I know it’s been a while since I’ve published a guest post on my blog, but this was too good to pass up. Today's post comes from Sherry Fam, the wife of Fr. Timothy Fam, who is my fellow priest at STSA Church. In her post, Sherry calls our attention to a virtue that is sorely lacking in the world today. It’s a lesson that is desperately needed with all that’s going on in the world these days. If you too are interested in guest posting on my blog, please visit my Guest Post guidelines for more info.
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Which is harder: PRAYER or WORK?
“The great people of the earth today are people who pray. I do not mean people who talk about prayer; nor those who say they believe in prayer; nor yet those who can explain about prayer; but I mean those people who take time and pray. They have not the time. It must be taken from something else. This something else is important. Very important, pressing, but still less important and less pressing than prayer.” -- S.D. Gordon
Which is harder – to pray or to work? Be honest. Which comes more natural when you have a problem that you can’t solve: to get up and try to fix it? Or to kneel down and spend some time praying about it?
For me, it’s a no-brainer. The harder task is prayer...by far! I know it seems counterintuitive, but it's true.
Read MoreBlind Faith, Part 2 - THE NOBLEMAN'S SON
We’re in week 2 of our latest series, Blind Faith and this week we’re looking at the second sign in the gospel of St. John: HEALING THE NOBLEMAN’S SON (see John 4:46-54).
Here we see Jesus challenge the nobleman (and us) to trust, even when that means walking away from the very thing we are asking for. It isn’t easy, but true faith calls us live each day as if Jesus is who He says is, regardless of what we see in front of us.
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What God Is Teaching Me about Prayer These Days
Usually when I sit down to write a blog post, I start with the question “what is God teaching me these days?” I’ve always felt that the purpose of my blog isn’t to TEACH you anything, but rather to SHARE what God is teaching me.
So usually I look for the most interesting lessons to share – practical things that people enjoy reading about like How I Organize My Time and The One Skill You Need to Make Relationships Last and The Word You’ll Never Hear Me Say in Church.
I generally look for topics that are both interesting and lacking in people’s lives.
Today however, I’m writing about a topic that I don’t think you need to hear about. You don’t need to read about it. You don’t need to hear a sermon about it. In fact, when it comes to this particular topic, I’ll bet you already know all the answers and could spit them out without any help from me.
Read MoreTHE CHAIR (sermon video)
What's the one, most important, most impactful, most needed, can't-start-my-day-without-it habit of all? That's a no brainer to me!
If there's one habit that I believe will impact your life more than other - one habit that I challenge you to take seriously as we wrap up summer and kick off Fall - it's simple: YOUR TIME IN THE CHAIR.
Nothing you do today will be greater than what you do there.
Read MoreDoes God Speak through YouTube?
If you haven’t yet seen the video above, I strongly recommend that you do now. The clip is only three minutes long but its impact could end up being much greater. I don’t know who made the video or what its original purpose was, but I know that it has gone viral on YouTube and has been viewed by hundreds of thousands and talked about by even more.
But after watching the video several times, one thought keeps popping into my head...
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The Messeh Family Night-Time Routine
I've been getting lots of questions from parents about how to insert "spiritual time" into their family life. So with that in mind, I'm reposting something I wrote 3 years ago about how we do it in our home. This certainly isn't the only way to have family spiritual time; it's just simply our way and I hope it helps you come up with a system that works for your home/family as well.
Read MoreINTERCESSORY PRAYER - Building Blocks, Part 5
"If we truly love people, we will desire for them far more than it is within our power to give them, and this will lead us to prayer: Intercession is a way of loving others." Richard J. Foster
It's Week 5 in Building Blocks: A Life of Prayer and this week, we're looking at the most selfless (and therefore Christ-like) form of prayer: INTERCESSORY PRAYER. This is where we follow the lead of our Lord and use our time of prayer to carry the burdens of others.
Because intercession is the primary work of Christ, it should therefore should be the primary work of His disciples (US) as well.
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The Reason We Can’t Pray Anymore
Prayer. A word that means different things to different people. We all know we need it, but then why do so few of us do it? Why does something which is supposed to be so simple end up being so hard? We know the importance of prayer and we could speak endlessly about the priority it should have in our lives...but in practice, we don't do it!
Sound familiar to anyone else?
Read MorePRAYING THROUGH SCRIPTURE - Building Blocks, Part 4
“We aren’t just reading words; we are seeking the Word thru words.”
You can't have prayer without Scripture and you can't have Scripture without prayer. In this week's message, Part 4 in Building Blocks: A Life of Prayer, we talked about the "office" in our house of prayer: PRAYING THROUGH SCRIPTURE.
We talked about what it means to meditate on Scripture and how we can begin practicing this essential aspect in our lives.
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Having a Friend in High Places
Ever feel like you’re drowning? Like it’s just too much? Like the world around you is a raging sea and you just keep getting tossed from one wave to another? Always unsettled? Always on the run? Always late for something or behind on something? Always overwhelmed?
If so, JOIN THE CLUB! Believe me, I know how you feel and I often find myself in a similar state. Too many things going on at the same time and not enough time or energy to do a quality job with each of them.
I gotta start working out...And I need to find time to fix some stuff around the house...Oh and my kid needs help with his homework...And I forgot to read my Bible today...And there’s a meeting in church tomorrow...
TOO MUCH!!!
Read MoreSTRUCTURED PRAYER - Building Blocks, Part 3
It's Week 3 in Building Blocks: A Life of Prayer series, and this week we're taking a look at the key to long term transformation and spiritual growth: STRUCTURED PRAYER, which involves having set TIMES of prayer and set WORDS to pray.
Do I really need structured prayer? Why is it so important? Can't I just pray whenever I want and however I want?
I answer those questions and more in this week's message as we discuss why we need to have consistency and balance in our prayer life if we're going to fulfill God's plan for our life - which is to be "conformed to the image of His Son” (Romans 8:29).
Read MoreSIMPLE PRAYER - Building Blocks, Part 2
It's time for Part 2 in our series BUILDING BLOCKS: A Life of Prayer and this week, we're talking about the first room in our house of prayer: SIMPLE PRAYER, aka the family room of the house.
Simple prayer is ORDINARY people bringing ORDINARY requests to an EXTRAORDINARY Father. And while that may seem pretty elementary, it's the foundation of a life of prayer and without it, you'll struggle to achieve any level of intimacy in your relationship with God.
“casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.” 1 Peter 5:7
Read MoreAN INVITATION TO PRAYER - Building Blocks, Part 1
Prayer isn’t an ACT we do; it’s a HOME we build.
That's the main idea behind our latest series at The Well, BUILDING BLOCKS: A Life of Prayer. It's a series where we'll be talking about the different types of prayer needed to build a house of prayer - a place where Jesus can enter and we can meet with Him daily.
So if you're looking for a spark or revival for your prayer life, check out part 1 above.
Read MoreWhat Are You WANTING For - WanderLOST, Part 1
The Well is BACK and started with a BANG! Kicked off a fantastic new series yesterday called WanderLOST where we seek to answer the question: WHAT DO YOU WANT?
What do you want in 2018? What do you want in your career? Your relationships? Life in general? What do YOU want?
That's the first question. Now the second question is this: ARE YOU SURE? Are you sure that what you want is what you REALLY want?
Did you ever consider that your pursuit of what you WANT might be standing in the way of your attainment of what you REALLY WANT???
Read MoreFAITH-FILLED VISION - Family Matters, Part 3
It's time for our third installment in Family Matters and it's also time to discuss my absolute favorite of all the core values - the one that I believe can change your outlook on life the most!
STSA Core Value #6: FAITH-FILLED VISION
We believe in a BIG God and we rely on Him to do extraordinary things in our lives. We are not surprised when God does a miracle; we are more surprised when He doesn’t.
Trust me, understanding and embracing this message WILL change your life!
ON-DEMAND GOD - Meeting (again) for the First Time, Part 2
It's Part 2 in our latest series, Meeting (again) for the First Time and this week, we hear from a very dear friend of mine, Maryan Farag. Maryan shares her personal journey into discovering the truth about God and answered prayer. Is God there to simply give us what we ask for? Or is there more to the story?
Check out the video above and listen for yourself and Maryan candidly reveals what God has taught her about this subject.
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The Prayer App
Sometimes I wish prayer was as easy as using an app. I would ask to get to my next life destination and God would Uber me from point A to point B. I would ask for direction and He'd lead me to google maps. I would ask for creative inspiration and I'd get a Pinterest thread in my thoughts.
Read MorePERSONAL DEVOTIONAL LIFE - Spiritual Sweat II, Part 6
We wrapped up Spiritual Sweat II with an inspirational message about how we can turn our SHORT TERM spiritual highs into LONG TERM spiritual growth. The answer?
PERSONAL DEVOTIONAL LIFE. A habit of daily spending time with our Heavenly Father and the Lover of all mankind.
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Thanking God for His ABSENCE
“Where are you God? How come you’re not answering me God? Why are leaving me like this God? I just can’t take it any more!”
We’ve all been there and if we’re honest, the majority of our experience in prayer centers around God’s absence more than His Presence. Yes there are times when we’re overwhelmed by God’s Presence and feel that we’re standing before the Almighty Himself; but if you’ve ever tried to pray consistently and regularly, you know that those times are the exception, not the rule.
In fact, if you’re like most people (including myself), more often than not you’ll finish your time in prayer and not feel anything spectacular or earth-shattering at all. You’ll wonder if your prayer even went beyond the ceiling.
You know for sure you were talking, but was anyone up there even listening? It’s not just me, is it?
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