8 Keys To Personal Prayer from TheResurgence.org

Although I’m generally against five-step guides to anything from choosing churches to nose-picking, these 8 Keys To Personal Prayer from theresurgence.org are actually great helps in the fight for a confident and joyful prayer life. Listed here for your edification.

Keys to Personal Prayer

1. Pray In Jesus’ Name. Real prayer is Christological. There are numerous New Testament references that talk about the importance of praying in the name of Jesus. Jesus even said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, whatever you ask of the Father in my name, he will give it to you” (John 16:23). When we pray in the name of Jesus, God the Father hears us. He responds to the prayer that is offered in the name of his Son Jesus.
2. Pray According to God’s Will. God is not a Santa Claus in the sky; he does not give us just anything we ask for. But in 1 John 5:14 it says, “If we ask anything according to his will he hears us.” This means that when we pray in accordance with his will we can expect an answer.
3. Scriptural Prayer. One the best ways to pray is to pray according to Scripture. John 15:7 says, “If you abide in me, and my word abides in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.” If God’s word is in us then his desires become our desires, and we can have the assurance that he will answer our prayers. Make sure that your prayers are in line with Scripture.
4. Keep Commandments. “And whatever we ask we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him” (1 John 3:22). God honors those who honor his commandments. If you keep his commandments and do what is pleasing, then you can be assured that he will hear your prayers.
5. You Must Believe. “And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith” (Matthew 21:22). The Lord wants us to have faith that he will hear our prayers. Hebrews says, “without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him” (Hebrews 11:6). The Lord promises to respond to our prayer of faith.
6. Pray in the Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of prayer. Paul tells us to pray at all times in the Spirit. Romans 8:26 reads, “Likewise the Spirit also helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.” We don’t always know how to pray or feel like praying, so we need the Spirit’s power to help us.
7. Be Persistent. Don’t give up if you haven’t received an answer to your prayers. Throughout the Bible there are stories of men and women who persevered in prayer. In Luke 18:1-8, there was a little old widow who did not lose heart. James tells us that the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.
8. Humble Yourself. One of my favorite parables about prayer is in Luke 18:9-14, where the Pharisee and tax collector come before God. The Pharisee was proud and boastful, while the tax collector was humble and asked for God’s mercy. We are told that God hears the prayer of the humble. If we humble ourselves in the sight of God, he will lift us up.

Recommended: The Jesus Storybook Bible

There is a competition to win a deluxe edition of The Jesus Storybook Bible, but that’s not the (primary) reason for this post.

As a testament to how brilliant this children’s storybook is, we read it to our not-even-two-year-old in the mornings, and she listens and engages with it each day. To be fair, she probably doesn’t understand the majority of it! But nonetheless, anything that engages a child of that age, particularly something that so wonderfully and faithfully points to the Lord Jesus, has to be a good thing. We even find that the stories so engage our hearts with the truth that they are a source of encouragement to us as well. Double bonus!

The subtitle of the book is “Every story whispers his name.”  As a parent, it’s a breath of fresh air to have a Bible storybook that isn’t all about being good and learning moral lessons from key Bible events and characters.  The Jesus Storybook Bible has a theme running through it from beginning to end.  It’s the same theme as the Bible!  It’s God’s covenantal love and faithfulness fulfilled in the Lord Jesus Christ.  It’s put into child-friendly language like this: “God’s never-stopping, never giving-up, unbreaking, always and forever love.”  That’s brilliant.  I couldn’t summarise that better in adult language!

If you have young children I know of no Bible story book that I could recommend more than this one. BUY IT! NOW!!  Check out the website here and listen to excerpts from the new audio version read by none other than Hercule Poirot (aka David Suchet!) here, which is to be available as part of a deluxe edition.

Logos Bible Giveaway

Logos Bible Software is celebrating the launch of their new online Bible by giving away 72 ultra-premium print Bibles at a rate of 12 per month for six months. The Bible giveaway is being held at Bible.Logos.com and you can get up to five different entries each month! After you enter, be sure to check out Logos and see how it can revolutionize your Bible study.

The King of Pop meets the King of kings

Earlier on Twitter (@richardwardman) I posted this tweet: “The King of Pop has met the King of kings. Are you ready to meet Jesus? It’s easy as ABC! Accept.Believe.Confess http://is.gd/1ekKc“ (The link takes you to a webpage called Two Ways to Live, which explains the gospel in 6 stages. An excellent introduction.)

I wanted to expand on that tweet here, because Michael Jackson’s death provides a global opportunity for all of us to acknowledge the brevity of our own lives, and to seriously consider our position before God ahead of our own meeting with Him.

It struck me this morning that Michael Jackson, who was such a giant whilst on earth in so many ways, now seems so incredibly small, not least because he has gone to stand in front of the Judge of all the earth.

Of course, Jackson is more than acquianted with standing before judges – but never one like this. At the end of the 5-month trial over child abuse accusations Jackson was declared not-guilty – but before a righteous and holy God we’re all 100% guilty.

The evidence against us is immense and conclusive: “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom 3:23). “There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. All have turned away” (Rom 3:10-12).

This is why it is so important that we consider our position before God and prepare ourselves to meet the King of kings. We need Jesus. He stands as our defence lawyer before the Almighty Judge. When he stands in our defence, we are declared not guilty for all our sin. How? Because he himself is declared guilty, and sentenced to the cross. There he bore in himself all the just punishment for our rebellion against God. It’s all paid for. It’s all dealt with. “It is finished.”

Then, through His resurrection from the dead on the third day, Jesus defeated death. His resurrection forces us to consider the day when we will have to give an account before God. “For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to all men by raising him from the dead” (Acts 17:31).

So the question: are you ready to meet the King of kings? It really is as easy as ABC:

• Accept – that Jesus Christ is Lord
• Believe – that He died in your place for your sin, and rose from the dead defeating death eternally
• Confess – and repent of your sin, and ask for His help to live for Him in everything.

Don’t keep it to yourself – Tweet it!

I’ve been trying to get a new trend going on Twitter.  Not for the glory of starting a trend, but for the mutual edification of believers across the globe, and so that others can see what God is teaching His church and world.

Here’s the idea – every Sunday after church write a brief one or two sentence summary of the theme of the sermon and how it spoke to you. Include in your post the hashtag #SundaySermon so that others can find it.

I think we should have no problem getting #SundaySermon into the top ten trending topics every Sunday!

But YOU need to pass this on to others to get it going.

Here’s mine for this Sunday.

Now get tweeting!

Accountability for your online life

It’s not unusual for Christian believers to be accountable to others in their day-to-day lives.  But many of us now have lives that we live out online, particularly on social networking sites and blogs (Twitter, Facebook, MySpace etc).

If we’re to live lives worthy of the calling we’ve received (Eph 4:1) then surely that counts for our online lives as much as our ‘offline’ lives.  We publish all kinds of things on our various networks that project our personalities, our views, our likes or dislikes.  And these can often be viewed publicly by a wide-range of people, including unbelievers.  What we say gives an impression about the Lord we serve and the God we worship, even if we’re not meaning to make reference Him.

I’ve sometimes been concerned when I’ve come across another believer’s Facebook profile, or their tweets or blog posts, and I’ve been acutely aware of the impression they’re giving to unbelievers.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m not exempt from this, and I’m sure I’ve been of concern to others as well in what I’ve posted!  That’s why I would like to see more accountability online.

So here’s the question: How much should pastors/elders/youth leaders or anyone get involved in the online life of another believer?  Should we be more active in calling people to account for their online actions and words?  Should we make it more of a normal thing to send someone a private message prompting them to remove something, or rethink what they’ve said?

This would probably work best with people we actually know, rather than strangers on the other side of the world.  But even then, should we, as the body of Christ on earth, be calling each other to put off the old self, and radically put on the new, for the sake of making the teaching about our God and Saviour attractive to the unbelieving online world (Titus 2:10)

Here’s a quick poll to get some feedback on this.  Please link to this post if you think it’s worth talking about more widely, and leave a comment with your thoughts.

Police tell Christian: it’s a crime to say ‘homosexuality is a sin’

Andy Robertson is an evangelist with Open Air Mission in the UK.  I know Andy well as he’s based in Lincoln and can often be found preaching the gospel on Lincoln High Street.

I used to see Andy preaching in Lincoln before I was a believer and I vividly remember on one occasion shouting obscenities at him.  What a joy it was to be united with him in Christ a few years later and being able to approach him to apologise for my terrible behaviour!

Andy is now facing difficulties with the police over his open-air work in Gainsborough.  Watch this video from the Christian Institute to see what happened, and please pray for him and for the freedom to continue gospel work in this nation.

more about “Police tell Christian: it’s a crime t…“, posted with vodpod

I don’t want to read this book (for the wrong reasons!)

My wife is currently reading C. J. Mahaney’s book, Living The Cross-Centred Life, with a couple of friends for discipleship. I picked it up recently and turned to the introduction to get a flavour of the theme.  What I read terrified me.  Nothing to do with doctrine or theology.  What terrified me was the no-hold-barred challenge that faced me even in the first few paragraphs of this little book.  Here’s what I read:

“Each of our lives is centred on something.  What’s at the centre of yours?

Think about it for a moment [I did].  What’s really the main thing in your life?  Only one thing can truly be first in priority; so what’s at the top of your list, second to none?

Or let me put it this way: What are you most passionate about?  What do you love to talk about?  What do you think about most when your mind is free?”

It went on like this for a couple of more paragraphs.  Eventually I had to put it down.  It was too much.  I knew where it was taking me.  It was taking me to the cross and showing me that far from being the centre of my whole life, it was most probably an afterthought, an occasional place to reflect (at best), something I talk about a lot but don’t really feel. That’s what terrified me.  It’s a good fear to have.

Eventually I’ll have to read C.J. Mahaney’s book.  I don’t think I can afford not to.  What about you?

“I Did It His Way”

My former Pastor and mentor, Hugh Hill, has just published a book that tells the thrilling story of how the Lord Jesus broke into his life in dramatic ways.  You can visit the website and purchase the book here.

Here’s a little taster…

Frozen with fear, I stood transfixed by the vision before me and knew with an awful certainty that was where my life was heading . . .

A forty-two-year old man, having the outward appearances of achievement: a large comfortable home and my own business with all the material benefits that brings. Yet for all this confident assurance, I was lost in my own materialistically driven world, and blind to all the problems caused by my alcohol-fuelled life-style. I stood poised with one footstep over the edge of the abyss, about to step forward into the void and lose everything near and dear to me, and the hellish thing was I couldn’t see it!

Change of theme?

I’m getting a bit restless with the WordPress theme I’m using.  Feel like I need more space, three columns instead of two maybe.

There’s this…

Or this…

Or I can just stick with what I’ve got.  Suggestions?