Steadfastness in prayer is everywhere praised in Scripture. Why? Because God wants us watching when He works to answer our prayers.

Here’s what we see happen to Jesus: as He prayed according to God’s will and for God’s glory, etc., Jesus’ prayer changed and His true heart opened up.
So too I have found that my prayers change as I pray according to God’s will. But in that change, I discover my true heart.

…what we ourselves most truly want is going to be found in exactly what God Himself most truly wants for us.

Just because we want it badly doesn’t mean He’s going to give it to us. Just we because it’s something we may be plausibly able to attach to a verse or phrase in the Bible, doesn’t mean He’s going to give it to us.

Christian prayer is the opening of my heart to God and my entering of the heart of God. So what’s there, what is, is welcome.

The truest nature of God is revealed in Jesus. What's more: the nature of God is most completely revealed in the sacrificial death of Jesus on the cross.

A church is not, and cannot be, just the pastor or paid staff or leadership team. A church is the membership and friends, woven together in mutual support, upbuilding, and growth.

The Gospel helps us know our WHY and, at the same time, solves, resolves, and satisfies every WHY we might have.

Whatever thing I thought would make life good… It will never be enough. It was, of course, never supposed to be enough. Only the gift of God through Christ in the Spirit “fills” us.

When the Gospel-WHY changes our HOW, this will transform WHAT we do.

HOW do I get up in the morning? HOW do I do my work? HOW do I treat these people? HOW do I make plans, manage money, spend my down-time? WHY changes HOW, and everything is changed.

The HOWs of our lives are determined by the WHYs of our heart.

When WHY changes, everything changes. Motives and desires are in everything we do. The Gospel changes our WHY and WHY changes everything.

Tuesday some of the folks on the Building Committee toured several area church buildings. We asked our guides various questions. But our main concern was this: What designed features have you found most helpful for ministry, and what features have you grown frustrated by?

These were the most common replies.

When you don’t know how to pray, when your mind is just too chaotic, the Lord, your shepherd, is with you, watching over you, praying to God the Father for you. We are always being prayed for by Jesus. We are always on His mind, in His heart. “He will hold me fast.”

So often we go about our lives without regard for what may be entering our lives, or what we may be introducing into the lives of others. We are reactive and passive. Weed seeds blow in or their roots tunnel toward us, and suddenly we're wrapped up in what is just The Most nonsense, anxiety, or foolishness.

Would you please pray for me, and pray for the preaching at Fellowship Bible Church?

On Sunday we observed that the Life of God is conveyed to us as “Light,” which is given to us in Scripture. But in order to benefit from that Life and Light, we must absorb the Word. That is, we want to understand the “author’s intended meaning” and the connection of that teaching to our lives.

Ever find yourself doing or saying something, or in a situation, where you wonder, "Why am I doing this? How did I get here? What is happening?" The game got away from you. The energy shifted. You made some poor choices and the consequences were greater than you expected.

To love the Lord with *all our minds? There’s quite a bit of space between where we are today, and whatever “all” means.

Peter opens his first letter with a paragraph in praise of faith. Faith, he says, is God’s power guarding us till we enjoy the full salvation coming to us soon. (1Peter 2:5) Genuine faith, Peter says, is more precious than gold.