“When you pray, you are not to be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners so that they may be seen by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full.” Matthew 6:5 NASB Pray – You can’t speak Italian like…
“But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.” Acts 6:4 NASB Prayer – Okay, we get the idea that someone in leadership has to serve. We understand that diakonia must be evident in the lives of those who lead. The assembly of believers is a hierarchy of service. Its…
Scott Peck was right. Life is difficult. But perhaps it is difficult in a different way than he imagined. He noted that our expectations of comfort and pleasure are at odds with the reality of true fulfillment. Real life comes from the willingness to live for something bigger than myself (Heschel). That means sacrifice at…
“If one goes to defile himself, openings are made for him; and he who goes to purify himself, help is afforded him.” Tractate Shabbat 104a Openings – Recently a man in China asked me to pray for him. He was having violent dreams and he was afraid that those dreams would cause him to act violently….
“But we will devote ourselves to prayer, and to the ministry of the word.” Acts 6:4 NASB But – Let’s see if we have this straight. The Twelve, the most important men in the assemblies of Torah-observant Messianic Jewish believers, decline administrative responsibilities because they need to be fully attentive to prayer and the “ministry”…
There is a time to act for God; set aside the Torah Psalm 119:126 (Heschel) To act for God – You won’t get this translation in the English Bibles. Most English Bibles, and a lot of translations of the Jewish Tanakh, read something like, “It is time for the Lord to act, for they have…
Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving. Colossians 4:2 NASB Devote – Yes, it’s fine for Paul to say this. After all, he is a saint. But for you and me? No, devotion to prayer is just too much, especially when it includes “keeping alert.” I don’t know about…
You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. James 4:3 ESV Passions – But I thought being passionate was a good thing. Ah, if we only read it in Greek. Hedonais, the plural noun, makes it quite clear that James is talking about self-centered pleasures, not passions. …
In these days he went out to the mountain to pray, and all night he continued in prayer to God. Luke 6:12 ESV Prayer – “And all night he continued.” Are you kidding me? Who can stay up all night praying? I dare say that most of us fall asleep after twenty minutes attempting to…
Let my prayer be counted as incense before you, and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice! Psalm 141:2 ESV Sacrifice – Come and worship the King! Surrender your vanities, burn your insolence, abandon your bias.[1] But do not think that you will go away unscathed. Do not imagine His holiness will…
