William Cowper | Craig T. Owens

December 2025
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Links & Quotes

February 3, 2024 — Craig T. Owens

Stop praying to yourself! God isn’t impressed with your “powerful” prayer! Jesus tells an interesting story about two men: one thought very highly of his spiritual status and the only could barely lift his eyes. Jesus said that the proud man’s prayer received no help from God, but only the humble man’s prayer was heard. This is a short clip from my series called Kingdom Praying. I have lots of new content every week, which you can check out on my YouTube channel.

“If the fetus gets in the way, ditch it. If the old person gets in the way, ditch it. If you get in the way…” —Francis Schaeffer

“The god of convenience, ruling capriciously in the hearts of men and women, and supported by worshipers of the god of wealth—greedy, self-interested profit-takers in the guise of abortionists and abortion-rights advocates—is the putative lord of life and death where children in the womb are concerned. … Christians must insist that all political candidates seeking their support, at whatever level of government, be firm in their commitment to resist the present abortion regime and expose the lie of the pro-choice agenda by every available means. …The Law of God is holy and righteous and good. Abortion is unholy, unrighteous, and evil. If we want a just and loving society, we will worship God and obey His Law, and we will work to dethrone the god of convenience and to expose the folly and self-interest of all its followers. And we will look to God to explain the nature, meaning, and value of all lives.” —T.M. Moore

Elihu is angry at Job “because he justified himself before God.” Better stated: “Job was more concerned about justifying himself—making himself look good—than he was about making God look good.” Elihu is angry at Job’s three friends because they acted like God and pronounced a guilty verdict against Job. Elihu is righteously provoked. After holding his tongue for 31 chapters, he cannot remain silent any longer! I conclude that Elihu is righteous in his response because God doesn’t have anything negative to say to or about Elihu (as He does with the three friends) at the end of the Book of Job.

Long before the term “fake news” made it into our lexicon, Charles E. Robinson wrote an article in 1934 “as a solemn warning to all Christians” about the rising tide of anti-Semitism. He was especially upset about a book that made an erroneous case blaming Jews for global economic and political turmoil. I am thrilled with the strong spiritual and intellectual legacy in the Assembly of God fellowship!

“There’s a lot of blood, sweat and guts between dreams and success.” —Paul Bear Bryant

Dr. Bruce Hindmarsh looks at the rare friendship between one of my favorite authors and a gifted poet whose work I also admire: John Newton and William Cowper.

Loving Fighters

October 23, 2023 — 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’ve always loved this stanza from a William Cowper poem:

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.

Prayer is indispensable in spiritual warfare! Prayer is where we fight best for those we love.

Have you ever heard the question, “Are you a lover or a fighter?” I don’t believe this is an either-or answer, both both-and. I’m a fighter because I’m a lover. I love Jesus and I am loved by Jesus. This fuels my passion to fight for His glory to be seen. This drives me to fight against the powers that keep others from knowing this love for themselves.

T.M. Moore wrote, “If we want God to bring revival and save the world from its many and increasing troubles, we must give ourselves to extraordinary efforts in prayer before we enter the conflict.” Prayer isn’t preparation for the fight; prayer is the fight that has been lovingly empowered. This is why our fifth spiritual discipline of prayer is so vital.

As we have seen with giving and fasting, Jesus also has some don’ts and dos for us about praying (Matthew 6:5-8):

don’t pray publicly for earthly recognition or human applause (v. 5)
do pray privately (v. 6)
don’t pray robotically—And when you pray, do not heap up phrases—multiply words, repeating the same ones over and over—as the Gentiles do, for they think they will be heard for their much speaking (v. 7 AMP)
do pray intimately (v. 8)

Jesus practiced what He preached about praying in secret: Jesus was praying in private (Luke 9:18). He must have prayed so differently than anyone else the disciples had ever heard because they asked Him, “Lord, teach us to pray” (Luke 11:1).

Remember that prayer is the battle—things are happening while I’m praying.

There is a way I speak to my wife in private that I don’t typically say in public. If I didn’t speak intimately to her in private, others would notice a difference in public. When I do have intimate, private, regular conversations with her, it also shows publicly.

So too with prayer. The New Testament doesn’t record very many of the prayers of Jesus for us. In fact, many of things we might think of as prayers sound more like commands from Jesus—“Lazarus, come forth,” “Little girl, get up,” “Be clean,” and similar phrases. We see the public display of power because Jesus had been empowered in private by His Father.

Private prayer is noticed publicly in the lives of the followers of Jesus too (see Acts 4:13; 6:15).

I don’t pray privately so that I can show off publicly. I pray in intimate privacy so that I can publicly show off Jesus!

All of our spiritual disciplines are for us individually so that we have something to give corporately. For instance—

Bible study gives us words to pray
Solitude gives us space to pray
Fasting gives us a hunger to pray

As we are built up in private prayer, there is a greater unity in corporate prayer, and Jesus is lifted up for the world to see. We love Jesus and we love others, so we fight for the glory of God and the strengthening of our brothers and sisters. We are loving fighters!

So let me encourage you to make private, intimate conversation with Jesus a priority in your life.

If you’ve missed any of the previous spiritual disciplines we’ve covered in this series, you can check them all out here.

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Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: Book of Acts, Calvary Assembly of God, discipline, Gospel of Luke, Gospel of Matthew, poem, prayer, quote, sermon, spiritual warfare, T.M. Moore, video, William Cowper. 2 Comments »

Book Reviews From 2021

December 29, 2021 — 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 reading, and I love sharing my love of good books with others! Here is a list of the books I read and reviewed in 2021. Click on a title to be taken to that review.

AC/DC

Churchill’s Ministry Of Ungentlemanly Warfare

Faithlife Illustrated Study Bible

George Whitefield

Hal Moore On Leadership

His Last Bow

Holy Sexuality And The Gospel

How Christianity Changed The World

How I Got This Way

How To Bring Men To Christ

Jesus On Trial

John Adams

Miracles Out Of Somewhere

My Lucky Life

Out Of The Silent Planet

Reading The Bible With The Founding Fathers

Secrets Of Dynamic Communication

Seeing Beauty And Saying Beautifully

Shepherd Leadership

Star Struck

Talking To GOATs

That Hideous Strength

The Art Of Writing And The Gift Of Writers

The Hidden Smile Of God

The Hiding Place

Thompson Chain-Reference Bible

To The Work!

Voice Of A Prophet

Washington’s Immortals

Word-For-Word Bible Comic: Jonah

Here are my book reviews for 2011.

Here are my book reviews for 2012.

Here are my book reviews for 2013.

Here are my book reviews for 2014.

Here are my book reviews for 2015.

Here are my book reviews for 2016.

Here are my book reviews for 2017.

Here are my book reviews for 2018.

Here are my book reviews for 2019.

Here are my book reviews for 2020.

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Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: A.W. Tozer, Alvin Schmidt, American history, apologetic, Arthur Conan Doyle, astronomy, autobiography, Bible study, biblical history, biography, book review, C.S. Lewis, Christianity, Christopher Yuan, church history, Corrie ten Boom, Creator, David Brainerd, David Limbaugh, David McCullough, depression, Dick Van Dyke, Dwight Moody, evangelism, fiction, football, Founding Fathers, George Herbert, George Washington, George Westinghouse, George Whitefield, Hal Moore, homosexuality, Jim Gray, John Bunyan, John Piper, Jonah, Ken Davis, Kerry Livgren, leadership, music, NFL, Nikola Tesla, Pentecostal, prayer, prophecy, prophet, R.A. Torrey, Regis Philbin, sexuality, shepherd leadership, Sherlock Holmes, Stanley Frodsham, Steve Young, television, Thomas Edison, trials, US armed forces, William Cowper, Winston Churchill, World War II. 3 Comments »

The Hidden Smile Of God (book review)

November 16, 2021 — 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.

It’s one thing for someone to dispense sound advice, but it’s an entirely different thing for that advice to come from hard-won life experiences. The Hidden Smile Of God is the second book in John Piper’s excellent series of biographies called “The Swans are Not Silent.”

Each book in this series features biographies and life lessons of three notable saints. Pastor John weaves these character studies together around a common theme. In this book, the lives of John Bunyan, William Cowper, and David Brainerd are examined to see the fruitful ministry that can emerge from a life plagued by affliction.

John Bunyan, well-known author of The Pilgrim’s Progress, spent over a decade in prison, as well as the balance of his life under severely pressing circumstances. David Brainerd was a missionary to several American Indian tribes, while struggling with failing health and crushing loneliness. And William Cowper was suicidally depressed through nearly all of his life, and yet wrote some of the most intimate and moving poems.

In fact, it is a line in one of Cowper’s poems from which the title of this John Piper book emerges—

Judge not the Lord by feeble sense,

But trust Him for His grace;

Behind a frowning providence

He hides a smiling face.

Pastor John does more than merely share memorable biographies of these three men, but he extracts insights about suffering and affliction that will enable others to have a new biblical paradigm about their own suffering. Such amazing lessons for any of us struggling through dark times.

Even if you don’t personally struggle with affliction or anxiety or depression, chances are very good that someone around you does. Perhaps you could read this book and share some of these helpful insights with your friends or family members who are struggling.

If you would like to check out my review of another book in this series—Seeing Beauty and Saying Beautifully—please click here.

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Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: affliction, anxiety, biography, book review, David Brainerd, depression, hope, John Bunyan, John Piper, suicide, William Cowper. 4 Comments »

Poetry Saturday—Truth

March 20, 2021 — Craig T. Owens

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

Since the dear hour that brought me to Thy foot,

And cut up all my follies by the root,

I never trusted in an arm but Thine,

Nor hoped, but in Thy righteousness divine:

My prayers and alms, imperfect and defiled,

Were but the feeble efforts of a child;

Howe’er perform’d, it was their brightest part,

That they proceeded from a grateful heart:

Cleansed in Thine own all-purifying blood,

Forgive their evil and accept their good:

I cast them at Thy feet—my only plea

Is what it was, dependence upon Thee:

While struggling in the vale of tears below,

That never fail’d, nor shall it fail me now.

Angelic gratulations rend the skies,

Pride fall unpitied, never more to rise,

Humility is crown’d, and Faith receives the prize. —William Cowper

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Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: forgiveness, humility, Jesus Christ, poem, poetry, prayer, pride, rewards, righteousness, William Cowper. Leave a Comment »

Prideful Prayer

March 10, 2021 — Craig T. Owens

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

To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else, Jesus told this parable: “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other men—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’

“But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’

“I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.” (Luke 18:9-14)

I think the NIV footnote on verse 11 is the most accurate rendering of “the Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself.” The footnote says, “He prayed TO himself.” He made himself God, which, if you will recall, is exactly how satan tempted Adam and Eve—you will be like God (Genesis 3:5).

In a portion of William Cowper’s poem Truth, he addresses the pride of the Pharisee, and warns us that this could be our pride too if we aren’t carefully guarding our hearts.

Who judged the Pharisee? What odious cause

Exposed him to the vengeance of the laws?

Had he seduced a virgin, wrong’d a friend,

Or stabb’d a man to serve some private end?

Was blasphemy his sin? Or did he stray

From the strict duties of the sacred day?

Sit long and late at the carousing board?

(Such were the sins with which he charged his Lord.)

No—the man’s morals were exact. What then?

‘Twas his ambition to be seen of men;

His virtues were his pride; and that one vice

Made all his virtues gewgaws [gyoo-gaws] of no price;

He wore them as fine trappings for a show,

A praying, synagogue-frequenting beau.

The self-applauding bird, the peacock, see—

Mark what a sumptuous Pharisee is he!

Meridian sunbeams tempt him to unfold

His radiant glories, azure, green, and gold:

He treads as if, some solemn music near,

His measured step were govern’d by his ear;

And seems to say—“Ye meaner fowl give place;

I am all splendour, dignity, and grace!”

Not so the pheasant on his charms presumes,

Though he, too, has a glory in his plumes.

He, Christian-like, retreats with modest mien

To the close copse or far sequester’d green,

And shines without desiring to be seen.

The plea of works, as arrogant and vain,

Heaven turns from with abhorrence and disdain;

Not more affronted by avow’d neglect,

Than by the mere dissembler’s feign’d respect.

What is all righteousness that men devise?

What—but a sordid bargain for the skies!

But Christ as soon would abdicate His own,

As stoop from heaven to sell the proud a throne.

When the writer of Hebrews says that we can approach the throne of grace boldly, it is clear that it is not because of our righteous deeds, even if they are as exacting and as perfect as a Pharisee. We can only come boldly into God’s presence because we come in the name and the righteousness of Jesus. “I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God.”

Adding “in Jesus name” to the end of our prayers isn’t a password that opens the storeroom of Heaven, but it is a reminder that we have nothing in ourselves to commend us to God. We come boldly only in Jesus.

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Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: Adam & Eve, Genesis, Gospel of Luke, Hebrews, humility, Jesus Christ, parable, Pharisees, poem, pride, satan, William Cowper. 3 Comments »

Poetry Saturday—The Bible: The Light Of The World

September 19, 2020 — Craig T. Owens

A glory gilds the sacred page,

Majestic like the sun:

It gives a light to every age;

It gives, but borrows none.

The Hand that gave it still supplies

The gracious light and heat;

His truths upon the nations rise,

They rise, but never set.

Let everlasting thanks be Thine,

For such a bright display,

As makes a world of darkness shine

With beams of heavenly day.

My soul rejoices to pursue

The steps of Him I love,

Till glory break upon my view

In brighter worlds above. —William Cowper

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: Bible, God's help, God's love, God's Word, insight, joy, poem, poetry, Scripture, William Cowper, wisdom. Leave a Comment »

God’s Unrivaled Pencil

July 1, 2020 — Craig T. Owens

Not a flower

But shows some touch in freckle, streak or stain

Of His unrivaled pencil. He inspires

Their balmy odors, and imparts their hues,

And bathes their eyes with nectar.

Happy he

Who walks with Him! —William Cowper

all photos (c) Craig T. Owens 2020

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: beauty, Creation, Creator, photography, poem, poetry, quote, uniqueness, William Cowper. 1 Comment »

Dressed For Victory

July 30, 2019 — Craig T. Owens

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power (Ephesians 6:10).

Not…

be strong in my own ability
be strong in the company of another warrior

But…

be strong in the Lord
be strong in the power of His might

The armor I wear has been battle-tested by the undefeated Champion. It’s armor emblazoned with the crimson red blood of Calvary. It’s armor gleaming brightly with the glow of Resurrection victory.

I wear Christ’s armor!

The belt of truth—it’s the righteousness of Jesus (Isaiah 11:1-5)
The breastplate of righteousness—worn by the Messiah who defeated evil (Isaiah 59:15-17)
The helmet of salvation—worn by Jesus as He won salvation for us (Isaiah 59:16-17)
The shoes of the gospel of peace—worn by our Lord as He defeated our enemies (Isaiah 52:5-7)
The shield of faith—God says, “I am your shield” (Genesis 15:1)
The sword of the Spirit—what Jesus used to strike down satan’s temptations (Isaiah 49:1-2; Luke 4:4, 8, 12)