readingYou hear this phrase all the time in the context of trials: God is “testing our faith.” Christians rightly talk about tests of faith because James uses the phrase in his epistle (James 1:3). But do we know what we
Continue readingGod listens to those who listen to him. The proof of this is all over Scripture. Isaiah 66:2 offers a prime example when God says, “this is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite
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By God’s grace, I’m a husband, dad, grandpa, and pastor at Cornerstone Community Church in Mayfield Hts, OH. I love Christ because He first loved me.
