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As one popular 90s artist once sang, “Everybody hurts. Sometimes.” There is no denying that suffering is inescapable. The question is not, “Will we go through trials?” but “What will we do when suffering hits us?” In his first letter to a group of scattered Christians, the Apostle Peter shows his readers, and us by extension, how to emerge from the fires of life as pure gold instead of charred cinder.

In Jesus’ instructions to his disciples concerning prayer, He reveals God the Father’s top three priorities: His name, kingdom, and will. Consequently, our primary emphases in prayer ought to be theocentric (God-centered) not man-centered. However, Jesus wants us to know in the second half of the Lord’s Prayer that it’s perfectly acceptable to pray for our needs as well. And our needs are much deeper than physical provisions.

Do we pray simply so we’ll be changed? Or should we expect our prayers to accomplish something? Eighteenth century theologian, Jonathan Edwards, called prayer the greatest activity for nourishing the new nature and causing the soul to prosper. Which is absolutely true. But prayer is not primarily an exercise in self-betterment. Prayer is the means by which God has determined to bless us. God gives us what we need in response to our prayers. So what, then, should we ask for?

According to Christ, the prayers of His followers are going to need a major reorientation. The problem with the human heart is so deep, that we are able to turn even intimate moments of worship into self-serving attempts to gain the approval of men, or to manipulate God Himself to do our bidding. The solution that Jesus proposes is a reorientation away from self and a focusing on His Name, His Kingdom, and His Will.

Prayer is one of the most important spiritual disciplines of the Christian faith, and yet it may be the hardest one to actually practice. And it’s become harder now to pray than at any time in history because we have more distractions now than ever. With our smart phones and tablets at our sides, we never stop producing. The question is not, “Has God made himself available?” It’s, “Who has the time to meet with Him?”

Have you ever had one of those “mountaintop” spiritual experiences? Where you just felt God’s comforting presence in a remarkable way? Those encounters are blessings from the Lord. Those are occasions to be relished. But even the greatest spiritual moments come to an end. Until Jesus returns to fix this broken world we can expect trials and struggles. Spiritual highs are sweet, but how do we respond when they’re over?

The wall having been completed under Nehemiah’s supervision, the Jewish leaders set about the task of repopulating Jerusalem and reestablishing worship of God in the holy city. The dedication of the wall and the return of the priests and leaders to the city are occasions for genuine joy and exuberant worship. But Israel’s prophet at the time, Malachi, warns that the Lord also expects obedience to His commands.

Every Christian sermon must proclaim the good news of what God has done, is doing, and will do in the person and work of His Son, Jesus Christ … or it can hardly be called a Christian sermon. As Kevin DeYoung says, “any gospel which says only what you must do and never announces what Christ has done is no gospel at all.” That said, the Bible is filled with “gospel therefores,” expected responses to God’s gracious provision in Christ. What happens when a community becomes gripped by God’s grace?

Have you ever had something you desperately wanted slip away? Ever felt the pain of dashed hopes? Have you found that following Jesus just didn’t turn out the way that you believed it would? Those questions capture well the struggles felt by the earliest disciples of Jesus. In fact, on the first Easter morning, there was an extreme, almost debilitating sense of despair and sadness. But then something happened when a stranger entered into the picture. Everything changed. Forever.