The Serenity Prayer

August 26, 2024 — Craig T. Owens

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

I am a big fan of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA). They are founded on biblical principles. I would paraphrase two of the most important ones as: (1) We need a Savior to set us free and (2) We need friends to lean on. James 5:16 says this as succinctly as any verse: “Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.” 

(Check out all of the Scriptures in this blog post by clicking here.) 

AA says: “Often times, a person with substance use disorder may have a need for control that can prevent them from achieving peace of mind. They may feel frustrated that they cannot control the actions of other people and turn to substances like alcohol to control their feelings, even though the control that alcohol provides is a farce. The Serenity Prayer is a gentle reminder that letting go and accepting a loss of control can help put an end to the substance abuse cycle.” 

In light of our series called Is That in the Bible? let’s ask, is the serenity prayer in the Bible. 

No, it’s not, but still there are some very important principles we shouldn’t miss from this prayer. 

The full prayer is—

God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can; and wisdom to know the difference. 
Living one day at a time; enjoying one moment at a time; accepting hardships as the pathway to peace;
Taking, as He did, this sinful world as it is, not as I would have it; trusting that He will make all things right if I surrender to His will;
That I may be reasonably happy in this life and supremely happy with Him forever and ever in the next. Amen.



Should Christians pray a prayer like this? Biblically, there is nothing wrong with Christians praying prayers that have been written by men or women, provided that they don’t contradict the words God has spoken to us. 


Remember James 5:16 that we looked at earlier? The Personalized Promise Bible has a prayer for that verse: 


If I have stumbled in any way, I do not need to fret over it—I can rest in full confidence that the Lord loves me and forgives all of my shortcomings. I also know that sin is a hindrance to my healing. Therefore, if there is any sin in my life I repent of it. I confess my sins to trusted brothers and sisters in Christ, gaining strength and praying in agreement with them so that I will be healed. 


And then they cross-reference about 10 more biblical passages that support this prayer—Psalm 103:1-5; Isaiah 53:4-5; 1 Peter 2:24; Matthew 9:22, 29; 18:19, 20; Mark 11:22-26; 16:18; Hebrews 12:1-3; Galatians 6:1-2. 


In a similar fashion, I see several passages of Scripture that are woven into the serenity prayer. 


“God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can; and wisdom to know the difference.” Proverbs 1:2-3 describes the help God’s wisdom gives us for daily living. 


“Living one day at a time; enjoying one moment at a time.” Jesus taught us to pray each day for our daily bread (Matthew 6:8, 11). 


“Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace.” Jesus also taught us to pray, “Your will be done on earth as it is in Heaven” (Matthew 6:10), and He also prayed a very similar prayer Himself when He was in the Garden of Gethsemane, “Yet not as I will, but as You will” (Matthew 26:39). 


“Taking, as He did, this sinful world as it is, not as I would have it; trusting that He will make all things right if I surrender to His will.” Jesus promised us both trouble in this world and His overcoming power to stand strong in that trouble (John 16:33). 


“That I may be reasonably happy in this life and supremely happy with Him forever and ever in the next. Amen.” Jesus promises eternal rewards that vastly outweigh the trouble we may face in this life (Luke 12:32; Matthew 25:21, 34). 


The bottom line: The Bible is not just a Book to read through but a Book to pray through. ALL Scripture is for ALL servants of God. ALL Scripture is applicable to ALL the circumstances we will ever face in life.  


If something like the serenity prayer—or any other man-made prayer—is based on Scripture and helps give voice to your prayers, use them! But use them as guides to help you begin to form your own prayers from biblical passages you are reading for yourself. 


Check out some of the other topics we have covered in this Is That in the Bible? series here.  


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








Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . 1 Comment »



	



Links & Quotes

August 24, 2024 — Craig T. Owens 








You are a one-of-a-kind creation on purpose! God’s plan for your life is as unique as you are. I had the privilege of speaking at Country Chapel’s week-long revival services, and this is a clip from my sermon.




I have lots of new content every week, which you can check out on my YouTube channel.


What “began 90 years ago in Seattle as ‘an agency to supply candidates for the ministry to our churches and on the mission field,’” is now celebrating its 90th anniversary as Northwest University. It is really cool to see the hand of God supplying in miraculous ways for those who were so passionate about this endeavor.


“How thankful we are, Father God, for a crucified Redeemer. Nothing in heaven or earth is such an amazing wonder as this; nothing can compete with it for excellence. May all the many charms of sin be overcome by this ravishing love, which bubbles up in every drop of our Redeemer’s blood. How can we, with thoughts of the Cross alive in our hearts, sin against so much tenderness, compassion, and grace, and all the other perfections of You, our God, which sound so loud in our ears from the Cross of Jesus?” —Stephen Charnock


On the anniversary of Blaise Psacal’s death in 1662, John Stonestreet shared a mini-biography and several good reasons why Christians should still heed this mathematician and apologist’s insights.


“Where shall language be found which shall describe Your matchless love, Your unparalleled love, toward the children of men? Your love is so vast and boundless that, as the swallow skims the water without diving into its depths, so all descriptive words merely touch the surface of Your love, while depths immeasurable lie beneath. … The most inspired mind must utterly fail to fathom this love. Here is love! And truly it is love that surpasses knowledge. Oh, let this love fill our hearts with adoring gratitude and lead us to practical manifestations of its power.” —Charles Spurgeon


When a leader admits a need for help to his or her team, it actually increases the level of respect the team has for that leader. 




What does pornography have to do with loneliness? “Dr. Gary Brooks, a psychologist who has worked with people struggling with unwanted porn habits for the last 30 years, explains that ‘Anytime [a person] spends much time with the usual pornography usage cycle, it can’t help but be a depressing, demeaning, self-loathing kind of experience.’”








Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . Leave a Comment »



	



Rebelling Against Government And God

August 23, 2024 — Craig T. Owens 




Therefore, this is what the Lord God says: “As I live, My oath which he [Zedekiah] despised and My covenant which he broke, I will certainly inflict on his head. And I will spread My net over him, and he will be caught in My net. Then I will bring him to Babylon and enter into judgment with him there regarding the unfaithful act which he has committed against Me. (Ezekiel 17:19-20) 


Zedekiah rebelled against Nebuchadnezzar, but God said King Zedekiah despised God’s covenant and committed sin “against Me.” 


All governing authorities on earth are God’s servants. God used Babylon as His means of punishing Judah for her sin. When King Zedekiah conspires with Pharaoh to attack Nebuchadnezzar, God says Zedekiah is really rebelling against God Himself!


Christians are called to pray for those in governmental leadership. To dig a little deeper on this topic, check out two previous blog posts and sermon videos:









Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: , , , , , , , . Leave a Comment »



	



Time To Check The Mirror

August 22, 2024 — Craig T. Owens 




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



All leaders—but especially pastoral leaders—need to work on a better response when we are bitten by a sheep in our pasture. Our natural first response is usually not going to be very helpful for us or for the biting sheep. 




In chapter 2 of my book When Sheep Bite, I wrote this—


  When a painful attack suddenly confronts me, I go to the mirror. Instead of asking, “What’s wrong with them that they would bite me like this?” I go to prayer to ask, ‘“Did I do something that provoked this?’’ Sometimes I have literally gone into my bathroom, closed the door, and gotten nose-to-nose with myself to ask this question, and then listened for the Holy Spirit to speak to my heart. 


   My cousin Dick Brogden wrote, “Critics and skeptics are gifts to us, for in their aspersions they often bring to light a brokenness or a liability early on in its development in us. If we are secure enough to ferret out the truth through the condemnation of others, we remain healthy in the long term as our malady is exposed and dealt with before it becomes to serious.” 


   Remember that we are naturally self-protective, so this time of introspection will need to be supernaturally empowered by the Holy Spirit if we are going to see the true prompter of the attack. A prayer I have prayed more times than I can count is, “Search me thoroughly, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there is any wicked or hurtful way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting” (Psalm 139:23-24 AMPC). 


Get a copy of my book here to help you heal from the painful sheep bites, and to learn how to respond better with each new biting experience. 


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






Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: , , , , , , , , , . 1 Comment »



	



Is That In The Bible?

August 21, 2024 — Craig T. Owens 




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



A meme that makes me chuckle every time I see it is a “quote” attributed to Abraham Lincoln in which he says, “The problem with quotes found on the internet is that they are often not true.” 


(Not to spoil the joke for you, but unless Lincoln knew how to time travel to the future, I don’t think he knew about the modern internet! 😂) 


I love this meme because it captures something that so many people fall into: a quick acceptance of a statement without verifying its source or thinking through the implications of the statement’s truthfulness. 


Some insightful comments sound Shakespearean, but William never wrote them. 


Some pieces of wisdom sound Socratic, but Socrates never taught them. 


Some religious maxims sound godly, but the Bible never recorded them. 


I would like to invite you to join me as we relaunch this series called Is That In The Bible? I think you may be surprised to discover just how many phrases we call biblical aren’t, and how many phrases there are that we never realized are actually in the Bible. 




By the way, if you have a phrase that you would like to have us explore in this series, please leave it in a comment below. You may want to check out the questions we have already addressed: 



In this installment of this series, we asked: Is this in the Bible…









Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , . 9 Comments »



	



Unity Is Not Conformity

August 21, 2024 — Craig T. Owens 




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



Unity is not conformity nor is it mimicry. The Holy Spirit unites Christians in their message of hope to the world, but He does this by empowering each of our unique testimonies to our culture. 


This is a message I shared with the congregation at Country Chapel during their week-long revival meetings.




The Scriptures I reference in this message are—2 Chronicles 18:1-13; Romans 12:2; Mark 12:28-31; John 12:49-50; John 8:34-36; 2 Corinthians 3:16-18; Acts 15:1-35; Acts 1:8; Acts 2:1-11.


I have previously shared a whole series of messages about how the Holy Spirit empowers Christians for ministry:



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








Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , . 3 Comments »



	



What’s In A Name?

August 20, 2024 — Craig T. Owens 




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



And the Lord said to Moses, “I will do the very thing you have asked, because I am pleased with you and I know you by name.” (Exodus 33:17)


When we use someone’s name properly, our message gets through all of the other noise. That’s why misusing someone’s name or using their name in a hurtful way is so painful. 


Names convey character traits, honoring of the past, and hopes for the future. God knows all of our days and how our name will be remembered at each pivotal moment of our lives (Psalm 139:16). Our names are lovingly tattooed on His hands so He always sees them (Isaiah 49:16).  


God not only knows and uses the name our parents have given us, but He has a name for each of us that only He knows. When we get to Heaven, He will reveal to each of us the unique name He has for us (Revelation 2:17). 


You don’t have to try to make a name for yourself—let God do that for you!


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






Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: , , , , , , , . 1 Comment »



	



Blessing The Blesser

August 19, 2024 — Craig T. Owens 




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



We’ve made it to the top step after a long climb. We’ve arrived! But arrived for what? Not for taking it easy, but for serving.  


Jesus was at the top, and consider what He did with that position:


    

  • He laid aside His prerogatives as God to serve us—Philippians 2:6-8 
    • 

  • He demonstrated this by becoming a servant of the servants—John 13:3-5 
    • 

  • He said, “For who is greater, the one who is at the table or the one who serves? Is it not the one who is at the table? But I am among you as One who serves.” (Luke 22:27) 
    • 



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


We strive for the top not to be served, but to serve. This is why the final Song of Ascent addresses those at the top as “servants of the Lord” (Psalm 134:1). 


The first duty of the servants is to praise (2x in vv. 1, 2). The KJV actually renders this word “bless,” which I believe is a good way for us to think about this. The word means: 


    

  1. praise God with a reverential mind and 
    2. 

  2. celebrate God on bended knee 
    3. 



In other words, both our heart and our body need to be in a posture of a praising servant. In the Septuagint, the word used for praise / bless is eulogeo, which means to say good words. In putting the two parts of the definition together, it mean we aren’t grumbling about our service (like “I have to do this”), but we are thankfully and worshipfully serving (as in “I get to do this!”). 


These servants are called to “minister…in the house of the Lord [and] in the sanctuary” (134:1-2), just as the priests in the tabernacle (1 Chronicles 9:33; Leviticus 6:13; 24:2, 4). 


This blessing and serving is itself a blessing which unlocks even more blessing. The final words of the final Song of Ascent is a prayer request (notice the word “may” in v. 3). 


The word bless in this final is the same word translated praise in vv. 1-2, except here the form of the verb means “to be shown divine favor”! 


We don’t get blessed by God because we have blessed God, but we bless God because He has already blessed us. I don’t command His blessing, but I bless Him in recognition of the blessing that continually flows from Him to me. 


To word minister as in v. 1 means to: 


    

  • endure all hardships 
    • 

  • continue until the task is done 
    • 

  • cause or help others to stand too 
    • 



God loves to bless people who love to bless people! 


As long as we’re here, keep blessing and serving others as your act of worship to God. Say good words to people about God and say good words to God about people. Lift up your hands, fall on your knees, sing out loud, or worship quietly in your heart. But keep on serving like Jesus. All of this blesses God. 


Your final and eternal reward in the Heavenly Zion is coming and it is beyond compare—


It will be good for those servants whose Master finds them watching when He comes. Truly I tell you, He will dress Himself to serve, will have them recline at the table and will come and wait on them. It will be good for those servants whose Master finds them ready, even if He comes in the middle of the night or toward daybreak. (Luke 12:37-38) 


In blessing others, we are blessing the God who has already blessed us and who longs to bless us for all of eternity! 


If you’ve missed any of the messages looking at the fifteen Songs of Ascent, you can find them all here. 


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








Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . 2 Comments »



	



Links & Quotes

August 17, 2024 — Craig T. Owens 








It’s easy to get along with those we like. But God calls on Christians to do the hard—but rewarding—work of getting along with everyone! Check out this full sermon about the strength in Christian unity.




I have lots of new content every week, which you can check out on my YouTube channel.


“Dad always said you could fall off the same ladder you climbed up.” —Hank Aaron


Paleontologists have noted that what Creationists would call pre-Flood mammals lived longer than similar mammals today. “This research should be of interest to Bible-believing Christians because, as chronicled in Genesis 5, humans in the pre-Flood world were experiencing much greater lifespans. Moreover, the advanced ages of the Genesis 5 patriarchs at the births of their sons strongly suggest delayed sexual maturation and possible delayed skeletal maturation, too. The Bible gives no hint that this amazing longevity was in any way supernatural.”


“If we leave our failure, we don’t learn from our failure. If we learn from our failure, we seldom have to leave because of our failure.” —John Maxwell 


Dr. Steve Nichols hosts a great podcast called 5 Minutes In Church History. In the episode this week, he talked about the church politics Jonathan Edwards had to confront when he first arrived in Stockbridge. It came to a head in a letter Edwards received: “All it did was go into, again, politics, accusing Edwards of mis-running the school, which wasn’t true, and deflecting the blame and the focus away from the Williams family. And now Edwards needs to vindicate himself. Well, all that to say, we think of these church history figures, and we see their portraits, we sometimes forget that they’re actually people, and they had to deal with challenges too.” These types of faultfinding accusations are what I address in my book When Sheep Bite.


If God would say this (Ezekiel 5:7-9) about His chosen people Israel, how much more so should other nations take notice, repent of their egregious sins, and plead with God for mercy!








Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . Leave a Comment »



	



Testing In Love

August 15, 2024 — Craig T. Owens 




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



God wants us to progress to the next level in our Christian walk, but we need to know what we’re ready for that. Just as a teacher in school prepares us for a test, administers the test, and then gives us the result of the test in order to promote us to the next level, so does our loving Heavenly Father. 




This clip is from a message called Prepared to Pass the Test. All of the messages in this series were an in-depth look at the model prayer Jesus taught us to pray in Matthew 6:9-13. 


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






Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: , , , , , , , , , . Leave a Comment »








« Older posts 


Newer posts »