First Fifteen

Is it foolish to pray to a god we can't see, who might not even be there?  Some think so, and just about everyone has questioned our belief in God at some time.  But Psalm 14 says the real folly is to see the evil around us and to persist in the belief that there is no god.  No one wants to live in a world dominated by sin.  We long for something better.  God planted that longing in our heart.  Those seeking God will find him.

If you are getting started in a relationship with God, trying to have a quiet time or seeking guidance at this point in your life, you're in the right place.

Spend your first fifteen minutes of the day listening to God and responding in a personal way.  This podcast will show you how and teach you in an easy to follow process.

In fifteen minutes (or less) you will listen to God's word for you, reflect on it and learn to pray to God as well as carry that word with you through the rest of your day.  What a perfect way to get started!

We listen to Psalm 14 in our episode today and it begins with a startling statement:  the fool says in their heart, "There is no god."  At the same time, it pictures Yahweh looking down on humanity to see if any are seeking him.  No one is!  Sin has taken humanity captive.  As Ps 14:3 says (and Romans 1 and 3 echoes), all have turned aside and become corrupt.  No one does good, not even one."  The only hope is in turning to God and seeking him, renouncing the darkness and evil that has clouded our hearts and our thinking.  God will save and restore us when we put our hope in him. 

Go ahead and get started listening and follow/subscribe to this podcast to hear more from God's word. 

As we get into season three get a copy of the book God Help Me Grow: Learning to Pray through the Psalms on Amazon (or the ebook) so you can pray all of the first 30 psalms in the book of Psalms.

Download the helpsheet that details and demonstrates the four step process we use on First Fifteen using Psalm 1.

Additional resources at the Word of Prayer website https://word-of-prayer.com  

Support the show

Think of a time when you felt fantastic.  How long did it last?  Do you know what caused it? You can actually learn to delight yourself in God.  Psalm 16 trains us in using our emotions in a positive way to grow in our relationship with God.

If you are getting started in a relationship with God, trying to have a quiet time or seeking guidance at this point in your life, you're in the right place.

Spend your first fifteen minutes of the day listening to God and responding in a personal way.  This podcast will show you how and teach you in an easy to follow process.

In fifteen minutes (or less) you will listen to God's word for you, reflect on it and learn to pray to God as well as carry that word with you through the rest of your day.  What a perfect way to get started!

We feature Psalm 16 in our episode today and it leads us into a close and personal experience of prayer to God. How do we pray this kind of prayer if we are not feeling a strong or intense affection for God?  It helps for us to tune in to danger on the one hand and to also surrender to God.  Psalm 16 points out both of these things, and it helps us to empty our cup so God can fill us with the good stuff:  more of Him in our life. God will show you the path that leads to life which leads into His presence and intense, joyful delight that never ends.

Go ahead and get started listening and follow/subscribe to this podcast to hear more from God's word. 

As we get into season three get a copy of the book God Help Me Grow: Learning to Pray through the Psalms on Amazon (or the ebook) so you can pray all of the first 30 psalms in the book of Psalms.

Download the helpsheet that details and demonstrates the four step process we use on First Fifteen using Psalm 1.

Additional resources at the Word of Prayer website https://word-of-prayer.com  

Support the show

Where do you need healing or forgiveness?  What part of you needs healing?  What do you need to be forgiven? Those might seem like different things, but what we will see today in Psalm 6 is they are pretty closely related.   

If you are getting started in a relationship with God, trying to have a quiet time or seeking guidance at this point in your life, you're in the right place.

Spend your first fifteen minutes of the day listening to God and responding in a personal way.  This podcast will show you how and teach you in an easy to follow process.

In fifteen minutes (or less) you will listen to God's word for you, reflect on it and learn to pray to God as well as carry that word with you through the rest of your day.  What a perfect way to get started!

We feature Psalm 6 today and it helps us uncover what it means to pray "Heal me" to God.  The psalmist feels vulnerable before God and is suffering.  In body, spirit and soul there is distress and suffering.  It is not an individual matter either because others are implicated as well, taking part in the taunting and suffering.  What is needed is healing and forgiveness.  The prayer ends with some degree of confidence in being heard and in putting the enemies to shame.  Healing and forgiveness will come. 

Go ahead and get started listening and follow/subscribe to this podcast to hear more from God's word. 

With the beginning of season three I encourage you to get a copy of the book God Help Me Grow: Learning to Pray through the Psalms on Amazon (or ebook)

Download the helpsheet that details and demonstrates the four step process we use on First Fifteen using Psalm 1.

Additional resources at the Word of Prayer website https://word-of-prayer.com  

Support the show

Having any trouble sleeping?  The Psalms show us how to pray at night before we go to bed.  If you have any hesitation about God hearing you, you need to listen to this episode and Psalm 4 and let it guide you to make your request, your tephillah or prayer known before God.  

If you are getting started in a relationship with God, trying to have a quiet time or seeking guidance at this point in your life, you're in the right place.

Spend your first fifteen minutes of the day listening to God and responding in a personal way.  This podcast will show you how and teach you in an easy to follow process.

In fifteen minutes (or less) you will listen to God's word for you, reflect on it and learn to pray to God as well as carry that word with you through the rest of your day.  What a perfect way to get started!

We feature Psalm 4 in this episode and it leads us to pray a "Hear me" prayer to God.  The psalmist has confidence in being heard and shows us no matter our troubled heart or emotional upset, God can handle it if we will unload it before him.  We will find peace in his presence and a great blessing, even greater than the material things that we often call "blessings".  Let Psalm 4 be part of your new evening routine before you go to bed and learn to pray it each night.  

Go ahead and get started listening and follow/subscribe to this podcast to hear more from God's word.  You can also watch this as a video podcast on Youtube at the Word of Prayer channel

Season Three has begun and I encourage you to get a copy of the book God Help Me Grow: Learning to Pray through the Psalms on Amazon (or ebook)

Download the helpsheet that details and demonstrates the four step process we use on First Fifteen using Psalm 1.

Additional resources at the Word of Prayer website https://word-of-prayer.com  

Support the show

Royalty may not mean much to you but it's important to God. The Psalms have a lot to say about kings of the world and God's kingdom.  Who will you bow to?  Whose authority matters in your life?  Psalm 2 pushes those questions to the center of our prayers. 

If you are getting started in a relationship with God, trying to have a quiet time or seeking guidance at this point in your life, you're in the right place.

Spend your first fifteen minutes of the day listening to God and responding in a personal way.  This podcast will show you how and teach you in an easy to follow process.

In fifteen minutes (or less) you will listen to God's word for you, reflect on it and learn to pray to God as well as carry that word with you through the rest of your day.  What a perfect way to get started!

We feature Psalm 2 in this episode and it challenges us  with its historical background and harsh language. But since it--together with Psalm 1--forms a thematic introduction to the entire book of Psalms, we need to pay attention.  This psalm also was cherished in the early Church for how it spoke of Jesus as God's Son.

Go ahead and get started listening and follow/subscribe to this podcast to hear more from God's word.  

Season Three has begun and I encourage you to get a copy of the book God Help Me Grow: Learning to Pray through the Psalms on Amazon (or ebook)

Download the helpsheet that details and demonstrates the four step process we use on First Fifteen using Psalm 1.

Additional resources at the Word of Prayer website https://word-of-prayer.com  

Support the show

The Psalms show us--and teach us--how to pray honestly, from the heart.  That doesn't mean that all the words come out sounding pretty and poetic.  Sometimes, they are ragged and raspy like the psalm we will pray today. 

If you are getting started in a relationship with God, trying to have a quiet time or seeking guidance at this point in your life, you're in the right place.

Spend your first fifteen minutes of the day listening to God and responding in a personal way.  This podcast will show you how and teach you in an easy to follow process.

In fifteen minutes (or less) you will listen to God's word for you, reflect on it and learn to pray to God as well as carry that word with you through the rest of your day.  What a perfect way to get started!

In this episode we briefly introduce four types of prayer that we find in the Psalms:  Hear me, God;  Help me, God; Heal me, God; and Hallelujah, God!  These are spread thoughout the collection, but the early psalms do have more cries for being heard, help and healing while the later psalms toward the end have more expressions of praise and blessing. 

We feature in this episode Psalm 3, a short prayer of eight verses that cries out "Oh my God!"  The title says it is David's prayer when he fled from his son Absalom and the kingdom seemed to be lost to him.  He faced many internal enemies and felt surrounded and many said he couldn't count on God to deliver him.  The groan of "Oh my God!" was fully appropriate.  But after starting there, David moves on to trust and dependence and faith in God.  "Oh my God!" is not said in mock disbelief; it is a prayer that comes before "I will not fear" and "deliver me, O God."   

Go ahead and get started listening and follow/subscribe to this podcast to hear more from God's word.  

Season Three has begun and I encourage you to get a copy of the book God Help Me Grow: Learning to Pray through the Psalms on Amazon (or ebook)

Download the helpsheet that details and demonstrates the four step process we use on First Fifteen using Psalm 1.

Additional resources at the Word of Prayer website https://word-of-prayer.com  

Support the show

The Psalms are a favorite for praying, singing and meditation.  You probably have several favorite verses from the Psalms.  How well do you read the entire book--all 150 psalms, all ~2500 verses?  We want to explore how to go further and deeper in the psalms in this season.   

If you are getting started in a relationship with God, trying to have a quiet time or seeking guidance at this point in your life, you're in the right place.

Spend your first fifteen minutes of the day listening to God and responding in a personal way.  This podcast will show you how and teach you in an easy to follow process.

In fifteen minutes (or less) you will listen to God's word for you, reflect on it and learn to pray to God as well as carry that word with you through the rest of your day.  What a perfect way to get started!

In this first episode we discuss three points that face us in the Psalms or humps to get over:  History, Hebrew poetry and Harsh language.  There is a lot of history in the Old Testament and in the writing of the Psalms.  David is no doubt behind many of the psalms but not all of them.  The historical background for any individual psalm is often not clear to us.  We can pray it anyway.  Poetry in any language is challenging, and Hebrew poetry has its own features that are different from English, especially parallelism and the figures of speech.  The Church from early days, though, enjoyed and prayed the Psalms even in translation (in Greek and other languages--Latin, Coptic, Syriac, etc.) and we can too.  The harsh language of the psalms targets enemies, foes, the wicked--even God!  Jesus quoted from the Psalms when he was being tried to the extreme, both at his temptation (Matthew 4) and at his death (Matthew 27).  God can hear us at our worst and he wants to bring us to a better place.   

We close this episode praying Psalm 13, a short prayer of five verses that echoes the question "How long?"  In Hebrew, ad nah is the phrases repeated four times in the first few verses, and God shows us here it's okay for us to question, to wonder, to pray "How long will this last?" 

Go ahead and get started listening and follow/subscribe to this podcast to hear more from God's word.  

Season Three has started and I encourage you to get a copy of the book God Help Me Grow: Learning to Pray through the Psalms on Amazon (or ebook)

Download the helpsheet that details and demonstrates the four step process we use on First Fifteen using Psalm 1.

Additional resources at the Word of Prayer website https://word-of-prayer.com  

Support the show

How do you read and pray a gospel?  How are they like (and unlike) other books about famous people?  On today's program we talk about some key aspects of the gospels that are often overlooked. 

If you are getting started in a relationship with God, trying to have a quiet time or seeking guidance at this point in your life, you're in the right place.

Spend your first fifteen minutes of the day listening to God and responding in a personal way.  This podcast will show you how and teach you in an easy to follow process.

In fifteen minutes (or less) you will listen to God's word for you, reflect on it and learn to pray to God as well as carry that word with you through the rest of your day.  What a perfect way to get started!

In this bonus episode we discuss four points that help you read any gospel with more understanding and to use it in your prayers.  This teaching helps us steer clear of common mistakes in reading and interpreting the gospels.   

Go ahead and get started listening and follow/subscribe to this podcast to hear more from God's word.  You can also watch this as a video podcast on Youtube at the Word of Prayer channel

Season Two is over.  Season Three will begin in a few weeks' time.  Meanwhile, you can review lessons from Journey with Jesus or go back and listen to Season One.

Get a copy of  Book 4:  Journey with Jesus: Praying Your Way through Matthew's Gospel - Book 4 on Amazon (or ebook)

Download the helpsheet that details and demonstrates the four step process we use on First Fifteen.

Additional resources at the Word of Prayer website https://word-of-prayer.com   

Support the show

What is it like to have a relationship with God? How does that work in the day to day?  Jesus showed us what it looks like to live a fully human life and to also be in a full, deep relationship with God.  We get a front row seat to witness that when we read/listen to one of the gospels in the Bible.

If you are getting started in a relationship with God, trying to have a quiet time or seeking guidance at this point in your life, you're in the right place.

Spend your first fifteen minutes of the day listening to God and responding in a personal way.  This podcast will show you how and teach you in an easy to follow process.

In fifteen minutes (or less) you will listen to God's word for you, reflect on it and learn to pray to God as well as carry that word with you through the rest of your day.  What a perfect way to get started!

In this bonus episode we want to reflect on how to pray through a gospel and give some guidance on how to do that with one of the other three gospels.   Ron shares personally about his own journey of faith and coming to understand the real nature of prayer. 

Go ahead and get started listening and follow/subscribe to this podcast to hear more from God's word.  You can also watch this as a video podcast on Youtube at the Word of Prayer channel

Season Two is over.  Season Three will begin in a few weeks' time.  Meanwhile, you can review lessons from Journey with Jesus or go back and listen to Season One.

Get a copy of  Book 4:  Journey with Jesus: Praying Your Way through Matthew's Gospel - Book 4 on Amazon (or ebook)

Download the helpsheet that details and demonstrates the four step process we use on First Fifteen.

Additional resources at the Word of Prayer website https://word-of-prayer.com   

Support the show

Jesus' final words to his followers carry special weight.  He has risen from the dead and speaks with God's full authority.  He receives the worship of his disciples and remains Lord even when some doubt, as all disciples do at one time or another. 

If you are getting started in a relationship with God, trying to have a quiet time or seeking guidance at this point in your life, you're in the right place.

Spend your first fifteen minutes of the day listening to God and responding in a personal way.  This podcast will show you how and teach you in an easy to follow process.

In fifteen minutes (or less) you will listen to God's word for you, reflect on it and learn to pray to God as well as carry that word with you through the rest of your day.  What a perfect way to get started!

The featured scripture in this episode is Matt 28:16-20.  The disciples go to a mountain in Galilee that Jesus had instructed them to journey to.  Some worship Jesus there, others doubt.   In his final words to his followers, Jesus emphasizes his authority and gives his followers the mission to take the gospel into all the world, to all nations, and to teach them to be his followers too.  He promises to remain with disciples to the end, until this age is over.  He will remain Immanuel--God with us.  He invites us to launch out on our own journey and to invite others to join us in following Jesus wherever we go.

Go ahead and get started listening and follow/subscribe to this podcast to hear more from God's word.  You can also watch this as a video podcast on Youtube at the Word of Prayer channel

This is the final episode of First Fifteen Season Two.  Season Three will begin in a few weeks' time.  Meanwhile, you can review lessons from Journey with Jesus or go back and listen to Season One.

Get a copy of  Book 4:  Journey with Jesus: Praying Your Way through Matthew's Gospel - Book 4 on Amazon (or ebook)

Download the helpsheet that details and demonstrates the four step process we use on First Fifteen.

Additional resources at the Word of Prayer website https://word-of-prayer.com   

Support the show