Prayer and Purpose

Earlier this year I saw an Instagram post that read, “Instead of saying ‘I don’t have time,’ try saying, ‘It’s not a priority,’ and see how that feels.” I’ve since looked up the source of that quote and found an interesting article on the Wall Street Journal by Laura Vanderkam. (see the full article here http://on.wsj.com/2ClteFj ) Vanderkam suggests, “Changing our language reminds us that time is a choice.” She also writes that you may not be spending as much time working or as little time sleeping as you have lead yourself to believe, and suggests keeping a time log. I'm over halfway through my first day of trying to keep a time log, and I have found that I don’t want to write down things like, “looked at Facebook,” or “watched TV,” and I especially don’t want that to take up as much of my time log as those things generally take up in my day. So, when Phoebe woke me up this morning at 0515 hours because she was hungry, instead of either doing nothing or looking at Facebook ...

Abstract The Great Commission to Worship addresses two commands given to Christians, the Great Commission (Mt 28:18–20) and the Great Commandment (Dt 6:4–6; Mt 22:36–40). The authors open the book by discussing common misconceptions of evangelism. They make it clear that evangelism is not optional, [1] nor is it a spiritual gift. [2] A total of twelve misconceptions are hashed out before they tackle twelve common misconceptions of worship. According to the authors, worship is often thought of as synonymous with fellowship [3] and praise music. [4] After revealing and refuting the common misconceptions of evangelism and worship, the authors point to some biblical models as guides for what evangelism and worship are. From the second chapter on, the authors get down to the business of presenting practical guidelines for living an obedient life for Christ that consists of both worshipping Him and adhering to His command to make disciples. They parse out the different aspects ...

Kathy Lee Gifford recently talked about her reaction to Billy Graham dying and brought up how vocal she is about her faith. You can see the whole video here: http://on.today.com/2EXMDwW The thing I loved about it was when she talked about people questioning her bold faith. She said something to the effect of, “I know the cure for the malignant condition of the soul. Why would I keep that a secret?” As Christians, we are all commanded to some degree of evangelism. Jesus instructed the disciples, and I believe this has been passed down to all believers, to “make disciples of all nations” (Mt 28:19). This does not mean we all are called to be “evangelists” but we are not to keep our faith silent. Peter instructs the believers to whom he wrote to be prepared to defend their faith in gentleness (1 Pt 3:15). Today, we too must be prepared. I believe by defending our faith and sharing our faith with others, we are loving our neighbor the best way we know how. For if we do not share ...