Comments for O By The Way

Comment on Life in Hard Times by pat thompson

pat thompson — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 19:24:28 +0000

Tim,
There is a song we play in worship once in a while and the words go like this: “When its all been said and done, there is just one thing that matters, did I do my best to live for truth did I live my life for you. You helped teach that to me and many others. Thanks! May Easter be joyful to you.
Pat

Comment on Can Prayer Change God’s Mind? by jen hack

jen hack — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 23:21:18 +0000

Thanks for this article – it’s a great one!

My husband and I listened to a sermon once and the pastor stated, “If Jesus prayed, why would we ever doubt that we should too?” He also pointed out that in the Lord’s prayer Jesus says, “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” Jesus prays that God’s will is done —- why? If God’s will is always done then why would Jesus pray that? I think the distinctive difference is God’s permissive will vs. His desired will. He gives us freewill and we need to be careful that we always seek His desired will for our lives.

Comment on Can Prayer Change God’s Mind? by shawn

shawn — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 23:11:46 +0000

Heya Tim, great post.

Where can I find that CS Lewis reference?

(Appreciate your interest, but I must say it is something I just pulled out of my memory closet from long ago. I would bet it was in his autobiography “Surprised By Hope” or his series of radio broadcasts that has been purlished as “Mere Christianity.”)

Comment on When Fertilizer Stinks! by allen d. wilson

allen d. wilson — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 21:08:55 +0000

Tim:
How true that we often hide the light. I do love the children’s hymn, “This little light of mine, I’m going to let it shine.”
I think the trouble some of us face stems from not knowing how. We have seen and heard overzealous evangelicals and are turned off by their so-called soul saving. But what you speak of–correct me if my presumption is wrong, please–means shining our own light through Christ-like living. This righteous lifestyle means humbly helping others, lending an ear to someone’s problems, and sharing our own experience if relevant.

Comment on Can Prayer Change God’s Mind? by Patricia

Patricia — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 02:23:29 +0000

Can prayer change God’s mind? Well, I believe it can! I am a simple preschool teacher and I have been praying for years-many many years; my Catholic foundation has established this in my heart and mind! I love to pray and talk to God! I have for so long thats all I really know in this mixed up world! I have been praying since the age of five years old and now that I am a thiryfour year old woman- I still pray proudly and happily everyday! I think God took so much care in creating us that -of course he wants to hear what we think, too! God knows the number of hairs exactly on our heads, so if he is so diligent with this detail, why wouldn’t he be interested in our thoughts. I really believe God made us with such great detail and God knows detail so well, that detail is very important to him and it should be important to us as well. I did pray for my mother to recieve a small dog from God! I pray Lord you said ask and you shall recieve, so Lord I am asking for a small dog for my mother, let the dog be easy to groom, short haired, let someone offer this dog to us in front of this house by the gate just where I am praying. Within a week or two I was standing by the gate where I prayed for this dog and a silver car pulled up and out came two little lady’s with puppy Dashies. They offered me a look and to hold them and my body was filled with this powerful energy that ran through me knowing this was God answering my prayer in detail! I asked if I could write their number down so I could discuss it with my mother and they agreed. They offered a price of a hundred dollars for a pup, my mind was racing, I didn’t really pray in detail to God about the price of the dog! I told them I would call them to let them know. Well, I prayed Lord we have spent money on dogs before and the breed was mixed and now please have one of the pups offered later for free. Thats just what God did, months later they came by and offered the pup for free my mother gladly took it and when I arrived she told me what happened! I excitedly thanking God and reminded my mother what I prayed in detail months before! My mother and I were amazed with God’s results to my prayer, it works, it really works! God is so wonderful and caring! We have had prayer answered before, but not with such exact detail! Now that we know God will do this we have been taking our prayer life on a deeper level with our Lord God Almighty – Maker of Heaven and earth! All glory is his and we are blessed! Hey, we named the dog Buddy! :) Thank God for you and all that you share about him! We really are Buddies! :):):)

Comment on We Really Do Need Each Other! by timmccalmont

timmccalmont — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 23:27:50 +0000

Absolutely! And whether we knew Roger or not, we all need those people around us who embody the values of needed friends and that should be our prayer. Or perhaps we can be that presence for another.

Comment on We Really Do Need Each Other! by Steve Byrne

Steve Byrne — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 23:05:55 +0000

Tim, I assume part, if not all, of the inspiration for this blog is the loss of our dear friend Roger Johnson this past week. Our sense of loss is intense. I really appreciate this blog! Thanks.

Comment on What Does “With” Mean? by allen d. wilson

allen d. wilson — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 18:13:00 +0000

The effect of God with us is unquestionably soothing. But in order to feel God with us, or benefit from His comfort, is it imperative to being open to God? Or do we benefit sometimes without even knowing us? One of the interpretations of the unpardonable sin speaks directly to the notion: that God will only dwell with us when we ask Him to. Yet some believe he walks alongside us even in times of denial of Him.

Comment on Does Prayer Change Anything? by timmccalmont

timmccalmont — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 16:42:27 +0000

Thanks to our two comments. I believe that God changes things and the second comment points out something I want to cover in a future post. That is, the change is not always what we expect, or even what we like, but as we submit to the Lordship of Christ, his “peace will guard our hearts and minds,” as Tom has reminded us.

Comment on Does Prayer Change Anything? by Tom

Tom — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 16:27:26 +0000

Philippians 4:6-7
6Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Paul does not say in the letter above that you will get everything for which you ask whenever you pray. He says that when we present our “requests” to God, the peace of God will guard our hearts and minds when we ask in prayer. An interpretation: we can be comforted in knowing that we have given up the situation for which we pray for God to handle.

Jesus asked the night before his death to be spared from his fate by the Father, a wish not granted. When Jesus prayed in the garden he acquiesced to the will of the Almighty Father before his own, even when asking to be saved from the cross.

IMHO: That God will listen and consider is promised, that God will see it our way is not. There is no doubt though that prayer is our highest and best resource when approaching the Almighty, regardless of how “things” turn out from our perspective.