Tag Archives: Prayer

The Priority of Prayer

Posted on 03/10/2012 by | Leave a comment

© Benjamin Haas – Fotolia.com

Prayer is an essential element to the Christian life. The priority of prayer is clearly seen in the life of our Lord. We learn that He often withdrew from the crowds and privately prayed in a secluded place (Luke 5:16). Before appointing the twelve disciples He continued all night in prayer to the Father (Luke 6:12). Prayer was a priority in His ministry. This priority of prayer was also displayed in the early church. In Acts chapter 1 when the disciples had just returned from the Mt. of Olives, they went into an upper room and “all these with one accord were devoting themselves to prayer” (Acts 1:14).

As Christians, such devotion to prayer reveals our dependence upon God. Christians should pray because we need God’s help. Continue reading →

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Why should we pray against gay marriage?

Posted on 20/03/2012 by | 28 Comments

At one of our church’s recent corporate prayer meeting, we prayed for our nation. We prayed that the government would not legalise gay marriage, that the horrific practise of abortion would cease. More broadly, we prayed that our nation’s slide toward paganism would be slowed. Why do we pray for these things? Why do we need to contend for social, moral, and political issues? I was reminded of one of my favourite quotes from the great J. Gresham Machen. He explains an important reason why Christians must contend for these sorts of issues:

“We are all agreed that at least one great function of the Church is the conversion of individual men. The missionary movement is the great religious movement of our day. Now it is perfectly true that men must Continue reading →

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Posted in Contemporary Issues, The Gospel

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Little Big Decisions – sweat the small stuff

Posted on 07/08/2011 by | 1 Comment

Sometimes little decisions are much bigger than they may appear at first glance.  Let’s say that my boss at work wants me to stay back late, but it’s Bible study night.  Should I go to Bible study?  Or should I stay at work?

It seems to be rare that someone would fall away from the faith by making a one time decision that Christianity is not true.  Usually people drift away from the faith, slowly.

A friend of mine works in ministry to the medical profession.  He told me once that a survey showed that 70% of medical students who were Christian fell away from the faith.  That’s an enormous percentage.  The reason why this is the case is probably due to the fact that medicine is a career that is all consuming.  Enormous hours at all sorts of times are required.  Medicos can start to miss church and Bible study.  They can find it difficult to find the time to keep reading the Bible.  After several months they may find that they haven’t read the Bible or been to church, and it no longer seems to matter.  Slowly they drift off.

Of course this is not true of all medicos (there’s the 30%!).  And it’s not just doctors who are in such spiritual danger.  There are some law and accounting firms that seem to demand similar hours from their workers.  No doubt there Continue reading →

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Posted in Life Application, Spiritual Growth, The Bible, The Gospel

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