Watch and pray

Several years ago I was driving down a county road through some ranch land a few miles from my house when I saw him. Hanging upside down with his bound hind legs draped over a fence post was a very dead fox. And just like a turtle on a fence, it was obvious he didn’t […]

Keep up daily prayer

Wednesdays with Watson is a weekly reading taken from my favorite Puritan writer, Thomas Watson. This week’s selection is taken from Heaven Taken by Storm. Keep up daily prayer. Prayer is the bellows that blows up the affections, and a Christian is most active when his affections are most violent. Prayer keeps the trade of […]

Sermon: Pray for One Another

“Pray for One Another” Ephesians 3:14-21 January 3, 2016 In my freshman year in college, I began to grow significantly in my spiritual life. One part of that growth was that I began attending a Wednesday evening Bible study — and part of that study was a prayer time with other men in the church […]

Let us hallow and sanctify God’s name

Wednesdays with Watson is a weekly reading taken from my favorite Puritan writer, Thomas Watson. This week’s selection is taken from The Lord’s Prayer. Let us hallow and sanctify God’s name. Could we but see a glimpse of God’s glory, as Moses did in the rock, it would draw adoration and praise from us. Could […]

If I’m not praying

What do you do if you aren’t praying? How do you stimulate yourself to pray when you are disinclined to pray and don’t pray? Everyone battles the temptation not to pray. The flesh resists prayer, no matter how much we say we want to pray (which is why Jesus told the disciples to keep watching […]

What to pray for one another

In one of the shortest verses of the Bible, believers are instructed to “pray without ceasing” (1 Thess. 5:17). The believer is not only to pray regularly and habitually, but prayer is to constantly be at the forefront of his mind. He is to be always ready for communication with His Lord and Master. And […]

Sermon: A Life of Prayer, Pt. 2

“Caring for One Another: A Life of Prayer” (Pt. 2) Romans 1:8-10 June 28, 2015 Loneliness is an age-old problem, and in Japan one restaurant has come up with a novel solution. The owners of Tokyo’s Moomin House Café observed many customers who came alone and sat alone. So they set about to cultivate a […]

Pray for us

Three times New Testament writers ask their readers to pray for them: Brethren, pray for us. (1 Thess. 5:25) Finally, brethren, pray for us that the word of the Lord will spread rapidly and be glorified, just as it did also with you. (2 Thess. 3:1) Pray for us, for we are sure that we […]

Sermon: A Life of Prayer

“Caring for One Another: A Life of Prayer” Romans 1:8-10 June 21, 2015 Speaker Robert Henry went to a large discount department store a number of years ago in search of a pair of binoculars. Charles Swindoll tells the story: As he walked up to the appropriate counter he noticed that he was the only […]

My first visit to the principal’s office

It was my first time in the principal’s office (that I remember, anyway). I wasn’t there for a good reason. A friend and I had a disagreement and decided to settle it in a “manly” fashion — with our fists. It may have been a long walk to the office, but the conversation behind the […]

Prayer’s primacy

Every believer will acknowledge the importance and priority of prayer. And most of those same believers (all?) will also acknowledge that they don’t pray satisfactorily — their attention in prayer is too short, their time in prayer is inadequate, and their prayers feel ineffective. Reasons abound why we don’t pray: We really believe we are […]

When God doesn’t answer prayers

A company in Chicago is one of the largest magazine fulfillment firms. They send out renewal and expiration notices and handle the re-subcriptions for many different magazines. A number of years ago there was a mistake in a piece of computer software. A short time later the error was realized when a rancher in Powder […]

Hallow God’s name

Wednesdays with Watson is a weekly reading taken from my favorite Puritan writer, Thomas Watson. This week’s selection is taken from The Lord’s Prayer, “The First Petition in the Lord’s Prayer.” When may we be said to hallow and sanctify God’s name? [1] When we profess his name.… [2] We hallow and sanctify God’s name […]

The blessings of having God as our Father

As believers we acknowledge that God is our Father, but that reality too often feels inadequate to us. We would rather have a loving father with flesh — a human daddy — than a heavenly Father. I have heard it said on multiple occasions, “I know God loves me, but I want my dad…” Yet […]

Sermon: Pray in this way

Pray in This Way Matthew 6:9-15 January 18, 2015 At the beginning of a new year, we often engage in self-evaluation — Perhaps you have an annual physical like I did this week. You may evaluate the state of your marriage and home — “how are the children or grandchildren doing and how effective are […]