How desperate are you to see God answer your prayers? Would you even ask a stranger to intercede for you, to enter into your burdens?
While seated at the Emory Hospital surgery waiting area in Atlanta, a dear lady approached my wife and me with small sheets of note paper in her hand. With a smile and an outstretched arm, she said, “I overheard your conversation, and I’ve written some prayer needs on these papers. Would join me in prayer?”
Continue reading “Will You Pray?”Monday’s Ministry Encouragement: Written to encourage you, my friend in ministry, to be refreshed and renewed as we live for Christ and look toward the Bema.
And when He had sent them away, He departed to the mountain to pray. (Mark 6:46)
In these days he went out to the mountain to pray, and all night he continued in prayer to God. (Luke 6:12)
Every once-in-awhile, I have to literally go to the mountain and get along with the Lord. Living in East Tennessee, there are many wonderful locations from which to choose.
Due to various ministry demands, the recent death of my father-in-law, a bit of a spiritual empty tank, and just needing the solitude, I made my way to one of my favorite areas along the Appalachian Trail.
Continue reading “Go to the Mountain!”
“Living below in this old sinful world . . . where could I go but to the Lord?”
These words from an old song remind me of a statement that I have heard many repeat over the years, “Well, I guess all we can do now is pray.” This is usually attached to a heart of desperation that has humanly tried, examined, thought about, questioned, discussed with others and sought a way to respond to their current situation or lifelong need.
Continue reading “The Only Place to Go”Monday’s Ministry Encouragement: Written to encourage you, my friend in ministry, to be refreshed and renewed as we live for Christ and look toward the Bema.
“Space: the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Its five-year mission: to explore strange new worlds. To seek out new life and new civilizations. To boldly go where no man has gone before!” These were the words of the introduction of the famous television series, Star Trek.
Continue reading “Going Where No Man Has Gone Before!”Monday’s Ministry Encouragement: Written to encourage you, my friend in ministry, to be refreshed and renewed as we live for Christ and look toward the Bema.
“Pastor, do you have a busy week ahead of you?” was the question offered by a caring church member headed home after a great day of worship and ministry.
Busy week? Always!
But the question for me is, “Will I get it all done?”
Continue reading “The Busy of Pastoring”Monday’s Ministry Encouragement: Written to encourage you, my friend in ministry, to be refreshed and renewed as we live for Christ and look toward the Bema.
Before men’s prayer breakfast on Saturday morning, a real concern gripped my heart. The men arrived, filled their plates, and gathered around the firepit. On this cloudy, 34 degree morning, the roaring fire felt really good!!
Continue reading “Come Around the Fire”
“Father, we thank thee for thy presence in our life.”
Gathered at the dinner table, my father-in-law uttered these words in prayer before our meal. The next day, he would be placed in the hospital due to hip fracture surgery and now a local care facility.
Continue reading “God’s Presence – Dad’s Prayer”Monday’s Ministry Encouragement: Written to encourage you, my friend in ministry, to be refreshed and renewed as we live for Christ and look toward the Bema.
Varied and numerous are the prayer requests pastors have received from church members, family, total strangers, visitors, etc. Indeed, it is a privilege to take the cares and burdens of others before the Throne of Grace (Hebrews 4:16).
Seldom spoken and heard are the words, “Pastor, how can I pray for you this week?”
Continue reading “Pastor, Will You Pray For ____?”
“So, how did you come to make this ministry decision?”
Recently I was asked this question while sharing the changes made in our local church ministry since Covid.
Continue reading “Monday Ministry Encouragement”
No one stands before the preacher on their wedding day and says, “I wonder how we can get a divorce?”
But as time rolls along, little things creep in and marriages begin to crumble. How my heart breaks when I hear of couples having marital problems that have reached the point of separation and/or divorce. In view of the rich blessing of marriage which God created and said, It is not good for a man to be alone (Genesis 2:18), I want to help all of our marriages in the blog posts to come. Therefore, I will be sharing some very practical thoughts that can divorce-proof your marriage if you will put them to practice on a daily basis. A good marriage is the product of daily work and the grace of God. Remember, with God, all things are possible!
So, how can you “divorce-proof” your marriage?
Jesus Christ’s work on the cross opened up the Holy Place for us to come boldly to the Throne of Grace (Matthew 27:50-51; Hebrews 4:14-16). There we meet with our God through Jesus Christ in a most intimate way (Matthew 11:28-30; John 15:1-7). Since our marriages are a picture of Christ’s relationship with the Church for which He died and rose again, then intimacy with Christ and our mate should be found in our prayer relationships.
Consider what happens when a husband and wife pray together:
Here’s the testimony of one couple who have reaped the joys of praying together. This is taken from the book When Couples Pray Together. It is sadly out of print now.
“I have yearned for a marriage with spiritual intimacy. And praying together has enabled us to experience an incredible sense of intimacy. When we pray, I feel an indescribable tenderness toward my husband, and have been so blessed by his openness, honesty and generosity of spirit which he demonstrates in his prayers. I’ve often thought about how a couple can manage to be completely physically intimate with each other, and yet finding praying together to be so so hard.”
So how do you get started?
I close with a telling statistic: Of couples that pray together daily, less than 1% of them have a chance of ever experiencing divorce (Gallup Poll by the National Association of Marriage Enhancement, 1997).
James 5:16 Pray one for another. . . . And with each other!!!
From A Pastor's Heart 