Peoria Prayer Center

OK, these 10 items are not truly mysteries. They are the common teaching of the Church long forgotten. So I thought I might remind us. Later I hope to post a few more. I also want people to know about a call to prayer for the coming year. This call is a plan I have to help people who are discouraged or shaken by conditions in their life. I want to help people have a more secure foundation so that they can not be easily shaken. That upcoming call to prayer will allow everyone, the most mature and the new person to prayer, to connect with God. We will repair and rebuild the foundation of prayer. And most of us will find it more enjoyable than not. The key elements of this prayer time will be love, listening, petition and obeying. But more on that later. Also, a Bonus on prayer can be found at the bottom of the page, 10 mysteries of prayer from Rodney Drury How can you do this? Pray without ceasing; 1 Thessalonians 5:17 By combining it with this verse. Ther...

What kind of people encounter God In thinking about the people I live among today, I ponder what I might say to them about encountering God. Some are like those in the coffee shop this morning. Believers who have most everything figured out. Whispering about the leadership of their church, the faults of others and the wisdom of their own insight, they break free from their drink to recognize an area minister. The moment of praise and appreciation for what he does is followed by about fifteen minutes of wisdom and insight they have that might help the poor guy. Let’s call these group Personal Perspective . They see the world as one that needs to encounter God through their personal perspective. As I sat there I hoped they would not recognize me. I put my coffee cup on top of the theology book I was reading. I closed the flap on my backpack to conceal my Bible. I wanted to avoid the moment of praise and the discourse of correction my fellow minister was endured.  But ...

Strength to Understand How much air can you put into a balloon? Depends on the balloon, right? How much knowledge of the love of God can you put into a Christian? Depends on the Christian. so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.    Eph 3:17-19 Christ dwells in our hearts through faith. But that is not all that is required. For us to be strong enough to comprehend the love of God, we need a foundation of love. Strange as it may seem, we need love to know the love of God. We are not just vessels that you can pour the love of God into. We are living beings. Our capacity to hold depends on our condition. If you wanted to know how much air a ball would require, you could use this f...

What’s the objective here? What happens when you break through? The objective is what we are tying to accomplish, the goal, the target. When it comes to discipleship we often think that being a great Christian is being the best person we can be. But that’s far from what God desires. Sadly, to the self, being fulfilled is not anywhere close to being conformed into the image of Jesus Christ. Yes, I know that we spin things around so that early on Christ followers are carried along by the goal of self-fulfillment. We teach them and encourage them in how to obtain a new and rewarding life. We motivate them with prosperity, grand spiritual gifts (spiritual gifts are grand) and hopes of being a world changer. But we don’t tell them we mean "change their world", we let them think we mean “the world.” So, this redneck mystic wants to shout out what I personally feel is the real objective, the real goal of Christianity. Transformation! Look good on the outside ...

I have been teaching and writing on intimacy with God for some time now. Below is a portion of that work. My goal is to share some over looked aspects of life with God. Aspects that might help people awaken, be revived or renewed in their pursuit of God. Overcome. You can do it. You can overcome everything you need to. God has provision and power waiting for you, to help you. Your journey will include wholeness and balance. Wholeness and Balanced Growth [i] God is good at what He does. He knows how to bring us into wholeness and health. Here is an example. To awaken our calling He brings someone into our life (relationship) that is a challenge to us (Inner life). Over time this person motivates us to call on the Lord more and more. As we long for God to deal with them, God deals with us. Our response, we get more irritated and impatient with God’s lack of focus. “I’m not the problem here, why can’t God just help me?” After even more time, we surrender to God. A surre...

Light – You were made for this! Light is the first created thing. Light is at the end of the story. Gen 1:3  Then God said, "Let there be light"; and there was light. In the end, created light is consumed in the eternal lite. Life as we know it changes. The Lord becomes the light. Rev 22:5   And there will no longer be any night; and they will not have need of the light of a lamp nor the light of the sun, because the Lord God will illumine them; and they will reign forever and ever.   Our lives parallel this process. When we are born, we are birthed into the created light, into this world. As we are reborn in Christ Jesus our illumination changes. We learn to see what cannot be seen. We are illuminated, directed, kept safe by an uncreated eternal light. But the final goal is not the plan. The plan is the pathway of transformation, of illumination. All who are being changed into the image of Christ Jesus are called to be light for t...

When we walk with Jesus, life doesn’t have so many distractions, last minute changes and unmet expectations. All those anxiety builders are put in their place the closer you walk with God. Life is easier to navigate, because you are following a set course and not feeling the pressure to make your own way. Even when that course changes direction every fifteen minutes, you have assurance in the one leading. People who have never experienced this kind of walk with God will tell you it is not possible. People who serve the Lord passionately, will sometimes tell us that life is just full of anxiety, stress and unexpected demands, but this is not true. Anxiety and stress come from our disconnection with God. When the peace of God rules our heart and mind, we live in peace. Being near God alters darkness and confusion. Even in moments where we don’t know what to do, we know that being close to God is what we should do, and we have peace in the “not knowing.” Life has more rest then w...