Three Foundation Stones of Faith

Posted on March 14, 2022 by Stephen Nielsen

God has revealed Himself to us by His Word and through His Spirit; and by these He works in us to tell us who He is and what His will is; and He urges us and leads us according to His will. Thus, these are, generally, the three foundation stones that we build our faith on: knowledge of His will, knowledge of His character, and whether we experience the urging of His Spirit.

Three Foundation Stones that we Build Our Faith On

1. Knowledge of God’s will

The Bible tells us that “faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God (Rom. 10:17). Hence, the will of God (concerning a certain thing) that comes to us in our ears, by His Spirit, and through our diligent study of the Word, builds in us a basis for our faith (in obtaining that certain thing). This…

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Our Prayers Will Fail If We Don’t Pray According to the Bible

Posted on March 8, 2022 by Stephen Nielsen

Prayer A to Z

Here are the last seven reason why our prayers fail, beginning with our neglect of the Word of God.

Teachings on Prayer – We don’t let the Bible teach us how to pray. Everything in the Bible was written for our instruction (Rom. 15:14). All the prayers of the Bible and all the teachings on prayer, all the stories of how people prayed and how they had faith to pray (Heb. 13:7) are our teachers on how to pray. If we fail to read the Bible and heed it’s teachings about prayer, we can’t expect to know how to pray; therefore, we will certainly fail in prayer.

Unity – We lack unity. Prayers will always fail when there is no unity in the body of Christ. For where there is no unity in the body of Christ there is also no unity with Christ. And where there…

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We Fail In Prayer When We Are Not Exposed To Real Needs

Posted on March 5, 2022 by Stephen Nielsen

Prayer A to Z

Here are six ways we may fail in prayer. The first failure listed is that we don’t let ourselves be exposed to many of the real needs around us.

Needs – We don’t see the real needs. One of the reasons why we fail in prayer is because our prayers are not specific enough to meet the real needs of people. It is possible that our prayers are too much for ourselves and not enough for others, too heavenly and not enough on the earth. We may pray thanking God for all the beautiful things, but we don’t have eyes to see the sin, the suffering, and all the pain on earth. Therefore, because of this neglect, we lack compassion for others and our prayers don’t carry the burden of their needs. What value then is our praying except to make ourselves feel good; but in the end…

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We Fail in Prayer When We Don’t Pray God’s Way

Posted on March 1, 2022 by Stephen Nielsen

Prayer A to Z

Failure is a tough word. We may not like the idea that we can fail in prayer. But when we don’t pray God’s way and when we don’t allow the Holy Spirit to help us pray, that guarantees that we will fail in prayer. Here are seven ways many Christians will fail in prayer.

God’s way – We don’t pray God’s way. You will definitely fail in prayer if you insist on praying your own way instead of God’s way. We all naturally tend to pray to impress others. God wants us to pray, however, not to impress anyone or to show them how righteous we are, but simply to receive from Him what we need and what He desires to give us.

Jesus has instructed us to pray in this way: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come Your will be done on…

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FAILURE IN PRAYER—10 Reasons Why We Fail In Getting To Prayer

Posted on February 18, 2022 by Stephen Nielsen

Prayer A to Z

There are many areas of failure in getting to prayer. And so I have done my best to point out some of those areas. I have found ten different areas of failure; and I have outlined them with the acrostic P-R-A-Y-E-R-L-E-S-S. I hope this acrostic will help you to remember them.

# 1 – Priority. We don’t give prayer the proper priority. The reason of course is that we fail to see the importance of prayer. Perhaps we haven’t come into a close relationship with God yet, and we don’t enjoy spending time with Him. Also it may be because we are lazy; we lack discipline; and we don’t take the time to set our alarm clock a little earlier, so we have time to pray in the morning. Basically, it is just selfishness and sin.

# 2 – Rest. We aren’t resting in faith. A…

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3 prayer requests for an effective witness

Posted on February 15, 2022 by Stephen Nielsen

Prayer A to Z

There is no need for any Christian to worry about whether his witness will be effective. Pray these three things and trust the Lord to do His work.

For the Holy Spirit to continue His work long after your witness. If the Holy Spirit has led you with boldness to witness to someone, you can believe that He has also been ministering to that person—that is, all along the way He has been preparing that person’s heart to hear the gospel. Bit by bit He has been liberating that one’s mind and heart from the power of Satan; He has been helping them to see their own lostness, to see that time is short, and to see God’s love.

Let me urge you to keep praying for that lost one. Pray that throughout your witness and even after you witness, that the Holy Spirit would continue His ministry…

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Two Things to Pray For Those We Intend To Witness To

Posted on February 7, 2022 by Stephen Nielsen

Prayer A to Z

Notice that these requests pertain to their liberty: that they would be free from the bonds of Satan—to hear and receive the gospel.

First request: that the Holy Spirit would prepare the soil of their heart for the seed of the gospel.

Preparation is so important. As the farmer prepares the soil (as he turns the ground over with the plow, runs the disc and the rake over the ground, and fertilizes and waters the soil so that the seed he plants will germinate) so must the Holy Spirit prepare the heart of the lost soul to receive the seed of the gospel. For the Word of God will not be heard, will not penetrate a heart that is hard and callused by sin. Therefore, let us pray for the Holy Spirit to begin that process of preparing the soil of hearts, especially of those you plan…

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Prayer for Three Essentials in Witnessing

Posted on February 3, 2022 by Stephen Nielsen

Prayer A to Z

Three absolute essentials for witnessing are these: guidance, faith, and to keep a close relationship with God.

For guidance in witnessing. As we go out, boldly, into the world to witness, we need guidance. Many (including myself) have witnessed boldly but have miserably failed because they lacked guidance.

In this regard, I urge you fellow believers to make Christ Lord in your heart, and pray that He would prepare your heart to witness—that He would make you willing and able to witness (1 Pet. 3:15); also, that He would fill you with knowledge and discernment, and that you would be so full of the love and compassion of Christ that others would see it and give glory to God (Matt. 5:16).

Secondly, with your heart more prepared, pray for the Holy Spirit to lead you to those He wants you to witness to—to those He has prepared…

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Three Ways to Be Bolder In Witnessing

Posted on January 30, 2022 by Stephen Nielsen

Prayer A to Z

All the things we have discussed so far in previous blogs, with the resolve to pray over them, will help us with boldness. Being aware of the harvest will make us more compassionate in our boldness. Seeing the horrors of hell, the shortness of the time, and our grave responsibility to witness will make us more urgent in our boldness. But I think the most helpful thing is to have a Christ-like love for the lost and to be excited to share with them. This is what I think we should really concentrate on.

With that said, I would like to talk more now on love, then on hope, and last on faith in an effort to make us bolder in witnessing.

Boldness by love. Jerry Wiles says that boldness is “born of love.” He says, “Lack of boldness is very likely related to a lack of…

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Three Prayer Requests to Develop a Bold Witness

Posted on January 21, 2022 by Stephen Nielsen

Prayer A to Z

How can we be bold in our Christian witness? Here are three ideas that have to do with our awareness and our perception of the condition of the world around us. And since in the flesh it is very hard to have this perceptions, we bring these ideas to you in terms of prayer requests. Thus we pray…

1. To be aware of the harvest. In Matthew 9:37-38 Jesus said to His disciples, “The harvest truly is plentiful but the laborers are few. Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.” The harvest Jesus is talking about here is souls ready to he saved. The laborers are evangelists—those who will share the gospel with them and lead them to Christ. In this setting, Jesus is looking over a multitude and is moved with compassion for them. He knew that there were many…