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http://thewayweb.org/blog/
Monday, December 13, 2010
Friday, December 10, 2010
Monday, November 29, 2010
Thursday, November 25, 2010
Thoughts On The Way - Lincoln On Thanksgiving
I put this together a couple years ago for a Thanksgiving devotion. It's good to look back and give us perspective. Listen to a proclamation from our 16th president and thank God for His providence on us!
Monday, November 22, 2010
Thoughts On The Way - The Comforter at work
In his book on the Holy Spirit, speaking of evidence of regeneration Octavius Winslow says the following:
How many times am I guilty of merely kneeling in the outer court in this way? What a sense of dread filled me when I read the words and felt the sting of personal guilt from lack of prayer. Then all at once as I sorrowed over my lacking came the familiar and comforting sense that is only felt by a lively soul inhabited by the great comforter sent by God Himself bearing witness once again that I am His and He is ever present.
Take joy Christian! The pain of realizing fault is but for a moment for the redeemed. He is ever ready to accept our continuing repentance and draw us closer to Him. It is His purpose to do it! so rejoice in the Beloved and pray! Pray more! No less than Jesus said to the woman publicly outed for her sins, He says to us today "Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more."
(Quote taken from page 13 of THE HOLY SPIRIT, An Experimental and Practical View by Octavius Winslow)
"What evidence can be more convincing? It is a symptom that cannot mislead. The praying soul is a quickened soul. The prayerless soul is a lifeless soul. The individual that has never truly prayed has never known what one throb of spiritual life is. He may content himself with the external form—he may kneel in the outer court of the tabernacle, and, as the holy Leighton expresses it, "breathe his tune and air of words," and yet continue an utter stranger to true prayer."
How many times am I guilty of merely kneeling in the outer court in this way? What a sense of dread filled me when I read the words and felt the sting of personal guilt from lack of prayer. Then all at once as I sorrowed over my lacking came the familiar and comforting sense that is only felt by a lively soul inhabited by the great comforter sent by God Himself bearing witness once again that I am His and He is ever present.
Take joy Christian! The pain of realizing fault is but for a moment for the redeemed. He is ever ready to accept our continuing repentance and draw us closer to Him. It is His purpose to do it! so rejoice in the Beloved and pray! Pray more! No less than Jesus said to the woman publicly outed for her sins, He says to us today "Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more."
(Quote taken from page 13 of THE HOLY SPIRIT, An Experimental and Practical View by Octavius Winslow)
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Thoughts On The Way - A Bad Model For Prayer
Lately I have been thinking on prayer; actually on the need for more of it in my life. Prayer is a funny thing if you listen to what people say about it. It's another term that probably needs defining more often than not.
Once I heard a radio host (who considered himself devout in the faith) comment about a politician's prayer habits and said something like he believed in taking your petitions to God as this was called prayer, but saying that God answered directly back was not prayer; that was mental illness. I don't like that definition. That's not biblical.
I like my pastor's definition that it's speaking to the King in the King's language. While it doesn't explicitly mention the hearing part it does orient prayer around the Lord. It is not a function of repetition or dramatic language or obligatory habit nor does it need audible tones or good grammar (fortunate for me). He gave us instruction on prayer in the Bible so if we learn to pray as He taught... that's when we begin to hear back, and THAT IS PRAYER!
The problem more often than not is that rather than spending our lives constantly in prayer after the manner that Jesus taught in the model (aka Lord's) prayer, our lives more represent the following:
So here's me praying that will be less true in my life and yours.
Lord, may it be.
DCW
Once I heard a radio host (who considered himself devout in the faith) comment about a politician's prayer habits and said something like he believed in taking your petitions to God as this was called prayer, but saying that God answered directly back was not prayer; that was mental illness. I don't like that definition. That's not biblical.
I like my pastor's definition that it's speaking to the King in the King's language. While it doesn't explicitly mention the hearing part it does orient prayer around the Lord. It is not a function of repetition or dramatic language or obligatory habit nor does it need audible tones or good grammar (fortunate for me). He gave us instruction on prayer in the Bible so if we learn to pray as He taught... that's when we begin to hear back, and THAT IS PRAYER!
The problem more often than not is that rather than spending our lives constantly in prayer after the manner that Jesus taught in the model (aka Lord's) prayer, our lives more represent the following:
Myself who art here now
Hollow be my prayer
My kingdom is come as
My will shall be done
On Earth regardless of Heaven
Give me this day my momentary wants
Forgive whom I deem worthy and advantageous
And demand all to forgive my debts
Lead me to things most immediately pleasant
And deliver me from all suffering and discomfort
For mine is the comfort, the power, and the glory in this moment.
So here's me praying that will be less true in my life and yours.
Lord, may it be.
DCW
Monday, November 15, 2010
Saturday, November 13, 2010
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