The business of prayer
It’s easy to delay prayer as we brace for the daily grind, and easier still to forget about it as we wade through the tumult of the day. But what if we thought of prayer as our first and most important...
View ArticleA community of prayer
Jesus tells us not to pray in public. But he doesn’t teach us to pray by ourselves. The Lord addresses this in the Sermon on the Mount. Right after saying that we shouldn’t call attention to our...
View ArticleThe Lord’s Prayer: God’s words, our needs
Why does the Lord’s Prayer matter? Let the context answer the question. In Luke’s account, Jesus’ disciples approach. They point to John the Baptist’s practice of teaching his disciples to pray and ask...
View ArticleThe sound of (blessed) silence
How often do we listen for God, hear the thoughts of our hearts, reflect, and pray? Our days are hurried, and that’s problem enough. But noise is a real problem too. I’ll speak for myself here — you’ll...
View ArticleThere’s no such thing as private prayer
Modern Christians have a tendency to view their prayer life as a private matter. But as I discovered while researching my book Lifted by Angels, our counterparts in the early church assumed the active...
View ArticleTwo powerful songs you may have never heard
Everybody knows the story of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, right? If you’ve stepped anywhere near Sunday school, heard an old-timey gospel song, or glanced sideways while your four-year-old watched...
View ArticlePorn and the contemplative life
They don’t mix, if you’re looking for the answer up front. There are perhaps several reasons for this, but Alain de Botton offers one in The Wall Street Journal worth considering. Certain kinds of...
View ArticleRead this before you pray for that Mercedes
Is it true that whatever you pray for, you’ll receive it if you have enough faith? Jesus seems to say so. “[W]hatever you ask in prayer, believe that you receive it, and you will,” he tells Peter and...
View ArticleHow to cultivate spiritual peace at work
Things today seem more fragmented than ever. Try focusing on your job, for instance, amid the alerts for incoming email, social media updates, and meeting invites. Add to that phone calls, interrupting...
View ArticleGod can handle your anger–and your confusion, fear and doubt, too
An Egyptian court last week sentenced an author to five years in prison. His crime? Insulting religion. He penned a book entitled Where is God? which some Muslims deemed offensive. Egyptian law,...
View Article‘Without embittering and embarrassing others’
After the World Vision dustup last week and personal and professional confrontations, it’s good for me to return to a prayer I try to offer as often as I recall it. “Teach me to act firmly and wisely,”...
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