Prayer is to be intricately woven through every square inch of your life’s tapestry.

Your workplace can be transformed as you pray for your co-workers, your supervisors, and the

owners. The person who works beside you may have severe marriage problems—Jesus is the answer

and you carry His message—prayer goes before you to prepare his or her heart to receive your healing

words. The company may have financial problems, threatening the livelihoods of hundreds of

workers—Jesus is the answer and you carry His message—prayer goes before you to open doors for

peace and prosperity to return to your workplace.

How does life transformation happen? It takes place when we take God’s Word back to Him in prayer. God’s Word is transformative. We can “hear” His Word from many sources. Jesus often said, “Anyone with ears to hear should listen and understand!”

There are many unforgettable characters found in the Bible. Some are strange, some are evil, others great. They represent struggles of the flesh and triumphs of the spirit; failure and achievement; debauchery and nobility; goodness and greed. Ambition and humility. The stories of their lives and exploits have filled many a Sunday school lesson, illustrated many a sermon, and become legendary to those of us who cherish the great and wise Book.

At Cape Fear Valley Medical Center in Fayetteville, North Carolina a beautiful thing happened. On New Year’s Day, twin boys were born. Adonis and Adrian will have no recollection of this special occasion. They have no past to fondly remember or bitterly forget.

They’ve made no mistakes, caused no trouble, had no regrets, celebrated no triumphs, made no resolutions, suffered no sickness, and reached no milestones other than being among the earliest arrivals of this new year.

This year we started the Christmas season by watching the Frank Capra classic movie It’s a Wonderful Life, which stars Jimmy Stewart and Donna Reed. We have seen this movie many times, but this year we were struck by the contrast between Bedford Falls and Pottersville, and we saw in it a message for times such as ours. Sadly, it seemed to us that our world today looks much like Pottersville.

I learned early on that praise and worship is the highest calling for a believer because it fulfills the “First Greatest Commandment” given to us by Jesus. It’s true. However, we must also consider that praise and worship is a manner of prayer because we are communicating our love and adoration to God.

Often at church or in a Bible group meeting, there is a time of prayer among those gathered. Prayer requests are given and the group takes the needs to God in prayer. Of course, this type of prayer can take place anywhere two or more believers gather. Agreeing in prayer is an ultimate expression of unity in the body of Christ

The Essence of Prayer - Inquiring, Abiding, Listening

Prayer is and should be, a means of two-way communication more than an avenue to make requests.

On June 6, 1984, standing on the cliffs on the northern shore of France where American soldiers had stormed ashore four decades earlier “to set free a suffering humanity”, President Ronald Reagan had come to salute those who survived.

He was joined by Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom, Queen Beatrix of The Netherlands, King Olav V of Norway, King Baudouin I of Belgium, Grand Duke Jean of Luxembourg, and Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau of Canada.

There are limitless expressions of prayer offered by way of thousands of belief systems. However, as sincere Christians, praying effectively means that we seek to use patterns, principles and examples given to us through God’s Word. The Bible guides us to petition God by coming into agreement with His Word—we want to pray His way. Praying His way means finding out what He says about prayer and then submitting to Him and His ways when we pray.  

As God’s image bearer, Adam was given the mandate to execute God’s will upon the earth, to subdue and to have dominion over it. Through this delegated dominion, Adam’s objective was to fulfill God’s purposes on earth. That exercise of power was accomplished through close fellowship, communication and submission to God.

I challenge you to see your life in Christ as a beautiful and precious tapestry. Envision Jesus interwoven into the fabric from corner to corner. As you move through each day, your daily encounters and responsibilities require His love and His compassion. When He is included this way, God is glorified and you experience the abundant Life that Jesus came to give you.

No doubt you have noticed that these are difficult times. Lawlessness and outright foolishness seem to be in abundance. Although living in the “land of the free”, more and more citizens feel the clammy grip of tyranny from all levels of government. In this article I am not going to get into the tantalizing nuances of prophecy, nor take a stand on the timing of the Rapture. I am going to look at what Jesus told His Church and make some suggestions about how the faithful can live in difficult and perilous times, glorifying God, while awaiting His return. 

No matter the opposition. No matter public opinion. No matter the cost. As they were brave, so must you and I be brave. As they pressed on, so must we, in the ongoing struggle between good and evil.

Chris Bires, 41, was on his way to work. He walked this street in downtown Chicago every day, Monday thru Friday. It was routinely uneventful. Until that day.

When Chris spotted a man playing his saxophone on the street and the empty can next to him, he decided he’d do a good deed. Reaching into his pocket he pulled out all his coins and emptied them into the can. The bearded young saxophonist smiled at the clean-shaven executive and thanked him. When he got to work, Chris discovered that he was missing his wedding ring.

Mr. Eggers was 68 years old. He had been employed as a customer service representative with Wells Fargo Home Mortgage in Des Moines, Iowa for years. He did his job well. He was also a law-abiding man. So, one can only imagine his shock. Eggers was summarily fired. His offense? Back in 1963, when he was nineteen, Eggers had inserted a fake dime into a laundry machine.

Lorie Smith didn’t intend to be notable. She didn’t seek the limelight. Nor did she welcome controversy. She’s not a lawyer, a judge, or a politician. Lorie is an artist. She designs wedding websites.

Lorie’s the latest contestant in the ongoing struggle over the meaning, protections, and limits of the First Amendment. That’s right, she refused to design a wedding website for a gay couple.

The Declaration of Independence is the greatest, most passionate, and most beautiful expression of the spirit of individual liberty ever penned.

The absence of a father creates an aching void in the heart and life of a child that no government program can fill. In point of fact, it’s been well-documented over the years that many such programs, well-intended, have actually contributed to the pathologies and destructiveness that have hurt families.

The optimist believes we live in the best of all possible worlds—the pessimist fears this is true.