Author Archives: Drew Haninger

What is Death?

According to to the Bible, physical death is a transition and not the end.

John 5:24 “ Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life.”

This verse indicates the confident hope that the person who was believed in Jesus Christ enjoys.

Daniel not only talks about the hope the believer has, but warns the person who rejects Jesus Christ of eternal judgment.
As Daniel 12:2 explains,  ”…those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, Some to everlasting life, Some to shame and everlasting contempt”

I hope this short answer to the question “What is Death” has helped you prepare for this transition.

How Do You Find God?

What a great question! How do you find God, and where is He. God is real, God is present. One just needs to simply talk to Him, and that talking is called prayer. Put aside all your thoughts about formal prayers, formal places to pray and just talk to God. “Hello God, sorry if you are busy but I have a need.” Talk to God just like a close friend. He understands you just the way you are.

Consider this simple prayer found in the Bible. Psalms 18:6 I called to the Lord in my distress, and I cried to my God for help. From His temple He heard my voice, and my cry to Him reached His ears.

The Lord’s Teaching on Prayer – top key points

Matthew 6:10 Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. This is  a key part of the Lord’s prayer in Matthew six where Jesus is teaching His disciples a wonderful teaching on prayer.  Notice the word “your” before the words “kingdom” and “will“.    This is a key passage on the spiritual warfare for God’s kingdom and will. God’s kingdom is the place where God is in full control.

Anxiety vs Good

In this passage one person choose to worry and be anxious, the other to stop and listen to Jesus and what He is speaking.   It is hard to stop what we are doing and just listen. Just to stop and listen to Jesus is the good portion that Mary choose.

Luke 10:41-42 but the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, 42 but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.”

What is Christian Burnout?

We think burnout is what happens to others, but we actually all go through it at some point in our life.  Sometimes it manifests itself as just frustration or constantly being tired or run-down.

Burnout happens when we are pulled in directions the Lord is not leading. God only emotionally “funds” the directions He is doing. The other directions and projects are on our energy, and we quickly run out. So find out what He is doing.   It’s easy to get or be involved in some work for the Lord that has grown and been blessed by the Lord, but somehow the Lord has moved on or is just not doing it anymore.  Yet we contine on and are faithful, yet sometimes we are not sensitive to the Lord’s change in direction.

So we need to learn how to pray “Lord, what are you doing?”, and then be sensitive enough to listen to what He is saying.

Sometimes saying “no” is hard to do.  Sometimes we just need to finish something we started even though it may seem difficult.

Acts 16:7 And when they had come up to Mysia, they attempted to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them.  From Hebrews 12 “…active persistence the appointed course of the race that is set before us,”    Sometimes God is holding back and sometimes He is moving forward, can we listen to what He is saying.

The Holy Spirit Prays in Us with Groanings

Great words from Andrew Murray about working with the Holy Spirit in our prayer time. Let the Holy Spirit be our prayer helper and teacher.

You complain that you do not feel able to pray thus, and ask how you may be fitted to do so.  You speak much of the feebleness of your faith in God, and love to souls, and delight in prayer.  The man who is to have power in intercession must cease these complaints.  He must know that he has A NATURE PERFECTLY ADAPTED TO THE WORK.  An apple tree is only expected to bear apples, because it has the apple nature within it.  “You are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works.”  The eye was created so see:  how beautifully fitted it is for its work!  You are created in Christ to pray.  It is your very nature as a child of God.  The Spirit has been sent into your heart—what to do?  To cry Abba Father, to you draw your heart up in child-like prayer.  The Holy Spirit prays in us with groanings that cannot be uttered, with a divine power which our mind and feelings cannot understand.  Learn, if you would be an intercessor, to give the Holy Spirit much greater honors than is generally done.  Believe that He is praying within you, and be strong and of good courage.  As you pray, be still before God to believe and to yield to this wonderful power of prayer within you.

These are quotes from The Inner Chamber by Andrew Murray on Moses the man of prayer.

God’s Word as our Daily Bread

Let God’s word be our daily food, let it be our daily bread.  The verse is Matthew 4:4. But  he answered, “It is written, “ ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God. ’”.

There is much packed in this verse: life, living, live, bread, food, nourishment, the bread of life, the Word of God, God’s speaking, the Bible, verses in the Bible, the very speaking of God, the words of His mouth and the fresh words coming from God every day. Each item will take a whole blog entry to develop.

The Two Great Prayers in Ephesians

The Two Great Prayers in the book of Ephesians

There are two great prayers in the book of Ephesians that Paul prays.

  • Ephesians 1:15-23 – a prayer that God would grant the believers  a spirit of wisdom and revelation.  This prayer is so we believers could see what God sees.  God’s perspective is from heaven and not from earth.  From the heavens God sees Christ far above all the crazy stuff (sin) happening on the earth.
  • Ephesians 3:14-19  – a prayer for spiritual strength so that Christ could dwell in our hearts through love. This prayer is so that the riches of the vision could be practical in the believers lives.  It is Christ living in us that allows the high vision of the book Ephesians to be lived out in us. This practice is described in details in chapters 4 through 6.