Prayer

Prayer features biblical, practical help for a deeper prayer life. This category focuses on how to pray, what Scripture teaches about prayer, and how prayer shapes discipleship and spiritual growth. You’ll find devotionals, teaching, and guidance for personal prayer, intercessory prayer, and praying with your church, small group, or family.

April 5, 2014

Christian Standard

When Praying Becomes Hard

By Danny R. Von Kanel Dot lost a son and daughter””her son died in an accident and her daughter from cancer. Praying became difficult. The pain silenced any attempt to approach God. Her dilemma seemed insurmountable. Yet, over time, communication returned, her pain eased, and life became livable again. Dot stumbled upon some keys to reopening communication with God after praying becomes difficult. These six keys can help restore that dialogue.   1. Tell God It”s Hard to Pray When you tell God it”s hard to pray, you are praying. Simply say, “God, it”s too hard to pray to you

May 4, 2013

Christian Standard

Praying for One Transforms Church

By Kent E. Fillinger “Pray for One.” Bo Chancey sent an e-mail to everyone at Manchester (New Hampshire) Christian Church on the Thursday before he preached his first sermon there. He told them his inaugural message would be for each person to pray for one person to follow Christ. That Sunday, Chancey told the 1,200 who had gathered that if everyone would consistently pray for one person, the church would double in size in two years. Chancey continued to reinforce his “pray for one” message in his various communications. “Pray for one” is now part of the church”s cultural language. People regularly

February 7, 2013

Christian Standard

Drive-through Prayer Draws Traffic

By Jennifer Johnson Since last April, Centerpointe Christian Church (Lexington, KY) has offered “drive-through prayer” one Wednesday night a month. A small team of volunteers stands on several corners and in front of the church waving signs to direct drivers to the building, while two couples wait to pray with anyone who pulls in. “We see everything, from families having trouble to people coming right from the bars,” says Rex Hughes, coordinator of the ministry. “Each month is a reminder of the burdens people around us carry every day.” The team hands out cold water in the summer and hot

September 18, 2012

Christian Standard

Have a Good Trip . . . I Mean, Meeting!

By James Riley Estep Jr. My family and I enjoy taking trips. We”ve become rather good at preparing for the trip, traveling together, having fun, and capturing the memories. Trips and travel are a lot like meetings. In fact, meetings could learn a lot from family trips. Perhaps most important to consider is this: who”s driving? Elders” meetings are typically driven by the chairman. His role is to oversee and administrate every aspect of the journey, from preparation to the return to the real world in which we serve. Meetings have one driver, the chairman.   Where Are We Going?

September 3, 2012

Christian Standard

A Call to 40 Days of Prayer

By Staff Dave Butts, founder of Harvest Prayer Ministries (Terre Haute, IN) and chairman of America”s National Prayer Committee, has set up www.40daysofprayer.net to provide information, prayer guides, and links to ministries sponsoring prayer efforts for the 40 days leading up to this year”s elections. The ministry writes, “The challenge is not to pray for a specific candidate, but simply to have 24/7 prayer for our nation during that time. We are beyond political solutions for our nation, but we are desperate for God”s intervention. We are challenging people to pray God”s purposes for our nation, revival in the church, and

July 7, 2012

Christian Standard

The Mystery, the Meaning, the Love

By Rick Chromey As a man and woman exchange vows of commitment, to love for better or worse, in sickness or health, for richer or poorer, “until death” separates them, two people become one. In their physical relationship, they are one flesh. In their personal choices, they are one mind-set. In their seasons of loss, trouble, or crisis, they are one spirit. A divine thread is woven within the Christian wedding. What God has joined together, no one on earth can separate. A marriage is rock solid when God ties the knot. The bride”s white dress represents virginal purity. The

December 8, 2011

Christian Standard

Praying for Tunisia As Never Before

Most Christians want to obey Jesus” command to “ask the Lord of the harvest . . . to send out workers into his harvest field” (Matthew 9:38), but they struggle to know how to pray for a nation they”ve never visited and missionaries they seldom see. Do you want to join thousands of other Christians in united prayer for unreached people? Do you want to receive daily, specific, insightful prayer requests that will empower and intensify your prayers? The website and associated movement www.Pray4Tunisia.com is bringing God”s people together and changing the way we approach prayer for the harvest fields.

November 15, 2011

Christian Standard

Every Week for 10 Years

By Kim Butts For close to 30 weeks this year, believers from Christian churches and churches of Christ have participated in “Light the Fire: 24-7-520,” part of Restoration Revolution, a 10-year collaboration to share Jesus with all peoples. “Light the Fire” began on New Year”s Eve 2010 and will continue through December 31, 2020. It is not a program or an event, but a 10-year journey of prayer for the nations. Churches in several states, the nation of Venezuela, mission organizations, and Bible colleges/universities have set up dynamic prayer rooms to invite and seek God”s presence. A “torch” of prayer

October 17, 2011

Christian Standard

Challenging Men to Take the Lead in Prayer

By Jennifer Taylor  When John Seitz joined the Antioch Christian Church (Marion, IA) staff in 2000, he challenged the men to join a team committed to praying for his ministry and for the church. “Prayer is so integral in seeking guidance from God and providing spiritual protection for the pastor,” Seitz says. “We have a prayer ministry open to everyone, but I wanted this to encourage strong male leadership in the church.” In addition to praying through the week, each year the team gathers for a retreat, and each Sunday morning several of the men gather at the church building

October 6, 2011

Christian Standard

Encouraging Male Prayer Leadership

By Jennifer Taylor When John Seitz joined the Antioch Christian Church (Marion, IA) staff in 2000, he challenged the men to join a team committed to praying for his ministry and for the church. “Prayer is so integral in seeking guidance from God and providing spiritual protection for the pastor,” Seitz says. “We have a prayer ministry open to everyone, but I wanted this to encourage strong male leadership in the church.” In addition to praying through the week, each year the team gathers for a retreat, and each Sunday morning several of the men gather at the church building

August 22, 2011

Christian Standard

Life Lessons on Prayer

By Brian Giese It is easy to neglect prayer. The devil does all he can to distract us from it. We can rationalize it to the back burner because of our busyness. We can go day after day without anybody other than God knowing we have neglected prayer. This writer has been a slow learner in the school of prayer. I had been preaching 15 years before I began to take prayer seriously. That was 30 years ago, and God has taught me a few things about prayer during that time, for example:   Prayer deserves priority. A national poll

April 27, 2011

Christian Standard

Starting a Prayer Revolution

By Mark A. Taylor One of the most encouraging aspects of Restoration Revolution is the way it is motivating some churches to pray. You”ll remember that Restoration Revolution is a 10-year emphasis challenging Christian churches to share Jesus worldwide via four main strategies: prayer (“Almighty”), launching church-planting strategies (“Churches”), creating and distributing needed resources (“Tools”), and recruiting more workers (“Servants”). Dave and Kim Butts of Harvest Prayer Ministries International are spearheading “Light the Fire,” an emphasis challenging churches to spend every hour of a whole week in prayer as a part of this emphasis. “Churches, campuses, and missions organizations are

March 8, 2011

Christian Standard

The Earth: Handle with Prayer

By Jan Johnson As the plane descended that Saturday evening, I watched forest fires raging over my special place on the planet: Southern California. Fire after fire lined the eastern corridor to Los Angeles. Once home, I could see the sky lit up and the hills above us on fire. The next morning as the winds picked up, firefighters knocked on our door and told us to pack up to be ready to leave. But the fire receded and they didn”t come back, so we went wandering toward the hills to gaze at the fire. That”s when I did something

February 15, 2011

Christian Standard

Pray Expectantly

By Sheila S. Hudson Dr. Karen Jones made her way to my ground-floor office. As she blinked back tears in her hazel eyes, she broke the news that funding from the State Department of Education hadn”t arrived. What she didn”t say was, without those funds, my job would go away. But both of us knew that was true. I was stunned. Neither of us could believe it. For seven years, Karen and I had worked hand in glove providing summer workshops for special education teachers. Now it seemed our partnership was coming to an end. Not only that, but at

November 24, 2010

Christian Standard

Teaching People to Pray One at a Time

By Paul Covert In July of 2003, I nervously made a call to Cal Jernigan, the senior pastor at Central Christian Church in Mesa, Arizona. I had known Cal for 25 years and had always respected him. I hoped he could point me to a church that might have some interest in my passion for prayer. Thirty days later I was leading the prayer ministry at Central. When I called Cal, I didn”t know Central had just gone through an extensive season of developing their core values. One of them was, “As a community of believers, we seek God”s guidance

November 24, 2010

Christian Standard

Increase Your Church”s Passion for Prayer

By Paul Covert Getting People Started in Prayer School of Prayer””Each School of Prayer offers topics designed to teach people to pray and time to practice what they”ve learned. At least one of the three sessions is for entry-level prayers. The SOP is held once a quarter. Prayer Garden””Central has its own Prayer Garden. The garden offers a quiet place on campus for staff, members, and their friends to take a break to pray. There are six stations in the garden with inspirational thoughts for prayer at each station. The meditations are changed regularly, so the experience is always fresh.

May 2, 2010

Christian Standard

“˜God, I Hate You!”

By John Mark Hicks Dear God, I hate you. Love, Madeleine. I meditated on this brief prayer (in Madeleine L”Engle”s The Weather of the Heart) for months after I read it. Initially, I was horrified by how much I identified with the prayer. My first reaction was, “I get the point.” And so did Mack in William Young”s bestseller, The Shack. Mack had become “sick of God” in the years since Missy”s death. But at God”s invitation, he went to the shack where Missy was murdered, doubting whether it really was God who invited him. As he entered the shack for the

September 27, 2009

Christian Standard

“˜Whatsoever” Prayer

  by Greg Pruett I could hear my neighbor wailing, I just didn”t know why. My wife and I had just started our missionary career in a West African village, moving into a dusty tin-roofed shack that could have doubled as a solar oven. We found someone who could explain to us in French that our neighbor”s son was dying. When we saw the child, he was lying on the beaten earth floor of a grass-roofed hut, his breathing labored, pupils fixed and dilated. Despair crept into us as we realized he might not live long. I remember standing over

May 14, 2008

Christian Standard

Some Prayer Requests Can Hurt

By Mark A. Taylor My wife used to be a part of the prayer chain at our church. Maybe you’ve participated in one of these. Somebody calls the church with a request, and the prayer chairman calls someone who calls someone who calls someone else to share the need, till everyone in the chain has been notified. My wife actually prayed about these requests. Sometimes I did too, but I must admit I was often more interested in hearing the news than taking the needs to God. Who’s having a baby? Who’s going to the hospital? How bad were the

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