If you are, Justin Taylor has a slew of videos with clips of him in his own voice on a variety of topics. You can check it out here.

So far D. A. Carson has given us four practical helps about prayer in his book A Call to Spiritual Reformation.

Much praying is not done because we don’t plan to pray.
Adopt practical ways to impede mental drift.
At various periods in your life, develop, if possible, a prayer-partner relationship.
Choose models, but choose them well.

Here is the fifth:

Develop a system for your prayer lists.

Three cheers for Dr. Carson. He makes a big deal out of one must for everyone’s prayer list – Operation World. He commends this resource for the way it over the course of a year takes you around the world to country after country and region after region, and provides you with succinct, intelligent information to assist you in your prayers. Its value lies in its ability to enlarge your horizons, to expand your interest in the world church and the world’s needs.

Amen.

This from William Gurnall for July 29:

A spectator sometimes sees more than the actor himself. And a man with an open-hearted friend who dares speak honestly has a wonderful source of encouragement for the power of holiness. Sometimes self-love binds us so we cannot see a single fault; and at other times, self-condemnation makes us appear worse than we really are. Therefore, keep your heart soft and ready to receive a reproof with real meekness.

Easier said than done. He who hates reproof is stupid (Prov. 12:1). Sometimes I don’t feel very smart. Lord, have mercy. Make me soft and ready.

It’s time for lesson four. Let’s review first.

1. Much praying is not done because we don’t plan to pray.
2. Adopt practical ways to impede mental drift.
3. At various periods in your life, develop, if possible, a prayer-partner relationship.

   And now:

4. Choose models, but choose them well.

D. A. Carson pays moving tribute to his parents in this regard, especially his father, a Baptist minister of a small church in Canada. Would that my sons would remember me for my model in prayer.

Never. We’ve always been covenantal in our theology. We probably have some folks in our church who subscribe to dispensationalism, but we adhere to a covenant grid in our teaching.

My point on Sunday in referencing a conversation I had before the service with a new person who assumed we were dispensational (whom I gently corrected) was that we subscribe to an historic confession, the Second London Baptist Confession of Faith (1689), that clearly communicates where we stand on such issues.

Chapter seven of that document is God’s Covenant. Paragraph three states this:

God’s covenant is revealed in the gospel; in the first place to Adam in the promise of salvation by ‘the seed of the woman’, and afterwards, step by step, until the full revelation of salvation was completed in the New Testament. The salvation of the elect is based upon a covenant of redemption that was transacted in eternity between the Father and the Son; and it is solely through the grace conveyed by this covenant that all the descendants of fallen Adam who have been saved have obtained life and a blessed immortality; for the terms of blessing which applied to Adam in his state of innocency have no application to his posterity to render them acceptable to God.

Discussions related to dispensational vs. covenant theology often spill over into matters of eschatology. We have people who fall into all the main camps citing various biblical proofs. Our confession in its statement on the doctrine of last things gives a wide berth to all those views, sticking with the main issues all orthodox Christians agree upon and goes no further. I, for one, like that about the 1689. I also am covenantal in my theology and so is OGC.

Sorry for the confusion. Times like this I think about applying at Walmart for a greeter position. JK.

Our own Olivia Allmand leaves for Rwanda on Saturday with a group from another church.

Here are her prayer requests.

Unity with the team (this has been an issue, being a multi-generational, multi-economic class, & multi-place in life team)
Health & safety
The 75 orphans awaiting the camp; that healing and restoration may begin/continue

Let’s stand with her in prayer as she steps out for the sake of the Name.

Tim Challies has a great post regarding Jerry Bridges’ notion of preaching the gospel to yourself on a daily basis. You can check it out here.

Desiring God now accepts comments on their blog. They have an excellent set of guidelines for posting comments, appropriate to any blog, I should think. Check it out here.

So far D. A. Carson has given us two lessons:

Much praying is not done because we do not plan to pray.
Adopt practical ways to impede mental drift.

Here is the third:

At various periods in your life, develop, if possible, a prayer-partner relationship.

My heart skipped a beat as I read this:

I know a few pastors who seek out a handful of people who will meet, perhaps early in the morning, to give themselves for an hour or more to intercessory prayer. . . . Such clusters of prayer partners have been used by God again and again to spearhead powerful ministry and extravagant blessing.

I am grateful to be one of those pastors. How thankful I am for our staff and others who come to my place every Monday morning at 6:30 AM to storm the gates of heaven. To God be the glory.