Tag Archives: forgiveness

Praying for Ukraine and for Ourselves

“Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem and proclaim to her that her hard service has been completed, that her sin has been paid for, that she has received from the LORD’s hand double for all … Continue reading

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Praying when Blessed by Jesus

Several months ago, I memorized the Beatitudes. Since then, each morning I have included meditation on their meaning with reflection on my daily Bible reading and what I plan to write about next on this blog. According to Matthew, Jesus … Continue reading

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Thoughts about The Lord and His Prayer

British professor N. T. Wright has written a book, The Lord and His Prayer (published in 1997 by Wm. B. Eerdmans), about the model prayer that Jesus used to teach his disciples to pray. The prayer, recorded in Matthew 6:9-13 … Continue reading

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Prayer, Confession, and Forgiveness

Guilt weighs heavily. Fear that accountability will be required or that forgiveness will be denied creates stress. In Dostoevsky’s classic novel Crime and Punishment, the primary character plans and commits a crime which no one seems to connect to him. … Continue reading

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For Whom Do You Wrestle in Prayer?

“Epaphras, who is one of you and a servant of Christ Jesus, sends greetings. He is always wrestling in prayer for you, that you may stand firm in all the will of God, mature and fully assured” (Colossians 4:12). For … Continue reading

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Pray for the Survivors on Memorial Day

  Memories of bereaved mothers, fathers, wives, and husbands me haunt me on Memorial Day.  I recall being a part of next-of-kin notifications after soldiers or family members died. As a Chaplain, I rarely told the grieving, often disbelieving widow, … Continue reading

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Prayer in the Shadow of the Holocaust

Reading Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner awakened memories of my time in Afghanistan. I read a history of Afghanistan while I was deployed there that quoted a British Army officer who visited Kabul. He described it as a garden city … Continue reading

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Prayer that Pride Will Not Preclude Prayer

In Genesis chapter 4, we read about Cain murdering his brother Abel and Cain’s subsequent punishment. The chapter tells also of Cain’s descendants. Several generations later is born Lamech, whose story becomes the focal point of Cain’s genealogy. Lamech has … Continue reading

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Praying with Desperate Repentance

“Out of the depths I cry to you, O LORD! O Lord, hear my voice! Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my pleas for mercy!” (Psalm 130:1-2) That prayer of desperation begins a song sung by pilgrims … Continue reading

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Prayer to the God who Reverses and Redefines

Psalm 129 laments persecution and calls down judgment on those who hate the place where God’s people worship. A song sung on the way to worship by Israelite worshipers, the psalm’s words speak of painful assault experienced by the worshiper. … Continue reading

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