All posts tagged: Prayer

Continue in watchful prayer

Published by

The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. — 2 Peter 3:9 By Rick Renner At a time when it is so essential that we put forth our best efforts to reach the unreached, many churches and organizations are cutting back on their giving to foreign missions. They are opting instead to develop their own local churches. There’s certainly nothing wrong with that, but the emphasis on reaching the lost is very often diminished in favor of simply forming social communities for their congregations. What happened to the days when we did BOTH? It is clear that we need to support home missions in the United States, where multitudes have yet to hear the good news of the Gospel. But we must never stop ardently supporting foreign missions to reach the nations and ethnic groups that have never heard the name of Jesus. It isn’t a matter of one or the other …

Christian prayer warriors gathering in Boston to pray for those attending SatanCon

Published by

A group of Christian prayer warriors have organized a Revive Boston conference purposefully being held in at the same time as SatanCon, scheduled for Boston this upcoming week, Fox News reports. SatanCon, which will run from April 28-30, 2023, coincides with The Satanic Temple’s tenth anniversary and has been billed as the ‘largest satanic gathering in history.’ The event advertised as “a weekend of blasphemy and remembrance in Boston,” will include a satanic marketplace, discussion panels, speaking events and even ‘unbaptisms’ for those denying their Christian faith. In an interview with the Christian Post, Suzie MacAskill, an organizer of Revive Boston, said she expects hundreds of people to attend the gathering as many intercessors have expressed that they felt God calling them to Boston. While there, they will be praying for the salvation of those attending SatanCon. “My personal sense is that God is doing something new, something powerful, something wonderful, and He is calling His bride to unity as He does this,” McAskill said. “We are seeing intercessors and watchmen joining with us from …

Prayer makes the difference

Published by

On the heels of Buffalo Bills receiver, Damar Hamlin, nearly dying during a game with the Cincinnati Bengals, former NFL running back, Peyton Hillis, 36, was also on his deathbed after saving his children from drowning on a Florida beach. He was airlifted to a nearby hospital in critical condition but is now on the road to recovery. In an Instagram Post, Hamlin’s girlfriend, Angela Cole asked for people to continue praying for Hamlin because he still has a long way to go, The Blaze reports. Cole continued that prayer, “truly makes all the difference.” But she wasn’t the only one to credit, prayer for making a difference, so did Former NFL quarterback Robert Griffin III. “There is POWER in prayer!” Griffin tweeted. “Peyton Hillis is off the ventilator and doing much better in his recovery. Awesome job by the medical professionals caring for him.” And of course, we know of the prayers that went up Hamlin after he collapsed to the ground after tackling a Bengal receiver, requiring CPR to restart his heart. This …

Do you spend time alone with God?

Published by

A recent survey conducted by Lifeway Research found that 65% of people who attend protestant churches have a daily devotional or time alone with God, with 21% saying they do it more than once a day, the Christian Post reports. Of the remaining 35%: The survey conducted in the last half of September 2022, pre-determined that those surveyed attended a protestant church at least once a month. The survey also found that when it came to devotionals 48% of women said they did it daily compared to 38% of men. These times included reading from the Bible or devotional and prayer. The importance of spending time alone with God It is interesting that Jesus emphasized the importance of being alone with God: “When you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen.” (Matthew 6:6a) He was comparing this to the Pharisees who liked to make a public display of their fasting and prayers (Matthew 6:16-18). But it can be difficult with our hectic schedules and myriad of …

Taking risks: ESPN analyst prays for critically sick Buffalo Bills player while cameras are rolling

Published by

Buffalo Bill’s safety, Damar Hamlin, has awakened from sedation and was able to use pen and paper to ask doctors a question, the NY Post reports. The question he asked is “Did we win?” Dr. Timothy Pritts, with the University of Cincinnati Medical Center answered, “The answer is yes, Damar, you won. You’ve won the game of life.” Damar, 24, collapsed in a game against the Cincinnati Bengals shortly after tackling Bengals’ receiver Tee Higgins. His heart stopped beating, shortly after the Bill’s staff arrived forcing them to perform CPR while on the field. Damar was then rushed to hospital in critical condition. The game was subsequently cancelled. While still in critical condition, with a recent positive neurological scan, doctors are now predicting a full recovery and his turnaround has been described as nothing short of miraculous. And in the title of its article, Prayers answered as Damar Hamlin wakes up with a chance to make a full recovery, the NY Post acknowledges the efficacy of the prayers that have gone up for the player. …

Praying the Apostles’ Prayer

Published by

By Dr. Michael Brown You’ve heard of the Lord’s Prayer and the Apostles’ Creed. But have you ever heard of the Apostles’ Prayer? Actually, the “Apostles’ Prayer” is not a technical term, which would explain why you’re not familiar with it. Instead, it’s my description of the one and only time that the Bible records a prayer prayed jointly by these early Church leaders. We can learn a lot from it for ourselves today. In the fourth chapter of the book of Acts we read that there was government persecution of the believers, in this case, the Jewish leadership imprisoning the Jewish apostles. This persecution was the result of powerful miracles being performed in Jesus’ name and thousands of Jewish people putting their faith in Him as Messiah and Lord. In order to “to stop this thing from spreading any further among the people” these governmental leaders decided that “we must warn them [meaning the apostles] to speak no longer to anyone in this name [meaning the name of Jesus]” (Acts 4:17). What The Apostles …

A weird answer to prayer for Bukayo Saka?

Published by

Have you ever had a thought pop into your mind that you should pray for someone? I did recently, and it was kind of weird. My daughter and I were watching the World Cup soccer match in Qatar between Britain and France over the weekend. It was a quarter-final game, with the winner going on to the semifinals. France would win the game 2.-1. France was leading 1-0, and a British player was dribbling the ball down the right wing, when I felt the Holy Spirit impress me to pray for him, which I quickly did. At that point, I didn’t even know who the player was. I can’t remember exactly how I prayed, but it was something along the lines that God would help him, and bless him. After I uttered this brief prayer, the player continued down the right side and then turned sharply towards the goal and was fouled after he entered the penalty box, sending him tumbling to the ground. This led to a penalty kick, that was taken by another …

Supreme Court rules in favor of Freedom of Religion, coaches are allowed to pray

Published by

In a 6 to 3 vote, the US Supreme Court has just ruled in favor of a high school coach who was fired in 2015 for praying on the football field. Not only that, but the Court ordered that Joe Kennedy be returned to his position of an assistant football coach at Bremerton School District in Washington State by March 2023. After each game, Kenney would pray on the field and at times players would voluntarily join him. None of the players were forced to participate. “I had some kids that wanted to join, and they asked, and, of course, it’s a free country,” Kennedy said. Even though the school had ordered him to quit praying at the end of the game, Kennedy continued to do so, leading to his eventual firing. Kenney took the district to court arguing that it had violated his Freedom of Religion guaranteed under the First Amendment. The Blaze provides more details on the Supreme Court decision: “Respect for religious expressions is indispensable to life in a free and diverse …

Honesty in prayer

Published by

There has been a trend in recent years, largely due to the influence of the faith movement, that we need to declare faith and belief in the situations we face in our life. Some refer to this as ‘blab it and grab it’. Yet, I am beginning to wonder if we need less declarations of faith and more honesty in our prayer life. And we see that in the story of a man desperate to see his son healed of a demonic affliction. After Jesus took Peter, James and John up on the Mount of Transfiguration for a remarkable encounter with some Old Testament saints, a man approached the disciples who remained below asking for help for his son who was being plagued by an evil spirit (Mark 9: 14-29). However, the disciples were unable to deliver the boy, and when Jesus and the disciples came down the hill they encountered the commotion surrounding the failed deliverance. The man then approached Christ, pleading for help. First, he complained that the Lord’s disciples had been unable …

Sports Illustrated claims prayer at sporting events erodes democracy

Published by

In a recent article (June 13, 2022), Sports Illustrated (SI) suggested that allowing players and coaches to pray prior to a game would lead to the erosion of democracy, Breitbart reports. The magazine was discussing a court case before the Supreme Court involving Joe Kennedy who was fired as an assistant coach by Bremerton High, because he prayed with his players on the football field. Breitbart explains: “This Sports Illustrated article is little else but a long smear against Christians, conservatives, and white people in general, and coach Kennedy in particular, and on a vicious personal level, at that,” Breitbart News noted. Conservatives and religious freedom activists took to social media to lambaste Sports Illustrated for such a disgraceful display of left-wing bias. It’s expected that the Supreme Court will soon make a ruling on the case involving religious freedom. READ: Sports Illustrated Blasted for Saying Prayer in Sports is ‘Eroding Democracy’ Breitbart also supplied a few tweet responses to SI’s article written by Greg Bishop: A couple of my favorites:

Justin Bieber asks for prayer for Ramsay Hunt Syndrome

Published by

In a video posted on Instagram, Justin Bieber, 27, asked for prayer because he is struggling with Ramsay Hunt Syndrome, which has resulted in him having to cancel some upcoming concerts, CBN reports. “As you can probably see from my face, I have this syndrome called Ramsay Hunt syndrome,” Justin told his fans. “As you can see, this eye is not blinking. I can’t smile on this side of my face. This nostril will not move, so there’s full paralysis on this side of my face.” Ramsay Hunt Syndrome (RHS) occurs when a shingle outbreak occurs on the face near a facial nerve. According to the Mayo Clinic, shingles is a result of having previously caught Chicken Pox. After recovering from this disease, the virus continues to live in a person’s nerves and can sometimes reactivate when you are older in the form of Shingles. Though typically people are more vulnerable to shingles after the age of 60, RHS symptoms can result in facial paralysis that includes difficulty in closing your eyes, hearing loss and …

One major hindrance to answered prayer

Published by

I want to briefly discuss one of the major hindrances that we can face to answered prayer, and that is unforgiveness. As I was writing this article, a strange thing happened, as the Holy Spirit brought to my remembrance an incident that happened to me over 40 years ago. I was single and a couple of months away from getting married and working for a Christian man, who shortchanged me about $800 in salary. The Christian boss basically ran off with the company’s money, ending the business. That was a lot of money back then, the equivalent of about $2,790 today. And for a soon-to-be wed couple, my wife and I could have really used it. Though this man left the city, he subsequently turned back to God. Several years later, I actually ran into him when he returned to the city and visited our church. He was now retired, quite poor, and it would have been useless to press the issue. I forgave him, and moved on with my life. But there is a …

Praying With Boldness and Confidence

Published by

By Rick Renner

I’m so grateful for all the truths and godly qualities that my pastor and church family planted in me during my growing-up years. But I have to say, in all the years I attended that church, I personally can’t remember a time when I heard anyone pray boldly or confidently. I simply had no idea what bold, confident praying sounded like until I attended a seminar at another church where a special speaker was teaching on the subject of faith.

A Supernatural Answer to Prayer

Published by

In the early 1990s, I was on a plane that was horribly overloaded with people, luggage, and boxes. So many air-safety rules were being violated on this particular flight! Pieces of luggage and boxes were strapped into the seats where people should have been sitting — and people were sitting on top of the boxes in the main aisle of the cabin.

How are we to pray for our leaders? Pray counterintuitively

Published by

When we look at what is happening with Russia and Ukraine, and the events taking place in Canada and the US, we need to take a closer look at the Apostle Paul’s encouragement to pray for our leaders. Because in this passage, he also explains how we are to pray for them: I urge you, first of all, to pray for all people. Ask God to help them; intercede on their behalf, and give thanks for them. Pray this way for kings and all who are in authority so that we can live peaceful and quiet lives marked by godliness and dignity. This is good and pleases God our Savior, who wants everyone to be saved and to understand the truth. (1 Timothy 2:1-3) Remembering that Nero was the Roman emperor when Paul encouraged believers to: Pray that God will help our leaders; Intercede on their behalf (pray for them, not against them); Thank God for them; and Pray for their salvation. In other words, we are not to pray God’s judgment on them when …

Three keys to answered prayer

Published by

There have been books written on how to have a successful prayer life by people who have studied and lived a life of prayer. So, I don’t want to come across as someone who has the final answer on what it takes to have your prayers answered. But I do want to discuss a teaching that Jesus gave about prayer in Luke 18:1-8, which provides several keys to successful prayer. In this parable, Jesus talked about a widow who was seeking justice from a corrupt judge. The Lord described the judge as a man who did not fear God or care about what people thought of him (v 2). He was a narcissist. All he cared about was himself. In other words, justice was for sale in that town. Judges in this day typically travelled from village to village, where they set up a tent, so people could come to plead their case. Often you had to bribe the tent’s gatekeeper just to get a hearing, much less a favourable ruling. And Jesus used this …

78 | What the Septuagint Bible tells us about fallen angels and spiritual warfare

Published by

We are living in perilous times as governments of all political stripes seem intent on restricting people’s liberties and freedoms, either under the guise of protecting us from COVID or banning speech that some consider offensive, because it disagrees with their beliefs. In this podcast, I discuss the Septuagint’s odd translation of a Bible verse in Deuteronomy that may help explain why this is happening.

HS football team gathers for prayer after school board orders ban on teacher-led prayer

Published by

After a Tennessee school board told teachers and coaches last week that they could no longer lead their school teams in prayer, several players, cheerleaders, fans and parents associated with Putnam County football team took matters into their own hands and gathered on the field after a recent game to pray.

Casting and thanking are keys to dealing with stress

Published by

According to an article published in Psychology Today, personal prayer provides several psychological benefits to the individual praying. The article entitled, ‘”Prayer and Mental Illness’, written by Rob Whitley, Ph.D., discussed two large studies that revealed prayer positively strengthens a person’s mental well-being. One study, published in the American Journal of Epidemiology, concluded that young adults who prayed daily experienced less anxiety and had a higher self-esteem and were more satisfied with life than those who didn’t. This was a large study involving several thousand students and even included follow up for several years after. Whitley cited another survey of 2,000 adult Californians experiencing mental illness, where 80% “agreed or strongly agreed” that prayer helped them during their struggles. This second study confirmed Whitley’s own research on African Americans, who stated that “regular prayer was a major factor in their recovery” from their struggles with mental illness. Stress is a significant contributor to physical and mental health problems. In 1 Peter 5:7, the Apostle Peter encourages us to cast or throw all our concerns and …

The dangerous prayer that resulted in miracles

Published by

Do you want to see more answers to prayer and miracles in your life? If so I want to provide an example of a simple prayer from the Book of Acts that did exactly that. It came to mind as I was reading an article about Heidi Baker, 61, who works as a missionary in Cabo Delgado Province in Mozambique, a small country in Northern Africa along the India Ocean. Baker’s organization, Iris Global, runs orphanages and provides humanitarian aid in the province that is dominated by an Islamic extremist group called Al Shabab that has killed nearly 3,000 people through dozens of terrorist attacks since Baker established her ministry in 2017. According to Baker being a Christian makes you a target and several churches in the province have been burned to the ground in Al Shabab’s attempt to set up a Caliphate. In its most recent attack on Palma in March 2021, hundreds of terrorist stormed the town killing dozens of people and as well kidnapped children, girls for wives and boys as fighters. …

Finding your secret place of prayer

Published by

Sometimes, I find it hard to pray. I feel disconnected and far from God. It seems that I have to pray long prayers and work hard to get God’s attention. What is my perception of prayer that it makes it seem like such an effort? Do I feel unworthy or not good enough? Do I feel like I’m barely existing and disconnected from myself, people and God? Thankfully, there is a divine connection available to us, and we can have unlimited access to heaven, at all times. Jesus said: “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6) And, if you believe that Jesus is the Son of God, that He died on the cross for your sins and was resurrected from the dead, you have the key to connecting with heaven from here on earth. To help me pray easily and effectively, I often create a garden, a secret place in my mind, where I can go anytime day or night. I …

US Congressman ends prayer with ‘amen’ & ‘awoman’

Published by

The United States House of Representatives is going woke in a blaze of political-correct glory. As we reported earlier, House Speaker Democrat Nancy Pelosi wants to remove all gender words, such as father, mother, son, and daughter, from being used by the House. So keeping with the theme, Democrat Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, an ordained Methodist preacher, recently opened the 117th Congress in prayer closing with “amen and a-woman.”