By grace alone, through faith alone, because of Christ alone
Weary from the week and frankly with nothing better to do, Sam went to bed. Besides, he had to winterize the home in the morning. If the weather cooperated, he might even throw up some Christmas lights. Something he hadn’t done for years. He hadn’t been real “Christmasee” for a while. He hadn’t been since […]
I have been into C.S. Lewis as of late, “The Screwtape Letters”, especially. If you are not familiar, the old and cagy demon Screwtape is mentoring his inexperienced nephew, the demon Wormwood. Screwtape’s letters of advice concern how to best secure the damnation of the young man assigned to Wormwood by Satan. So, it reads […]
A Partial Prayer List for Parents as They Pray for Their Child Referenced in Pastor Rich’s sermon, A City on a Hill–Again Deuteronomy 4:1-14, February 19, 2017 This prayer list is taken from the book, Equipping God’s People for Kingdom Praying: pray that your child: . . . will know Jesus early in life (Proverbs 22:6, […]
Last week I spoke at a “Men’s Prayer Breakfast”; actually, there were two women mixed in with the 35 or so men—so let’s just call it a prayer breakfast. This group represents several different churches throughout Tacoma and has been meeting for 43 years. That’s no typo. Every Wednesday except for the occasional holiday that […]
If Paul, Silas, and Timothy needed the prayer of the saints in 1 Thessalonians 5:25, surely your pastor needs your prayers as well. Paul closes this letter as he began with an emphasis on prayer. We give thanks to God always for all of you, constantly mentioning you in our prayers, remembering before our God […]
Parents pray for their children. Job models well: “Early in the morning he [Job] would sacrifice a burnt offering for each of them, thinking, ‘Perhaps my children have sinned and cursed God in their hearts.’ This was Job’s regular custom” (Job 1:5). We don’t sacrifice lambs or bulls anymore; Jesus took care of that—but pleading […]
It is said the average American spends five years of his life waiting in line. To give some perspective, those same studies say we spend six years eating and seven years in the bathroom. Does the phrase “wasting your life” come to mind? In our productive-driven society, I found an article by Cherri Megasko entitled: […]
Today we know him as E.M. Bounds. Edward McKendree Bounds was trained and apprenticed as an attorney, but instead of pursuing a legal career, he entered the ministry in 1859, when he was in his early twenties. His books on praying are still in print today because “Edward McKendree Bounds did not merely pray well […]
This book review is by Terry Delaney and appears on his website, Christian Book Notes (August 8, 2012). Used by permission. M’Intyre, David M. The Hidden Life of Prayer & The Prayer Life of Our Lord. Hannibal: Granted Ministries Press, 2012. 192 pp. $11.00. Purchase from Granted Ministries for only $7.50. Introduction David M’Intyre (1859-1938) was a Scottish Presbyterian. […]
There was something else I wanted to mention about the prayer life of the Puritans (see “Praying Like a Puritan,” June 30, 2011 blog). Not only was the content of their prayers biblically rich; so were their salutations. Here are a few opening addresses from their prayers found in the book, “The Valley of Vision.” […]
(Pastor Rich Hamlin is on vacation with his family this week and Lord willing will return next week.) The Puritans abounded in preachers like Richard Sibbes (1577-1635), Richard Baxter (1615-l691), John Owen (1616-1683), Thomas Watson (d. l686), John Flavel (1627-1691), Jonathan Edwards (1702-1758), and that later Puritan, “prince of preachers,” Charles Haddon Spurgeon (1834-1892). One […]
“O my Savior, help me. I am slow to learn, so prone to forget, so weak to climb; I am in the foothills when I should be on the heights….” Those Puritans sure knew how to pray; and it’s not because they had extensive vocabularies and were good with metaphors. Theirs was a deep piety […]