This article is introduced with the question, "Does God take risks?" The intention is to answer the basic question whether God changes his mind due to human influence (such as prayer) and therefore whether he absolutely knows the future. Open theism takes as one of its key texts Genesis 18:22-23. The article considers this passage and concludes that here God is condescending to our human weakness and frailty.
This article exposes diverse applications of psychological approaches to the book of Lamentations. It gives an analysis of the benefits and limitations of this research. It then continues to relate prayer and pain in the poetry of Lamentations by exploring the connections between Lamentations and the psychology of prayer.
What is prayer and why do we have to pray? Prayer is the divinely appointed means through which we commune with the living God and advance his kingdom. This article explains this definition in order to clarify the necessity for prayer and the reason for prayer.
What do your prayer requests look like? How do they match up with the focus of Scripture's prayers? This article explains how right praying and prayer requests are good avenues to pursue in order to care well for one another.
No Christian can dispute the necessity of prayer. Why is prayer so important? Focusing on Jeremiah 33:3, the author shows that prayer has a double effect on the believer. Firstly, prayer is is communion with God, and secondly, prayer is enlightenment for the soul. God uses prayer to strengthen our faith in His faithfulness to fulfill His promises.
This article is 33 statements on true prayer.
From time to time your prayer life falls into a rut. We use the same phrases over and over in mindless repetition. Here the author highlights some things that the early church prayed for. You may want to print this out and use it to guide you in your prayers.
It happens that we stop praying too soon. This article mentions seven wrong times to stop praying, with a final encouragement to pray without ceasing.
Even church leaders struggle with prayer, not praying as they should. Here are five reasons explaining why church leaders struggle to pray.
How do you build a praying family? This article suggests twelve ways of building a praying family.
You should not give up praying, and so this article gives seven reasons for persevering in prayer.
God already knows what we need before we ask. What does this imply for your prayers? It means our prayers should be honest, simple and immediate.
Should you pray for bad things to happen to bad people? This article looks at imprecatory psalms. It shows how they call believers to love and seek God's justice, and how this should shape our prayers.
Prayer is a means of beholding the glory of Christ. This article explains what this means and how we behold Christ's glory in prayer.
Prayer is not the least you can do; it is the most you can do. This article explains by discussing things that hinder us from praying, misconceptions about prayer, and the problem of legalistic prayer. It is when we understand the purpose of prayer that we come to realize that prayer is the most we can do.
Instead of offering up prayers whose content is determined by what is happening in our lives, this article suggests that what should be happening instead is that our prayers inform our lives and alter our living. It suggests that there be three movements in our prayers: give things, make confession, and practice discernment.
Prayer is difficult for many. How do you learn to pray? This article shares lessons that can help you in learning to pray, but the best way to learn is by getting a mentor.
How can you encourage Christians to pray? Consider the use of prayer societies as an encouragement to prayer.
Does prayer change things? To answer this question one must understand the relationship between prayer and the sovereignty of God. It is through this understanding that one learns that prayer is submission to God’s will.
Personal prayer is one-to-one communion with God. This article explains the importance of personal prayer, and the way of cultivating it.
Prayer is a gift of God to his covenant people. Therefore, to understand the nature of prayer, one must understand the nature of the covenant. The article explains this, showing how this understanding shapes the practice of the believer in prayer.
This article seeks to encourage the believer on the importance of prayer and relying upon God rather than one's own wisdom. It impresses upon the believer the importance of seeking God's will, learning the ways of God, doing his will, and rejoicing in his ways.
Prayer meetings are part of the life of the church. However, often many prayer meetings fail. Why? This article gives seven reasons.
Prayer is and always will be a battle, because of the temptation to give up. This article gives tips for persevering in prayer.
This article explains seven ways you can ruin a prayer meeting.
The things you pray about are the things you trust God to handle. The things you neglect to pray about are the things you trust you can handle on your own. Are there things in your life you do not pray about? This article explores the matter further.
Prayer is important in the life of every Christian. However, at times you do not feel like praying. What should you do when that happens. The article discusses the matter.
How can you pray for unbelievers? This article explains eighteen ways of praying for unbelievers.
This article shows from the life of Matthew Henry that you can shape your prayer life with adoration, confession, petition, thanksgiving, and intercession.
If God is sovereign, why pray? Understanding the relationship between prayer and the sovereignty of God is important to the practice of prayer, for it protects one against fatalism. This article gives three important truths about the relationship between prayer and the sovereignty of God.
Prayer is fellowship with God. It is a response to listening to God. This article explains the nature of prayer and its relation to the sovereignty of God
Struggling to pray? This article looks at biblical prayers and shows how you can use them to shape your own prayers for thanking and honoring God, confession of sin, petitions, and thanksgiving.
This article discusses the reason for prayer and what that means for its role in pastoral care and counselling. It reflects on what prayer communicates about your beliefs, what you need to pray for, and how you may pray.
If prayer is speaking to God in His own words, then this should shape the way public prayer is done. This was the concern of John Knox as he sought the reformation of worship. This article shows Knox's contribution to the structuring of public prayer and prayer during and after the Lord's Supper.
Looking at the psalms of lament, this article shows how they can teach us to lament before God in prayer in a way that shows faith in the sovereignty, faithfulness and goodness of God. This is the first article in a four-part series.
Looking at the Lord's Prayer, this article shows how it can used to pray in thankfulness to God. Focus is given to thanking God for who He is in your prayer.
Is it childish when we go on asking God for things even as adults? What Jesus says about prayer is put in the simplest childlike way: "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you". This understanding of prayer makes sense only if we realize that for Jesus it belongs to a special kind of relationship with God - a relationship of trusting intimacy and close friendship. A child would not hesitate to ask a loving parent for anything.
This article looks at the characteristics of prayer, calling to the Trinity in prayer, prayer and worship, and prayer and faith.
The emphasis of Chapter 1 is that prayer may be uttered in confidence, because God as Father of his children want to hear their prayers.
From Philippians 4:6-7 this article offers some thoughts on prayer.
This article, through the lens of Philippians 4:6-7, considers the blessing of prayer and the peace the believer has in Christ, in the face of frailty and danger.
Is corporate prayer important? This article looks at biblical examples on corporate prayer and it gives seven reasons why Christians should pray together.
Chapter 1 is Carson’s summary of eight major lessons on prayer that he has learned from his interaction with Scripture and other mature Christians. At the end of the chapter there are questions for review and reflection.
Carson sees prayer as the most urgent need of the church in the Western world today and he wants to encourage the practice of prayer in the church.
This is the third article in a series about prayer and the psalms of lament. This article describes a good way to view suffering in relationship to God's providence and grace.
The author states that prayer is the most important topic in practical religion. All other subjects are secondary. The author offers seven reasons why this is so. Included among these reasons are the subjects of salvation, the character of a true Christian, private prayer, prayer as a source of encouragement, and prayer as a recipe for happiness and contentment.
