Prayer Summit 2025

When it comes to the Christian life there are several fundamental and foundational habits. Perhaps you can think of a few, like reading the Bible, or gathering with other believers for worship and encouragement (what we often call “church”), or maybe giving to the church that you are a member of. All wonderful good, godly habits. Another is the habit of prayer.  It is a fundamental habit that is almost as old as time itself. It has been part of the life of all faithful believers for millennia. Early in the book of Genesis we see people begin to pray when it says “At that time people began to call upon the name of the LORD.” (Genesis 4:26 ESV). It is a habit that has long endured in the life of believers, and rightly so.  The habit of prayer is built upon some foundational truths. The first is that there is actually a God. We wouldn’t call out to someone

In my last article I shared with you four foundational truths about prayer. You could, broadly speaking, place them in the categories of God’s character and attributes. Character being his willingness to answer. Attributes being his ability to hear and to answer. In this article I want to talk about one of his attributes in greater detail.  But before we get there I want to tell you about something that happened recently in my own church. I can’t go into details about it, but it was something that truly astounded me. I was shocked at what had occurred, in the most wonderful awe-inspiring way. God did something that left my jaw figuratively on the floor. The type of thing that we saw in the book of Acts.  It was so wonderful and so amazing that it actually brought tears to my eyes and left me like a blubbering idiot for the rest of the afternoon. The Holy Spirit had worked

Previously, I wrote about four foundational truths we affirm when we pray, and then I followed up that article with another in which we reflected on God’s ability to do far more than we ask or think.  When we think of prayer and why God answers our prayers there are a few reasons God answers them (this is not exhaustive nor are they all equally present all the time).  One reason is to reveal his attributes. When God answers our prayers, he is revealing an aspect of his attributes. When he answers a prayer that has to do with helping with a problem and the solution comes to mind, he is revealing his knowledge and wisdom (often referred to as his omniscience). When he provides for a tangible need through an unexpected avenue, this might reveal his sovereignty in guiding humanity. As you reflect on the times he has answered your prayers how have they revealed to you some aspect

In my previous articles I’ve discussed various aspects of prayer. In this article I want to encourage a particular prayer practice to you. It is one that is not new, it is in fact very old, but it might be new to you. It was new to me several years ago. It is the practice of using the Bible to guide our prayers and by that I mean using the actual words and language of Scripture.* Allowing the very words of the Bible to inform how we pray. This is a practice that has been advocated throughout church history and is even something Jesus himself did as he was on the cross when he prayed Psalm 22.   But rather than simply urging you to pray the Bible, I want to give you a practical application of it for your English Language Ministries. How can we let the Bible inform our prayers for English Language Ministries? What are some specific Scriptures