Prayer is always the most difficult subject within "Christian living" to write about. It's certainly the most convicting topic for me to think through because I'm so bad at doing it faithfully. There are many Christians who would agree that prayer is a struggle for them, but I can't help but think that I struggle more. The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak indeed.
How would your life change if you didn't have access to the Bible? Take a brief moment to ponder a real, genuine answer to that question.
If we aren't cherishing, memorizing, and applying Scripture, then it is unlikely that our lives would change much if we lacked access to it. All three of these actions are essential to a vibrant relationship with the Bible and, consequently, the God of the Bible.
Through the years, I've challenged the members of our church not to think of inviting people to a church service as "evangelism." Extending an invitation to someone to join you in corporate worship on Sunday morning can be a good thing (sometimes it's not!), but it's not evangelism. It's a kind-hearted gesture, but it's not evangelism.
To what lengths would you go to be with fellow Christians?
On the one hand, we answer that question all the time. We, of course, have multiple chances to fellowship with each other throughout the week -- just at our church property. Add in all of the opportunities we have to be in each others' homes and we're essentially unable to calculate all of the times we could be together. When we establish that framework and fill it in with the efforts we make to be with God's people (in the context of the whole of our lives, of course), we start to get an answer about what lengths we would go to in order to spend time with other believers. So, in that sense, we have an idea.
"All of life is competing priorities," they say. They're right, whoever they are.
Every day we are faced with so many choices, living under so many pressures. Bob Seger talked about "deadlines and commitments," and we're all too familiar with those. If we're not careful, we can lose all control of these responsibilities and find ourselves living under various "needs of the day" that are really just wrongly-ordered priorities. The place of prayer in our lives is a great example of this.
Singing is an instrument of God given to creation for our benefit. By singing, we show how we are set apart from the rest of God's creatures, as those made in His image who can communicate in such a way. It is unique to mankind and it carries with it unique benefits.
Charles Spurgeon once said, "I have learned to kiss the waves that throw me up against the Rock of Ages." This kind of perspective is obtained only by spiritual maturity.
Who would embrace trials? Who would get stronger through struggles? Who would find consolation in tragedy?
The answer is, "Only a Christian."
Talking about God's feelings is rarely a good idea.
On the one hand, it is challenging and dubious. Challenging, because we cannot know the mind of God beyond what He has revealed to each one of us in His word. Dubious, because God does not have feelings as we have feelings. He is not fickle, emotional, persuaded, reactionary, or spontaneous as we are. He is the unchanging God who exists outside of time, ordaining all things according to His will alone.
Yet, on the other hand, God certainly has affections. In Scripture we see Him express joy and grief, pleasure and anger, gladness and sorrow. He is personal, and He has chosen to relate to His creation personally. Prayer is perhaps the most tangible way that His children can experience His personal nature, as He hears us and responds to our needs.
It's hard to take our eyes off the news these days--and for good reason! We are a nation in tailspin. The only thing that's certain about our country's future is that our country's future is uncertain. There's so much we don't know and therefore wonder about; we'll likely never know the truth about many of the most important things that have happened and are about to happen. But here we are.
But we'd do well to stop and consider how we're not unique in world history on this point.
As Christians, our top priority must be to get the good news out to as many people as we can. Beyond all of the other priorities that we have in life, the number one goal must be to get the message of the gospel out to every person on the face of the earth. This is the commission we've been given by our Lord and it is a task that can be considered both critical and exhaustive.