Posted on

Hate the things you hate

God in heaven, let us hate the things you hate, and love the things you love. Keep us from exchanging these because of pressure from man or because of our love of people. Make us steadfast in our hate of evil and in our love of righteousness.

Make the love of the lost our guiding star to give us courage in face of opposition to speak the word of Christ.

Remind us of our need for faithfulness, for the return from infidelity and betrayal is fraught with pain and discord.

Keep us from arrogance, pride, materialism, and intrigue, that we may not be destroyed.

Today’s prayer was inspired by several readings, from Pro 6, Ac 14, 2 Sam 19, and Eze 27.

Posted on

3 distinctive characteristics of acceptable prayer

On Forthright Magazine, Mike Brooks offered these three facets of prayer, from reading the Lord’s prayer.

Note that there is no mention of posture, dress, directional orientation, or other physical requirements in our prayers. Christians are encouraged to “pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17) but not a certain number of times per day. Paul mentions “lifting up holy hands” in prayer (1 Timothy 2:8). However, the acceptable prayer of the tax collector in Jesus’ parable was given “without so much as rais[ing] his eyes to heaven” (Luke 18:13).

Read the whole article here.