Category: Prayer

With Jesus

Early this morning, at 6:30, I got a call from Rick in Africa. He knew I’d moved to Idaho earlier this year after a trip to the beach to pray about the prospect. So he asked how to encourage Nigerian pastors to go on prayer quests. It’s afternoon by now and he’s waiting for an …

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Moving

I just moved from Camas, Washington, to Moscow, Idaho. And in my current Bible reading I’m newly sensitive to relocation stories. Both Genesis and Exodus are all about moves. In both books God relocates people as a way to build faith. He disrupts lives by creating new needs, new values, new questions, new answers, and …

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Wax noses

Centuries ago, Puritan theologians charged their opponents with treating Scriptures like a “wax nose.” Truth can be pliable, like an actor’s face reshaped for a Shakespearean play. Is it still a problem? Of course. And not just in religion. It’s true of advertising, news-making, and identity-building. It’s summarized in Jeremiah 17:9, “The heart is deceitful …

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God’s Soft Spot

God has a soft spot. It’s not a weakness—as if he’s less than divine at this point—but a quality in his Triune relations that allows us to connect with him in uniquely tender terms. Here’s the secret. Say, “Thank you, Lord”—everywhere and all the time! Make it a steady part of your walk, your talk, …

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Thanks!

“Thank you” is a bonding phrase. When our service or kindness receives a smile and a “thanks” a satisfying relational loop is completed. The other person’s words recognize our action not as a duty but as an expression of care. But thanksgiving is not as common as it could be. I know a man, for …

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Conversing with God

This post repeats a Cor Deo offering. Please offer any comments at that site. Thanks! A Friday morning chat with Terry about conversations, and then reading Pete Sanlon’s book on Augustine—including a feature on Augustine’s conversations with God—set me up for this post. It’s a topic worth revisiting on a regular basis even apart from …

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Conversations

We were made for conversation. This realization comes in the first hours of birthing and never ends. Every child who grows into successful adulthood will have started with a mother’s tender gaze, cuddles, and whispered words. This parent-child bonding is woven by words of devotion and love. The child also smiles and learns to respond …

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Prayers that work

Can you think of the times you’ve called out to God without a response from him? Do prayers seem to bounce back from heaven? Have you ever asked him, “Where are you when I need you? Why don’t you answer me?” Do we need to find some magic formula to stir God? Or to placate …

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