Dr Paul Allen

Prayer is not simply a soliloquy, a mere exercise in therapeutic self-analysis, or a religious recitation.   Prayer is discourse with the personal God Himself. There, in the act and dynamic of praying, I bring my whole life under His gaze. Yes, He knows what is in my mind, but I still have the privilege of articulating to Him what is there. He says: “Come. Speak to me. Make your requests known to me.” So we come in order to know Him and to be known by Him. There is something erroneous in the question, “If God knows everything, why pray?” The question assumes that prayer is one-dimensional and is defined simply as supplication or intercession.  On the contrary, prayer is multidimensional. God’s sovereignty casts no shadow over the prayer of adoration. God’s foreknowledge or determinate counsel does not negate the prayer of praise. The only thing it should do is give us greater reason for expressing our adoration for who God is.  If God knows what I’m going to say before I ...

English: Marriage and divorce rates expressed as percentages of the Australian population at the time. Based on statistics from the ABS 2008 (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) English: This is a figure illustrating the greater rates of marital dissolution by income and race/ethnicity in the U.S. in 2002. (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) English: Marriage and divorce rates in the US, 1990-2007. Source: Statistical Abstract, 2009. (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) English: Divorce Rates in Sweden 2000- 2010 (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Marriage and divorce rates in New Zealand (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Nowadays, advocates of liberal divorce laws win the “more- compassionate -than-thou” game hands down against those who advocate the view taken in these articles. It is easy to generate sympathy for a person suffering in a difficult marriage. It is harder to arouse the same passions for principles and institutions. Herein consists the toughness of the tough cases. The emotional immediacy of ...

Image via Wikipedia Just Do It Just apologize. Don’t let the sun go down on your anger. Don’t let bitterness take root. Forgive as you have been forgiven. Don’t let pride sever your relationships. If there is anything that will keep you from apologizing, it is pride. Your pride will rebel against humbling yourself before God and before other people. Don’t trust your pride. Just apologize. If you’re anything like me, you won’t ever lack for opportunities to practice apologizing. As times goes on it may not get any easier or any less humbling, but it will become something you do sincerely and out of a desire to please God and to honor people created in his image. Ask for Forgiveness It is easy enough to say, “I’m sorry, ” but far more difficult to ask, “Do you forgive me?” Asking forgiveness allows both you and the offend party to understand that you are not merely seeking to salve your conscience by apologizing, but that you are seeking true reconciliation. Forgiveness is somet...

Image via Wikipedia There are very few words that transcend circumstances. There are very few words that go beyond social, economic and marital status. There are very few words that hit all of us in the same way, at the same time and with the same potential for impact and change. But these 4 words do: “I am with you.” God is with us. Not distant. Not removed, but close. Not uncaring, but empathetic. Not far off, but living inside us. He is with us. To the single mom working 2 jobs and still coming up short every month:  I AM with you. To the one filled with anxiety and worry in this moment right now:  I AM with you. To the unemployed:  I AM with you. To the one that hates the way their body looks and how they feel when they look in the mirror:  I AM with you. To the person that has no idea what their purpose or passion in life is:  I AM with you. To failure and the mess up that can’t see how they could ever recover from their mistake:  I AM with you. To...