A Covenant of Purpose

The LORD God fashioned into a woman the rib which He had taken from the man, and brought her to the man.  Genesis 2:22  NASB Fashioned – If you read the Genesis account of creation within the framework of  covenant commitments, you might notice the following pattern.  God makes a covenant of power with male…

Ineffective Prayer

When you spread out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you; even though you make many prayers, I will not listen; your hands are full of blood.  Isaiah 1:15  ESV I will not listen – We are often told that God hears all prayers, but the Bible says otherwise.  Just as one must…

The Truth About Prayer

Pray without ceasing  1 Thessalonians 5:17  NASB Pray – “We do not refuse to pray.  We merely feel that our tongues are tied, our minds inert, our inner vision dim, when we are about to enter the door that leads to prayer.  We do not refuse to pray; we abstain from it.  We ring the…

Missing Ingredients

In return for my love they accuse me, but I give myself to prayer.  Psalm 109:4  ESV I give myself to – Reading this verse presents a dilemma.  Are we to accept the gloss (the additional words) of the translation because it makes sense to us or are we to reject the gloss and end…

The Motivation for Prayer

For this reason also, since the day we heard of it, we have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding.  Colossians 1:9  NASB For this reason – Would you like others to pray that you might…

Now What? – Rewind

Today I will be traveling to Israel where I will be for 3 weeks, then on to Spain, then Greece and finally home 6 weeks from now.  As you can imagine, writing Today’s Word every day while putting in these kind of miles is a bit daunting.  So, here is an official “rewind,” a TW…

Rest and Protection

And in the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness, for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.  Romans 8:26  NASB Intercedes – Paul’s word for intercedes is a very special word that he made up just to…

The Prayer of Feelings

And in the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness, for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.  Romans 8:26  NASB Weakness – Sick!  That’s the usual meaning of the Greek word astheneia.  It comes from the negative…

Rest and Protection

And in the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness, for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. Romans 8:26 NASB Intercedes – Paul’s word for intercedes is a very special word that he made up just to…

Prayer as Gift

The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much.  James 5:16 NASB Righteous – Now we reach the critical word of James’ statement about prayer.  The Greek is dikaiou.  This is a word derived from the concept of justice.  The man who is just (righteous) is the man who has been declared “not guilty”…