Swing The Bat Of Prayer

January 14, 2013 — Craig T. Owens

Swing the batMy son Harrison plays high school baseball. Let’s just imagine that I’m his hitting coach. In order for this relationship to benefit him, a couple of things have to occur:

  1. He has to want to improve, and
  2. He has to want to receive instruction from me.

If he thinks he knows it all already, or if he wants to just hang out with the other guys on the team to try to pick up some tips by being around them, then my role of a coach isn’t going to benefit him much.

Let’s say that Harrison knows he needs to improve, and he’s willing to listen to my instruction. We head out for some batting practice, and he lets pitch after pitch sail by him without ever swinging at the ball. If he never swings the bat, there’s only one piece of advice I can give him: Swing the bat!

The same things hold true for us if we want to improve as pray-ers. We have to want to improve, and we have have to be willing to receive instruction from the Coach (in this case, the Holy Spirit). But we also have to give Him something to work with. If we let opportunity after opportunity sail by without praying about it, there’s only one piece of advice the Spirit can give us: Pray!

Jesus said the Holy Spirit would help lead us into oneness with Him—

The Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. (John 14:26)

If we want to become better pray-ers, here’s how the Holy Spirit can help:

  • You have to admit that you need help in your prayer life.
  • You need to read your Bible (the everything that God says to you), and use God’s Word to help form your prayers.
  • Then, pray… swing the bat of prayer! 
  • As you pray, listen to the voice of the the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, helping you to refine your prayers.

Your prayer time can become more meaningful, if you will tune into the Holy Spirit, and give Him something to work with.

To check out the others messages in this series on prayer called Praying Circles, please click here.

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Keep Striking

January 7, 2013 — Craig T. Owens

Keep strikingThere is an unusual story in 2 Kings about King Jehoash. Elisha the prophet was on his deathbed, Israel was morally bankrupt and on the brink of defeat. The entire Israeli army had been reduced to fifty horsemen, ten chariots, and ten thousand infantry. It was in this hour of desperation that Jehoash sought out the counsel of Elisha.

Elisha said [to Jehoash], “Get a bow and some arrows,” and he did so. “Take the bow in your hands,” he said to the king of Israel. When he had taken it, Elisha put his hands on the king’s hands.

“Open the east window,” he said, and he opened it. “Shoot!” Elisha said, and he shot. “The Lord’s arrow of victory, the arrow of victory over Aram!” Elisha declared. “You will completely destroy the Arameans at Aphek.”

Then he said, “Take the arrows,” and the king took them. Elisha told him, “Strike the ground.” He struck it three times and stopped. The man of God was angry with him and said, “You should have struck the ground five or six times; then you would have defeated Aram and completely destroyed it. But now you will defeat it only three times.”

What made Elisha angry is what I believe makes God angry. Jehoash came to God when the situation seemed impossible, but he wouldn’t pray it through. It’s almost as if he felt like three times was enough to pray, and then he needed to take it from there.

God wants us to pray BIG, but He also wants us to pray LONG.

We need to keep striking the ground (or as Mark Batterson would say, keep drawing the circle) until God answers. God gave Jehoash a promise of victory, but Jehoash didn’t pray long enough to see it through.

What are you praying for? What promise has God given you? God is glorified when you place your request in His hands, and leave it there. Keep on praying. Keep on striking. Keep on circling until God brings about what He has promised!

To check out the others messages in this series on prayer called Praying Circles, please click here.

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Exhortation To Prayer

January 6, 2013 — Craig T. Owens

William CowperThis morning I shared one stanza from this wonderful poem by William Cowper (I have highlighted that stanza below) called Exhortation To Prayer. Here is the full poem—

What various hindrances we meet

In coming to a mercy-seat!

Yet who that knows the worth of prayer,

But wishes to be often there?

Prayer makes the darken’d cloud withdraw,

Prayer climbs the ladder Jacob saw,

Gives exercise to faith and love,

Brings every blessing from above.

Restraining prayer, we cease to fight, 

Prayer makes the Christian’s armor bright; 

And satan trembles when he sees 

The weakest saint upon his knees.

While Moses stood with arms spread wide,

Success was found on Israel’s side;

But when through weariness they fail’d,

That moment Amalek prevail’d.

Have you no words? Ah! think again,

Words flow apace when you complain,

And fill your fellow-creature’s ear

With the sad tale of all your care.

Were half the breath thus vainly spent

To Heaven in supplication sent,

Your cheerful song would oftener be,

“Hear what the Lord has done for me.”

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Week Of Prayer Activities

January 6, 2013 — Craig T. Owens

2013 Week of Prayer headerThe church moves forward on her knees. So I can think of no better way to start the year than with this renewed call to prayer.

Join us each Sunday in January as we learn about Praying Circles.

Join us each day January 6-11 as we dedicate ourselves to a week of prayer. You can download a prayer guide by clicking here → Week of prayer – prayer guide ←

Join us at the church on Friday, January 11, for a prayer concert. We’ll be praying from 6-7pm, and then our worship team will lead us in singing our prayers and praises to our God.

Consider these wise words of E.M. Bounds…

Sacred work—church activities—may so engage and absorb us as to hinder praying, and when this is the case, evil results always follow. It is better to let the work go by default than to let the praying go by neglect. Whatever affects the intensity of our praying affects the value of our work. …How easily men, even leaders in Zion, be led by the insidious wiles of satan to cut short our praying in the interests of the work! How easy to neglect prayer or abbreviate our praying simply by the plea that we have church work on our hands. satan has effectively disarmed us when he can keep us too busy doing things to stop and pray.

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Praying Circles

January 2, 2013 — Craig T. Owens

Praying CirclesI grew up hearing a constant refrain from my Grandma Owens, “I prayed it through.” Grandma prayed until God answered.

Sadly, one of the biggest hindrances to our prayer lives today is that we are in too much of a hurry to pray it through.

I grew up hearing another reminder from my boyhood pastor, “The church moves forward on her knees.” So I like to begin each new year with a reminder of the importance of prayer.

This year I’m using the thoughts I read a year ago in Mark Batterson’s powerful book The Circle Maker as the inspiration behind our series on prayer that I’m calling Praying Circles. This series of messages is intended to remind us of the power of praying with perseverance. Or as my Grandma might have said, the power of praying it through.

Mark Batterson said this in The Circle Maker—

“Just like the sound barrier, there is a faith barrier. And breaking the faith barrier in the spiritual realm is much like breaking the sound barrier in the physical realm. If you want to experience a supernatural breakthrough, you have to pray through. But as you get closer to the breakthrough, it often feels like you’re about to lose control, about to fall apart. That is when you need to press in and pray through. If you allow them to, your disappointments will create drag. If you allow them to, your doubts will nosedive your dreams. But if you pray through, God will come through and you’ll experience a supernatural breakthrough.”

Please join me as we rediscover the power of praying through with perseverance. Check out all of the messages in this series:

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What Does It Mean To Fear God?

December 17, 2012 — Craig T. Owens

Fear GodWhat does it mean to fear God? Does it mean we cower before Him? That He is utterly unapproachable? Or maybe it means we’re always looking over our shoulder wondering if God is coming after us in anger?

Let me ask the question another way:

  • Are you afraid that you won’t buy the right Christmas gift for someone?
  • Are you afraid that you’ll forget someone?
  • Are you afraid that your response won’t be right when you open a gift?
  • Are you afraid you’ll offend a family member by something you say or do?
  • Do other people’s opinion of you factor into your decisions?

If you answered “Yes” to the above questions, you have a fear problem. That is: you fear letting other people down.

I think this was the issue for Joseph in the Bible (Matthew 1:18-25). When he found out that Mary was pregnant before their marriage, Joseph carefully deliberated his response. Based on the meaning of the words had in mind and considered, and examining the way the angel told Joseph to “Fear not,” it appears that Joseph, too, lived in this same fear of letting others down.

But here’s the issue: Joseph placed greater value on people’s opinions than he did on God’s opinion. And what makes it even worse is that Joseph simply assumed what people would say about him, as he never actually asked anyone.

The angel challenged Joseph to re-evaluate his value system. To give greater weight to God’s opinion than to man’s opinion. In short, to change his fear of man to fear of God.

That’s really what it means to fear God: To give greater weight to His Word and His opinion than to anyone or anything else.

The wise king Solomon explored everything he could to find the meaning of life. He tried money, education, art, travel, women, food, power, and the like. At the end of his exploration, he came to this conclusion—

Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. (Ecclesiastes 12:13).

We should be living for the approval of an Audience of One. 

We should be longing to hear, “Well done, good and faithful servant” from our Creator. 

We should be listening only for the applause from nail-scarred Hands. 

“The remarkable thing about fearing God is that when you fear God you fear nothing else, whereas if you do not fear God you fear everything else.” —Oswald Chambers

If you have missed any of the messages in our Fear Not! series, you can find them all by clicking here.

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Are You Worthy Of God’s Favor?

December 10, 2012 — 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. 

Today some call her “the holy mother” and revere her as a saint. But 2000 years ago, Mary saw herself as only an ordinary, faceless, fame-less, Israelite girl.

  • She came from Nazareth (a town of which people said, “Can anything good come from Nazareth?!”)
  • Nazareth was in the region of Galilee (an area of which people said, “No one special has ever come from Galilee”)
  • She was pledged to be married (probably a marriage that she had no say in)
  • And she was a young teenager

What did Mary think of herself? We can infer her self-image from what went on her mind when God’s angel greeted her with the words, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.”

She was greatly troubled and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. Psychologists today would describe Mary’s response as inner dissonance—the feeling that something is not quite right, but she couldn’t put her finger on exactly what was wrong. The phrase greatly troubled is a single Greek word which means agitated and perplexed by doubts.

In short: the way the angel greeted Mary didn’t jive with the way Mary saw herself (see Luke 1:26-38).

Mary, like many of us still today, didn’t think she was worthy of God’s attention, let alone His special blessings.

But the word the angel used when he said she was highly favored is a wonderful word! It’s root word is grace, and it only appears twice in the New Testament. This word means God’s grace which is constantly reaching out to us, even when we’re unaware of it. Look at the other passage where this word is used—

God decided in advance to adopt us into His own family by bringing us to Himself through Jesus Christ. This is what He wanted to do, and it gave Him great pleasure. So we praise God for the glorious grace He has poured out on us who belong to His dear Son. (Ephesians 1:5-6 NLT)

How amazing! God wants to adopt you! It’s something that brings Him great pleasure, so He constantly pours out the blessing of His grace on us!

Are you worthy of God’s favor? YES!! Not because you did anything to earn it, but because Jesus paid the price for you on the Cross.

Now you need to respond the way Mary did. The angel told Mary to “Fear not!” The verb tense implies that Mary needed to stop fretting about her (un)worthiness, and simply accept the grace that God was extending to her. In other words, she needed to see herself as God saw her.

Mary’s response should be our response: “I am the Lord’s servant. May it be to me as you have said.”

If you have missed any of the messages in our Fear Not! series, you can find them all by clicking here.

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

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Living Nativity 2012

December 3, 2012 — Craig T. Owens

We were so honored to be able to present the story of the birth of Jesus in downtown Cedar Springs again this year. We had a nice introduction from Mayor Bob Truesdale, and a great crowd was on had to see this story come alive. I have way too many people to thank, so I hope I don’t leave anyone out…

  • Joe built the manger
  • Josh, Judy, Samantha, Crystal, Cherie, Jeff, Harrison & Rich were the actors
  • Cindy and her 4H kids were our little shepherds
  • Nancy brought out her horses
  • Claudia and Betsy conceived and designed all our costumes
  • The Cedar Springs Chamber of Commerce gave us room on their agenda to present this story
  • Brandon shot the video
  • God gave us absolutely beautiful weather so a big crowd could hear the story of our Savior being born as a baby because God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son!

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No Missed Opportunities

December 3, 2012 — 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.

One fear that can haunt us is the fear that we’ve missed an opportunity. The fear becomes even more acute when the opportunity we fear we’ve missed is an opportunity that we believe God has promised us.

That’s the fear that plagued Zechariah (Luke 1:5-13). He and his wife Elizabeth were both PKs (priest’s kids), they were godly people who were upright in God’s estimation. Zechariah was even chosen by God to offer the incense in the Holy Place of the temple. Yet one fear haunted Zechariah: He and Elizabeth were childless.

The Bible says they were well along in years; or as the King James Version more poetically says it, they were stricken with years. This literally means they had moved on—they weren’t in their prime childbearing years any longer.

Zechariah had almost pushed this out of his mind, thinking that he had missed his window of opportunity, when the angel showed up with God’s message to him—

Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son…. (Luke 1:13)

Did you notice this phrase: your prayer HAS BEEN heard? The verb tense really makes it say: “The thing you used to pray for—the child you used to believe for, the pregnancy you used to try for—has been heard. But you stopped praying, you stopped believing, you stopped trying to get pregnant.”

Zechariah let his fears speak louder than God’s voice. That’s why the angel called him by name. Zechariah means Jehovah doesn’t forget! 

What has God promised you? Are you still praying for it? Still believing for it? Are you still doing what you need to do to see it happen? Zechariah needed to sleep with his wife. What do you need to do? Do you need to go back to school? Make a phone call? Set up an appointment?

If God spoke it to you, He has not forgotten you! Don’t believe the lie that the window of opportunity has closed!

If it seems slow in coming, wait patiently, for it will surely take place. It will not be delayed. (Habakkuk 2:3)

If you have missed any of the messages in our Fear Not! series, you can find them all by clicking here.

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

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Christmas Ornaments

November 29, 2012 — Craig T. Owens

This is an easy Win-Win. Just buy a beautiful, one-of-a-kind, handmade glass Christmas ornament for your Christmas tree.

Win #1  You will be supporting the amazing ministry of Women At Risk International, as they rescue and empower at-risk women all around the world.

Win #2  You will have a unique piece to add to your Christmas decorations, which is sure to be a conversation starter (hint: then you can tell them about WAR!).

We have the ornaments on sale for $15 per ornament at Calvary Assembly of God. They are hanging on our Christmas tree, so you may easily browse and select your favorite. We always send 100 percent of the proceeds to WAR International.

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