Prayer A to Z

Just a few minutes ago I wrote a blog entitled No thoughts. But on my way home from Perkins, where I was having breakfast, I drove through a yellow arrow. I was supposed to yield to the cars coming from the other direction, but I wasn’t thinking. I was still in my no thoughts mode.

So, even though I was content on having a no thoughts day, I am now resolved in my mind that there are times when thinking is necessary. I must be prepared to think when I am driving—so I will abide by the traffic rules and be safe. Oh, and now, on my way home I will do some grocery shopping, so I will also have to think on what I need to buy. And then later I will do some reading, so I will have to think on my reading. And everything I do…

I brought my writing pad and a pen to my breakfast outing, intending to write a blog post. But as it turned out, I have no thoughts. It reminds me of my earlier days on the farm when I would sometimes sit and stare out into space; and when someone would ask me what I was thinking about I had to say… “nothing.” I had no thoughts. I wonder if that’s possible. I suppose we are always subconsciously thinking.

It’s a terrible thing for a blogger to have no thoughts! But today I feel content to just sit here and eat my food and wait for something to come to me. An inspiration. A message from God. Oh no. My food is almost gone. Panic. I know… I’ll get a piece of caramel apple pie, with whipped cream. That will prolong this “no thought” blog, or it may stimulate a…

Matthew 7:7-8

“Ask, and it shall be given to you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you. 8 “For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it shall be opened.

Here is an absolute promise made by the Son of God. It tells us very directly and strongly that God wants to and will answer our prayers. But there is a right way to ask and a wrong way.

How Not to Ask

1. I think, generally speaking, we should not ask Him to remove our problems from us or take us out of a bad situation. It is always better to ask Him to help us deal with our problems where we are.

2. Never use these verses as a psychological treatment or a way to comfort ourselves. The Lord has given us an absolute promise…

In Matthew 7:1-5, our Lord has been preaching on judgment. He tells us not to judge others; and whenever we try to correct another we must first look at and purify ourselves, then we can see clearly to help them.

In the sixth verse, most bibles put this verse in a special paragraph on its own. But D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones suggests that that is not right, that it should connect to the previous five verses, that it is the final statement on judgment. Indeed, I agree. It tells the spiritual Christian how he must judge another—with “a spirit of discrimination.” So, Jesus says in verse six…

Do not give what is holy to dogs, and do not throw your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces.

What is meant here? First of all, pearls are the Christian message. And the…

This is our thirteenth study. Please click HERE for an intro to this study. Today we will focus on how Jesus responded to the Pharisees when they tried to trap Him.

Matthew 22:15-22

Then the Pharisees went out and laid plans to trap him in his words. 16 They sent their disciples to him along with the Herodians. “Teacher,” they said, “we know you are a man of integrity and that you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. You aren’t swayed by men, because you pay no attention to who they are. 17 Tell us then, what is your opinion? Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar or not?”

18 But Jesus, knowing their evil intent, said, “You hypocrites, why are you trying to trap me? 19 Show me the coin used for paying the tax.” They brought him a denarius, 20…

There seems to be two sides to Critical Race Theory. In one respect CRT is merely a broad study of race and racism. It is a changing package of ideas. It is a bunch of so-called race scholars trying to make sense out of our country as it is—a racist country; they are trying to understand how we got where we are. But another side of CRT is more dominant. These race scholars I think have a strategy: to infiltrate society and our schools with their ideas. But I’m not sure what their ultimate goal is. They may say it is to make society better; but at what cost? I fear it is at the cost of Socialism and even Communism.

In my reading on this topic I ran across this interesting article that was very revealing to me: A Lesson on Critical Race Theory. Here are a few…

These little flowers are only about one-half inch in diameter. They are so beautiful up close.

A very delicate flower, a pink wild rose.

The yellow Goatsbeard.

A Western Wild Rose.

A Viceroy butterfly. It looks a lot like a Monarch but it is darker in color.

I think it is good every once in a while, for a blogger to stop and evaluate what he blogs on, especially for a Christian blogger, because he has a grater responsibility before God to present the truth before God and others.

Here are four different blogging themes I would like to evaluate.

1. Blogging on the evils of our day.

2. Blogging on the necessity of fellow believers to be grounded in the word.

3. To expound on the great truths of Scripture.

4. To present my own testimony and the testimony of others.

Blogging On the Evils of Our Day

Every once in a while, I am compelled to do this, both for my own understanding (through my research) and to inform others. As Christians and as good citizens I think we need to be aware of what’s going on in the world. How can we be discerning…