The Suburbs of Heaven

Jesus intends the Lord’s Prayer to be a pattern for His disciples to follow. We know this because Jesus Himself tells us so. In Matthew 6:9, He says that when we pray, we are to pray “like this,” which obviously means that Jesus intends this prayer to serve as a…

As important as the heart is in our praying, it is not everything. God is not just looking for rash sentimentality or irrational feelings when we pray. Jesus actually gives His disciples words to say when He teaches them to pray in Matthew 6:9-13. He doesn’t tell them to simply…

Another reason why we so often feel inadequate when it comes to prayer is that we do not feel confident that we know how to pray. This is especially the case when it comes to praying in front of other people and is, thus, a big contributor to the long…

Unanswered prayer may be the biggest reason why so many of us lose the will to pray. We grow discouraged by God’s silence, and we quit. I once had someone come up to me after a sermon I preached on the topic of prayer. He confessed that he had given up on…

Most of us are busy—too busy. We regularly feel as though we are trying to fit 20 pounds into a 10-pound bag. There is never enough time to do everything that we want. In this context, it is relatively easy to squeeze prayer out of our schedules. One way to…

EM Bounds has said: “Praying is spiritual work; and human nature does not like taxing, spiritual work. Human nature wants to sail to heaven under a favoring breeze, a full, smooth sea. Prayer is humbling work. It abases intellect and pride, crucifies vainglory, and signs our spiritual bankruptcy, and all these…