Author name: Tom Stuart

The Prayer That Started Christmas

Prayer /

It is always a joy to revisit the Christmas Story. In reading the gospel accounts of Jesus’ birth and accompanying Old Testament Messianic prophecies, I never cease to be amazed at the treasure trove of spiritual insight and principles revealed therein. After forty years of ministry and multiple Christmas sermon series, I would estimate I have probably given over 100 messages focused on those Scriptures. One would think whatever could be said, has been said, but every year my heart is stirred afresh with some new perspective on God’s salvation gift to the world of His only begotten Son!

This year I have found myself viewing the nativity through the lens of prayer. (You may have noticed that is a common perspective from which I view many things these days.) What I have discovered underscores once again the imperative of prayer, both in our personal lives and in the unfolding of God’s purposes in the earth. John Wesley, great revivalist of the 18th century, once made a very provocative statement. I have yet to see anyone disprove it. “God does nothing but in answer to prayer!”

Not surprisingly, therefore, we need only look at the beginning of the Christmas story in the Gospel of Luke, chapter one, to see that prayer was the catalyst that initiated God’s redemptive plan heralding the coming of Jesus.

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Check Out My Book on Prayer!

4 Comments / Answers to Prayer!, Check this out!, Church History, Featured, News & Reflections, Prayer /

My book on prayer can be purchased on Amazon or Barnes & Noble websites, plus a Kindle version is also available from Amazon. IGNITING AN IMPASSIONED PRAYER LIFE – How to Develop the Energized, Extended, and Sustainable Life of Prayer You’ve Always Wanted. Do you wish you were more motivated to pray? Is your prayer life

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Recognizing Temptation’s Opportune Time

Overcoming /

“Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” Matthew 26:41 ESV

Recently I discovered a great book about resisting temptation, which remarkably is not written from a religious perspective. It is a fascinating read. It provides a very helpful study in understanding the various factors that make people susceptible to and able to resist temptation.

The name of the book is “Willpower: Rediscovering the Greatest Human Strength.” Written by Roy Baumeister and John Tierney it documents findings from voluminous social science and brain research focused on the human ability to exercise willpower, self-control and resist temptation. Truth is truth no matter where one finds it and it is always instructive to see how empirical research confirms and enlightens Biblical truth.

Baumeister cites from his research that the average person spends four hours every day resisting temptation. Wow! That certainly verifies what the Apostle Paul wrote two thousand years ago, that “no temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man.” We all have to admit that temptation is an everyday reality.

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