The True Intention of Prayer

In The Higher Happiness, Ralph W. Sockman describes the true intention of prayer: "We use prayer as a boatman uses a boat hook: to pull the boat ...

Woman's Persistence Results in Calls from the Governor

Pastor Lee Eclov writes:

I was surprised to read a Facebook posting from a friend in South Dakota named Diane. She wrote, "Had a nice surprise last ...

Woman Given 24–48 Hours to Live Learns Valuable Lessons

For 11 years, Mary Leonard of Louisville, Kentucky, has dealt with polymyositis, a rare inflammatory tissue disease that invades the muscles. There is ...

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 ...

A Writer's Reflections on Offering His First Prayer

A. J. Jacobs, a writer living in New York, decided to obey the Bible as literally as possible for one year. To prepare, he bought a stack of Bibles and ...

How the Bible Differs from a Golf Yardage Book

Have you ever watched professional golfers and been awed by their ability to land a shot from two hundred yards away just a few yards from the hole? You ...

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 ...

God Answers Prayer and Prevents Transportation Strike

Perhaps the cool, crisp air in Huancayo, Peru, should have signaled to our mission team that God was about to do something truly special.

The local Peruvians ...

Prayer Works Even from "Far Away"

Peter Charpentier, a minister in Hammond, Louisiana, shares a story of how God used his youngest son to teach him a valuable lesson about prayer and the ...

John Ortberg on the Importance of Spiritual Weaning

Stillness is always a prerequisite for receptivity. Telephones and television sets cannot receive messages when they are too filled with static and noise. ...