Christian Commentary Encouraging Devotions

That I was tired.

That it was dark, noisy and cold in the prayer room at the youth center.

That I had watched the presidential debate before heading for prayer.

There are so many things that'll conspire to keep you from focusing in prayer.

The cure?

Prayer partner(s).

What a difference it made when one,

then another person joined me in the prayer room.

Earlier in group prayer,

one person had asked God for a flood of young people.

And a flood is what we got!

We prayed for breakthroughs.

Walls to come down.

Protection.

We always pray for protection.

It's a spiritual battle.

We're so dependent on Him for protection.

For everything.

We prayed for divine intervention.

We prayed for the transforming power of the Holy Spirit to permeate the place.

We prayed for strategies and tactics.

Oops, that last one came from the presidential debate!

And we prayed that God would reveal to these precious young people what the gospel really is.

Not what we have made it.

I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you,

which you received and on which you have taken your stand.

By this gospel you are saved,

if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you.

Otherwise, you have believed in vain.

For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance:

that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,

that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures

1 Corinthians 15:1-4

The Wycliffe Bible Encyclopedia summarizes the gospel message this way:

The central truth of the gospel is

that God has provided a way of salvation for men

through the gift of His son to the world.

He suffered as a sacrifice for sin, overcame death,

and now offers a share in His triumph to all who will accept it.

The gospel is good news because it is a gift of God,

not something that must be earned by penance or by self-improvement

John 3:16, Romans 5:8-11, 2 Corinthians 5:14-19, Titus 2:11-14

jim@christiancommentary.com