Dr Paul Allen

English: Illustration of the Parable of the Unjust Judge from the New Testament Gospel of Luke (Luke 18:1-9) by John Everett Millais for The Parables of Our Lord (1863) (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) “Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.” ( Proverbs 3:5-6 )   The key to knowing God ’s will is willingness and determination to follow it before knowing it. “If any man will [literally ‘wills to’] do his will, he shall know” ( John  7:17 ).   The best indicator as to whether one is really willing to follow God’s will, of course, is whether or not he is now following that part of His will which is  already  known, as revealed in His Word. This requires first knowing and believing, and then obeying the Word, especially those portions dealing with God’s general will for all Christians . “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path” ( Psalm 1...

The Christian Martyrs' Last Prayer (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) “I’ll pray for you.” We say it often, but how many times do we actually remember to do it? It’s easy to think, “ God knows their needs, so it’s fine.” But that’s not the New Testament view of prayer: we’re meant to pray always ( Luke 18:1 ; 1 Thess 5:16). And Paul himself regularly asks for prayers .  If they weren’t important, he wouldn’t ask (Col 4:3). For this reason, it would be helpful to develop a system to track what people need prayer for, like a prayer journal. But what about the model? Psalm 20 contains such a model, and the psalmist offers some beautiful words for others: “May Yahweh answer you in the day of trouble.… May he send you help … May he remember all your offerings … May he give to you your heart’s desire … May we shout for you over your victory” (Psa 20:1–5).  And then the psalmist goes on to proclaim God’s goodness and that He will answer (Psa 20:6). And this is the line I...

Oil painting of a young John Calvin. (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Matthew 17:14–21 “If you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you” ( v. 20 ). Matthew’s gospel depicts the essential part faith plays in the events of Jesus ’ life as well as in His teaching. Joseph believed that Mary’s son was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit , not by an illicit affair ( 1:18–25 ). Christ trusted the Father to sustain Him in His temptation ( 4:1–11 ) and marveled at the faith so often displayed by those outside of God ’s covenant with Israel ( 8:5–13 ; 15:21–28 ). Peter was given the ability to identify Jesus as the Messiah, though His grasp of all that means was initially incomplete ( 16:13–23 ). Faith is the focus of today’s passage as we resume our exposition of Matthew. Having come down from the Mount of Transfiguration ( 17:9–13 ), Jesus and His disciples run into a crow...

Image via Wikipedia "Pray without ceasing." ( 1 Thessalonians 5:17 )   This is, no doubt, the shortest commandment in the Bible , and seemingly the most difficult to obey. How could anyone possibly pray without ceasing? What about sleeping, or working, or other necessary pursuits?   Paul himself claimed to pray without ceasing. For example, he wrote to the Roman church : "For God is my witness, . . . that without ceasing I make mention of you always in my prayers " ( Romans 1:9 ). To the Thessalonians he wrote: "We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers; Remembering without ceasing your work of faith" ( 1 Thessalonians 1:2-3 ). In his very last epistle he wrote: "I thank God . . . that without ceasing I have remembrance of thee in my prayers night and day" ( 2 Timothy 1:3 ).   It is obvious from such references that Paul did not mean we should be uttering prayers continually, but rather to be continually in ...