The Secret to a Deeper Encounter with Christ: How Praying Your Problems Turns Problems Into Platforms

by Jed Coppenger21 Days to Childlike Prayer, Bible, Practical Ministry, Prayer, Redemption City ChurchPosted on No Comments

Jesus wants to help people pray their problems. Every request in the Lord’s Prayer starts with some kind of problem. We say, “Hallowed be your name” because his name isn’t being hallowed as it should—which is a problem from heaven’s perspective. We request, “Your kingdom come, your will be done,” because his kingdom does not seem to be here, and his will isn’t really being done. That’s a problem. Then there’s a provision problem that leads to us ask “Give us this day our daily bread.” A then a guilt problem that causes us to plead, “Forgive us our debts.” And because we have a problem with evil, we ask God to “Deliver us from evil.”

This isn’t, of course, the only place where problems are prayed. When Israel was enslaved in Egypt, they prayed their problem. They “cried out to God.” Similarly, you “cry out” when you have a big problem. When Hannah was burdened by her childlessness, she prayed her problem with tears (1 Sam. 1). When Nehemiah heard that the walls in Jerusalem were broken, he cried out to God in prayer (Neh. 1). When Peter was one day away from being executed by Rome, the church prayed him out of prison (Acts 13).

The book of Psalms is filled with examples of people praying their problems. In Psalm 69, the writer pleads, “Save me God, the water was risen to my neck.” The writer of Psalm 5 is so overwhelmed by his problems he can’t find the words, so he says, “Consider my sighing and I’ll watch expectantly.” Psalm 51 is based on a guilt problem where the author is looking for grace. In Psalm 22, the writer feels forsaken. In Psalm 55, the writer feels betrayed by a friend. The Bible shows people praying their problems over and over.

Thankfully, Jesus says, “Come to me all you who are weary and heavy laden…” (Matt 11:28). What makes you “weary” and “heavy laden”? Problems.

Do you pray your problems?

Most people don’t. Most people initially either try to run away from their problems or run to their problems—flight or fight. Those that run away from difficulty, usually try to escape to some other, safer world. Whether that “other world” is online, at the gym, with comfort food, or in a bottle, it never solves problems and sometimes creates new ones.

Those who run to the problem in their own strength typically just overwork, get angry, burn out or burn things down. Sure, they can handle more problems than most, but everybody eventually runs into more problems than they can handle on their own.

Jesus doesn’t want you to run away from or to the problems. He wants you to run to the Father with your problems. When you learn to pray your problems, you learn the secret to praying “without ceasing” (1 Thess. 5:17). Your prayers are unceasing because your problems are unceasing. Whether your prayers seem little or big, God wants his children to bring every one of them to him. Because with each specific problem prayed, they give the invisible God an opportunity to become visible in their lives. So, turn your problems into prayers.

What problems do you need to pray?

Here’s an awesome truth. When you pray your problems, you turn your problems into platforms. What’s that mean? It means that when you ask God to do something in regards to a specific problem (like asking him to solve a financial, health, relational, or professional problem) you turn that problem into a platform where you can see something of God that you couldn’t without that problem.

That’s what the Apostle Paul is trying to explain to the Corinthian Christians in 2 Corinthians 12. After saying that he asked God to remove a problem, one that he called a “thorn in his flesh,” God told him, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Cor 12:9). Paul points God to his problem and God points Paul to an experience of his grace and power. Where is God’s power, something everyone wants to experience? It’s experienced most in our weakness, in our problems. Problems are platforms.

This truth is the reason why the Apostle Paul goes on to let the Corinthian Christians know that he actually looks forward to the next problem because he knows that when God is brought into our problems through prayer, problems turn into platforms that enable us to see and experience God in a way that we wouldn’t without those problems. He says, “For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Cor 12:10). He is “content” or “delights” in what? Weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. I’m not sure what your list of “things I like to avoid” is, but my guess is that things like these are on it.

Why does Paul feel so differently about his problems? Because he sees something we don’t see. He understands that problems can become platforms when we pray our problems. And when this happens, it changes how you view your difficulties. You see that God uses your problems to prepare you for his power and presence.

Paul, of course, didn’t look forward to every aspect of those problems. He wasn’t crazy, although he certainly sounded a bit like it in this passage. Earlier in this letter to the Corinthian Christians he let them know that he’d been tortured for Christ and that there were times where he and his companions were “so utterly burdened beyond [their] strength that [they] despaired of life itself. 9 Indeed, [they] felt that [they] had received the sentence of death. But that was to make [them] rely not on [themselves] but on God who raises the dead” (2 Cor 1:8-9). Did you see it? There were parts of the problem that he hated. Those parts made him “despair of life itself.” But, he says, in that awful experience, God was extending grace that enabled him to grow—learning how to rely even more heavily on the God who “raises the dead.”

Paul prayed his problems and it turned his problems into platforms. Do you do the same?

This post includes content from my book, 21 Days to Childlike Prayer: Changing Your World One Specific Prayer at a Time.

The Secret to Burden-Relieving Prayer: Childlike Trust

by Jed Coppenger21 Days to Childlike Prayer, Bible, Christian living, Church, PrayerPosted on No Comments

Ouch! I’m telling!” Judah, my youngest son, complained.

As expected, immediately, I heard him making his way to me in the kitchen, where I was going through the mail. With tears just about to run down his cheeks, Judah told me all about the great injustice he endured.

Having just returned home from work, I was a bit tired. So, I said to him, “I’ll take care of it.” With that, his countenance changed, and he joyfully walked right back where he’d come from. I overheard him self-righteously say to his sibling, “Dad said, ‘He’ll take care of it.’”

He didn’t, of course, know “how” or even “when” I would take care of it. Frankly, he didn’t know “if” I would take care of it at all. He simply knew “who” would take care of it. Because he knew who would take care of his problem, he walked out of that conversation without the burden he brought into it.

That burden-relieving, peace-producing, change-you-right-where-you-are-from-the-inside-out kind of interaction only happens when there is an unshakable trust in the one to whom you just presented your problem. That’s childlike trust.

Our interactions with God are supposed to happen that way. That’s what it looks like to “cast your burden on the Lord” (1 Pet. 5:7; Ps. 55:22). In prayer, our childlike faith leads us to the Father with our burden, and our childlike trust enables us to leave the conversation without it. Childlike trust is wrapped up in the “your will be done” part of the Lord’s Prayer. Our prayers are requests for what we think are best. Childlike trust says, “I trust you to do what is best with my request.”

Remember, Jesus says we are talking with the God of the heavens who created all things, sustains all things, works his mysterious, sovereign will for the good of those who love him, raises up kingdoms, flattens kingdoms, raised the dead, defeated death, healed the sick, gave sight to the blind, enabled men to survive Babylon’s flames, shut the mouths of Daniel’s lions, just to name a few things. Not a bad resume! He knows all things, loves perfectly, and is incredibly gracious. While we can know him truly, we’ll never know him completely. He is an amazing God!

Sometimes we forget the One to whom we are talking. Often times, somewhere in our conversation with the great and gracious God, we start to feel like we know what’s best for us, regardless of the situation. That’s why it is so important to remember who God is. If God is great enough to answer your prayers and those of everyone else praying to him, he is great enough to have a better way that you don’t understand.

Childlike trust rests on the power, love, and wisdom of God. Because he is all-powerful, I don’t have to worry about something stopping him from doing what is best for me. Because he loves his children with an unending love, I can be assured that he will always do what’s best for me. Because he’s all-wise, I know he always takes the best way. Childlike trust rests in his revealed character, not in the knowledge of his secret plans. 

That’s why it is so important to think about the words that we often use to end our prayers—“in Jesus’ name.” We don’t say this because we have to. Jesus didn’t end his prayer in Matthew 6 in that way. He said at the beginning of his now famous prayer, to pray “like” this (Matt 6:9). His teaching wasn’t primarily concerned with the order of the wording, but with the elements of the prayer. Yet we do this because, in other passages, he talks to his disciples about asking “in his name” (Jn. 14).

It is important that we pray “in Jesus’ name.” We should not treat his name like a secret password. Instead, we should be reminded of the powerful, gospel truth that we can come to God “in Jesus’ name” because of Jesus’ death in our place on the cross. Because of the cross, we should never question his love. Because of the empty tomb, we should never question his power. And because of the whole plan, we should never question his wisdom. No one thought that anything good could come from Jesus’ death on the day of his death. Little did anyone know that Jesus would make the seemingly worst day into the best day with the best news ever.

Do you trust God like a child? Do you trust him enough to be thankful for his “no’s” to your requests because you know that every “no” is a “yes” to something better?

When you do, you’ve learned the secret to experiencing a deep inner peace in the midst of incredibly difficult circumstances. That inner peace doesn’t just change your daily life; it has a powerful impact on the world around you—an impact we all desperately need.

This post includes content from my book, 21 Days to Childlike Prayer: Changing Your World One Specific Prayer at a Time.

Specific Answers to Prayer: A 3rd Grader Prays His Bully Problems and Pancake Dreams

by Jed Coppenger21 Days to Childlike Prayer, Bible, Christian living, Church, Ministry, Practical Ministry, PrayerPosted on No Comments

Nobody likes hearing stories of kids getting bullied, much less a 3rd grader whose dad is out of the country for work. But that’s what was happening. Life can be tough in 3rd grade.

The boys mom saw someone share online that they were enjoying my book, 21 Days to Childlike Prayer. So she decided to get her and her 3rd grader a copy.

After the first week of readings, the 3rd grader got a specific answer to prayer that thrilled him.

The boy came home from school happier than usual. His mom wondered what was going on. It turns out that he prayed that day that he wouldn’t be bullied at school in a way that he was expecting to be. And God answered his specific prayer with a “yes”! he was so happy.

Hilariously, he also prayed that God would provide pancakes at lunch that day. As he told his mom the story of the day, he told her that the pancakes, unfortunately, weren’t served. But the boy said, “I guess it wasn’t what was best for me.” If you’ve read week 1, you know that he is communicating the heart of childlike trust.

When I heard this story, I was so moved. I hated that this boy is getting bullied, that he is facing it without his earthly Father. But I loved how his mom was leading him spiritually. I was thrilled that as a 3rd grader, he was already praying his problems, praying with specificity, and praying with childlike trust (specific “no’s” require childlike trust).  

The 3rd grader believes his heavenly Father loves him enough and is powerful enough to help him with his bully problem and his pancake dreams. God is glorified by that. What does your prayer life say about your belief in God’s love and power?  

Pride Doesn’t Pray: How Remembering Our Childlike Identity Removes Prides Power

by Jed Coppenger21 Days to Childlike Prayer, Bible, Christian living, Church, Practical Ministry, PrayerPosted on No Comments

Pride doesn’t pray. Pride doesn’t think it needs God’s help. Pride thinks that more will be accomplished today by skipping a time of prayer and starting to do the tasks for the day. What’s pride sound like? “I’d love to pray, but I don’t have time to pray. I have so much to do.” That’s pride. It’s the default, heart posture for most of God’s children. Want to know how strong pride’s grip is on your heart? Your prayer life, more than anything else, shows how much pride is in control of your heart. 

One of the keys to a flourishing, daily prayer life is battling the pride that stands in the way of it.

That’s why it’s so important, as we think about how Jesus started his teaching on prayer, that we don’t just focus on how Jesus led us to think, in the Lord’s Prayer, about God’s identity as “Father,” but also on its implications for our identity. When we really grasp that Jesus’ Father is “Our Father,” we realize that means we are his children. Jesus wants his disciples to pray, and, in order for that to happen, he teaches them to embrace their childlike identity.

Thinking of yourself as a child isn’t offensive to us, but it was to Jesus’ original listeners. It would have been a shot to their pride. Jesus knows this. He intends this. Because prayer won’t happen until pride is recognized and turned from. Daily prayer happens when we see through the delusions of pride that say we don’t need to ask God for help.

If you want to learn to pray, you simply need to remember who you are. You’re God’s child. Embrace your blood-bought, childlike identity. Bring all of the problems, plans, dreams, frustrations, to a heavenly Father who actually can make a difference. You don’t have to be strong to have the prayer life you were made for, you just need to grow in your awareness of your weakness. Jesus says “apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:5). Our prayer lives show how genuinely we understand that. Jesus’ emphasis on childlike prayer is an attack on our daily, deadly pride.

The next time your pride tries to persuade you not to pray, remember how Jesus described you. You’re a child—a child that’s at the stage of dependency where you need to ask your Father for “daily bread.” You need God’s help with your other problems and plans too. Don’t just listen to the inner calls to “get going!” Stop, talk back to your prayerless pride. Compare what you could accomplish today to what God could accomplish today. And don’t stop until you’ve slowed down enough to see how God can do more in a moment than you can do in a lifetime.

This post includes content from my book, 21 Days to Childlike Prayer: Changing Your World One Specific Prayer at a Time.

4 Reasons Why I Wrote “21 Days to Childlike Prayer: Changing Your World One Specific Prayer at a Time”

by Jed Coppenger21 Days to Childlike Prayer, Bible, Christian living, Ministry, Practical Ministry, Prayer, UncategorizedPosted on 2 Comments

Charles Spurgeon was one of the greatest preachers in the history of Christianity. He was known as the “Prince of Preachers.” If you’ve ever read one of his many available sermons from the 1800s, then you can understand why so many are still impressed with his preaching ministry.

But it was prayer that Spurgeon believed gave his gospel-centered ministry such power. That’s why he said, “I would rather teach one man to pray than ten men to preach.” Spurgeon knew how God loved to work through prayer to show his power and presence. Spurgeon also knew of the tendencies of Christians, even pastors and leaders, to overlook it. Christians prize eloquence, insight, and activity.

It took many years and challenging seasons for me to finally share Spurgeon’s love for prayer. Since that difficult time, few things have brought me greater joy than praying and helping others learn to pray. These joys led, eventually, to the writing of 21 Days to Childlike Prayer. While I love and am thankful for other great books on prayer, I wrote my book for the following four reasons.

To provide a book on prayer that’s accessible even for new Christians – One of my favorite parts of being a pastor is helping people who have never prayed, learn to pray. Accessibility marked Jesus’ ministry, the Apostles’, Spurgeon’s, and, hopefully, this book. When Jesus taught his disciples about prayer, he pointed them to the relationship between a Father and a child. He didn’t say that they needed to become more spiritually sophisticated to have the prayer life he wanted them to have. They just needed to become more childlike. That’s what this book is all about. And that’s why the chapters are short and written in an accessible manner. I am passionate about helping as many people as possible learn how prayer helps them experience the power and presence of God in their problems and plans.

To provide a book on prayer that challenges seasoned pastors and ministry leaders – As a ministry leader and pastor, I didn’t have much of a prayer life. Many pastors and leaders I’ve known have struggled in similar ways. It’s easy to move through years of ministry without prioritizing prayer. Through a difficult season, I found the prayer life I’d looked for my whole life. I want to help leaders learn the things I learned without going through what I went through. Jesus doesn’t want his church being led by prayerless men and women. While I wrote the book in an accessible way, I believe it is substantive enough to challenge any pastor and ministry leader. I get so excited thinking about more and more pastors and leaders praying their problems and plans with specificity and childlike trust.

To provide a book on prayer that groups of people can read together – Jesus designed prayer to take place personally and in groups. We know that because he starts his teaching on prayer with the plural, “Our” Father. 21 Days to Childlike Prayer includes reflection questions and exercises at the end of each chapter that would serve a group discussion. Some books on prayer call for churches, families, and other groups to pray together. This book is designed to help make those biblical calls a reality. I’m thankful that Harvest House, the publisher of the book, shares this desire. They are offering bulk pricing to help foster group praying (50% off and free shipping for purchases of 15 or more books – email Kathy.Zemper@harvesthousepublishers.com). I hope this book can help unite groups of people’s hearts with God and each other, providing a unique, shared experience that they can walk through together.

To provide a book on prayer that will help Christians bring more glory to God – When people believe in a God capable enough, loving enough, and wise enough, that they push pause on their lives to simply pray, God is glorified. Our prayerful actions communicate that we believe in a powerful, awesome God. When we don’t pray, we communicate the opposite. We communicate that God is irrelevant since he is unable to help us with our problems and plans. When we bring specific requests to God, he is glorified as a God who can really make a difference, in specific ways. When we walk away from our prayer times with him without the burdens we brought into it, God is glorified as a God who really can be trusted. I want God to get the glory that he deserves and uniquely gets from childlike prayer. I’m praying this book increases the glory that God uniquely gets from a praying people.

Today, on the launch of 21 Days to Childlike Prayer, I’m praying that that God would use this book to help his children make prayer a daily, life-giving, burden-relieving, joy-producing reality. I’d love for you to buy a copy. And I’d greatly appreciate it if you would pray at least one prayer on behalf of the book. Ask God to answer at least one specific prayer of each person who reads 21 Days to Childlike Prayer, during their 21 day journey. The book is 21 Days to Childlike Prayer: Changing Your World One Specific Prayer at a Time. Grab a copy here today.

Planting Roots Vision Video

by Jed CoppengerBible, Christian living, Church, Ministry, Missions, Practical Ministry, Prayer, Redemption City Church, UncategorizedPosted on No Comments

What is the Planting Roots Initiative? 

Planting Roots is an initiative to raise money, above and beyond normal giving, to build a church building at our 4095 Clovercroft Rd. property–helping us make disciples, train leaders, and feed the hungry more effectively.  

Our goal is to build an 11,800 sq ft facility that will expand our ability to make disciples, train leaders, and feed the hungry. It will include a larger worship space, lobby, kid space, and bathrooms. It will have a few offices, a kitchenette, an equipping room, and, as is the current practice, it will be able to be used for student ministry on Wednesday nights. Also, the building will include the necessary infrastructure (parking, sewer, landscaping, etc.). The building will be built as Phase 1 of a multi-phase building plan, that will allow the church to be positioned to build efficiently in the future, as the Lord continues to grow Redemption City Church. 

Why are we doing it? 

Redemption City Church exists to be a present preview of and pathway to the future Redemption City (Rev. 21-22)–a city where all of life is centered around the Redeemer. That’s why we are on a mission to make disciples, train leaders, and feed the hungry. Planting Roots is an initiative to help Redemption City Church, who has rented facilities over the past 8 years, build a building that will enable us to be a preview of Redemption City in the decades to come on property we own. 

How can you help?

1. Pray – Because we believe and have seen God do more in a moment than we can do in a lifetime, we pray. Join us in asking God to lead us, grow us, and provide financially for us. Pray that God moves in the hearts of people in a way that leads them to live at a level of generosity that can only be explained by God’s gracious work in their lives. 

2. Participate Every Week in the Planting Roots Sermon Series – Every week is an important week at Redemption City, and this is especially true this sermon series. We have been prayerfully planning for this series for quite some time. Prioritize Sunday morning attendance so that we can make the most of this journey together. 

3. Commit to Give a 3 Year, Above-and-Beyond Financial Gift and Give Part of It February 27, 2022 – We want everyone who calls Redemption City Church their home to invest in the vision of planting roots by giving a sacrificial 36 month financial commitment above and beyond their regular tithes and offerings, and to give part of that on Commitment Sunday on February 27, 2022. 

4. Invite Others To Join the Effort – We are praying for God to use people in our spheres of influence to partner with us prayerfully and financially in our Planting Roots Initiative. Would you help us spread the word throughout your relational world online and in person about this kingdom advancing opportunity to help build a building for a church that makes disciples, trains leaders, and feeds the hungry?  

Answers to Specific Prayer: Kidnapped Missionaries in Haiti Praying with Specificity

by Jed Coppenger21 Days to Childlike Prayer, Bible, Christian living, Missions, PrayerPosted on No Comments

Last year, the Mawozo gang abducted missionaries, demanding $17 million for their release. By God’s grace, they made it out alive.

As I was reading an article about the events, I couldn’t help but notice how much prayer played a part in their ability to endure and escape.

Weston Showalter, a spokesman for the Ohio-based Christian Aid Ministries, shared what he heard from the missionaries themselves.

He said, “in times when they faced fear and danger during the night, they prayed that God would wake believers around the world and nudge them to pray for them. And that truly did happen. On this side, we hear of people who were awakened at night with a sense of urgency to pray.”

Showalter also communicated the fact that “hostages set up an around-the-clock prayer schedule, each praying for a half-hour during the day and an hour at night.”

The missionaries prayed because they believed in a God big enough to do “whatever he pleases” (Ps. 115:3). This is a beautiful picture of the childlike faith it takes to pray. And the specificity in their prayer lives led to visibility, seeing the invisible God, when they heard of others taking the action, getting up in the middle of the night, that they prayed for. Awesome!

Praying like this also enabled them to focus on representing God’s purposes as God’s children in this moment. Showalter noted, “The missionaries assured the hostage-takers of their love for their souls. They pointed them to Jesus. They hostages spoke to the gang leader on several occasions, boldly reminding him of God, and warning him of God’s eventual judgment if he and the gang members continue in their ways.” This is a beautiful picture of communicating God’s truth and love.

The story also says that the hostages prayed for an opportunity to escape. “On several occasions, they planned to escape, but they had decided if specific things didn’t happen, they would accept that as God’s direction to wait. Twice when they planned to escape, God gave clear signs that this was not the right time. On both occasions, on the very minute they had discussed, the exact thing took place they had requested as a sign. God was at work, but the timing was not right.” Then, on December 15, God provided one, and enabled to walk by many guards. Incredible!

God helped Peter escape because of the prayers of God’s people. It seems he still works these kinds of miracles today.

The Vague Prayer Syndrome: What It Is and What To Do About It

by Jed Coppenger21 Days to Childlike Prayer, Bible, Christian living, Church, Ministry, PrayerPosted on No Comments

The older I get, the harder it is for me to come up with a Christmas list, birthday list, and a Father’s Day list. I’m not sure why it’s so hard. Maybe it’s because I buy what I want? Could be that I know that it hurts the budget? Maybe it’s because I don’t want to make sure I ask for the best possible thing and I don’t feel like I have time to really think it through? I’m not sure. But it’s a challenge for me. And from talking with others, it’s a challenge for them.

You know who this isn’t a challenge for? Kids. When it is time for them to come up with a “gift list,” they have no problem at all. They know exactly what they want. They have no regard for the budget. None! They don’t think about whether or not it is “wise” for them to use their limited number of “presents” on that circled option in the magazine they keep showing you. Children know how to ask for stuff and they know how to ask with specificity.

Part of embracing a childlike identity involves embracing specificity. It means that we learn to get specific with prayer requests. And as easy as that sounds, I’ve found in my life and the lives of those I’ve helped learn to pray, that it is difficult. It takes a good deal of work to help people pray with specificity.

Why? Because most people suffer from what I call, the “Vague Prayer Syndrome.” The “Vague Prayer Syndrome” is where you only pray vague prayers. Those vague prayers are so vague that you would never really know if they were answered by God in any meaningful way. These prayers are general prayers that don’t create any expectancy for an answer or any excitement when they are answered.

As someone who still battles the “Vague Prayer Syndrome,” I know what it sounds like—“God be with us today…” Or, “Bless this food…” The great news is that God answered those requests with a “yes!” How do I know? Because he promised us in Scripture that he would “be with us” and “bless us.”

Do you ever pray prayers like this? Do you only pray like this?

It’s perfectly fine, of course, to pray these prayers. But when you learn to get specific with your prayer requests, God becomes real in your heart and life in a way that he never would without that specificity. And when he becomes real in your life, when you get a glimpse of him working specifically in your life, it changes you. Fearful people experience peace. Bored people find purpose. Frustrated people find patience. Empty people get filled. People reach goals that are beyond their abilities to bring about.

I’ve seen it over and over in my life and in the lives of the people around me. That’s why we say, “Specificity leads to visibility.” When we get specific, the invisible God becomes visible in our lives in a way that he wouldn’t without that specific request. How do you see the invisible God? Get specific with your requests.

Instead of just saying, “Make today go great,” say, “Cause someone to encourage me by the end of the day.” Or, in regards to that staffing effort at work, say, “provide a new employee this week that we know is the one.” Here are some other examples:

God, will you send someone to encourage me today?

God, will you make my encounter with ___________ encouraging tonight?

God, will you cause my parents speak to me more kindly in the mornings this week?

God, will you make my boss affirm my work on this project this week?

God, will you make this physical ailment go away by Thursday?

When God answers those requests, you see God working in your life in ways that lift your heart out of the mess of the world. You start to really believe you have a Father in heaven that cares about you and your problems and plans. You start to awaken the childlike faith your heart was made for.

This is exactly what you see throughout the Bible. When you read the Psalms, you see them specifically praying that God would deliver them from specific fears, help them overcome a specific enemy, revive their soul, and more. The Israelites prayed for a specific deliverance from Egyptian oppression when they were slaves in Egypt. They prayed specifically for God to save them when they had their backs up against the Red Sea and an Egyptian military coming after them. Daniel specifically asked for deliverance from the Lion’s Den. Jonah prayed specifically for God to get him out of that fish’s stomach. Nehemiah prayed that God would help him build a specific wall. And the list could certainly go on. In all of these situations, they knew if God answered those prayers. And because they were specific with their prayers, when the invisible God answered their prayers, they “saw” him in a way that they wouldn’t have without that specificity. Their specificity led to visibility.

The same is true for us. When you are bold enough to pray specific prayers, you give God an opportunity to become visible—real—in your life, in a way he wouldn’t without that specificity.

Ask God to work in specific ways, by specific times, and watch him work. Will he always give you a yes? Of course, not. But many times he will. And when he does, you’ll find that your sense of his presence in your life is greater than any prayer request he grants.

This post includes content from my forthcoming book, 21 Days to Childlike Prayer: Changing Your World One Specific Prayer at a Time (pub. Jan. 18, 2022).

Shane Pruitt’s “4 Generation Fade” Away From God

by Jed CoppengerBible, Christian living, Church, Evangelism, Ministry, Practical MinistryPosted on No Comments

Evangelist, Shane Pruitt, has worked with young people and their families for years. From his experience and research, he came up with what he calls a “4 Generation Fade” that every family should be aware of as they set the priorities for their families. It goes like this.

Generation 1: Parents don’t make church a high priority for their kids.

Generation 2: Those kids grow up and make church less of a priority for their kids.

Generation 3: Those kids grow up and make church no priority for their kids.

Generation 4: Those kids grow up without a biblical knowledge of God.

If generation 1 knew what kind of potential trajectory they were setting the following generations up for, they would have changed their priorities.

While we all know that there are exceptions to the rule, Pruitt’s “4 Generation Fade” is an important paradigm for families to think through as they set their families’ priorities.