prayer

The Prayer of Faith

July 13, 2017 // 248 Comments

Much of what passes for prayer is wishful thinking. “Oh Lord, please heal Mary.” I’m sure you can, Lord. I just don’t know if you will. “I beg you to heal Tom.” But if you do, no one will be more surprised than me. You can pretty much guarantee these sorts of prayers won’t change anything because [...]

The Lord’s Prayer

August 20, 2015 // 44 Comments

There’s a myth that we who preach grace dismiss everything Jesus said before the cross. According to the myth, we disregard the red letters of the Bible as law for to those under law. Nothing could be further from the truth! What sort of followers of Christ would we be if we ignored what Jesus said? Take the [...]

Husbands’ hindered prayers (1 Peter 3:7)

January 7, 2015 // 74 Comments

A man recently asked me about a troubling verse. “My wife says my prayers are hindered because I don’t respect her enough.” He was referring to this verse: Husbands, in the same way be considerate as you live with your wives, and treat them with respect as the weaker partner and as heirs with you of the [...]

Prayer kisses

January 7, 2012 // 6 Comments

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Endure hardship? Or thresh mountains?

December 31, 2011 // 40 Comments

A few days ago, a house on the Sunshine Coast in Australia was destroyed in a fire that was possibly started by faulty Christmas lights. A family of five were sleeping inside at the time but only the father managed to escape the flames. The neighbours found him in the driveway “burnt from head to toe” and [...]

Not by sight

March 16, 2011 // 43 Comments

Ever since James wrote that “faith without works is dead,” Christians have been busying themselves with all sorts of busy-ness to prove that they really, positively do have faith. But much of what passes for Christian works could be done by anyone, with or without faith. Let’s not kid ourselves. If what [...]

Dealing with unanswered prayer

March 13, 2011 // 49 Comments

“I have been asking God to heal me for years. I don’t understand why He hasn’t me. I guess it’s not God’s will for me to be healed.” If you’ve been following this short series on prayer, I’m hoping you can spot at least two things wrong with these statements. First, it is always God’s will to [...]

Speak to your mountain

March 10, 2011 // 60 Comments

I spent much of my life praying in vain for the sick. Only a few of those I prayed for ever got healed. But in the last couple of years I have begun to discover why my prayers were so powerless. I now realize that what I thought was faith was nothing more than wishful thinking. In short, I have learned that there [...]

A Better Way to Pray

March 6, 2011 // 44 Comments

When Camilla and I started leading a church in 1999, we didn’t have a clue. We loved God with all our hearts and prayed with faith, but our prayers seldom moved mountains. There was this one time when there was a lot of sickness going around so we organized a healing meeting. We laid hands on the sick, prayed [...]

Mixing Grace with Works: It’s Not About the Widow (Luke 18:1-8)

June 10, 2010 // 11 Comments

Most Christians who’ve read Galatians know it’s a bad idea to mix grace with works. Paul wondered of the Galatians: “Are you so foolish? After beginning with the Spirit, are you now trying to attain your goal by human effort?” (Gal 3:3) Most believers know that we cannot finish with human effort that [...]