‘Ah, Lord God! It is you who have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and by your outstretched arm! Nothing is too hard for you.” (Jeremiah 32:17)
Our understanding of prayer will never be bigger than our understanding of God.
I know it’s a cliché, but the place to begin reflecting on prayer is by focusing again on the character of God. In particular, we’ll start by focusing on God’s power. We pray to a God who is able to do all things. Continue reading
“Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful in it and thankful.” (Colossians 4:2)
If I could choose one thing to be great at, or even one thing to be better at, it would be prayer.
Maybe that’s a reflection of how important I believe prayer to be in the Christian life. But if I’m honest, it also reflects my disappointment at my own lack of prayerfulness – my well-meaning plans that so often fail to produce action. And I’m not exactly going out on a limb here, but I doubt I’m the only one who wishes he was a better, more faithful pray-er.
With that in mind, I’d like to invite you to join me in the month of August for ’31 Days Of Prayer’. Continue reading
A quick but meaningful way to offer real support to persecuted Christians
Over the last 48 hours, you’ve probably seen this picture (right) on Facebook. It’s the Arabic letter ‘nun’, for ‘Nazarene’, and is currently being painted on the doors of Christians in Mosul by an extremist Islamic group called ISIS. The symbol marks out Christians, who are being forced to either convert to Islam, pay a ‘protection tax’, flee their homes, or be killed.
For this reason, many Christians have placed the ‘nun’ on their Facebook profile as a small way of showing solidarity with their persecuted brothers and sisters, encouraging prayer, and perhaps drawing a tiny bit of attention to what’s happening in Iraq. Continue reading
Over the last few months, I’ve written a couple of posts encouraging Christians to think more deeply about their ‘entertainment choices’, especially with reference to shows like Breaking Bad and Game of Thrones, or films like The Wolf of Wall Street. In my view, it’s an urgent issue facing Christians everywhere. So I was really pleased to come across these reflections from John Piper – 12 Questions to ask before you watch Game of Thrones.
It’s an article packed with great insights and quotable quotes. Among my favourites: “Jesus has blood-bought power in his cross. He died to make us pure. He ‘gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession’ (Titus 2:14). If we choose to endorse or embrace or enjoy or pursue impurity, we take a spear and ram it into Jesus’s side every time we do. He suffered to set us free from impurity.”
And as one who has written about the violence in a show like Breaking Bad, Piper gives me food for thought by noting that, unlike murder or other forms of violence, nudity cannot be faked: “Violence on a screen is make-believe; nobody really gets killed. But nudity is not make-believe. These actresses are really naked in front of the camera, doing exactly what the director says to do with their legs and their hands and their breasts. And they are naked in front of millions of people to see.”
It’s well worth taking five minutes to read the whole article. It may very well help you to grow in godliness.
He was born in an obscure village as the child of an unmarried teenage peasant. He grew up in another obscure village, where he worked as a carpenter until the age of 30. At the age of 33, after a brief public ministry during which he gathered a small band of followers, he was betrayed by one of them, abandoned by them all, arrested, tried, and sentenced to death. He died in the most humiliating, painful form of execution that humanity has ever devised, hanging on a cross between two common criminals on a hill just outside a small town. He died homeless and destitute – executed as a criminal, mocked by his enemies, abandoned by his friends, buried in a borrowed grave.
And now, over the next few days, countless millions of people all over the world will gather to worship Jesus of Nazareth as the Creator of the universe, the King of the world, and the Saviour of humanity. His life, death and resurrection will be proclaimed as the central events in human history.
“Today Jesus is the central figure of the human race and the leader of mankind’s progress. All the armies that have ever marched, all the navies that have ever sailed, all the parliaments that have ever sat, all the kings that ever reigned put together, have not affected the life of mankind on earth as powerfully as that one solitary life.” (James Francis, ‘One Solitary Life’)
It’s worth asking Why.
I will define myself as a Christian, not an introvert
Myers-Briggs may say that I’m an INFJ. Gallup may think they know my Top Five Strengths. There are all kinds of ways to categorise ‘me’. But what truly defines me? What goes to the heart of who I am? I’m a Christian. I’m a follower of Jesus, and a new creation. I’m saved by the grace of God through the death and resurrection of Jesus – being conformed to the image of Jesus by God’s gracious work in me.
We can say lots of true things about ourselves, but personality tests or traits will never ultimately define any follower of Jesus. Our identity is found in him. We are Christians first. Continue reading
As a blogger, every now and then I come across a post that leaves me channeling my inner Oscar Wilde and thinking, ‘I wish I’d said that’. Sometimes, though, my feeling is closer to, ‘I’m glad I didn’t have to say that, because someone else has already said it much better than I ever could.’ I have both of those feelings today.
One of the items on my to-do list for the week ahead had been to write an open letter to Scott Morrison and Tony Abbott, addressing their government’s policies on asylum seekers and their appalling treatment of and attitude towards those seeking asylum in my country of birth. But it looks like someone has beaten me to it, and they’ve done a brilliant job. Continue reading
I’m really excited to let you know that Every Thought Captive is about to launch its very own podcast. I’m planning a series of ministry interviews – one-on-one conversations with a range of Christian men and women who are serving Jesus in a variety of contexts. Our guests will talk to us about their areas of expertise, while also sharing their wisdom and insights on living the Christian life, talking theology, and helping us all to continue serving Jesus in our own lives and ministries. The interviews will be designed to encourage and stimulate any Christian who wants to think about gospel-centred, biblical ministry.
I’m really thankful for the fantastic line-up of people who have already agreed to be part of the interview series – a wonderful mix of godly Christian leaders from a range of backgrounds and experiences – and I’m hoping to keep adding to the list. I’m looking forward to announcing the first of my interviewees really soon, and I trust the podcast will be a great help to you – whoever you are, wherever you are – as you seek to live for Jesus and make him known.
Have evangelicals fallen into the trap of validating all sorts of entertainment choices in the name of ‘cultural engagement’?
Last year, I shared some thoughts on how Christians ought to engage with and consume popular culture, based around the final episode of Breaking Bad. It’s a perennial question, one that will continue to confront Christians for a long time to come.
The latest incarnation of this issue centres around the film The Wolf of Wall Street, the Oscar-nominated film starring Leonardo DiCaprio and directed by Martin Scorsese. I haven’t seen it, but I greatly appreciated Trevin Wax’s insights over at The Gospel Coalition. For me, here is the big question: “I never subscribed to the fundamentalist vision that saw holiness in terms of cultural retreat or worldliness as anything that smacked of cultural engagement. I don’t subscribe to that position today. But sometimes I wonder if evangelicals have swung the pendulum too far to the other side, to the point where all sorts of entertainment choices are validated in the name of cultural engagement.” Continue reading
“Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, the offspring of David, as preached in my gospel, for which I am suffering, bound with chains as a criminal. But the word of God is not bound!” (2 Tim 2:8-9)
Every year, Open Doors produces ‘World Watch’ – a comprehensive list of the 50 countries in which Christians are most persecuted for their faith in Jesus. Even if you’re not a believer, it’s worth taking a look at the list to have your eyes opened to the human rights violations that take place around the world every single day. But for Christians in the West, the list is a great encouragement to prayer, and a reminder that the comfortable world we inhabit is not shared by countless millions of our brothers and sisters in Christ.
For the twelfth year in a row, North Korea tops the list. Here’s part of the ‘World Watch List Challenge’ email I received today from Open Doors (you can subscribe to this weekly email list here): Continue reading
Every Thought Captive 