Confession and supplication together form the language of guilt, with which we must all approach the Almighty.
If man’s first duty is obedience to God’s law, then, having transgressed the law, his first responsibility is to repent and confess.…
B.M Palmer begins chapter 2 of Theology of Prayer by suggesting that the parts of prayer are like the colours of the spectrum: they have a basic unity and merge into each other.
Adoration and praise are scarcely distinguishable. Adoration has more to do with God’s nature; praise with his works. In adoration we view God in himself, as revealed to us in the glorious proportions of his own nature and being; in praise we view him in the operation of his will, displayed piece by piece in what he does.…
Some time ago, I introduced B.M. Palmer’s book Theology of Prayer. I now begin a series of posts summarising this ‘neglected masterpiece’ chapter by chapter.
Chapter 1 is entitled, Prayer: Its Nature.
Combining the wording of the Westminster Larger and Shorter Catechisms gives the following definition of prayer:-
…Prayer is an offering up of our desires unto God for all things agreeable to his will, in the name of Christ, by the help of his Spirit, with confession of our sins and thankful acknowledgement of his mercies.
Our everyday lives are saturated with ‘thankyous’. Thankyou for opening that door for me. Thankyou for making that cup of tea. Thankyou for returning the mobile phone that I left in your taxi. Thankyou for helping me mend my bike. Thankyou for being patient with me. Thankyou for being you. Thankyou for thanking me.
But it is our God who is the source of every good and perfect gift, and it is therefore to our God that we owe our biggest debt of thanksgiving.…
I’ve been reading and studying Paul’s great prayer in Colossians 1:1-14. An article in the New Bible Dictionary reminds us that ‘in his Epistles Paul is constantly breaking out into prayer, and it is instructive to glance at some of his prayers because of their content.’ The article goes on to summarise some of the main prayers of Paul recorded in his epistles:-
1. In Rom. 1:8-12 he pours out his heart to God in thanksgiving (v.…
Our Lord has just been drawing attention to the self-righteous Pharisees, v30, and announcing that he is the friend of tax-collectors and ‘sinners’, v34. Here is a story which illustrates both these points.
A Pharisee had invited Jesus to have dinner with him. Picture the scene. Now consider the actions and reactions of the three people involved.
Who this woman was, we do not know.
She was well known for her immorality. …
Have you ever been parted from someone you love? A boy or girl goes off on holiday with a friend, and won’t see mum and dad for a couple of weeks. A boyfriend and girlfried will be setting off in September for different universities. A husband is called up for service in the armed forces, and doesn’t know when he’ll be home again. What is said on such occasions. “Look after yourself…keep in touch…don’t get into trouble” The disciples were in such a situation. …
It was Galileo who said, ‘I do not feel obliged to believe that that same God who has endowed us with sense, reason, and intellect has intended us to forego their use.’
And A.W. Tozer reminds us, ‘the mind is good – God put it there. He gave us our heads and it was not his intention that our heads would function just as a place to hang a hat.’
But the mind is apt to be neglected by well-meaning Christians.…
The Lord’s Prayer is a wonderful prayer: wonderful in its simplicity, and wonderful in its comprehensiveness. Its several petitions have been likened to the colours of the rainbow. And, like the colours of the rainbow, there is a definite order here: we are taught to pray first about God’s things (his honour, kingdom, and will), and only then about our things (daily provision, pardon, protection).
Just six words, but full of meaning:-
1. ‘Bread’ stands here for the basic necessities of life: food, shelter, clothing.…
Text: Exodus 17:8-16
We stand, as it were, at a mid-point between two vast continents. Behind us lies the immense unalterable past, with its pleasures and regrets. In front of us looms the equally vast future, with all its hopes and fears. The question for the people of God as they move forward into this unexplored and largely unknown new territory is this: Can God be trusted? All we have is his promise, and sometimes that promise seems to hang by the slenderest of threads.…
