Prayer | Wayne Stiles

Archives For prayer

Obama’s Prayer . . . and Mine

I remember in the 2008 election when Barack Obama conducted his world tour as part of his presidential campaign, he visited the Western Wall in Jerusalem.

You may remember that he inserted a prayer in the wall. The Jews consider this a sacred act—even if the individual represents another faith.

1338477585449.cached Obama’s Prayer . . . and Mine

(Photo: Paul J. Richards / AFP – Getty Images)

After Obama left the Western Wall Plaza, someone scrabbled out the prayer—written on King David Hotel stationary—and took a picture of it.

Here’s what Obama’s prayer said:

Stretching Our Prayers Past Our Pain

My prayers don’t go far enough.

Maybe your prayers need some stretching too.

Streching Our Prayers2 Stretching Our Prayers Past Our Pain

Often our prayers begin and end with asking God to change the way things are around us.

“Provide enough money this month”
“Protect us as we travel”
“Heal my friend from pain”
—etc.

These are fine prayers, and all legitimate, but incomplete.

They just don’t go far enough. Continue Reading…

Headed to Israel

In just a few days, Cathy and I will help lead another trip to Israel with Insight for Living.

I’ll be blogging daily along our journey. To get daily posts and pictures, follow me on Twitter or subscribe to this blog.

After going to Israel so many times, I have to be honest . . . it never gets old.

Why? Because seeing the places where biblical events occurred helps me understand the words of Scripture like little else can.

For many who will join us on our tour with Insight for Living, this trip will be their first to Israel. What a treasure awaits them!

My request of you? Please pray for us.

Specifically, for:

Good health and adequate rest
Safe travel . . . alert bus drivers . . . agreeable Israeli guides
Excellent weather
Opportunities to share Christ with those who may not know Him
God’s grace for Chuck Swindoll as well as for those of us who will be teaching at various sites. (I’ll be serving as the Bible teacher on Bus 2.)

In addition to following the daily posts on my blog, you can also subscribe to Insight for Living’s Video Blog. There you will see posts and/or video from each day’s touring . . . as well as candid interviews and photos of folks taking the journey with us.

Shalom . . . and thank you for praying!

Israel Tour Day 6—Passion Week Places

I love the places of the Passion Week in Jerusalem! We saw some of them yesterday and today.

The Dominus Flevit Church on the Mount of Olives, marks the place where Jesus wept over Jerusalem at His Triumphal Entry (Dominus Flevit is Latin for “the Lord wept.”)

The sprawling panorama atop the Mount of Olives is where Jesus gave His “Olivet Discourse,” outlining the prophetic events surrounding Jerusalem’s future (Matt. 24:3).

Picture+3 Israel Tour Day 6—Passion Week Places

The Garden of Gethsemane at the bottom of the same hill, where Jesus wept in anguish, surrendering His will as He cried out to the Father. It’s ironic that on the same hill where the disciples hailed Jesus as Messiah at His Triumphal Entry, only a few days later they would abandon Him at His arrest. So fickle! (And so much like us.) Interesting also that Jesus wept on both occasions.

The Church of All Nations covers the traditional spot where Jesus prayed in agony on the night He was betrayed. At the front of the church, four groupings of columns support a massive mosaic that crowns the facade. It depicts Christ gazing up in prayer to the Father who holds the alpha and omega letters. Angels hover near Jesus, and the disciples bow to His left and right.

Inside the church a large altar against the center of the back wall overshadows a bare outcropping of rock on the floor. This is the spot where it is believed Jesus bowed in prayer. Person after person approached, knelt and kissed the rock blackened by decades of lips pressed in the same spot.

Picture+2 Israel Tour Day 6—Passion Week Places

I always find it difficult to believe sincerity in the hearts of the worshipers simply because I don’t share their tradition. When I see Jews kissing a mezuzah (a case with a scroll of Scripture inside of it) on their doorposts, I think of them as devoted. But when I see Christians kissing rocks, it bothers me. I guess the inconsistency of my reasoning reveals my own hypocrisy. For all I know, they love the Lord Jesus far more than I do.

The eerie Church of the Holy Sepulcher represents the location of Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection. (Check out the fascinating 360-degree views of the church here.)

How marvelous to be in Jerusalem during the same time of year as Jesus was during the Passion Week (give or take a couple of weeks). This year, Palm Sunday is March 28, Passover begins on March 30, and Easter Sunday is April 3. (Historically, Jesus died on April 3, AD 33, and rose from the dead on April 5.)

Tomorrow . . . we take a day trip to the blistering shores of the Dead Sea and tour Masada, Qumran, and Engedi.

Want to know more about how to know God? The answer is here.
__________

I’m Headed to Israel!

In just a few days, I’ll take my seventh trip to Israel.

After going again and again so many times, I have to be honest . . . it never gets old.

Why? Because seeing the places where biblical events occurred helps me understand the words of Scripture like little else can. Frankly, I have spent hundreds of hours studying the original languages of the Bible, but nothing has broadened my understanding of the Word of God more than studying and experiencing the places where Scripture occurred.

For many who will join us on our tour with Insight for Living, this tour will be their first to Israel. What a treasure awaits them!

My request of you? Please pray for us. Specifically, for:

Good health and adequate rest
Safe travel . . . alert bus drivers . . . agreeable Israeli guides
Excellent weather
Opportunities to share Christ with those who may not know Him
God’s grace for Chuck Swindoll as well as for those of us who will be teaching at various sites. (I’ll be serving as the Bible teacher on Bus 4—the “Green Bus.” Our busses all have color names in addition to numbers.)

In addition to following the daily posts on my blog, you can also subscribe to Insight for Living’s Video Blog. There you will see video from each day’s touring . . . as well as candid interviews and photos of folks taking the journey with us.

Shalom . . . and thank you for praying!

Israel Filming Trip Report

I just returned from a wonderful—but fast!—few days of filming in Israel. Thank you very much for your prayers! They really made a difference, because God answered so many of them! For the most part, we had good health and adequate rest, safe travel and an alert driver, no technical glitches with cameras, microphones, etc., excellent weather—no high winds or rain, good access to the locations where we need to film, quick minds and ability to remember our scripts, creativity, openness to God’s leading and redirecting, and finally, opportunities to share with others.

The opportunity to share came unexpectedly. We had just filmed a segment at the City of David and we were about leave. A man with an Irish accept approached me and asked, “What are you filming?” He introduced himself as a journalist and raised his handheld video camera for my answer. What an opportunity! I answered that we were in the City of David to film where David looked on Bathsheba and sinned, and later David wrote Psalm 51 where he asked for forgiveness through a sacrifice. That ultimate sacrifice came through Jesus who died for our sins and promised that whoever believes on Him would have forgiveness. He filmed the whole thing!

Other than the privilege of sharing, the greatest experience was seeing Israel in spring—SO green and beautiful!

Thank you again for your prayers and for your part in what God will do in the production of the video we shot—and the lives that God will change as a result.
_____________

I’m Headed to Israel to Film

Picture+2 Im Headed to Israel to Film
Next week I head to Israel with several associates to film on location!

With a schedule that allows for little margin, we’ll shoot video in Caesarea, beside the Sea of Galilee, in the Judean Wilderness, and in Jerusalem.

We’ll film Dr. Reg Grant performing a number of his biblical characters, and I will serve as a “host” on camera for the DVD series we’re producing for Insight for Living.

Last year we videoed Chuck Swindoll preaching at a number of biblical sites, and the footage we’ll shoot next week will spice up the finished product.

My request of you?

Will you please pray for us? Specifically for:

Good health and adequate rest
Safe travel and an alert driver
No technical glitches with cameras, microphones, etc.
Excellent weather–no high winds or rain
Good access to the locations where we need to film
Quick minds and ability to remember our scripts
Creativity
Openness to God’s leading and redirecting
Opportunities to share with others

I’ll give a follow-up and post a few pictures after I return.

Thank you!
________

Prayer in Evangelism – My Interview on Campus Crusade

Listen as I discuss the subject of prayer in evangelism on Campus Crusade for Christ’s radio program, Lighthouse Report.

Screen shot 2012 04 21 at 2.35.44 PM Prayer in Evangelism My Interview on Campus Crusade

Listen here:

Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed

From Lighthouse Report:

A good salesperson knows that you never presuppose a customer’s response. Now relate that to witnessing. Do you presuppose someone’s response to the Gospel? Never, ever, doubt what God can do in an unbeliever’s life. Wayne Stiles addresses this on today’s Lighthouse Report.

Want to find the station where Lighthouse Report broadcasts in your area? Go here.

Voting Isn’t Everything

I sat in a congregation where the pastor gave us a laugh after he urged every one of us to vote.

He cited Ecclesiastes 10:2 as a motivation:

“A wise man’s heart directs him toward the right, but the foolish man’s heart directs him toward the left.” —Ecclesiastes 10:2

ipray Voting Isn’t Everything

And while we all appreciated his wit, we also understood the significance of our responsibility to vote.

In addition, the Bible gives us another duty, just as significant—perhaps more so—that works in tandem with our voting card:

First of all, then, I urge that entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings, be made on behalf of all men, for kings and all who are in authority, in order that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity (1 Timothy 2:1–2).

We should pray for the election.

We should pray that the effects of our president’s administration would allow us to “lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity.” Or to paraphrase Paul’s words, pray that political laws and circumstances may be favorable for the message of the gospel and for the living of its commands.

Our temptation after we vote—especially after the election—will be to return to business as usual. But even after our votes are cast and counted, our responsibility to pray for our government remains a regular part of our lives as Christians.

As Americans, we should vote. But voting isn’t everything. As Christians, we should pray. These work in tandem.

Lion Down on the Job [Podcast]

Daniel 6

Daniel’s success roused the jealousy of his colleagues into making an unjust law that tested Daniel’s relationship with God. Daniel’s daily devotion to the disciplines of prayer and thanksgiving—even in the face of death—led not only to his deliverance, but it sealed the fate of his accusers. Just as Daniel ordered his life around his personal time with God, so our personal success and influence of others also finds its roots in our commitment to basic spiritual disciplines.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed

Lion Down on the Job [Podcast]