Peoria Prayer Center

Answered Prayer Six months ago, I wrote down in my journal five answers to specific prayers I had just received. These interventions from God came through His people and through changes in circumstances. Some involved a person to change their heart about a matter and then act in a different way. They all had a cost to them. Just the other day I came across what the angel of the Lord said to Zechariah in the encounter they had in the temple. This would-be father had both a hope and a fear in the angel's message. And God addressed the fear as He came to give hope. Fear is a part of our lives. It is what we expect to happen. We anticipate negative, difficult and bad things happening and as a result, we wrestle in our inner being with fear. But, we also have faith as a part of our lives. Faith is like fear, it anticipates something happening, only the thing that faith expects to happen is good, it is God’s will, it is hopeful even when it is difficult. Long ago t...

They are Coming. History is full of times when people left one place in quest of a better one. Those of us in the Christian tradition know this well or should know it well. It is our story. The story of lost hope regained. The story of rebellion restored with rebuilding. The story of leaving our past and pursuing a higher purpose. But the Christian story is not about human desire or need. The story of redemption in history and in the Bible is not the story of mankind on their own quest. It is the narrative of a people made by God, rejecting their creator and then seeking to escape the pain and suffering of those actions and return to God’s grace and provision. You don’t need to be kicked out of paradise long before you want back in. Or in the imagery of the Parodical Son, a few weeks with pigs creates a desire for the provision of Father. So, is what is happening in our world right now a holy quest or ongoing rejection of God? It is an important question because ho...

Grace and Peace Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Philippians 1:2 NASB So how often does grace and peace occur together in the New Testament? [i] About 18 times, most of which are Paul addressing the people he is writing to. But is Paul doing more than offering a common greeting like “hello” or “how are you doing?” I think He is. Saying “hi” is something we all do, even Paul does it every day. Every communication has a greeting, an introduction, that is just a part of writing. But Paul is greeting people with an awareness that we need more than grace. We need the combination of both grace and peace. Paul wants the followers of Christ Jesus to have this as an introduction to their lives. The awareness of kindness (grace) manifests in our bodies, minds, and souls producing peace. Maybe grace and peace are like some other common pairs I know. Like burger and fries or smile and laughter. Life is full of doubles. Joy and tha...

The weight of life Some people take on the challenges of life with zeal. They attack life with endless possibilities. Their dreams and their ability are harmonized. Life for them is limited only by their imagination. But others see life more as a load, a burden. The challenges are weight and require a strength or skill they do not have. Or if they do have the skill, they lack the confidence to carry it. Still others, maybe most of us, see life as a combination. We live most of the time with high hope, we are looking forward. We get out of bed with purpose, even if it is a small one. We think of our to-do list with both joy and responsibility. Life is good and bad but there is enough good to keep going. But there are also times when the weight of relationships, employment, friendship or some other necessity weighs us down. A sickness, death or disease cruses our spirits, then our hopes and if not lifted, it may even crush our existence. Our purpose is lost to us. Others...

Changing the World And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in real knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve the things that are excellent, in order to be sincere and blameless until the day of Christ; having been filled with the fruit of righteousness which comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God. Philippians 1:9-11 NASB Maybe you’re like me and sometimes you get weary trying to change the world. Things seem to be getting worse, not better. We now have the intolerance of those calling for tolerance. The injustice of those seeking justice. The lies of those promoting truth. We hear a message to be love delivered in the context of hate and bigotry to everyone who is not loving in the way the presenter desires. Confront someone on their condition and they turn into a victim or a warlord. How do we not get caught up in all this? How can we live as Christians in a Christian way? I believe that two words from the passage abo...

This Chapter of Your Life 这章你的生活 פרק זה של חייך פרק זה של חייך פרק זה של חייך If you read a chapter of the Bible you might be reading anything from a few hours to a few years. The Bible timeline is not an easy thing to always perceive. And neither is the timeline of our lives. Life has seasons, days, chapters and books. I know there are some portions of my life I want to close the book on. Just as there are seasons I wish would never end. But time and my life move on. One section at a time, each related and yet each having its own emphasis. Life is made up of parts, connections, relationships, and conclusions. All that to say that you can’t rightly judge the Bible or your life from one or a few chapters. You can read all the prophets in the Bible and come away with only a part of what God is desiring to communicate. You can look at your job and your family life and have only a part of all that is needed to truly understand your ...

20 Words To Make A Difference Words are important. They form our expressions. They are tools we use to express our heart to people. Words sometimes slip out of our heart, revealing what we had hoped to keep hidden. Words are used to think. They are how we grasp a hold of images, hopes, and dreams. Words are also tools we use during times of worry, fear and anxiety. Who hasn’t filled their minds with negative words prior to a stressful conversation?  Negative fear filled words are what we ponder in times of anxiety. These words are in our mind because fear and worry are in our heart. This correlation between our words and our heart is necessary for us to be authentic. We all have times of pretending to be one thing outwardly, but our inward reality is different.  Intuitively we know that a life like this is unhealthy. Yet,the battle to live a life of both peace and integrity is hard. Most everyone wants peace both inside and out. Flustrated. That is a word from my ...