Ask & Act

January 16, 2013 — 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.

Do you want to mature as a Christian? I do! So here’s the first step…

…you may be mature and complete not lacking anything. If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God… (James 1:4-5).

The dictionary defines mature as “complete in natural growth or development; fully developed in body or mind as a person.” The Bible has a higher definition of maturity. The phrase mature and complete (the King James Version actually says perfect) is just one word in the Greek: teleios. It’s the same word Jesus uses when He sets this standard for maturity:

Be perfect [teleios], therefore, as your Heavenly Father is perfect [teleios]. (Matthew 5:48)

Yikes! Talk about a high standard! I certainly can’t reach that level of perfect maturity on my own! That’s why James says we should pray for wisdom. The kind of wisdom God gives is heavenly knowledge that is perfectly practical on earth. It fits with the prayer Jesus taught us to pray, “Your will be done on earth, even as it is in Heaven.”

But there is more to maturity than just asking for wisdom. I have ASK for wisdom and then I have to ACT on that wisdom—but when he asks, he must believe and not doubt (James 1:6).

Growing in maturity is never a passive process; I must be actively engaged. God will not waste knowledge or experience. He won’t give it to me unless I’m going to be obedient enough to mature by its application.

Ask and act. God wants you to be teleios (perfectly mature) because it brings glory to Him. So ask for wisdom, but then be ready to act on it. This is the only path to godly maturity.

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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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Praying The Word

January 13, 2013 — Craig T. Owens

Dietrich BonhoefferI shared this quote from Dietrich Bonhoeffer this morning in my message—

“Meditation lets us be alone with the Word. …In our meditation we ponder the chosen text on the strength of the promise that it has something utterly personal to say to us for this day and for our Christian life, that it is not only God’s Word for the Church, but also God’s Word for us individually. We expose ourselves to the specific Word until it addresses us personally.”

Using the Bible as your prayer guide will take your prayers to a whole new level!

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The Pastor & Prayer

January 11, 2013 — Craig T. Owens

E.M. BoundsMy fellow pastor, please consider these wise words from E.M. Bounds—

“No one having any knowledge of the existing facts, will deny the comparative lack of expository preaching in the pulpit effort of today. And none, we should, at least, imagine, will do other than lament the lack. Topical preaching, polemical preaching, historical preaching, and other forms of sermonic output have, one supposes, their rightful and opportune uses. But expository preaching—the prayerful expounding of the Word of God is preaching that is preaching—pulpit effort par excellence. For its successful accomplishment, however, a preacher needs must be a man of prayer. For every hour spent in his study-chair, he will have to spend two upon his knees.”

I believe God will be honored if we spend twice as much time praying our sermons as we do preparing our sermons. 

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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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Hypocritical Pastors

December 18, 2012 — Craig T. Owens

Jonathan EdwardsI was reading a passage from Jonathan Edwards’ Hypocrites Deficient in the Duty of Prayer, where Edwards warned pastors against neglecting the sacred duty of private prayer. Edwards says that pastors who spend more time praying publicly than they do privately are hypocrites.

T.M. Moore commented on this—

“So we [pastors], when we attend upon public prayers—even leading them, during morning worship—but have no prayer life of our own to speak of, practice hypocrisy of the first water. We seem to be men of prayer, but we are hardly ever calling on the Lord of glory.”

There is a simple remedy to this: Pray!

  • Pray every day
  • Pray about every thing
  • Pray in private
  • Make prayer your continual and ongoing habit

Pastors, may we always pray!

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My Prayer To Live Holy

December 5, 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. 

I love to take passages of Scripture and turn them into prayers. This prayer is based on 1 Peter 1:13-23.

     Dear Heavenly Father,

     I want to think clearly about You and exercise self-control in the way I live. Help me to always be looking forward to the gracious salvation that will come when Jesus Christ is revealed to the world, and not looking back on the past.

     Help me to live as Your obedient child. I don’t ever want to slip back into my old ways of living only to satisfy my selfish desires. I didn’t know any better before, but I do now. May I be holy in everything I do, just as You, God, who chose me is holy. For You said, “You must be holy because I am holy.”

     I know that You have no favorites. You will judge or reward me according to how I live. So I want to live in reverent fear of You throughout my entire life. I know that You paid a costly ransom to save me from the empty life I would’ve had without You. The ransom You paid for me was not mere gold or silver; no, it was the precious blood of Jesus Christ, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God. You chose Him as my ransom long before the world began, and now through Christ I have come to trust in You. I have placed my complete faith and hope in You because You raised Christ from the dead and gave Him great glory.

     I was cleansed from my hideous sins when I obeyed the truth, so now I want to show my sincere love to You by living holy and loving others as brothers and sisters. Help me to love others deeply with all my heart. For I have been born again, but not to a life that will quickly end. My new life will last forever because it comes from You, and is confirmed in Your eternal, living Word.

     Help me to always live in a way that brings You glory. I pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen!

Friends, I encourage you to use the Bible to enhance your prayer life.

P.S. Here is a video where I explain how I turn the Bible into a prayer. And you may also like this video as well.

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

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