Gospel.com Blog

Whether it’s in the morning, during lunch or in the evening, most people try to block out some time every day for prayer.

What about you, when do you pray?

Share your thoughts!

Meditation is defined by m-w.com as the act of engaging “in mental exercise for the purpose of reaching a heightened level of spiritual awareness.” Let’s assume that we’re talking about meditating on a particular passage or phrase in the Bible, or on an aspect of God.

So, what do you think, should Christians meditate?

Share your answer!

There’s that old saying that there are no atheists in foxholes, but do those foxhole dwellers need to confess that Jesus is Lord before God will grant them safety? Or does God answer every prayer offered to Him regardless of one’s standing in the Kingdom?

So, what do you think, does God listen to the prayers of non-Christians?

Share your answer!

When’s the last time you gave thanks for the simple things in life?

If you’re like me, despite the many Biblical injunctions to be thankful, I rarely spend serious time in a spirit of thankfulness. I’ll devote a token amount of time on Thanksgiving to thank God for my family and friends—and that’s definitely a good thing—but I tend to miss out on the day to day opportunities for thanksgiving.

Thankfulfor.com is out to create a collective journal of everyone’s daily thanksgivings. They ask the simple question, “What are you thankful for today?” to which people have responded with everything from “This class being over in 45 minutes!” to “I am grateful that my mother lived for almost three years after stroke. I am happy that she met her grandson.”

You can login using your twitter account, or create an account with thankfulfor.com. Or jump straight to reading what the world is thankful for.

So, what are you thankful for today?

Ramadan begins tomorrow—are you ready?

Ramadan is, of course, an Islamic tradition, not a Christian one. For Muslims, it’s a month-long period of fasting and prayer. But some Christians are suggesting that we use the month of Ramadan as a time of special prayer for Muslims around the world.

Arab World Ministries has put together daily Ramadan prayer points for Christians, each of which highlights a specific prayer need “for Muslims, Muslim background believers or Christian workers based in the Arab world.” If you’d like to participate, just check back each day over the next month for a daily prayer point.

Mission Network News is also running a story about Ramadan if you’d like more background about it. If you know of other Christians or ministries who are using the month of Ramadan as an opportunity to pray for Muslims and Christians in the Arab world, please leave a comment below!

Every year, Muslims around the world celebrate a month of intentional and rigid fasting called Ramadan. From sun up to sun down, they fast from anything considered not of good nature or considered excessive: eating, drinking, smoking, sex, etc. If you’re interested in knowing more, you can read more about Ramadan on wikipedia.

World Christian ministries publishes a prayer guide for Christians to follow along during the month of Ramadan. It attempts to educate Christians about worldwide Islamic culture and gives them ways in which to pray for Muslims.

Mission Network News is distributing the book this year. They recently published an article about the prayer calendar and Ramadan.

Here’s an excerpt:

“It [World Christian's 30-Days Muslim Prayer Guide] literally takes you around the world introducing you to various countries, regions, people groups and even issues that are facing the Islamic culture today,” said Greg Yoder, executive director of MNN.

Yoder believes this guide is one of the best resources available for average Christians to gain information and understanding of the Islamic culture. The booklet is mostly centered around Ramadan.

“World Christian has put together this booklet that will help you pray each day, at the same time Muslims are praying,” said Yoder. “The twist is this: we’re encouraging Christians to pray that many of these Muslims will turn to Christ.”

You can order the book through Mission Network News. Even if you don’t, consider spending some time praying for our Islamic neighbors during Ramadan this year.

What do you make of the New Testament command to pray continually?

The King James Version is even more evocative in its wording: “Pray without ceasing.” Clearly, we aren’t mean to physically pray 24 hours per day. But the standard explanation I’ve heard—that this verse means we should have a “prayerful attitude” throughout the day—always struck me as sidestepping some of the force of the command.

So what should prayer look like in the life of a Christian? One of the best examinations of Christian prayer that I’ve come across is at the Bible Prayer Fellowship, in their free 12-part guide to prayer. They’ve put the full text of the study—a leader’s guide and an accompanying student workbook—online. While it’s written to be used in a small group study environment, the relatively short length of each day’s material actually would make them quite workable as a daily personal devotion.

So if you, like me, have often wondered how to make prayer a more central part of your life, take a look. And if you have a fresh perspective on what it means to “pray without ceasing,” please share your thoughts below!

Those that have participated in guided prayer know how fulfilling it can be. It gives a structure to your scattered thoughts and emotions and helps you offer your day to God.

Examen.me is a new site that walks you through a number of these prayers (also called examens). What makes the site interesting is that it allows you to keep a fully searchable (and fully secure) journal. As you walk through the different questions, you can type out your thoughts and prayers for later review. It’s always fascinating to see how God faithfully answers prayer throughout the months and years.

Want to explore the site a bit before you sign up? You can try it without the journal feature here.

Part of discipleship is understanding the necessity of the spiritual disciplines, and there’s no greater discipline than Prayer. Dr. Krejcir of Discipleship Tools writes about prayer in this way:

Prayer is not just a selfish wish list to get God to cater to our needs and whims; rather, it’s true purpose and the reason it is also a discipline is to shape us by what He has revealed, and to grow in faith, character, perseverance, and maturity.

No one would argue that a healthy prayer life is integral to a Christian’s life, but health is not just a matter of daily repetition. The same article from Discipleship Tools has a series of questions to ask yourself concerning prayer:

1. How would you define The Discipline of Prayer? Are you a person who naturally prays in all situations you face—from daily life to future activities for your own needs and those of others, too? If not, why not?

2. What part does prayer play in your relationships with church members, friends, coworkers, and family? If you see a need, do you first pray? If not, what do you do? What should you do?

3. How does prayerlessness counteract prayerfulness? What is the cost to the Kingdom of God when the church does not engage in prayer or teach and encourage its people to be people of prayer?

Personally, I know that far too often prayer is a secondary solution rather than my primary action. If any of these questions piqued your interest there are a few more and some other thoughts on prayer to ponder in the rest of the article.

This is a repost of a Gospel For Asia update on the situation in Orissa. Head over to their site find out ways in which to pray for them.

Click on the play button to hear a message from Gospel for Asia Founder and President K.P. Yohannan.

Increasing attacks on Gospel for Asia-related work in Orissa have resulted in the deaths of at least six local believers since radical mobs went on a rampage after the murder of a leading anti-Christian activist.

Saturday night, Swami Laxamanananda Saraswati, a top leader of the VHP (World Hindu Council), was killed in an attack by 20 men suspected of being Maoist rebels. The Maosts had earlier warned the swami to leave the area. The attack, which included gunfire and a hand grenade, also killed four other people.

GFA President K.P. Yohannan strongly condemned the gruesome killing of Swami Laxamanananda and demanded that those who were guilty should be punished.

Because the swami was a leading opponent of Christian work in India, his followers in the ultra-fundamentalist VHP have used his murder to incite hundreds of their followers to go on a rampage of death and destruction across several districts in India’s Orissa state.

According to the latest reports, at least six Christians who attended GFA-related churches have been killed.

The latest detailed reports list more than 15 GFA-related church buildings destroyed and at least 110 church members’ homes burned to the ground. Other Christian groups have also suffered, with many deaths reported and attacks on ministers and missionaries being widespread. There are even reports of Catholic nuns being gang raped and murdered by the extremists.

“We are also deeply shocked and anguished to hear of the atrocities and violence meted out to the innocent Christians and churches in Orissa as a backlash of the sorrowful event,” Dr. Yohannan said, “and we are praying for an immediate halt to the violence.”

Dozens of pastors and their families have been attacked by roving mobs, and many have fled with their congregations into the surrounding forests. Some children and their parents have been in hiding, without food or water, since the rioting began on Sunday.

One GFA Bible college is under police protection, while a GFA Bridge of Hope children’s center was closed when a mob threatened to attack. They threatened to kidnap one of the workers, so the staff and 120 children left the area. It is not known what has happened to the center property.

“What is most disturbing is that these attacks seem to be well organized and orchestrated,” Dr. Yohannan said. “We have reports that the VHP have actually held strategy meetings in order to plan and coordinate this campaign of violence against peaceful Christian families and churches.”

Pamphlets have been printed and widely distributed accusing the Christians of the swami’s murder, even though most authorities indicate it was most likely Maoist rebels who were responsible.

“We thank God that the government officials are protecting our Bible college campus and trying to protect our people,” K.P. added. “That is a true blessing.”

But as the violence has increased, many fear the government’s actions are not enough.

Reports note that the mobs are using firebombs to attack homes and churches, and there is little evidence of police or other government intervention.

There are more than 295 GFA-related churches in Orissa. GFA has dozens of missionaries in the state, and the people have been very receptive to the message of Christ’s love for them.

“But the fundamentalist groups have always opposed us,” noted one GFA worker, “and now there is great tension prevailing, and Christians are running away for their lives.”

“My heart goes out to the missionaries and believers,” Dr. Yohannan said. “We must pray with all earnestness for the suffering church in Orissa at this time.”

Those who wish to help meet the needs of the suffering believers in Orissa may give to GFA’s Persecution Relief Fund.