Tag Archives: praying

National Day of Prayer

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Today is the 75th National Day of Prayer. The theme is GLORIFY GOD AMONG THE NATIONS – SEEKING HIM IN ALL GENERATIONS. There will be a broadcast tonight from Statuary Hall in our nation’s capital streamed from the NDP website also available on YouTube, Facebook and several different Christian television and radio stations. You can download a Pray Across America Guide from that website. There are also events at churches and other public places throughout the day in every state.

In 1952, President Truman made the National Day of Prayer an annual observance, stating: “In times of national crisis when we are striving to strengthen the foundations of peace…we stand in special need of Divine support.”

In April of 1970, President Richard Nixon had the nation observe a Day of Prayer for Apollo 13 astronauts. On May 5, 1988, President Reagan made the National Day of Prayer the first Thursday in May, saying: “Americans in every generation have turned to their Maker in prayer…We have acknowledged…our dependence on Almighty God.”

Prayer does not belong to the government, a particular political party, any denomination nor organization. You will notice that Our Daily Bread and Bible Gateway are focused on prayer today. Whether you meet together with others, find a program on Christian radio or pray quietly at home, this a day that believers across our nation are coming together with a common purpose: to call on God who is able to supply and meet every need. Let us not be the people who have not because we ask not. Thank God for his many blessings, ask him for his blessing, and pray that his will would ever be done.

Final Thought: Bears

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202cd7a761f4f7844346806649dbe28fAnytime one prepares a presentation, much like a written report, article, blog post or thesis paper, there are several iterations that could become the final product. Some ideas don’t go anywhere, better ideas take their place, maybe some good talking points came from brainstorming that ended up not being developed. You may even produce more than one version and have to make a decision but in any case there are always things researched or outlined that are left out of the final product. If lines or scenes are cut from a film you might find out about them in the director’s cut or by playing the DVD commentary. Since my goal is to post new material to my blog once or twice a week, I have a creative outlet for unused sermon material. Continue reading →

Prayer Week: Posts, Quotes and Verses

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day of prayerTomorrow is the National Day of Prayer. Paul Wilkinson has compiled a collection of archived posts from Christianity 201 on the subject of prayer and this post at Everyday Student has several quotes on prayer (Joseph Smith and Rick Warren on the same list) and a huge collection of Bible verses on the topic. Continue reading →

Unanswered Prayer

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One of the very first things I do each day is read Our Daily Bread.  Actually, I follow along while listening to Les Lamborn read it to me.  Earlier this week I was disappointed when I took issue with their theology for the first time.  While it’s no big surprise you get misguided theology from listening to country music (I thank God for unanswered prayers) I expected more from Our Daily Bread.  The devotions printed/posted by RBC Ministries are from a collaboration of authors.  Anne Cetas wrote the daily devotion for June 10th; here’s an excerpt:

One of my biggest struggles is unanswered prayer. Maybe you can relate. You ask God to rescue a friend from addiction, to grant salvation to a loved one, to heal a sick child, to mend a relationship. All these things you think must be God’s will. For years you pray. But you hear nothing back from Him and you see no results.

Read the entire post here.   Continue reading →

The Read and Share File

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Tim Challies shares truths supported by scripture on the topic of evangelism.

The title of the post – Is There a Holy Spirit? – may give the wrong impression.  Bobby Jamieson at 9Marks Blog is describing two ways to fill a church, and how you answer that question has a lot to do with how you proceed.

What is the best thing you can do for your pastor?  According to The Blazing Center it’s pray for him.

I actually took this picture myself, then added Luke 1:78.  That’s a genuine eastern Kentucky sunrise.

Boston.com, the online presence of the Boston Globe, shares 22 pictures of the Jewish festival of Purim.

On a whim, I searched for “sunrise service” on Google.  Enjoyed this short entry on Wikipedia.    Here’s an excerpt:

The first Easter Sunrise Service recorded took place in 1732 in the Moravian congregation at Herrnhut in the Upper Lusatian hills of Saxony. After an all-night prayer vigil, the Single Brethren, the unmarried men, of the community, went to the town graveyard, God’s Acre, on the Hill above the town, to sing hymns of praise to the Risen Saviour. The following year, the whole Congregation joined in the service. Thereafter the “Easter Morning” or “Sunrise Service” spread around the world with the Moravian missionaries. The procession to the graveyard is accompanied by the antiphonal playing of chorales by brass choirs.

And then I stumbled onto this:

Read more here: http://www.capitalchurch.net/ministries/easter-service/  There were 120 at the first service in 1979; on April 8 they expect 6,000!

Tebowing

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Okay, so here’s one more Tim Tebow blog post.  How can I talk about media saturation and then write another article?  Well, if it helps, it isn’t really Tim Tebow I’m ranting about/worshiping.

These kids are in trouble for Tebowing in their school hallways.  Some Christians are up at arms over rights of expression.  Some athletes are ranting about Tebow getting media coverage for either winning games and/or for being a Christian while their accomplishments and faith are overlooked.  My beef is this: kneeling on one knee and bowing the head is now called Tebowing.  Who gets the glory there? Continue reading →

Open Door Policy

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open door Summer is the season of mission trips, Vacation Bible School and Backyard Bible Clubs.  I would like to share a personal experience that I find especially encouraging. 

Our church is hosting a large number of volunteers this week from Lynchburg, VA.  Their mission team is doing a few construction projects and running several Backyard Bible Clubs in different locations.  One of them is at the small country church I frequently preach at.  This is an old church, and does not have central air.  During the day we open up the windows and turn on a couple of fans.  We’ve been leaving the front door standing open, just to move some air.  Well, this morning a young couple was driving by and noticed the open door.  She has been looking for a job, and everyone knows what that is like right now.  She felt the need to stop in and pray.  They entered the back of the sanctuary, and listened to the children’s Bible lesson that was being taught.  When the kids went downstairs for snacks and crafts, we had the chance to listen to their story and pray with them.  We invited them to join us tomorrow, and certainly for service on Sunday. 

They stopped at the church to pray because they saw the front door open.  We often (I hope) invite people to church, but how inviting is our church?  How many others would stop and pray, ask questions or just talk to us if they saw the door open?  This happened at 11:00 on a Thursday morning.  There’s a lot of hurt, a lot of need, a lot of fields white for harvest out there.  It may be a stretch just to imagine people with problems wanting to be anywhere near “church people.”  Imagine if more churches had open doors and people waiting to pray with those passing by.  Just a thought.

When All Else Fails…

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“When all else fails, pray.”  Have you ever heard that?  Maybe you’ve said that.  If we pray before everything else fails, maybe it won’t fail.