Laying hands on the sick is mentioned many times in the New Testament, and was a common practice in the early church.
Tag Archives: Prayer
x Some prayer exercises
Mildew’s dream for America
Seeking to clarify my motivations
I don’t believe in belief. Here’s why.
Arnie (not his real name) has been the sole student of my course on effective prayer.
Sunday after church he told me he’d found a couple online resources about effective prayer, that he hoped we could review together. Each of them begins with the necessity of “belief.”
When he said this, I became nervous. There are many such sources online, but I’m not comfortable with them. On the one hand, trying to make myself “believe” that the outcome I pray for is inevitable, feels too much like wading into the world of delusion. On the other hand, although there are many New Testament references to “belief” in connection with prayer, I’m convinced that either (a) those expressions don’t come from the historical Jesus himself, or else (b) Jesus used that term to mean something very different from what we normally take it to mean today.
None of those whom I regard as experts in the field ever refer to belief this way. Never. Not once. Ever.
By Monday afternoon, I would feel my reservations had been powerfully confirmed.
Related: From my diary: Learning to pray
Related: I will not be disappointed
Related: When prayer backfires
Continue reading I don’t believe in belief. Here’s why.
First steps toward silence
A Friend posted this on FaceBook:
Someone commented, “I don’t know how to stop thinking. Not until I lay down at night. Brain is always busy with something. Wish I could turn it off.”
Here I will seek to meet that person’s need.
Purging: A first peek
Laughter is the best medicine.
Prayer course syllabus
Below appears the syllabus for the course on prayer that I’m teaching at my church. Today we completed Week 2. Continue reading Prayer course syllabus
“Calm down!”
Two stories from Sunday, August 8:
– Unanswered prayer
– Direction for The William Tell Show
Love All.
If I’ve said some of these things before, now may be a good time to say them again.
Some version of this post may be a good, new, final chapter for The Way of Peace.
Napoleon Hill
Once I started this post, things got real icky real fast.
Intended subtitles were:
(1) When New Thought fails;
(2) Apparently even The Secret doesn’t tell the secret.
The Homeless Blogger 