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One hour of prayer guide

THE PRAYER CYCLE This is a guided pattern for spending an hour in prayer. It is helpful to enable people to understand various aspects of prayer and to increase their capacity for prayer. The intention is to spend five minutes on each segment. 1. Praise: Start your prayer hour by praising the Lord. Praise Him for things that are on your mind right now. Praise Him for one special thing He has done in your life in the past week. Praise Him for His goodness to your family. 2. Wait: Spend this time waiting on the Lord. Be silent and let Him pull together reflections for you. 3. Confess: Ask the Holy Spirit to show you anything in your life that might be displeasing to Him. Ask Him to point out attitudes that are wrong, as well as specific acts for which you have not yet made a prayer of confession. Now confess that to the Lord so that you might be cleansed. 4. Read the Word: Spend time reading in the Psalms, in the prophets, and passages on prayer located in the New Testament....
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Establishing a rhythm of prayer

Relationships grow deeper and stronger when communication is happening regularly.  Because of good communication the depth of the relationship results in trust, commitment, and even shows our vulnerability. My marriage to Rosanna is evidence of that. Our ability to communicate is not just limited to marriage, but also to our relationship to God. This then is an example to our children and others as a visible testimony.  We all suffer from the effects of brokenness which affects all of our relationships especially to God. Our sin separates us from God and our communication lines are cut. He doesn’t hear our prayers. Only God can repair that brokenness and open the lines of communication. When we turn from our sin and put our trust in Jesus’ work on the cross and make him boss of our life.  He will restore the relationship. Prayer is communication with God which includes speaking and listening.  Why do we pray? We pray because Jesus expects us to and wants us...
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Strategies for overcoming anger (part 2)

Last week we first looked at recognizing the roots of anger.  It is important to know the root so that you can respond appropriately instead of reacting destructively. Once you determined the root, how do you overcome it? The Bible gives us lots of examples of people who have gotten angry and it turned to sin and destruction. We can learn from their mistakes. Cain and Able, Jacob and Esau, Moses and the people, and Pharisees and Jesus are all stories that end poorly.  Anger itself is an emotion that acts like a warning light so we can respond well. Most people react instead of respond. This is not a game of semantics. Have you ever played the game, flinch? It is a boy thing. Initially we react to someone trying to smack our hand. Eventually you learn to respond and find ways to avoid the smack.  We know we will get angry at some point. We need to train ourselves how to respond to various anger triggers. James says that we should be quick to listen, slow to s...
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Recognizing the roots of anger (part 1)

Ever been angry? Think about the last time. Maybe you are angry now! What button was pushed? What was the cause? Can you pin point it? We all get angry. We express anger differently. Ultimately, anger is a normal emotion. It is not always bad.  There is acceptable and unacceptable anger. Judges mandate “Anger Management” classes to those that cross the line of acceptability. That person’s anger has negatively affected the rights and freedom of another. We have to be put in check and helped to understand how to respond.  There is good anger too. Yep, you heard me right. When you are in danger or someone you know is in danger, anger kicks in so that you can defend. Anger is also good when there is an injustice. It is good to be angry when evil is done. God himself gets angry over evil, rebellion, injustice and sin. God tells us to be angry at these things too.  People express it in one of three ways: spew it, leak it or stuff it. Those that spew rarely hold ba...
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Coming to Christ

From time to time we wrestle with the question, how to people come to Christ? Every disciple and preacher asks this question. My Grandpa preached on this topic in 1966. He addressed it from the grace of and drawing power of God. When you are regularly sharing or preaching the gospel you tend to want people to come to Christ more than they do.  Your heart aches for them.  This desire can cause you to question the person yourself or even God. Why don’t they get it? Was I not clear enough? Argh! Has that happened to you? It will if you are engaged in regular gospel conversations. When it does happen, I turn to the Scriptures and talk to Jesus. In John 3, a man named Nicodemus inquires of Jesus. He is being stirred by the things he has seen and the teachings that he has heard.  Jesus tells him that you are not going to get this unless you are born again. Unless the Spirit does a work in you, belief is impossible. When you hear the gospel and the spirit turns the...
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Compelled...to share

Have you ever been compelled to share an experience? A great game you saw? Trip you took? Concert? Play? New relationship? Problems? Struggle? Complaint? We all have stories that burn within us until we can let it out. We can’t stand to be quite.  Do you have one now? Yesterday I was in Walmart. Look, I’m a father of seven that does the shopping. So I have lots of opportunities to hear stories. The lady in front of me had no issue in sharing a painful moment that is going on in her life. I was minding my own business.  This was unsolicited. You get where I’m coming from? She was compelled to unload whether I was ready or willing. She was passionate. She needed to speak and to be heard. It is a feeling we can all relate to, no? What compels you to share? Think about it. Who do you tell? While reading the psalms I kept seeing how the writer David shared his heart and passions. He was compelled to tell God all his problems, hurts, sins, and plans. He came before...
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Establishing rhythm in the Word

How often do you eat? Once per day? Three times? Six? Who in the world would eat six meals per day you might ask. Healthy people and body builders do. Growing up as a child in our home we at three meals a day and maybe a snack. Then I hit the teen years. God bless my parents. I ate them out of house and home.  In the morning I would have cereal and toast.  At lunch I would have a sandwich and a shake. By the time I got home I would eat a can of spaghetti and a pb&j. Then I would ask when dinner was. My mom was amazed how much I consumed. It was a blessing that mom is such a great cook too. I was just an eating machine. God bless mom.  I say all that to say that my parents set the tone and rhythm for eating, but so did my growth. New believers as well as seasoned need to establish healthy rhythms in the Word. God says for us to remember what He has done for us and receive the meals he gives to nourish our souls. “Open your mouths wide so that I can fill i...
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