...Prayer: The Timeless Secret of High-Impact Leaders Book Critique Submitted by: Shannon J. Cockrell Student ID: L23353600 Submitted to: Dr. Jim O'Neill EVAN 670 Liberty Theological Seminary January 19, 2015 INTRODUCTION “Much prayer equals much power”, is a quote I’ve heard most my Christian adult life. Dr. Earley asks a thought-provoking question, “How would you rate your prayers?” (p.111) Truth be told, I wasn’t very powerful. Sure I prayed in the morning and at night, but I wasn’t seeing the results I saw that prayer brought about in the Scriptures. Prayer: The Timeless Secret Of High-Impact Leaders by Dr. Dave Earley is a life-transforming book. Earley has written a treatise on prayer that will be a classic for years to come. In this brief critique/review I will give an overview, summary of the chapters, critique, and application. SUMMARY “Leadership is influence…Prayer influences men by influencing God to influence them.” (Earley, x). Wow. What a powerful summary of his own book that Earlely gives us. This book is about influence and how prayer can better enable and position us to be better influences in the world. To lead better, we must pray better. Earley uses “Nine Prayer Disciplines of High-Impact Spiritual Leaders” to serve as the framework of his book. In chapter 1, entitled Value the Power of Prayer, Earley elaborates on the dynamic power that is found in prayer. Earley says, “If you want to maximize your impact, prioritize your...
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...LIBERTY BAPTIST THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY Prayer: The Timeless Secret of High-Impact Leaders by Dave Earley A Reading Reflection A Research Paper Submitted to Dr. Gene Jeffries in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for The Course evan 670-b01 by August 31, 2012 Table of Contents INTRODUCTION ………………………………………………………………………..1 SUMMARY OF BOOK…………………………………………………………………..1 EVALUTATION AND CRITIQUE ……………………………………………………..2 PERSONAL APPLICATION ……………………………………………………………3 CONCLUSION …………………………………………………………………………..4 BIBLIOGRAPHY ………………………………………………………………………..5 INTRODUCTION Prayer is the way that believers communicate with the Lord. While many view prayer as a means to: thank the Lord, ask for help, and confess their sins; prayer goes beyond that. Dave Earley explains that “The eminence of great leaders in the Bible is attributable to the fact that they were great in their praying.” In his book, Prayer: The Timeless Secret of High-Impact Leaders, Earley covers nine topics that are essential and applicable for those who are spiritual leaders. SUMMARY The nine principles that Dave Early covers are supported by leaders both from the Bible and other well-known leaders through the course of the history of Christianity. The book can be divided into two sections: developing a prayer life and developing boldness of prayer. The text can further be divided into the nine principles which are: value the power of prayer, make time to pray, pray for those you serve...
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...Here I am on Earth trying to determine if the people here are religious or not?? Here I am on Earth trying to determine if the people here are religious or not. Three things I am looking for are prayer to a higher entity, sacrifice, and public acknowledgment of their god in ways other than prayer. The clues I am now assessing include people attending their houses of worship, people wearing crosses around their necks as jewelry, and people with their heads bowed in prayer. These people with their heads bowed in prayer have so many variations in their actions. Some people are at their dinner table praying, some people kneel on the ground in a line with other people five times per day to pray, and some bow their heads and put their hands together, and use a string of beads to pray with. The earthlings seem to practice sacrifice openly and variably. They are not, perhaps, killing a goat, burning it, and attempting to give it to the deity, but instead, people are sacrificing personal actions. The man who used to steal does not steal anymore, hoping this sacrifice will please his god. So it is with the woman who used foul words heavily in speech. She now, however, is trying to give up (sacrifice) her obscene language because she feels like she cannot reap the benefits of being a servant of her god if her language is not pure. She does not want to grieve her higher being, so she sacrificed her abhorrent language. Sacrifice occurs in Buddhism when practicing Sutra and one...
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...behaviors and who they are spiritually. A balance between the body, mind and spirit in accordance with the family, community and nature is observed. (Pearson Education, 2012) Health is viewed multi-dimensionally and each dimension consists of the physical, mental and spiritual aspects of a person. With the maintenance of health, one must consider a special attire one must wear, specific food one must eat or avoid, special entertainment sources, and religious customs. For the protection of health, one must take into account dietary restrictions, symbolic clothing that must be worn, avoidance of specific people, rituals, superstitions and amulets. For health restoration, one must also consider special folkloric remedies, healers, rituals and prayers. It is essential that these traditional methods mentioned above be incorporated with modern methods of health care. (Pearson Education, 2012) The three families interviewed are from the Philippines, Jamaica and Ireland. For the physical aspect, Filipinos pray for good health. They eat healthy food such as vegetables, meat, chicken, and fruits and maintain exceptional hygiene. For the mental aspect, eating pigeon soup nourishes the liver and kidneys and detoxifies. Chicken soup also...
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...claim that tey are not interested in religion, worship something whether it be their car, house, an idol or a God. People worship to satisfy a human need just like eating and drinking Revivalism began in Jamaica between 1860 and 1861 as part for a religious movement called the great revival. This period saw the restoration of suppressed and discriminated against religious practices during slavery Information taken from: http: http://www.anngel.com/ACIJ/history-revivalism.htm Christian churches however were never fond of the Revivalist Manifestations of the Spirit, where a person in the service would be possessed by these spirits. Therefore participators would only be limited to singing hymns and reading scriptures from prayers, this is where most people in the Revivalist community would not have the satisfaction of worshipping. From this, Christian groups have been divided into two groups: • Temporal • Spiritual Christian “Spiritual” groups are those who accept the doctrine and the spiritual Possession of spirits while the of the Temporal” are those who do not accept such activities. Revivalist Bands Revival bands are an essential part to worship in Revivalism. Pocomania and Zion Revivalist Bands consist mainly of Female members. These women (Mothers) may even become Leaders of the Revivalists bands. Many revivalists in Jamaica are not employed and if employed they usually work within the field of Agricultural Farming, house holding or roadside higglers...
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...PRAYER IS KEY TO EVERYTHING IN LIFE The principal cause of my leanness and unfruitfulness is owing to an unaccountable backwardness to pray. I can write or read or converse or hear with a ready heart; but prayer is more spiritual and inward than any of these, and the more spiritual any duty is the more my carnal heart is apt to start from it. Prayer and patience and faith are never disappointed. A ministry may be a very thoughtful ministry without prayer; the preacher may secure fame and popularity without prayer; the whole machinery of the preacher's life and work may be run without the oil of prayer or with scarcely enough to grease one cog; but no ministry can be a spiritual one, securing holiness in the preacher and in his people, without prayer being The preacher that prays indeed puts God into the work. God does not come into the preacher's work as a matter of course or on general principles, but he comes by prayer and special urgency. That God will be found of us in the day that we seek him with the whole heart is as true of the preacher as of the penitent. A prayerful ministry is the only ministry that brings the preacher into sympathy with the people. Prayer as essentially unites to the human as it does to the divine. A prayerful ministry is the only ministry qualified for the high offices and responsibilities of the preacher. Colleges, learning, books, theology, preaching cannot make a preacher, but praying does made an evident and controlling force. A prayerful...
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...Prayer for the Departed O Lord, in your mercy welcome __________ into your heavenly kingdom. He has gone to her rest. Now, he hopes to rise with you. O Lord, in your encompassing love, bring him into the light of your Divine Presence. We meekly intercede, O Lord, for our faithful departed __________. May he find eternal peace with you. May he inherit your kind forgiveness. May he see you face to face. Yes, you are our hope in this world. You are our resurrection and life. You are our Judge and Savior. O Lord, we humbly beseech you: be merciful in your judgment and grant to __________ the promised salvation. Remember not his faults, but cleanse him of his sins and grant his lasting reward. O Lord, extend to _______ your victory over sin and death. Let his not be separated from you, but grant her a place in your eternal abode. Jesus, Lord of the living and the dead, comfort of the weary and the afflicted, conqueror of death and sin, guide our departed ____________. As he reaches the end of his journey, lead him back to you. As his life comes to an end, let him live with you. As he stands before you in judgment, please speak again these words: “Come, you who are blessed by my Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you.” May the good Lord grant him a merciful judgment and look kindly upon him. ALL: Lord, help us see death for what it really is: —the end of poverty and the beginning of riches: —the end of frustration and the beginning of fulfillment; —the...
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...those spreading the word of religion have been fighting many years to have prayer/religion placed back into the public school system activities. Not all religious advocates are clear as to what activities they would like to see in the public schools, they are admitting they would like some religion/prayer implemented somewhere. They also began challenging the separation of church and state in hopes of providing students with strong moral and ethical backgrounds. Are the children suffering: Academics/ Sports? Since the banning of prayer in the public schools, children are suffering academically, physically, mentally and spiritually. They are going about their daily lives like nothing has changed. Their morals and values have changed. Public schools in the United States have become liberal and atheistic. Having “Five minute moment of silence” placed back into the public schools system can have a big effect on our children today. So much immorality is allowed in the public school system, but nothing of whole some goodness is allowed. We can have “Sex Education” classes. Pregnancies were down or not heard of before 1963. After 1963 pregnancies increased 187% in the next 15years (Section 10d). SAT scores have been a standard of measure to come for many years. The scores in the public schools have dropped tremendously. Scores were great before prayer was removed from school. After 1963 when prayer/religion was removed from the public schools...
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...Worship, Courage, and Fear “Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.” Hebrews 4:16 “Sing with your head up, with your eyes closed; not because you love the song, but because you love to sing.” – Aaron Marsh. It is so very easy to be swept away by sound, smell, sight, and taste. It is so very convenient to let the music worship for us, and it is so common to only worship when we feel swept away. It takes much more courage to maintain a spirit of worship, regardless of what we hear, smell, see, or taste. We maintain this spirit of worship when we don’t like the music that’s being played, and we worship God anyway. We maintain this spirit of worship in the monotonous, gray periods of life, when nothing seems to sweep us away. We maintain this spirit of worship in the bitter cold, in the pools of blood, and in the wells of despair that inevitably come alongside the extraordinary joys and miracles of love. Along with the courage of discipline, is the courage to overcome fear in worship. The fear that we’re not worthy to approach God, and the fear that he won’t accept us if we do… the fear that God only lovingly sweeps us away now and then, and that he isn’t present in the terrible or the terribly mundane… and the fear that God is the one who causes or allows unspeakable pain to occur in our lives. There’s also the fear of public worship, which is actually the fear of other...
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...all, I will start talking about the world views portrayed in this movie. From my point of view i would say the movie portrays a pantheistic spirituality and I can see a little bit of naturalistic worldview. The Na'vi people in the movie are spiritually connected to their entire world, including their animals and their plants. Even though they are so primitive, the Na'vi people think that they are above the reality of the nature itself. In their everyday life, they are enlightened and are always in communion with Eywa, called the "All Mother". The "All Mother" Eywa is not regular being, like we view God as, but Eywa is their powerful force behind the existence of their nature. The Na'vi people are so connected to nature that they say prayers of gratitude; sometimes they would even cry when they kill an animal for their food. You can see spirituality in every detail of their lives including what they eat, how they pray, how they worship the planet, and also how they relate to each other. After watching that movie two or three times, I can how pantheistic spiritually literally being preached to the audience through the characters and how they interact with each other. Talking about the characters, let's talk about "Grace Augustine" the "Naturalist". In the movie, Grace Augustine is a scientist who looks for reasons why things happen and the explanations that come with each event. The characters are true to their worldview because in the movie, they are connected with their...
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...I chose the civil liberties because I think that it is important for someone to choose their own religion and beliefs without causing any trouble. Having the freedom to speak, choose your own religion and to vote for whomever you want to vote for is important to the American people. I chose the subcategory “The Free Exercise Clause”, because it upholds the rights of the American people to decide on any religious belief and to be able to exercise their beliefs without getting in trouble with the law. One example of a public policy that is designed to protect the civil liberty is the “moment of silence” in schools. The moment of silence is done in all the schools in the morning during the announcements and there is silence for 60 seconds with no sounds or interruptions. This gives everyone the opportunity to pray, meditate or even just sit and think without being disturbed. I support this policy because everyone has their own right to pray without disturbing the rights of others and those who don’t chose to pray also have the right to sit without disturbing the ones who are praying. The article that I chose to write about was originally written in the American School Board Journal paper and was written by Edwin Darden in 2008. The title of the article is “Is Silence in the Classroom Really Golden”? He explains that having silence in the classroom is great to have but are we having it in our classroom just for religious purposes? He asks if a mandatory “moment of silence” in public...
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...PRAYER AND THE 1 Prayer and the School Setting PHI 200 Instructor Lisa Linkin May 11, 2012 Prayer and the School Setting Many students throughout the world carry on their daily tasks of going to school. They come home or to their dorms from the excessive day of learning and they may say a prayer or they may not. For the ones that do say a prayer, they may feel as if the prayer would have been better said during school at the time of a “stressful situation or test”. This was not the case because prayer is being banned from school. This topic has been a very hot one from the time of the first person speaking out against having prayer in the school setting even until now showing no signs of letting up. Why is it so bothersome? It stands to reason that the reason prayer in the school setting is such a rampant subject is because those on both sides of the situation have very strong and valid arguments. Every time there seems to be a sound solution, there is something else that challenges the peace the solution seemingly creates. When it comes to the issue of prayer being appropriate for the school setting there are those that say that it is not appropriate, those that agree that it is, and those willing to look for solutions to pacify both sides. To even come close to beginning to identify whether prayer is appropriate for school or not one must understand exactly what both these...
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...Taylor Hafenscher Mr. Lodes Christology February 20, 2012 Once upon a time there was a young boy named Noah who lived in Jerusalem near the Jordan River. Noah loved and cared for animals. Noah’s parents always believed he was going to become a veterinarian one day. One afternoon Noah came across a man named John the Baptist. Now John the Baptist was famous in Jerusalem for his baptism services as well as his knowledge of animals. Quickly John the Baptist became a mentor to Noah and told Noah he had a special gift, the power to heal animals. Through God and prayer all of this was possible. Noah believed doing miracles like healing sick animals brought him close to God and the Kingdom of God. Noah started to heal several small animals like bunnies and raccoons. As Noah became more famous in the town of Jerusalem, he put together a group of followers. These groups of followers were called disciples. He had 11 disciples to help him with curing the animals. As Noah and his followers approached the town of Galilee, they saw thousands of starving animals. These animals were very sick and about to die. With Noah’s gift he gave every one of the animals a loaf of bread. Soon the animals were full, happy, and healthy. The town thanked Noah and his disciples and they were on their way. Noah and his disciples started to become famous throughout the land. The next job Noah and his disciples had was in a town called Nazareth. As soon as they entered the town Noah knew exactly...
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...In chapter six – Learning to Find His Presence, God gave Bilquis a special experience that she was floating in a spiritual way. She read the Bible to search about what recently happened to her and she found herself living it. She afraid to let others know her interest in Christ especially her family and she did not know when the pressure against her would begin. She said to herself to just let the results fall where they may but the results came quicker than she thought. Mitchell came to her house and invited her to a meeting between Christians. She came to Mitchell’s house and she met a couple Ken and Marie Old. They suggested that Bilquis should have some regular fellowship and invited her to their house on Sunday evening. On Sunday, she did not feel want to go so she call Ken and gave some excuse. Strangely, she felt uneasy so she went to her room and pray. While she was praying, Mahmud came in silent and told her that she looked like she had lost something and she realized that she had lost the sense of God’s glory. Therefore she decided to go to Ken’s house again and immediately she felt warm in her soul again. Another day, she did not read the Bible as usual and she felt like she stepped out of God’s glory again. After that she knew that the key to stay in His Company is obedience. She prayed and God asked her to forgive her husband but it was really difficult for her to do so. She cried and said that she could not forgive him and miraculously, God came to her, she swung...
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...Visionary Leadership Probably the single most important tasks facing a leader is to develop an understanding of where the organisation needs to be at some future point. Without a future vision, organisations are destined to live in the past, and ultimately die. “Where there is no vision, the people perish” Proverbs 29:18. For the Christian organisation such vision must come from God. A Process for Developing Vision This process combines prayer and reflection on our understanding of where God has already been moving. This process will take time - maybe some months to work through fully - don't feel you need to rush! It can either be used by the leader alone, or preferably with a small leadership group, which may be the formal leadership group of the church, or may be a selected group of people with appropriate skills and gifts. At the end of this process you should have an understanding of what you believe God is calling your church or organisation to do and to be. 1. PREPARATORY PRAYER : This first stage helps us to "tune in", spending time with the Lord. Pray that he will show you clearly over the coming weeks what he is calling the church to do and to be. 2. BUILDING BLOCKS : God speaks to the church in a number of ways: through experience, through the Bible, through words and pictures and in other ways. This process allows us to reflect on what God may have been saying to the church in four different elements. We suggest you take time to reflect on, and pray through each of...
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