The Kingdom, The Kids, & The Cowboys

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Category: Prayer (Page 1 of 29)

Praying on Mission

January 30, 2026 / / 0 Comments

Interesting tidbit to begin this post. Eight teams qualified for the divisional round of the NFL playoffs this year: Rams, Seahawks, Bears, Pats, Broncos, Texans, ‘Niners, and Bills. Seven of the eight quarterbacks who started those games weren’t even born the last time the Cowboys won a divisional playoff game! The lone gray-hair, Matthew Stafford, was seven-years-old in January 1996–a cute little 2nd grader in Highland Park with a Troy Aikman jersey. Sam Darnold, the starting quarterback for Seattle in next Sunday’s Super Bowl, wasn’t born the last time the Cowboys made it to the postseason’s third week–and he’s already played for five NFL teams!

This 30-year drought is moving out of the realm of a generational thing and into oblivion.

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In Ephesians 3, the apostle Paul prays this beautiful prayer for the church. He prays about transformation, that God may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, that Christ may dwell in your hearts, that the church may be rooted and established in love, that we would have power together with all the saints to grasp the love of Christ, to know the love of Christ, to be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

“Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the Church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen!” ~Ephesians 3:20-21

The prayer is for God to do a whole lot, for God to do incredible and unimaginable things with his power that is at work in the Church. This prayer is not a wide-open request for God to demonstrate his power in random ways. This is a specific request for God to act in spectacular ways through us, through his Church. The transforming power of God belongs to us. So, we’re not asking God to do great things while we sit in the pews and wait on it. And study it. And talk about it. And agree that it’s good. The Kingdom of God is not a matter of talk, but of power!

In Matthew 9, Jesus tells his followers to pray for workers to send to the fields. Pray about it. This is what we want the Father to do: raise up workers. Then in the very next verse–one verse!–he’s giving them the authority and giving them the power and sending them into the fields to do the work! Have you ever noticed that?

Be careful when you pray. The answer to your prayer might be God moving you into his mission.

If you pray for God to use your church, or to work through your church, you’d better be prepared to get off your pew and into the mission. If you pray for the hungry and the sick, if you pray for God’s will to be done in your town just as it is in heaven, you’d better open your eyes, your ears, and your heart to how God wants to work through you to do it.

Peace,
Allan

 

People of His Light

December 10, 2025 / / 0 Comments

I am posting a prayer by Walter Brueggemann that is blessing me tremendously this week. I pray it blesses you, too.

WE are still people in the dark,
and the darkness looms large around us,
beset as we are by fear,
anxiety,
brutality,
violence,
loss–
a dozen alienations that we cannot manage.

WE are–we could be–people of your light.
So we pray for the light of your glorious presence
as we wait for your appearing;
we pray for the light of your wondrous grace
as we exhaust our coping capacity;
we pray for your gift of newness
that will override our weariness;
we pray that we may see and know and hear and trust
in your good rule.

That we may have energy, courage, and freedom
to enact your rule through the demands of this hour.
We submit this time to you and to your rule,
with deep joy
and high hope.

Amen.

Blessing a Minister

September 9, 2025 / / 0 Comments

The boys turned two months old yesterday and they are still awesome. In fact, I think they might be a little awesomer.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Once a month, our ministry team here at GCR spends a whole morning together at my house. We eat breakfast, spend some important time in Word and Prayer, check in with each other, and then take an hour and a half or so planning whatever needs to be planned and deciding whatever needs to be decided. Yesterday, after some honest reflection together on that enormous canyon in Nowen’s prayer (see yesterday’s post), we went around the circle and blessed one another with these words from 2 Thessalonians 2:13-17.

If you are wondering how to encourage one of your ministers or elders at your church, I would suggest sending him or her a note with these words, inserting her or his name in the blank. Remind him that, no matter what he’s enduring at the moment, he is loved by God. Remind her that, no matter what she feels, she is chosen by God. Tell him he is called by God. Tell her she shares in the glory of Christ. Bless them with the holy words of Scripture.

I thank God for you, ____________, loved by the Lord, because from the beginning God chose you to be saved through the sanctifying work of the Spirit and through your belief in the truth.

He called you to this, this ministry, this church, through the Gospel, that you might share in the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.

So then, ____________, stand firm and hold to the teachings.

May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved you and by his grace gave you eternal encouragement and good hope, encourage your heart and strengthen you in every good deed and word.

Amen.

I can assure you by my own experience, these are powerful words that mean the world coming from someone you really love.

Peace,
Allan

The Enormous Abyss

September 8, 2025 / / 0 Comments

The Rangers took two of three from the Astros over the weekend, the first of which Whitney and Carley and I experienced in person at Globe Life Field Friday night. It was a 12-inning triumph in which the kids, particularly Cody Freeman and Dustin Harris, again played pivotal parts. The atmosphere was electric, as it always is when these two Lone Star rivals get together. The World Series trophy was on display–I guess we want to remind all the Astros fans that we won it last–and it was our first time to see the brand new Adrian Beltre statue outside the centerfield gates. So we patted Beltre’s head, took the pic with the trophy, and then sent the selfie to all our Rangers friends after Harris’ 12th inning single drove home the winning run.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Shockingly, the Rangers are still in this thing, just a half-game back of a wild card spot. Just as amazingly, if Texas can win just one of the three remaining games against the Astros, they will take the annual Silver Boot Trophy for the first time in nine years. And Myles Hill will have to buy me lunch at Whataburger.

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A prayer from A Cry for Mercy by Henri Nouwen. Especially if you are a minister or a congregational leader. My hope is that this might give voice to your heart in ways you never would have expected. And that you will be given encouragement and peace in our Lord Jesus Christ.

O Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the living God, have mercy on me, a sinner.

I am impressed by my own spiritual insights. I probably know more about prayer and contemplation than most Christians do. I have read many books about the Christian life, and have even written a few myself. Still, as impressed as I am, I am more impressed by the enormous abyss between my insights and my life.

It seems as if I am standing on one side of a huge canyon and see how I should grow toward you, live in your presence and serve you, but cannot reach the other side of the canyon where you are. I can speak and write, preach and argue about the beauty and goodness of the life I see on the other side, but how, O Lord, can I get there? Sometimes I even have the painful feeling that the clearer the vision, the more aware I am of the depth of the canyon.

Am I doomed to live on the wrong side of the abyss? Am I destined to excite others to reach the promised land while remaining unable to enter there myself? Sometimes I feel imprisoned by my own insights and “spiritual competence.”

You alone, Lord, can reach out to me and save me. You alone.

I can only keep trying to be faithful, even though I feel faithless most of the time. What else can I do but keep praying to you, even when I feel dark; to keep writing about you, even when I feel numb; to keep speaking in your name, even when I feel alone.

Come, Lord Jesus, come. Have mercy on me, a sinner.

Amen.

His Glorious Riches

April 9, 2025 / / 0 Comments

The Stars lost a heart-breaker last night in a way no team has ever lost before. Dallas was leading the Canucks 3-0 heading into the third period and, after Vancouver scored two quick goals to pull to within one, the Stars scored two more, including an empty-netter with 2:20 to play, to go back up by three. With one minute left in the game, Dallas led 5-2. One minute later it was tied and headed to overtime. For the very first time in NHL history, a team trailed by three in the final minute and scored three goals to force overtime. It’s never happened before. It was stunning. I’ve never seen anything like it. And it hurt bad.

Dallas has lost three straight now for the first time all season and they had a third period lead in all three games. They’ve left a lot of points in the standings on the table the past week or so. Instead of being one or two points behind Winnipeg and tomorrow’s game against the Jets being for first place in the division and the number one seed in the Western Conference, it’s only for how far behind Winnipeg they’re going to finish. Whitney and I bought tickets for tomorrow’s game, hoping it would be for the division title and the top seed. But the Stars are four points down and reeling. Whit and I will see in person tomorrow how the team responds to the historically impossible meltdown. It all but guarantees a first round matchup with the Avalanche in a week-and-a-half, and nobody wanted that.

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The prayer at the end of Ephesians 3 is loaded with hefty theology. It’s packed with soaring adjectives and lofty descriptions of God’s eternal promises and our unshakable confidence. I’d like to focus today on one simple phrase at the beginning of the prayer that sometimes goes overlooked.

“Out of his glorious riches…”

The prayer asks God to strengthen us with power out of his glorious riches. The literal Greek words in the original text are “his wealth of glory.” It could be translated “glorious wealth” or “the riches of God’s glory.” One translation says, “God’s unlimited resources.” Either way, what it means is that God is never going to run out.

God is never going to run out of what he has for you. Do you think God’s going to run out?

He is never going to run out of love for you. It’s part of his glory, his nature. God is not going to run out of mercy or goodness or comfort or peace for you. Knowing that should give you strength. Having direct access to all of who God is and his glorious riches for you gives you power.

But he won’t keep forgiving me for the same thing over and over, not for this long.

Yes. He will. He won’t run out of forgiveness for you.

But God won’t take me back again. He won’t let me come back after what I’ve done.

Yes. He will. You can’t use up God’s goodness toward you, his desire to be in relationship with you. His love for you is without limit. Out of our God’s glorious riches, he strengthens you with power.

Peace,

Allan

The Capital Stock in Heaven

September 26, 2024 / / 0 Comments

While preparing for this Sunday’s sermon on prayer, I’ve been reading through several essays on the topic written by the ancient Church fathers and other preachers and Christian authors from more recent history in the United States. I’m particularly inspired by the works of E.M. Bounds, a preacher and attorney from the U.S. Midwest during the middle to late1800s. I’m going to quote a portion of this essay, written by Bounds in 1895, at GCR this Sunday:

“The more praying there is in the world the better the world will be. God shapes the world by prayer. The prayers of God’s saints are the capital stock in heaven by which Christ carries on his great work upon earth. The great throes and mighty convulsions on earth are the results of those prayers. Earth is changed, revolutionized, angels move on more powerful, more rapid wings, and God’s policy is shaped as the prayers are more numerous…

It is true that the mightiest successes that come to God’s cause are created and carried on by prayer. The days of God’s activity and power are when God’s Church comes into its mightiest inheritance of mightiest faith and mightiest prayer. God’s conquering days are when the saints have given themselves to mightiest prayer. When God’s house on earth is a house of prayer, then God’s house in heaven is busy and all potent in its plans and movements, then his saints are clothed with his triumphs and his enemies defeated on every hand.”

Do you hear the passion and the power in this piece? E.M. Bounds understands the power of prayer to transform lives and to change the whole world.

I hear people say things like, “Let’s open this meeting with a little prayer” or “Let me lead a little prayer.” Hey, there are no little prayers! Prayer, as individuals and as a group, is maybe the most important thing we do. Prayer brings us into direct communion with the true and living God. It brings us into the deepest and highest work of the human spirit. Prayer is life-creating and life-changing. It’s not little! It’s huge!

Oswald Chambers wrote, “Prayer does not equip us for greater works; it is the greater work.”

Think about both the power and the passion of prayer. Abraham pleading for Sodom. Jacob wrestling at midnight. Moses fasting and praying for God’s people in the wilderness. Hannah intoxicated with sorrow. David heartbroken with grief and remorse. Huge passionate prayers. Jesus overcome with loud cries and tears in the garden. Elijah exploding with courage and confidence at Mount Carmel. Paul passionately petitioning on behalf of the new churches.

When we understand the God of our Scriptures, when we see things the way he sees things, when we couple the sinfulness of creation with the greatness of our God–when we really understand both of those truths–then we really understand what God really wants and what he’s doing, and we very boldly and passionately pray for it.

A note I saw on Jim Martin’s refrigerator door in Waco in 2008 sticks with me: “If God answered every one of your prayers, would the whole world change? Or just your world?”

Peace,

Allan

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