Free Range Preacher on Prayer

If you bet, Fred couldn’t get sappy love songs, Englebert Humperdink, Casey Stengel, and Psalm 24 into a Wednesday review… You lost! Like all things in Christ, we come full circle. We learn to pray in the same way we learned to talk and for the same reasons. We were born physically with the drive and need to talk - communicate.  We were born-again with the drive to pray to our Savior - commun...

As we come to more and more honor God as God, hallowing His name with all our heart, mind, and soul, His will, will be our prayer more and more. When we hear Jesus, then say, ‘Our Father who art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy name. ‘Thy kingdom come…’ Our hearts say, ah-ha! If God tells us, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish,...

No matter his brothers' motive, Joseph saw God's beauty in working out His divine will, not just selfishly in Joesph's life but also for his enemies... his brothers. At any time, Joseph had the power to take revenge on his family, saving perhaps Benjamin and Jacob. Still, the God of all comfort who comforted him before he was reunited with his father Jacob moved Joseph that he "comforted them and...

When we pray, we join the long list of saints we know, and the great cloud of witnesses gone before us as we long to be fully understood by our God. Yes, it may be silly to tell Him stuff we know He already knows, but we still do, we need too, we long too. I had an occasion to talk to my daughter a couple of days ago. I expressed to her again that I cannot imagine living out our Christian lives wi...

The artwork on the podcast today shows a bottle my wife found when she was a teenager. I know it was created by sand, the lightning, wind, and cooling rain. If you buy that, I can tell you that our universe was created by mysterious forces, cosmic lighting, and luck. And after you buy that, I have a bridge in Brooklyn that I can let go for a bargain-basement price! (Only us old guys will get that....

For those with ears to hear, our God reveals Himself in various and sundry ways. (I love that phrase, various and sundry!) Critical to the revelation of who the true God, Creator, and Ruler of the universe really is, are the names of God given to us in Holy Writ. (I love that one too.) We rest in the knowledge that God our Savior is also demonstrated to be: Yahweh Yahweh Maccadeshem Yahweh Tisdkne...

We have been created, by our blessed God, as a unique creation fit for eternal communion with Him, being moved by His divine power and attributes; we were meant to understand the glory of God and enjoy who He is for all eternity. We have inherited one other trait from Adam, the enmity between our Creator and ourselves. However, by the mercies of God and our Savior's blood, we have been born again...

"Pray, then, in this way: 'Our Father who art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy name." The Lord's prayer is not only our blueprint for prayer but sets the standard of content for our prayers. When Jesus said "hallowed by Thy name," it does imply worship, but more than that it sets our goal to bring Him glory because He is Holy Holy Holy. Acknowledging who He is will assuredly help us avoid believing Him...

We are beginning the main text from the Sermon on the Mount the Lord's Prayer. For the next several weeks, we will be looking at prayer's framework and the standards of prayer. I in no way desire these standards to discourage anyone's prayer life. Therefore, as I may sound more like a preacher in the next few episodes, my request is if faced with standards you have not considered yet, do not let t...

Just when you thought the four elements of prayer (Worship, Confession, Intercession, and Thanksgiving) were enough, along comes Isaac Watts, yes, that Isaac Watts, and gives us his view on "The Nature of Prayer" from His book, "A Guide to Prayer." "In speaking of prayer as a duty of worship required of us, we may, in order to understand the whole nature of prayer better, divide it into several pa...

Psalm 119: 90 Thy faithfulness continues throughout all generations; Thou didst establish the earth, and it stands. 91 They stand this day according to Thine ordinances, For all things are Thy servants. Our emotions fall into this category, as well. Hear how Peter, Moses, Paul, Nehemiah, and Ezra were drawn closer to God in prayer through their failures, fear, sadness, confusion, and by God's love...

Emotions are a driving force in everything mankind does. They can motivate the redeemed for good or ill. Harnessed by the Holy Spirit, our emotions can drive us into God's presence to pray and enjoy Him, truly. We have emotions because God has feelings. I will tell you several times in these few minutes that I fully understand God and His emotions, which is somewhere below zero, but He has them. T...

What has often labeled "The Lord's Prayer" is not a mantra repeated out of rote, but a pattern for the prayers of the saints. Matthew 6:9-13 "Pray, then, in this way: 'Our Father who art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy name. 10 'Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, On earth as it is in heaven. 11 'Give us this day our daily bread. 12 'And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. 13 'A...

The calls to walk in a manner worthy of the redeemed life we have been called too, have never been easy, we are indeed the most radical people in our culture. Circumstance, though, has a way of reminding us of the sanctified life we are called to. This is a season we are reminded we are called to: Bless those who persecute you; bless and curse not. Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with tho...

Mid-Week Review 2: Just Talk to God Matthew 11:28-30 28 "Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. 29 "Take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart; and YOU SHALL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS. 30 "For My yoke is easy, and My load is light." and… 1 Peter 5 6 Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you...

We learn clearly from Luke 18:1ff, Jesus encourages us to come to Him with importunity. The word in Greek though means asking so often it becomes shameful. I take two meanings from our initial study of Luke 18 here, We are not coming to an unrighteous judge, but to our loving Savior. Jesus knows our frame, and He sets out here: when the seasons come for which our hearts are rent by such sorrow tha...

The Holy Spirit leads us into all truth… at the perfect time. Proverbs 15:8b …But the prayer of the upright is His delight. For the next few days, then, let us focus on praise and adoration for we know: We can be pleasing to Him. Our goal is to enter into your Master's joy. Our aim by God's power is to do everything to His glory and, Our great desire to talk to and commune with the Holy God of the...

The price of knowledge is eternal review - Don’t ask. I cannot remember precisely who I stole that from. I am convinced as Christians as we, from time to time, struggle with the old ennui, it is our soul longing for a more intimate connection with our Savior. Even the fabulous face we may turn around and see is not really what our new inner-man is longing for. If we say with the Scriptures: As the...

Dear Christian: To use a word common today, the content of all Jesus’ teaching is to our hearts. We can keep all the rules for the wrong reasons. We may keep them strictly from fear, keep them strictly from pride, keep them to impress others, and as even real children of God, our reward is what we have sought, the honor of other men. Jesus, however, is aiming at our hearts. In prayer, this is most...

Glory to God in the highest, for our redemption and our reliance on our faithful God, every day to carry us to the battle. Thank You, Jesus, for the ability to open our days seeking Thee and Thy glory. Extra special gratitude today for the birth of our healthy baby granddaughter, baby Freddie, you can’t miss her in our exclusive podcast cover art for today. Thank you, Jesus. The times are evil, bu...

Ecclesiastes 5:2 2 Do not be hasty in word or impulsive in thought to bring up a matter in the presence of God. For God is in heaven and you are on the earth; therefore let your words be few. This verse is a little humorous to me, but as all the word of God, it very concisely helps us understand our place before the Lord our God, our Savior. He is Spirit, and we are flesh, He is in heaven, and we...

Baby French (my grandson), Dean Martin, Jonathan Edwards, Mathew Henry, and John Piper each, in turn, help us learn what Jesus is genuinely driving at when He talks of “meaningless repetition” in prayer. Matthew 6:7-8 7 “And when you are praying, do not use meaningless repetition, as the Gentiles do, for they suppose that they will be heard for their many words. 8 “Therefore do not be like them; f...

Let us pray together with great joy inexpressible and full of glory, Isaiah 30:18 18 Therefore the LORD longs to be gracious to you, And therefore He waits on high to have compassion on you. For the LORD is a God of justice; How blessed are all those who long for Him. In Christ, we are cleansed from all unrighteousness, even our lowly estate, sin, unworthy thoughts of Him, weaknesses, the littlene...

Only Christians can have true peace. True peace is a promise from Jesus who is the Christ. John 14: 27 “Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives, do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful. Our peace is rooted and grounded in who He is, and flowing from Him, His promises. Because He is the God who is present, we know we are safe from pesti...

He knows what we need. Matthew 6:7-9 7 “And when you are praying, do not use meaningless repetition, as the Gentiles do, for they suppose that they will be heard for their many words. 8 “Therefore do not be like them; for your Father knows what you need, before you ask Him. 9 “Pray, then, in this way: I have always wondered why as Jesus was talking about vain repetition, He slides in, “Therefore,...