Each year people make what are called New Years Resolutions. The reason, supposedly, for making these resolutions is that people are hoping to resolve something they did or didn’t do in the last year. Sometimes there was a mistake or sometimes they could have done better. Sometimes they didn’t do anything at all. The problem with resolutions is they are often done half hearted and we are only slightly committed to them. Mind you we may have good intentions to resolve these missteps, but rarely do we have any real conviction about them.

When I tarted this series on prayer, I wanted to address some misconceptions about prayer, and some habits many Christian have developed that are not productive. Our misconceptions come to us from a number areas such as poor teaching, personal challenges and a lack of understanding of the character and nature of God from the scriptures. 

With Christmas almost upon us, I wonder what most Christian parents are communicating to their children about Christmas and its importance for them and the body of Christ?

In this series on prayer, I have dealt with a number of reason why people struggle so much with having a fulfilling prayer life. In this article I want to talk about two very big hindrances to Christians having real faith when they pray. These two subjects have been taught by many pastors and teachers over the years because in the body of Christ no one wants to be labeled as a teacher of wrong concepts or theology, and because these teachers have been trained to embrace reformed theology in particular. In my mind, these teachings are damaging to not only the practice of prayer but to evangelism and reaching unbelievers.