Jesus Invites Us to 'Plagiarize' the Lord's Prayer

The following thoughts about the Lord's Prayer could also apply to any written prayer found in the Bible (such as the Psalms or the prayers in Paul's ...

Thomas Merton on the Uselessness of Planning Our Own Answers to Prayer

What is the use of praying if at the very moment of prayer, we have so little confidence in God that we are busy planning our own kind of answer to our ...

Prayer: Where Two Struggles Meet

If prayer stands as the place where God and human beings meet, then I must learn about prayer. Most of my struggles in the Christian life circle around ...

Statistics on Worship Services and Prayers

Americans who in 1983 said they attend religious services weekly: 32 percent

Americans who said this in 2006: 26 percent

Americans who in 1983 said they ...

Woman Serving in White House for 24 Years Prayed Regularly for Presidents

Emma Daniel Gray died on June 8, 2009, at the age of 95. There was a big story about her in the Washington Post because for 24 years she was the woman ...

How to Pray in an Economic Crisis

During one of the most volatile periods of the current economic crisis—a week in which global stock markets declined by $7 trillion—Philip ...

Praying Church Is an Alive Church

I am increasingly convinced that if the Church is to live, and actually be alive, one of the reasons, maybe the most important and maybe the only reason, ...

The Power of Following God's Leading

Dill Rummel, a woman from the church where I pastor, once told me the story of how a colleague of hers was hospitalized for ten weeks. Her name was Colleen, ...

Holiness Can't Be Hurried

Some years ago we often sang a hymn, "Take Time to Be Holy." I wish we sang it more in these days. It takes time to be holy; one cannot be holy ...

Praying for the Pastor

If a church wants a better pastor, it can get one by praying for the one it has.