The sixth mark Dave discusses in Seven Marks of a New Testament Church is fervent prayer (pp. 39-42). There are a variety of views of what it means to be “the church” or what it means to be Christian. For some, it’s a matter of holding the correct set of beliefs. One knows that certain…
I was talking recently with a friend who commented that there are certain events that serve as anchor points for our faith. For me, despite all the drifting I’ve done since it happened, one of those points was the time when my father was healed. I alluded to this briefly in a comment on the…
I enjoyed interviewing three different Energion authors last night. The first was Rev. Steve Kindle who talked about stewardship and the importance of starting from an understanding that everything belongs to God. Steve provided some practical steps that a church can use in caring for all of God’s creation. Steve’s book goes into this somewhat…
Considering my recent posts, I wanted to call attention to my interview last night with Dr. David Moffett-Moore, pastor and author of five Energion titles: Life as Pilgrimage, The Spirit’s Fruit: A Participatory Study Guide, Creation in Contemporary Experience, Wind and Whirlwind, and of course Pathways to Prayer (in the Topical Line Drives series). I…
Yesterday I wrote a bit about using prayer and Bible study as a starting point for change. The problem is that it’s very easy to pray and study the Bible in such a way that it makes you a worse person. I’ve found a relatively simple way to determine whether I’m doing this myself: If…
“I think my prayers make a difference, but they’re not omnipotent.” Listen to the whole interview by Doug Pagitt with Dr. Bruce Epperly, author of the recently released book Finding God in Suffering.
A discount for praying? Actually, yes, I say a blessing over my food. So I have some problems with the “disobeying Jesus” thing. There are occasions when you don’t have to hide in order to pray. That’s not what Jesus was getting at in Matthew 6:1, though making a public show of it, which this…
Dave Black provides an extract from his forthcoming book on the Seven Marks of a New Testament Church. In it, he refers to praying in the Spirit, noting that some exegetes say this refers to praying in tongues. He doesn’t deny that possibility but says it is broader than that. While I believe that praying…
Today I extracted a paragraph from David Alan Black’s blog (I have his blanket permission), just so I could comment on it. He notes: I often ask myself, How can I write anything about prayer? I’ve still got so much to learn about it! I am in sympathy with his comment. My wife and I…
I want to call attention to my wife’s excellent devotional on prayer.
