Helping Pastors Pray

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Pastors can only fulfill their calling as shepherd leaders with the vitalizing power of prayer, and must pray for themselves first. A healthy, prayer-full pastor is an effective pastor. My newest book is to help pastors in this vital discipline of prayer.

Amen Indeed fuels growth by providing more than 100 prayers for pastors to pray for their own mental, physical, spiritual, and relational growth. Each is sourced from Scripture and rings with the “Amen” that Jesus promised to add (2 Corinthians 1:20).

Order your copy today!

“There is one assured way for our prayers to be answered: It is to pray the will of God.

“There is one assured way to pray the will of God: It is to pray Scripture.

“As ministers of the Gospel we would be wise then to primarily pray Scripture, for ‘the word of our God stands forever’ (Isaiah 40:8).” —Dick Brogden, Founder of the Live Dead Movement

“When it comes to prayer, we need some help. And in Amen Indeed, help is at hand. Whatever is keeping us from prayer, Craig Owens can help us push through to a more consistent and more consistently joyful and fruitful life of prayer.” —T.M. Moore, Principal of The Fellowship of Ailbe

Check out more Amen Indeed videos here.

The Craig And Greg Show: Pace Your Change

Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible. Check out the video content in this post by clicking here. 

Being the new leader of an organization is a difficult task. It doesn’t matter if you’re a first-time leader or have decades of leadership experience, you’re still “the new guy” to everyone else in the organization. So when you step into your new role and have to begin making changes you will most likely encounter areas of resistance.

In this episode, Greg and I have a thought-provoking discussion on how to mitigate and confront resistance to change, as well as laying out why we think patience can often be your most important trait during a transition.

  • [0:00] Introduction
  • [0:18] Greg and I have a huge catalogue of videos for you to explore.
  • [1:01] Get your copy of Business By The Book Vol 1 now
  • [2:16] How quickly can a new leader start to affect change?
  • [4:57] I discuss what it’s like to enter a leadership role where change is expected from day one.
  • [6:32] Dealing with loyalists to the previous boss can be difficult.
  • [8:10] Be mindful of the pace of your change and respect the past experience of your team.
  • [12:17] Let your existing team be involved in your transition.
  • [14:46] Ask questions as opposed to making statements.
  • [16:19] Collect, prioritize, and over-communicate information.
  • [18:27] How do you respond to someone who is hesitating to accept your change?
  • [21:08] Journaling is a valuable tool for new leaders. Greg and I discussed this in a previous episode.
  • [21:43] If the previous leader left on good terms they can be a valuable tool to help you hit the ground running.
  • [23:50] No organization can stay the same, so continued change is necessary.
  • [26:17] A leadership coach can provide an objective perspective on the changes you need to make.

Check out more leadership videos from The Craig and Greg Show library.

“Have To” Or “Get To”

Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible. 

The first church Jesus addresses in the Book of Revelation are the saints in Ephesus. He says to them—

     I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked people, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false. You have persevered and have endured hardships for My name, and have not grown weary. Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first. (Revelation 2:1-4) 

The Ephesians were known for a very admirable list of qualities:

  • good deeds 
  • hard work 
  • perseverance 
  • not tolerating evil people to remain in the church 
  • weeding out false apostles 
  • enduring hardship without growing weary 

But it appears that like the Israelites in Isaiah’s day, these qualities had ceased being delights and had now become mere duties—items to simply check off their spiritual To Do list. 

Listen to what God said through the prophet Isaiah—

     “What makes you think I want all your sacrifices?” says the Lord. “I am sick of your burnt offerings of rams and the fat of fattened cattle. I get no pleasure from the blood of bulls and lambs and goats. When you come to worship Me, who asked you to parade through My courts with all your ceremony? Stop bringing Me your meaningless gifts…. Yet they act so pious! They come to the Temple every day and seem delighted to learn all about Me. They act like a righteous nation that would never abandon the laws of its God. (Isaiah 1:11-13; 58:2) 

Just like the people of Ephesus, the people in Isaiah’s day were dutifully checking all of the boxes that they thought religious people were supposed to check, but their heart was no longer into it. 

Love for Jesus—our First Love—is seen not in what we think we have to do, but in delighting in what we get to do. 

Jesus calls us to show mercy in following God’s commands (see Matthew 9:9-13; 12:1-8). But when we have a “Have to” attitude, we can easily become judgmental of anyone who is not checking off the boxes the way that we are. Judgmental people don’t love others and serve them, but they condemn them for doing the “Have tos” the wrong way. 

Jesus calls us to closely monitor our attitude about our motivation to do what we do. We need to have a loving “I get to do this” attitude, not a “I have to do this and so does everyone else” attitude. 

The “Have to” attitude, Jesus says, forsakes His love for our way of doing things. But the “Get to” attitude is fueled by our devotion to our First Love. Let’s all check our attitude to make sure our “Get tos” never becomes our “Have tos.” 

►► Would you please prayerfully consider supporting this ministry? My Patreon supporters get behind-the-scenes access to exclusive materials. ◀︎◀︎

Grace Like Waves

From His abundance we have all received one gracious blessing after another. (John 1:16 NLT) 

“God’s grace is so amazing—it keeps coming in like waves on a shore. God’s grace is unearned by our efforts, undeserved despite our sins, and unending for all of eternity!” —Craig T. Owens 

Check out my post “Amazing grace…” 

And you may also be interested in a series of posts and videos I shared about God’s amazing grace. The series is called God’s Favor. 

Abiding In Worship

Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible. Check out the video content in this post by clicking here. 

Peter is giving us an important progression of virtues that supercharge our Christian testimony in the world and our ability to encourage fellow saints. We’ve looked at the first four (faith, goodness, knowledge, self-control) and now I see a place for a warning. 

A saint that is growing in their faith, in their goodness that shows itself as a Christian gentleman or gentlewomen, increasing in their knowledge of the things of God, and staying within the guardrails of self-control is probably starting to get noticed. They are seeing their own growth in maturity, and their old friends are also seeing it. This is a place to be on guard! 

I think this is what Jesus described in Mark 4:3-7, 14-19. 

  • A little knowledge can make us proud of what we’ve accomplished and tempt us to run too far ahead before we’re ready. This is the people with shallow roots. 
  • The worries of life can be giving too much attention to what others say or think about us, or how they begin to treat us. We become unfruitful when we pay attention to those things. 

(See all of the Scriptures in this post by clicking here.) 

Look at our progression in 2 Peter 1:2-6. The Holy Spirit inspired Peter to list perseverance in the perfect place in this progression! 

This is called patient endurance in the NLT and steadfastness in the AMPC, but I like to call it stick-to-it-iveness. The Greek word is interesting: hypomone = by (hypo-) + abiding (-meno). 

This word for remain or abide appears 11x in John 15:4-11! 

  • Scripture teaches us, but hypomone turns truth into hope (Romans 15:4) 
  • Hypomone keeps me living obediently to God’s Word (Hebrews 10:36; Revelation 14:12) 
  • Hypomone turns the seed of God’s Word into a bountiful harvest (Mark 4:8, 20) 
  • Hypomone keeps me peaceful—and therefore focused on God—during trials (Luke 21:19 AMPC) 

When Peter and John stood before the Sanhedrin, those leaders could tell they had been with Jesus (Acts 4:13b), so too with Stephen (6:15). The virtue that follows perseverance is godliness. Peter has already used this word to describe Jesus (2 Peter 1:3) and so does the Septuagint in Isaiah 11:2. 

The Greek word literally means “good worship” because godliness is a lifestyle—a lifestyle of worshipping God and magnifying the immeasurable worth of our Savior! 

To fully describe this word, godliness in the NT is typically linked with another attribute: 

  • godliness + power (Acts 3:12) 
  • godliness + reverence [righteousness, faith, love, endurance, gentleness] (1 Timothy 6:11) 
  • godliness + knowledge of the truth (Titus 1:1) 
  • godliness + zoe life (2 Peter 1:3) 
  • godliness + holiness (3:11) 

Remember that make every effort is not my ability to supply myself, but my choice to ask, receive, and apply. 

I must make every effort to be empowered by the Holy Spirit to persevere. I must make every effort to be sanctified by the Holy Spirit to display more Christlikeness. 

As I add goodness to my faith, and add knowledge to my goodness, and add self-control to my knowledge, and add perseverance to my self-control, and add godliness to my perseverance, people should see in me what John the Baptists desired: He must increase, but I must decrease. 

My growth in godliness is best seen by an attitude to persevere to see even more godliness in me. 

Check out all of the other messages in this series from 2 Peter called Friends of the Faith. 

►► Would you please prayerfully consider supporting this ministry? My Patreon supporters get behind-the-scenes access to exclusive materials. ◀︎◀︎

Links & Quotes

Instead of trying to get out of the difficult place quickly, try to learn what you can get out of the difficult place.

I have a lot of new video content on my YouTube channel every week. Please check it out and subscribe so you don’t miss anything.

Fight The New Drug shares, “Young people don’t have to go looking for harmful content online anymore—it can find them through social media, gaming platforms, algorithms, or even someone they trust. And sometimes, what begins as an ordinary online interaction can escalate into something much more serious.”

“God has not been trying an experiment on my faith or love in order to find out their quality. He knew it already. It was I who didn’t. In this trial He makes us occupy the dock, the witness box, and the bench all at once. He always knew that my temple was a house of cards. His only way of making me realize the fact was to knock it down.” —C.S. Lewis, in A Grief Observed 

“Temptation feeds on curiosity. It tells me what I don’t have and what I should have by giving me comparisons. … Sin is so shortsighted. It only lives in the moment. It never bothers to ask if it’s worth it. Sin doesn’t think that far ahead. It makes you think only as far as forgiveness. Sin says, ‘Go ahead, God will forgive you,’ but it leaves out some very important facts: You can be forgiven and still pay the consequences of breaking trust, losing your marriage, and even devastating your children. You can be forgiven of sin, but not free of the consequences.” —Tim Dilena, in Chapter by Chapter on 2 Samuel 11 

Wow, is this a powerful and important message for anyone struggling with temptation. Succinctly put: we never sin alone. In this post, T.M. Moore writes, “The first step along the way of escape is to remember that we never sin alone. We might think we can ‘get away’ with some little secret sin, but we are part of a community of the faithful; we are members of the Body of Christ. If I introduce infection to one of my fingers, or poison to my tongue, sooner or later my whole body is going to feel the consequences. It’s the same thing with sin. Any time we rebel against the Lord we plant a seed of disobedience and corruption in our own souls. Like dandelions, the seeds of rebellion can waft through all our thoughts, feelings, priorities, words, and deeds and take root in ways we cannot predict, and may not be able to control. Sooner or later, someone will feel the impact of our sinfulness, whether by some sin of commission or omission on our part.”

“The nearer your communion with Christ is, the more will you be permitted to know of Him. Our perceptions of Christ, if they are true, will be spiritual; and in proportion as our spiritual life is in a right condition, shall we be able to know more and more of Him.” —Charles Spurgeon 

John Piper writes, “All of you have been wronged at one time or another. Most of you, probably, have been wronged seriously by someone who has never apologized or done anything sufficient to make it right.” Then he shares the encouraging truth in this posts: Justice will be done.