Reflections on Resurrection in the Time of COVID-19

On this Easter, so often celebrated with delicate bunnies and fragile eggs, I want to speak  instead of Resurrection Day and the powerful, power-filled Jesus, the Risen Prophet-King, the Roaring Lion, the Holy Lord of Lords. My dear friend, Tom Graffagnino, in his brilliant—and all too timely—treatise on the troubled No Border Land that is …

International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church

According to the US Department of State, Christians in more than 60 countries face persecution from their governments or surrounding neighbors simply because of their belief in Jesus Christ. A report by Open Doors USA identified 2016 as the “worst year yet” (in the 25 years of its monitoring) for Christian persecution. Each month (an …

What Will Prayer Do For You?

Beware in your prayer, above everything, of limiting God, not only by unbelief, but by fancying that you know what He can do. Expect unexpected things, above all that we ask or think...expect great things.--Andrew Murray Are you in sorrow? Prayer can make your affliction sweet and strengthening. Are you in gladness? Prayer can add …

Until the Sound of a Mighty Rain…

“Ask for a confirming sign from the Lord your God. You can even ask for something miraculous”--Isaiah 7:11 (NIV) Ahab went out to meet Elijah. The moment Ahab saw Elijah he said, “So it’s you, old troublemaker!” “It’s not I who has caused trouble in Israel,” said Elijah, “but you and your government—you’ve dumped God’s ways and …

Hold Us Up Against Our Sins

Father in Heaven! Hold not our sins up against us but hold us up against our sins so that the thought of You when it wakens in our soul, and each time it wakens, should not remind us of what we have committed but of what You did forgive, not of how we went astray …

Holding Up the Life of Another Before God

From Douglas Steere’s book, Prayer and Worship, comes this excerpt on intercessory prayer: When we hold up the life of another before God, when we expose it to God’s love, when we pray for its release from drowsiness, for the quickening of its inner health, for the power to throw off a destructive habit, for …

Lancelot Andrewes: Prayers that Lift the Mind Up to God

Lancelot Andrewes (1555-1626) is cherished for his prayers that have been preserved for us from his own private devotions. Here is a selection that we might use this week as a call from our own hearts. I believe in you, O God, Father, Word, Spirit—one God. I believe that by your Fatherly love all things …