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6 Elements of Effective Prayer
My thanks for this lesson to John Underhill, pastor of Valley Fourth Church in Spokane, WA. I have paraphrased his article but the ideas, not to mention the neat alliteration, are his. Matthew 6:9-15 is the Lord’s Prayer. We repeat the Lord’s Prayer and we are right to do so, but the pattern that He taught us using this prayer is just as important as the prayer itself. Now, must every prayer we pray follow this pattern? No, we are not under the Law. And this prayer is our speaking to God, while we should also listen to God. But I believe that when we settle down to talk to…
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Why “Fear and Trembling”?
Continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose. (Phil. 2:12b-13) I never understood these verses, never liked these verses, and ignored these verses. So of course God told me to teach them at my Bible study! Having been forced to study them, I figured it out and feel much better now. ;> At first glance these statements seem contradictory! In v. 12, “work out your salvation” sure sounds like it’s up to us. Even worse, we’re supposed to do it with fear and trembling! Yet in v. 13,…
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Wise Men and Shepherds
Luke 2:8-20 Some of Israel’s great heroes were shepherds — Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and David. And God is called the Good Shepherd throughout the Bible. When the family were the shepherds – the father or sons – then it was fine. They were the sheeps’ owners and could be trusted to watch out for them. But hired shepherds had a much worse reputation for running away, stealing sheep, and being generally bad news. Philo, a Hellenistic Jewish philosopher of Alexandria (25 BC – 45 AD), wrote about looking after sheep and goats, “Such pursuits are held mean and inglorious.” Whatever these particular shepherds did, they were with the sheep that…