How to Pray Around the Globe While Sipping Your Coffee

You will find suggestions for praying around the globe listed below.  There’s a short list for each day of the week.  Pour a mug of your favorite java and let’s start praying.

You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. (Acts 1:8)

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Sunday: Your Church

• Invite the Holy Spirit to meet with our church
• Trust God to speak to you and to bless you through your pastor
• Praise the Lord for all those who labor to reach the lost and to empower the saints

The Lord Delivers

The Lord delivers in more ways than one.

Most times, the Lord delivers the power you need to persevere.

But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.  We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. (2 Corinthians 4:7-9)

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At other times, the Lord delivers you from your trials.

I sought the LORD, and he answered me; he delivered me from all my fears. (Psalm 34:4)

The righteous cry out, and the LORD hears them; he delivers them from all their troubles.
The LORD is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.
The righteous person may have many troubles, but the LORD delivers him from them all…. (Psalm 34:17-19)

At all times, the Lord delivers at just the right time — even if you wonder what took him so long.

How to Experience God While You Read the Bible

Pastor, how can reading my Bible become more than a religious ritual or obligation?  How can I experience God as I read?

God gave us the Bible not only to give us information but also to allow us to experience transformation.  When you read the Bible to meet with the Lord you approach it in a different way.

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Prepare to Hear God’s Word

Keep a pad of paper and pen at hand as you read today.  Prepare to experience God by emptying your mind of all the things you need to do.  Write them on the first page of paper.  Add to this list throughout your Bible reading time, as needed.  Ask God’s Holy Spirit to meet with you as you read.

Top Ten Prayers That Are Always God’s Will

The Bible promises that God will answer every prayer that is according to his will.  How can I know my prayers are God’s will?

This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.  And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him. (1 John 5:14-15)

Here are ten prayers that are always God’s will:

1. Your Kingdom come, your will be done” (Matthew 6:10).

How to Share Jesus’ Love without Discomfort

What one word is feared just as much by committed Christians as it is by everyone else?

EVANGELISM.  I call it the E-word.

Everyone is uncomfortable around “evangelism.”  Unbelievers and followers of other religions are repulsed by the E-word because it seems to smack with an air of superiority.  We Christians often sound like we have all the answers and everyone else simply needs to shut up and listen.

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You and I hate the E-word, too.  The way we’ve frequently been taught to do evangelism sounds too much like a sales pitch for eternal fire insurance.  Most of us don’t like to be sold something and we don’t like selling either.

How to Tell Yourself the Truth

As a Christian, how can I develop a healthy self-image?

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THE PROBLEM:

Very few people have an accurate and healthy view of themselves.

THE SYMPTOMS:

When you receive a compliment what do you do?  Have you ever caught yourself thinking or saying something to cancel it out?

• “You wouldn’t say that if you really knew me.”
• “You just said that because you feel sorry for me.”

How to Pray When You’re Exhausted

There's not enough coffee in the world to make me a morning person

Are you starting your week worn out and exhausted?  Are you so tired you plan to skip praying?

Perhaps you had a big weekend at your church.  Maybe you stayed up late watching a movie or playing games with your family.  Whatever the reason many people know exactly how you feel right now.  Monday mornings have a bad reputation for a reason.  Use the following prayer as a launch pad for your prayer time today.  You can experience the rest and rejuvenation Jesus promised.

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How to Find Rest for Your Soul

Pastor, I’m so full of nervous energy I have a hard time relaxing. Can God help me find rest?

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Prepare to Hear God’s Word

Imagine what rest for you soul would be like.  Write down a description of how you would feel.  Ask God to speak to you through the Bible reading.

How to Grow Spiritually (Even When You’ve Tried and Failed)

Why can’t I become more like Jesus in the way I think and act?

You may be settling for discovering heaven’s password.

In a scene from Monty Python and the Holy Grail, King Arthur and knights come to a bridge over the Abyss of Eternal Peril. The keeper allows people to cross after they answer three questions correctly.  Miss one and he throws you over the edge.

God Hates Sex — NOT! (repost)

This is an updated version of a post I think is particularly important for Christians.

Pastor, why does the church hate sex?  Who do you think you are telling me what I can and cannot do in the privacy of my bedroom?

It is true that the church’s teachings on sexual behaviors repel some people.  They say, “I cannot follow Jesus because Christianity’s views on sex are too narrow for me.”  There are people who complain that all the church does is tell people they cannot have sex.  The church comes across as so anti-homosexual that some think that is the only sexual sin.

About ten years ago a television series called BOSTON PUBLIC aired an interesting storyline.

• Senior boys were competing to see who could have sex with the most virgin freshman girls.