Jesus at Gethsemane prayed to the Father in horrified agony and didn’t get what he asked. His reaction was to lay down his substantially strong human will that screamed, “My will be done,” in deference to the holy, “Thy will be done.” At that moment, he belonged completely to God. But, how did he get […]
The wilderness experience has a long history in Judaism as the place of suffering, testing, and preparation. Moses heard God in the wilderness. He led the people through the wilderness. It was the wilderness that prepared them for the Promised Land. The wilderness experience was common for the first-century Jewish sage. It was a place […]
For a lot Americans, every day is a day of prayer. More than half (55%) of Americans say they pray every day, according to a 2014 Pew Research Center survey, while 21% say they pray weekly or monthly and 23% say they seldom or never pray. Even among those who are religiously unaffiliated, 20% say […]
Prayer is the most important spiritual act of the Christian life. To be a Christian is to be a praying person. In fact, spiritual growth is impossible without it. As Soren Kierkegaard said, “The function of prayer is not to influence God, but rather to change the nature of the one who prays.” The […]
Christmas has passed. Now it’s time to ponder the New Year. Every New Year finds millions creating a list of resolutions. Making a list is actually a great idea. A study by Gail Matthews of Dominican University showed that those who write down their goals accomplish significantly more than those who don’t. Writing down your […]
Christmas is the announcement that God has made himself completely available to us. There is a baby lying in a manger — God became flesh and he dwells with us. It is a reminder of how much God loves us. “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son …” (Jn. 3:16a). […]
One of Jesus’ distinguishing traits was his prayer life. So much so that his disciples came to him and said, “Teach us to pray” (Luke 11:1). They were not spiritual novices. They knew how to pray. But they saw something qualitatively different about Jesus’ prayers. They weren’t really saying, “Teach us to pray.” They were […]
Margaret Guenther begins with a disclosure – “This is a book by an amateur, written for amateurs.” However, Guenther considers her amateur status to be an advantage in the realm of spiritual direction. It allows her to get out of the way so that the Holy Spirit can do the heavy lifting of spiritual direction. […]
I hear it a lot – “I want to pray. I really do. But prayer just doesn’t do much for me. I don’t get anything out of it.” I understand. Maybe you’re expecting too much. The Child-Like Prayer My granddaughter is three, almost four. She’s in this phase where the idea of prayer is […]
On Sunday morning, November 5th at 11:30, a man entered the First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs, Texas and opened fire on the small group of worshippers. He killed 26 people. The youngest was five years old. God have mercy on their souls. A Lament for Sutherland Springs “Oh, that my head were a […]
