Upward Call

There are many reasons why we fail to pray as we should, but I've learned that underlying all these is one principal reason. Find out what it is and how to address it in this short video. Manuscript Someone said that if you want to humble someone, just ask them about their prayer life. There's some truth to that. We all struggle with prayer. We are usually very undisciplined, very irregular in prayer. Sometimes we think we're doing ok, but other times, many times even, we fail to make time for it. Now, there may be many reasons for that, but ultimately it boils down to a failure to appreciate the blessing and necessity of prayer. There are two most basic disciplines in the Christian life. There are many disciplines, but none are as absolutely essential to discipleship as these two: Bible intake and prayer... Through Bible intake God speaks to us, and through prayer, we speak to God. If we compare the believer to a baby, Bible intake is like a mother...

There has been a resurgence of Reformed theology among evangelical churches today and a renewed interest in their English-speaking heirs, the Puritans. As a result there is a greater awareness that conversion isn't the result of "praying a prayer" or responding to an altar call (a belief that is popular in Filipino churches). Rather, true conversion is accomplished by the Holy Spirit's work, infusing new life into a spiritually dead soul, producing godward repentance and saving faith. That faith takes hold of the gospel of justification by faith alone in the accomplished work of the incarnate God, by His dying on the cross to pay the penalty for sins (Rom 6:23) and to bring us into His kingdom (1 Pet 2:9). And through a simple faith in that gospel, God accounts Christ's perfect righteousness to us. In addition to this, there seems to be a greater understanding that true faith leads to a changed life. This has, in turn, led to a reassessment by pastors of the ...