Category: Prayers

“My solemn word is this: I am the Sheepgate.” –John 10:7 Jesus is not only the Good Shepherd (Jn 10:11); He is also the Lamb of God (Jn 1:29) and even the Sheepgate. Don’t marry anyone who tries to enter your life apart from Jesus through mere friendship or sexual attraction. Don’t let people into your life just because of business or money. TV personalities, athletes, and entertainers have a major influence in millions of people’s lives, but have they entered through the Sheepgate, Jesus? “Whoever does not enter the sheepfold through the gate but climbs in some other way...

“I am the Good Shepherd. I know My sheep and My sheep know Me in the same way that the Father knows Me and I know the Father.” –John 10:14-15 The Bible promises we can know Jesus, that is, have a personal relationship with Him, in the same way that the heavenly Father and God the Son have a personal relationship. By God’s grace, we can become “sharers of the divine nature” (2 Pt 1:4) and have a divine relationship with Jesus, the Good Shepherd. In a divine relationship, there is unity and love that we as human beings can’t...

“From this time on, many of His disciples broke away and would not remain in His company any longer.” –John 6:66 What on earth could Jesus have possibly said that would result in many of His disciples refusing to remain in His company? He said something “hard to endure” and take seriously (Jn 6:60): “I Myself am the living bread come down from heaven. If anyone eats this bread he shall live forever; the bread I will give is My flesh, for the life of the world” (Jn 6:51). “If you do not eat the flesh of the Son of...

“He is there praying.” –Acts 9:12 The early Church was a praying Church. The Church was born at Pentecost after a nine-day gestation period of prayer (see Acts 1:14). After Pentecost, the Church devoted itself to prayer (Acts 2:42). So powerful were the Church’s prayers that sometimes the building where the Church prayed shook (Acts 4:31). The apostles concentrated on prayer and the ministry of the Word (Acts 6:4). The early Church was a praying Church. The immediate results of the Church’s prayers were mixed. The number of disciples “enormously increased” (Acts 6:7), but persecution against the Church likewise increased....

“An angel of the Lord then addressed himself to Philip: ‘Head south toward the road which goes from Jerusalem to Gaza, the desert route.’ Philip began the journey.” –Acts 8:26 There is currently a best-selling series of computer training books which all have titles ending with “For Dummies.” These books contain simple step-by-step directions. They have great popular appeal, because many people feel the subjects of the books are overwhelming and that they are not smart enough to understand them. Simple, specific directions are exactly what overwhelmed people are looking for. Likewise, the Holy Spirit used this same approach with...