When You Walk Through the Waters

God placed a verse on my heart this week, that I have not been able to get off my mind. Although I don’t normally share in this format, I felt I just had to stop and share this teaching with you.

Over the past few days, I have really been reminded of how many people are facing some pretty major challenges. Medical, relational, financial or even vocational problems can come against us like a flood washing away our options, or a raging fire burning through everything we hold dear.

God never promised us a problem-free life. I here teaching sometimes that describes the Christian life like the opening scene of an old Disney film. The sun is shining, the bird are singing and little squirrels bring us the morning paper. Unfortunately, life doesn’t work that way. The sun isn’t shining because dark clouds have gathered. Birds pooped all over our car. Those cute little squirrels eat through the cable and shorted out our Internet connection.

We live in a fallen world and sometimes bad things happen to good people. We get a report from our doctor about a recent test that “concerns” her and she wants to see us. Our car breaks down and there’ no money for repairs. We find an email on our spouse’s phone that reveals a hidden affair, or our company no longer needs our services. (more…)

714PRAYER – The Priority of Prayer

Read through the book of Acts and one theme is repeated again and again. The church prayed, and God moved. From Pentecost to freeing Peter from jail to sending missionaries to spread the Gospel, prayer played a significant role in the life of the early church.

When we pray, we confess our need and dependence on God. When we pray, we step beyond our strength and into God’s abundance. When we pray, the doors of heaven open and God’s power is poured out on us.

God calls us to be a people of prayer. His church is to be a house of prayer. How often is prayer a priority in your church? Let’s make it personal, what is the priority of prayer in your life?

Prayerlessness is the great sin of our day. It’s an indicator of our self-reliance and pride. A prideful person will never be a person of prayer.

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714PRAYER – Open Spiritually Blinded Eyes

This week we are praying for God to open the spiritually blind eyes across the country. The Apostle Paul said in 2 Corinthians that Satan blinds the eyes of the unsaved.

The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. – 2 Corinthians 4:4 (NIV)

Satan blinds unbelievers through deception. They don’t recognize the truth of the gospel because they have believed a lie. The problem is, deceived people don’t know they are deceived; therefore they can’t free themselves from the deception. (more…)

714PRAYER – Pray for Pastors

714PRAYER is all about praying for spiritual awakening and revival in our nation, our church and in ourselves. Thank you for your commitment to join me each week in praying for spiritual renewal.

This week our focus is on praying for our spiritual leaders.

Rarely a week goes by without a news story of a pastor or Christian leader who has been caught or confesses a moral defeat.

It seems the Kingdom of darkness is working overtime to bring down our pastors and spiritual leaders. Satan knows that if he can destroy a pastor, it will affect the church, the Christians in the church and the Kingdom’s reputation in the community.

If he is not successful in tempting a pastor with compromise, he will try and beat him or her down with discouragement. With so many churches struggling, it’s easy for a pastor to feel discouraged and disheartened. (more…)

714PRAYER – Pray for Our Leaders

Today we are praying for our nation’s leaders. Our President, Vice President, and other national leaders have a significant impact on our nation’s culture. They can move a country back toward God, or remove God from the national conversation.

In 1 Timothy Paul encourages us to pray for our leaders.

First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way.
1 Timothy 2:1-2 (ESV)

We may not always agree with our leaders, but we are commanded to pray for them. As Christians, We may disagree on politics, but we can all agree that our national leaders need our prayer.

Here are five prayer topics we can agree on for our national leaders.

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