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One of my favorite books on prayer is The Prayer Life, by Andrew Murray. (It is also titled Living a Prayerful Life.) Andrew Murray was a pastor in the Dutch Reformed Church in South Africa in the 1800’s/early 1900’s. He was part of the South African Revival of 1860. He also wrote more than 240 books, a number of which focused on prayer.

The Prayer Life was birthed out of a conference that took place in April 1912. At the time there was a sense that the church was generally lacking in spiritual power and effectiveness, and so over two hundred ministers, missionaries and theological students gathered in South Africa to study the problem and discuss it together. Murray writes in the foreword of his book:

“The Lord graciously so ordered it that we were gradually led to the sin of prayerlessness as the deepest roots of the evil. No one could plead himself free from this. Nothing so reveals the defective spiritual life in minister and congregation as the lack of believing and unceasing prayer. Prayer is in very deed the pulse of the spiritual life. It is the great means of bringing to minister and people the blessing and power of heaven. Persevering and believing prayer means a strong and abundant life.” (Andrew Murray; The Prayer Life, p. 8 )

After the conference Murray wrote The Prayer Life, both as a reminder of the things they had learned and as a way of sharing these things with others.

The first chapter focuses on the sin of prayerlessness, and I will be sharing with you some excerpts over the next several days. In the remainder of the book, Murray gives helpful instruction on overcoming the sin of prayerlessness and developing your prayer life with God. The Lord used this book to help form my prayer life as a young Christian, and though my prayer life is far short of what I wish it would be, I am grateful for the truths I learned from this book in those early years.

Here are the posts that will form the rest of the series. I will update the links on this page as each post is published. I invite you to follow along and share your thoughts and comments along the way. (If you are new here, be sure to subscribe by email or feed reader so that you don’t miss any future posts.)

The Sin of Prayerlessness:
    Introduction and Links to the Series
    1. Prayerlessness and God
    2. Prayerlessness and the Spiritual Life
    3. Prayerlessness and the Minister
    4. Prayerlessness and the Gospel
    5. A Witness from America
    6. The Cause of Prayerlessness
    7. The Storm Center on the Battlefield

Tim Keller comments on the two brothers in the parable of the prodigal son.

“There are two ways to be your own Savior and Lord. One is by breaking all the moral laws and setting your own course, and one is by keeping all the moral laws and being very, very good.”
    – Tim Keller, The Prodigal God

HT: Challies: Book Review – The Prodigal God by Tim Keller

Related posts:
    • Melody in F (The Prodigal Son)
    • Parable of the Prodigal Puppy

Yesterday’s message in the Called series was titled Called to Persevere. Here is a brief outline of the message:

I. God does not promise you an easy life.
    A. We live in a fallen world. (Romans 8:18-21)
    B. We should expect trials. (John 16:33; Acts 14:21-22)

II. God does promise to be with you.
    A. He gives you his peace. (Philippians 4:6-7)
    B. He gives you his presence. (Matthew 28:20)

III. God promises great benefits to those who persevere.
    A. Your faith is shown to be genuine. (1 Peter 1:6-7)
    B. You will grow in character. (James 1:2-4)
    C. He who perseveres to the end will be saved.
        (Matthew 24:12-13; James 1:12)

Note: Click on the Sermons tab at the top of the blog for this and other messages.

Here are ten great quotes (also known as “Adrianisms”) from the late Dr. Adrian Rogers, former pastor at Bellevue Baptist Church in Memphis, TN.

1. Just because it doesn’t make sense to you doesn’t mean it doesn’t make sense.
2. Most people want to serve God, but only in an advisory capacity.
3. If Satan can’t make you bad, he’ll make you busy.
4. Sin is not just breaking God’s laws; it is breaking His heart.
5. We ought to be living as if Jesus died yesterday, rose this morning, and is coming back this afternoon.
6. Has it ever occurred to you that nothing occurs to God?
7. It’s what you sow that multiplies, not what you keep in the barn.
8. If you have a Bible that’s falling apart, you’ll have a life that’s not.
9. I wouldn’t trust the best fifteen minutes I ever lived to get me into heaven.
10. God grades on the Cross not on the curve.

You can find more quotes like these in the two-volume series: Adrianisms: The Wit & Wisdom of Adrian Rogers. (Volume 2 here.) Do you have any favorite Adrian Rogers quotes?

Three Great Books by Adrian Rogers:

                (Photo: American Humanist Association)

Last month it was the Atheist Bus Campaign in England. Now there is the Humanist Bus Campaign in the United States. From the Christian Post:

A group of humanists announced this week plans to plaster over 200 buses in Washington D.C. with ads bearing its “godless holiday” message.  Ads proclaiming, “Why believe in a god? Just be good for goodness’ sake,” will appear on the outside and inside of DC Metro buses starting next Tuesday and will run throughout December. Newspaper versions of the ads ran in The New York Times and The Washington Post this week.

The advertising campaign is part of an effort by the American Humanist Association to reach out to like-minded individuals around the nation’s capitol and elsewhere who might be interested in humanism. The atheistic group espouses the belief that one can live a moral life apart from a belief in a god or the afterlife.

Three Bible passages come to mind:

Jesus answered, “No one is good — except God alone.” (Mark 10:18)

The apostle Paul wrote: “There is no one righteous … there is no one who does good, not even one.” (Romans 3:10-12)

“The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.” (Galatians 5:22-23)

Oh well, let me wish a Merry Christmas to all my humanist friends anyways!

Related post: Atheist Bus Campaign

Google Earth now has a feature that lets you explore ancient Rome as it looked in 320 AD and even fly down to see famous buildings and monuments in 3D. Just select the “Ancient Rome 3D” layer under Gallery in Google Earth.

(Video length: 1:50)

For more information, visit Google Earth Rome.

Nicole at 168 Hours has posted an excellent series on Christian faith and the environment:

I think the answer to how we should view God’s world as Christians can be found in looking at two ways that the Bible teaches us to love the world, and two ways that we are not to love the world (depending on what you mean by ‘world’ and what you mean by ‘love’).

You can read the four articles in the series at the links below.

Two ways we are not to love the world:

1. The Idolatry of Nature Worship
2. The Idolatry of Greed

Two ways we are to love the world:

1. Sharing God’s Delight in the Creation
2. Loving the People Who Share the Earth with Us

__________________________________

Related posts: God’s Good Creation Series

From New Zealand: Church wants to set up self-contained city.

The leader of Destiny Church says plans are underway to create a self-contained “Destiny City” for its followers in the middle of South Auckland … Plans for the city include a 5000-seat church, maraes, medical centres and schools – eliminating the need for residents to ever leave. “Every child of every member of this church will never go to a state school again,” Mr Tamaki said. He urged the church’s 7000-plus members to sell their homes and move to his city “for the purpose of God”. (HT: MMI)

Even beyond the obvious financial abuse and manipulation, there is just so much wrong with this picture. As believers we are called not to isolate ourselves from the world but to reach out to the world. We are to be in the world but not of the world. (John 17:14-15). Jesus himself set the example when he left the glories of heaven in order to walk this planet with us.

Listen to this short cut from the following song and then consider:  In what ways do we sometimes isolate ourselves from the world as Christians? In what ways could we do a better job of engaging the world for Christ?

Click “►” button to play | Length: 0:47
[audio:SaraGroves_ToTheMoon_sample.mp3]
Sara Groves; “To the Moon” (from the album Add to the Beauty)

“TO THE MOON” – by Sara Groves

It was there in the bulletin
We’re leaving soon
After the bake sale to raise funds for fuel
The rocket is ready and we’re going to
Take our church to the moon

There’ll be no one there to tell us we’re odd
No one to change our opinions of God
Just lots of rocks and this dusty sod
Here in our church on the moon

We know our liberties we know our rights
We know how to fight a very good fight
Just grab that last bag there and turn out the light
We’re taking our church to the moon
We’re taking our church to the moon
We’ll be leaving soon

Here’s a first look at the new Star Trek Enterprise.

[Director] Abrams wanted to take the original TV-series Enterprise and the movie-franchise Enterprise and fuse them together into a new yet familiar Enterprise. His ambition was a ship that felt very realistic, that could stand up to today’s F/X standards — and beyond.

Originally slated for a December 2008 release, the new Star Trek movie is now scheduled to release in the United States on May 8, 2009. The first trailer will arrive this Friday, attached to the new James Bond movie, Quantum of Solace.

HT: FilmChat (which posts pictures of the Enterprise all the way from the TV’s pilot episode right up to the new movie)

I learned a new word yesterday over at the Theological Word of the Day website: “Abecedarians.”

A 16th century German sect of Anabaptists led by Nicholas Storch who believed that all knowledge, even knowledge of the alphabet, prevents people from a true knowledge of God. Abecedarians believed that God would provide all necessary understanding through divine means such as visions and ecstatic experiences. According to them, all theology and “academic” learning amounted to an idolatrous abandonment of the Christian faith. Their name, Abecedarians, comes from their denial of the ABCs.

Sing with me: “Now I know my ABC’s, I guess God will not speak with me.”

Gov. Sarah Palin talked with Matt Lauer yesterday at her home in Wasilla, AL. This is an interesting set of interviews in which Palin addresses matters concerning the campaign, her record and the various rumors spread by the press.

Today Show: “Never Any Tension” with McCain

Among the reports that Palin said were false were those involving her wardrobe, which was reported to cost the Republican campaign $150,000. She said no lawyers have been sent to retrieve the clothes, which she said she never asked for. A third of the garments were returned as not suitable to wear, she said; another third remained in the belly of her campaign plane, while the rest have been returned. Palin said she was happy to be wearing her own clothes again.

Today Show: At Home with the Family

Todd Palin told Lauer that the attacks on his wife during the campaign didn’t really filter through to them. “We were so busy with the campaign, there wasn’t much TV time,” he said, adding that the family wasn’t really fazed by it all anyway. “We’ve been in this long enough to understand it’s just part of the business,” he said. “It’s all a part of this beast called politics in America,” the governor added as she prepared food on her countertop.

Here’s a fun poem I shared as part of a message on prayer on Sunday. (A big thanks to Thelma Campbell at Plantation Community Church who first introduced me to the poem.)

“PRAYER ROCK” (Author Unknown)

I’m your little prayer rock
and this is what I’ll do.
Just put me on your pillow
’til the day is through.

Then turn back the covers
and climb into your bed,
and, whack! your little prayer rock
will bump you on the head.

Then you will remember
as the day is through,
to kneel and say your prayers
as you intended to.

Then when you are finished
dump me on the floor.
I’ll stay there through the nighttime
to give you help once more.

When you get up next morning,
clunk! I stub your toe,
so that you will remember
your prayers before you go.

Put me back upon your pillow
when your bed is made,
and your clever little prayer rock
will continue in your aid.

Because your Heavenly Father
cares and loves you so,
He wants you to remember
to talk to Him, you know.

In discussion class after the service, we asked if anyone had actually used a prayer rock before. One woman said she used to but she didn’t need it anymore. Her husband joked, “Yeah, now she puts it on my pillow!” Do you use any types of “reminders” to help you remember to pray?

Click here for more poems.
Click here for poems by Ray Fowler.