Why does Matthew begin his gospel with the ancestry of Jesus? He wants to set the reader up to know who Jesus really is. It is true that Jesus came from a family lineage, that is a real person who came to earth for the very same kind of people he came from.

One in five Americans will deal with difficulty in their mental health. The church has been called to be a place of refuge for the hurting and a place of healing for those who come to Christ. We must be willing to suffer with, support, and help all people on their journey with Christ.

Prayer is often about expressing our desire to God. Failure to pray is often about not expressing our desires to God. James teaches us that there is a battle going on inside us and that we can unlock and powerful prayer life if we learn, by God’s grace, to get our desires aligned with His.

Faithful praying leads to faithful action. In between those things is faithful planning. We learn from Nehemiah that as God’s people we must pray with great anticipation and plan with great preparation to be ready to walk faithfully with our Lord.

People don’t care how much you know, until they know how much you care. If we are going to be effective at sharing the good news of Jesus we must be people who invest in others, care for them, and be ready to share the gospel.

At the core Christians are known as people who call upon the name of the Lord. Knowing what it means to call and practicing this opens up a new world of relationship to God. A world of deeper dependency and intimacy awaits.

God has offered us not only the avenue of prayer but also assistance in prayer. Learning to pray in the Spirit is key to unlocking a powerful and effective prayer life.

Our salvation should bring us so much joy that we long to shout it from the roof top. Here the psalmist shows us what kind of joy we should have.

Throughout the Bible God calls his people to be persistent in their prayers. The disposition of persistence draws us near to God and prepares us for powerful prayer.

There is a false belief that prayer is supposed to be easy, simple, and casual. The reality is, prayer is difficult. It requires diligence, effort, and wrestling. We will commit to a life of laboring in prayer when we know laboring is common and believe prayer has purpose.