Enjoying the Journey
Prayer
Beginning Tomorrow
It is hard to believe it has been almost a year! The international shutdown at the beginning of the pandemic has become a point of reference in a variety of ways, a turning point for many. During the quarantine we began using a Youtube channel to post Bible messages and words of encouragement. I must tell you that while I appreciate the technology at our disposal, I am very grateful to be back preaching to real people assembled together! However, many of the platforms that God opened for ministry during that unusual season have helped us to connect with people to whom we would not otherwise have ministered. We believe these tools can continue to be used for the advancement…
Read MoreThanks for Your Patience!
A little over a month ago we sold out of the hardback edition of Revival Praying. I am truly grateful to God for the reception the book has received in the first few months since its release. All over the country there are groups of believers studying these prayer principles from Ezra 9 and seeking the Lord. Just yesterday I had the joy of giving a brief greeting online to a group of people who are studying through the material together virtually. Because of a large influx of orders and some delay from the printer we have been unable to get the books out as quickly as we would like. I want to thank you for your patience. Faithworks Media…
Read MoreWhat We Really Need
We are one month into the new year! How are your resolutions holding up? I am not a critic of resolutions; they have very often marked turning points in my own life. (More on that here.) But I am convinced that fresh resolve will never be enough for the change that is needed in our lives and in our nation. Just before the new year our daughter Morgan said to me and her mother one night, “I have been thinking that what we really need in the new year is not resolutions but revival.” (She would be the preacher in the family if she believed in women preachers!) Over the last few days I have been meditating on what she…
Read More4 Stages In A Prayer Meeting
Recently I saw where a prominent Christian leader suggested that perhaps this would be a good time for churches to begin having prayer meetings again. The real question is: why did we ever stop having them at all? Even the churches that advertise a weekly “prayer meeting” typically do more talking about prayer or rehearsing of prayer requests than actual praying. When believers are not living in an attitude of prayer it is difficult to get them excited about the action of prayer. The loss of the prayer closet has caused the death of the prayer meeting, because corporate prayer has no power when we are never alone with the Lord. Public prayers become cliche, stiff, and formal when we…
Read MoreOne Revival Challenge & Two Pieces of News
Are your burdened for our nation? Here is something we call can do. Please take a moment to read this challenge and join our Revival Praying effort!
Read MoreAn Idea for Your Christmas Cards
Have you sent out your Christmas cards yet? Through the years it has become increasingly difficult to send cards to everyone that we love and want to greet. For the last several years we have simply given cards to family and send greetings by media and email to many others. However you may send your Christmas greetings I would like to give you an idea for those that you receive. Tammy and I always enjoy looking through the Christmas cards and family pictures that come in the mail each year. (Let’s be honest, with all of the technology, we still enjoy getting actual mail in the mailbox!) Perhaps you display them for a few days, but what do you do…
Read MoreExciting News to Share
One of the great joys of serving the Lord is watching Him work in ways we could never have planned. Yes, we are “laborers together with God” and He has graciously allowed us to be participants, partners in His mission. But, in the end, all of us recognize that we are just along for the ride. He is doing the work and we are witnesses of it. Recently I told someone that it has been thrilling to see that the most blessed things I have been privileged to be part of were those things that were not my idea at all! God has a way of doing the unexpected and producing the unexplainable. Only He gets the glory. This is…
Read More5 Books To Read On Prayer + 1 I’m Reading Now
This is a hard one. I have so many books that have been a tremendous help to me on the subject of prayer. There are a host of “classics” – such as the writings of E.M. Bounds – that you would expect to find on this list. However, I would like to simply recommend a handful of books that have had the greatest impact on my own prayer life. Perhaps they will help you as well… Secrets of The Secret Place by Bob Sorge (This book provides very specific and practical principles for daily, personal prayer.) With Christ In The School of Prayer by Andrew Murray (This volume gives both inspiration and instruction. His book on The Ministry of Intercessory…
Read MoreYour Christmas Prayer List
Is your Christmas shopping list complete? Christmas card lists, grocery lists, gift lists…tis the season for written reminders! What about your Christmas prayer list? At this time of year it is easy to grow overly introspective. In fact, that can even become selfishness. It is easy to fixate on your own family and contemplate only your own wants. A Christian Christmas will always consider others. The greatest gift you ever give is intercession. Your prayers can touch hearts and homes that you cannot even see. Here are a few suggestions for your Christmas prayer list… Pray through your Christmas cards. Take each card, note, picture, or gift as a prayer reminder for friends and family. “I thank my God upon…
Read MoreJoin Us This Thursday!
Just a quick note today to tell you what the Lord is doing here in southern West Virginia. A great number of preachers and people have been praying for some time for revival. We are burdened to see a real spiritual awakening among God’s people and others brought to Christ. More than 20 churches have already committed to work together toward for a great gospel campaign in 2020. This coming Thursday we are hosting a God Bless America Prayer Rally as a first step toward this effort. If you are within driving distance of Beckley, WV I would like to personally invite you to come. This first prayer meeting will be held at the Cranberry Baptist Church, 201 Cranberry Drive,…
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