The District of Columbia Board of Elections and Ethics today rejected a petition for a citizens’ initiative seeking to define marriage as the union of one man and one woman.

The Stand4MarriageDC Coalition in September filed the Marriage Initiative of 2009, which would have allowed traditional marriage supporters to gather signatures to get an initiative on the district ballot.

In its decision, the two-member board ruled that the initiative would violate the Human Rights Act (HRA) because the city council in May passed a measure recognizing same-sex marriages performed elsewhere.

“If passed, the Initiative would, in contravention of the HRA, strip same-sex couples of the rights and responsibilities of marriages currently recognized in the District,” the elections board wrote in its decision.

Attorneys with Stand4MarriageDC argued that the District of Columbia Court of Appeals ruled in Dean v. District of Columbia that denying same-sex marriage licenses did not violate the HRA. “‘Marriage’ requires persons of opposite sex; there cannot be discrimination against a same-sex marriage if, by independent statutory definition extended to the [HRA], there can be no such thing,” the appeals court had ruled.

But the elections board found that though same-sex marriage is not explicitly mentioned in the HRA, the act “must be read broadly to eliminate the many proscribed forms of discrimination in the district.”

The board previously denied a referendum petition seeking to repeal the Jury and Marriage Amendment Act of 2009, which recognized same-sex marriages performed elsewhere. At that time, the board ruled that the referendum would violate the HRA but said the coalition could “avail themselves of the initiative process.”

In its decision today, the board said, “Stating that a party may avail themselves of the initiative process is not the equivalent of asserting that the party is entitled to actually have the initiative appear on the ballot.”

Traditional marriage supporters called the board’s decision undemocratic.

“This board is charged with the responsibility of protecting, not denying, the right of the citizens to vote and to engage in the legislative process guaranteed to them,” said Cleta Mitchell, one of the attorneys representing the coalition.

Bishop Harry Jackson, chairman of Stand4MarriageDC, called the decision “outrageous” and “a slap in the face of every resident of the District of Columbia.”

“To deny the people their fundamental right to vote on such an important issue as the definition of marriage in our society is simply appalling,” Jackson said.

Stand4MarriageDC said it would appeal to the federal courts and Congress for the right of Washington, D.C., residents to vote on the definition of marriage.

The marriage initiative was partly an attempt to block a homosexual marriage bill introduced into the city council last month. The measure has the support of at least 10 of the 13 council members and is to be voted on in December. An amendment that would have allowed individuals to decline to provide services for same-sex weddings was rejected in committee last week.

Phil Wickham’s newest album, Heaven and Earth, is a reminder to the church of the simple blessings, promises and rewards of God. It’s also the fruit of a personal journal that had the singer searching Scripture for the last year and a half to gain a deeper understanding of believers’ future in heaven.

“I’ve always been excited about going to heaven, but the Lord is lighting a fire or fanning a flame inside me,” Wickham told The Buzz. “The church gets a skewed version of heaven in their minds. We envision it as clouds and God with a big beard, and I think we forget that God promises life everlasting and things that we can’t ever dream or start imagining. We’re going to be who we were always created to be, we’re going to be with who we were always created to be with, everything will be complete again. … The more I think about it, the more I think of how that relates to what Jesus did for us on the cross.”

Wickham’s study created a hunger in him to know Jesus more and to truly treasure what will last for eternity. He hopes this album can remind believers not only of God’s promises, but of all the reasons we can live for Him today.

“I need to be reminded on a daily basis that Jesus, the Son of God, in all His perfection, died on the cross for my sin,” he says. “Because of that I can know forgiveness and peace—and not just in this life. God makes me a citizen of kingdom and enlists me in His army.”

Wickham believes that remembering the simple things can turn hearts to worship. Even while worshiping, he says, our minds can often be in the wrong place or we’re just singing words because that’s what you do when you go to church. “But when the heart is set on the things above and reminded about what the goodness of God is … when that’s coupled with faith, there is no way we cannot be compelled to worship.”

Though Wickham encourages the church, he doesn’t want to exclude the unchurched. “I hope that the universal need for relationship with God and what heaven means in light of that … would connect with more than the church, but also hopefully light a fire in people that believe it but forget it.”

One track that will specifically reach unbelievers is “Hold On,” which was intentionally written without a mention of God or Jesus. The song reaches out to hurting people, those who have built their lives on things that are shakable—which, as Wickham explains, is everything except God.

“[The song] is calling out to those and saying there’s hope, there’s a love. The chorus is: ‘Love is going to make it right / Just hold on / There’s mercy in the morning light / When you’re weak, love is strong / Hold on.'”

By placing the song toward the beginning of the album, Wickham hopes that as people continue to listen they will realize he is singing about the love of Jesus Christ and what’s available through Him.

Wickham keeps Matthew 6:19-20 forefront in his mind: “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.” Wickham believes Jesus is saying that we need to make our lives about doing what matters for eternity, “not just because that’s what is good to do, but because that’s where the joy is found.”

We don’t have to go to another country or send money to people in need, Wickham says; we just need to start loving people and being faithful to God. “I’m just excited to remind people not only about the simple things that we need to remember and do, but also about the exciting thought that we will see God again face to face.”

Click here to purchase this CD.

By Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir | Integrity Music

In a nearly 30-year career, the 285-voice Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir has distinguished itself with six Grammys, nine Dove Awards, two No. 1 hits and more than 4 million in album sales. Not resting on its laurels, the esteemed choir, known for songs such as “Praise You” and “Midnight Cry,” is using its latest musical offering to “declare” God’s name globally.

The new collection, Declare Your Name, is the choir’s first CD since 2008’s I’ll Say Yes. It features cameos by Israel Houghton on the upbeat anthem “I’ll Sing of Your Love” and Paul Baloche on the acoustic ballad “Helpless.” Pop star Jonathan Butler shows up for “Coming Back” and the Caribbean-flavored “It All Belongs to You.” Alicia Olatuja’s soprano soars on the lush “Wonderful to Me,” while the set closes with the triumphant hand-clapper “Declare Your Name.”

All 13 songs were composed by choir founder Carol Cymbala and her in-house songwriting team that includes choir director Onaje Jefferson and assistant director Jason Michael Webb.

“One of the objectives that we had was to be able to create—with God’s help—songs that the world could sing,” said Webb, referring to the less complicated songs with easy refrains and moderate vocal modulations. “The basic thing we can understand is that the earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof, and everything we see He created and it all belongs to Him. All of the songs relate to that.”

Click here to purchase this album.

By Debbie Macomber | Howard Books | hardcover | 224 pages | $

In One Simple Act: Discovering the Power of Generosity, popular author Debbie Macomber touches on the story of the boy with the meager lunch of fish and bread that Jesus was able to share with 5,000 people, as a perfect example of what God can do with what one might consider so small.

Macomber reminds her readers that there is much more to be given than money. The gift of time, intercession, comfort or hospitality are among those acts of kindness that make a world of difference. These are the gifts that matter most.

One Simple Act is a wonderful book for anyone looking to find ways to be a blessing to others. Macomber offers assurance that no matter how big or small the act of kindness, when done in the love that Christ has shown His people, the act of kindness will never be in vain.

Click here to purchase this book.

By Casting Crowns | Reunion Records

Living with a kingdom focus is the theme of Until the Whole World Hears, the latest studio album from Grammy Award-winning group Casting Crowns.

“Our main purpose, above all else, is to know Him more,” says singer-songwriter Mark Hall. The title track on the album comes from an e-mail signature from Roger Glidewell, Hall’s mentor in student ministry, who always closed his messages with the phrase, “Until the whole world hears.”

“Those simple words are a challenge to be intentional with the way we live our lives,” Hall says.

“To Know You” centers on the apostle Paul’s struggles and fears, and brings them down to a personal level, while the song “Always Enough” was inspired by a fellow churchgoer’s death while serving in Afghanistan. “When things that are constants in our lives are stripped away, that’s when we have to know He’s always enough,” Hall says.

Until the Whole World Hears showcases the signature sound of Casting Crowns and its members: Mark Hall, Megan Garrett, Melodee DeVevo, Hector Cervantes, Chris Huffman, Juan DeVevo and new member Brian Scoggin, who replaced drummer Andy Williams. For the first time on a Crowns’ album, Cervantes and Juan DeVevo add their vocals to Hall’s on the worshipful “At Your Feet.”

In an effort to connect others to the powerful theology of hymns, the album includes modern re-inventions of songs Hall grew up with, including “Glorious Day (Living He Loved Me)” (from the hymn “One Day”), “Joyful, Joyful” and “Blessed Redeemer,” which features violinist Melodee DeVevo as lead vocalist and includes the group’s home congregation from Eagle’s Landing First Baptist Church in the Atlanta suburb of McDonough, Ga.

Click here to purchase this CD.

The makers of the surprise hit Fireproof have produceda film about fatherhood as their follow-up to the top independent movie of 2008. Courageous released in 2011 to rave reviews from critics.

Officials for Sherwood Baptist Church in Albany, Ga.—where Fireproof and their earlier films were created—made the announcement during a Sunday night church service, which drew Christian media members who were flown in for the event.

“The title is one word: Courageous,” said Fireproof director Alex Kendrick, who will also spearhead the new film. “[It’s about] four fathers who are all in law enforcement—who protect and serve together—[and] go through a terrible tragedy. They begin looking at their role as fathers … and they begin challenging one another to fulfill God’s intention for fathers.”

The film shows the benefits and consequences of the choices the fathers make. “Courageous will include drama, action and humor, but we will maintain our standard of keeping all dialogue honoring to God,” Kendrick said.

Fireproof producer Stephen Kendrick, who will also co-write and produce Courageous with his brother, added: “We believe God is calling us as a church family and through movies to call men to rise up to spiritual leadership in their homes.”

Fireproof made $33.3 million at the box office, despite a modest $500,000 budget. The movie, which stars Kirk Cameron as a firefighter who turns to God to save his marriage, has been a top-selling DVD at Christian retail since it was released Jan. 27.

Meanwhile, Stephen and Alex Kendrick’s The Love Dare—an integral part of Fireproof—still appears on the New York Times best-seller list a year after its release. It has sold more than 3 million copies and is available in 22 languages.

Alex Kendrick said that God has given them an idea for a book companion for Courageous, much like The Love Dare for Fireproof. “But the horse has to stay before the cart,” he said. “So we’re going in the direction of the movie first.”

Click here for more information on Courageous.

By Donald Miller | Creative Trust Media | $

Donald Miller, best-selling author of Blue Like Jazz, offers Convergence: Where Faith and Life Meet, a new DVD series appropriate for study at church, home and in small groups. Miller engages viewers with conversation with prominent Christian writers and thinkers Dan Allender, Tremper Longman, Lauren Winner and Phyllis Tickle.

The first three DVDs are Frustration and False Gods: Living in a Fallen World, Spiritual Practices: How to Meet God in the Everyday and Breaking the Ice: Learning to Share Our Stories. Each one-hour video features three 15-minute conversations as well as bonus features.

Miller recently answered questions and shared more about this new DVD study series.

While the world’s spinning way off course, what good is more talk?

Donald Miller: Communication is rarely a bad thing, but it’s true—we don’t need more talking heads sharing their opinions. What makes Convergence different is that it is less about teaching and more about conversation. Conversations tend to be a bit more honest, a bit less forced and more palatable for those listening in.

Who are you talking to—and why them?

Miller: Truthfully we are talking to anybody who will listen, who finds that the material interests them. The DVD project will be marketed to church small groups, so we imagine small groups of people sitting around in a living room sharing their opinions and ideas stimulated by our conversation on screen.

Why are you the one asking the questions?

Miller: I’ve always wanted to host some sort of conversation like this, and I enjoy being a learner. Convergence gives me the opportunity to talk to some of the leading scholars on various topics, and I couldn’t be more honored to be the guy who gets to ask the questions.

What questions do you think are important to ask?

Miller: Honest questions about the guests’ personal narrative. We can all fall into the habit of sharing advice, but I want us to share our true stories, our hardships, our victories. The questions I ask tend to pull a narrative from each of our guests.

What difference will it make even if these conversations do stir it up around the country?

Miller: Hopefully people will feel less alone in whatever they are dealing with and be given a perspective that will help them as they attempt to care for each other and follow God.

Click to purchase the Convergence DVDs:
Frustration and False Gods: Living in a Fallen World

Spiritual Practices: How to Meet God in the Everyday
Breaking the Ice: Learning to Share Our Stories

Pahappahooey Island | $

Joyce Meyer, best-selling author and popular Bible teacher, returns to the cast of Pahappaooey Island as Miss Ruby. This new DVD, Do It Afraid, teaches children about courage.

Ali (voiced by Ava Taylor) and her furry companions set out to discover lost treasure and to save Miss Ruby. Along the way, they encounter situations that cause them to be fearful: being by themselves and encountering a group of clucking chickens singing karaoke. The friends take to heart Miss Ruby’s advice and continue their journey, despite being afraid.

The DVD also includes the additional episode “Never Alone,” which teaches a similar lesson on overcoming fear. Children will once again enjoy more than an hour’s worth of entertainment with the Pahappahooey gang.

Click here to purchase this DVD.

I carry the basic essentials of life in my purse. Aspirin, lipstick, hand lotion, credit cards … you name it, it’s in there. If it’s not, it will be. I seem to have some sort of purse reflex. I can stuff things in there without even knowing it.

On the positive side, I found a $5 bill in a sneaky secret pocket last week. Even better, I found a candy bar. Now that was interesting! It was squished—almost liquefied—but it was still inside the wrapper.

Unfortunately, there are other encounters now and then that aren’t exactly positive purse experiences. One day, for example, I was returning an item to the store and had to do an emergency receipt search at the customer service counter.

My purse stuff started piling up. I pulled out five loose Life Savers, an old Valentine card, sunscreen, one mitten, six kid-meal toys (including a minitractor with only one wheel), three keys of unknown lock origin and a dead cricket. But no receipt.

There were 12 tissues (none I would actually use), last year’s Christmas list, a ticket stub to the Junior High spring concert and the backs from four adhesive name tags.

I also found two gummy worms stuck in a hairbrush, a Denny’s coupon that expired in 1997 and a plastic Easter egg. I was pretty sure the egg was older than the coupon. I shook it to see if it rattled. It did. I think I made it angry.

There was also enough purse fuzz in there to stuff a sofa pillow. How embarrassing! Inside the purse fuzz, something green and squishy caught my eye—and it frightened me. I gained courage by tossing the dead cricket and drinking the candy bar.

Just before I dove into the fuzz, I got to the heart of my purse: my mini-Bible. It had all my family pictures tucked inside. That’s when I realized everything important in life could be found in my purse.

OK, if you want to get technical, I didn’t exactly find Jesus in my handbag. But I could pull out the pictures of my husband and children and see reminders of His gifts to me.

And His Word was there. Granted, it smelled a little like Juicy Fruit, but it was a great reminder that there’s really no place I can go—not one fuzz-covered place—where I won’t find the Lord’s presence.

Psalm 139:7-10 confirms this truth: “Where can I go from Your Spirit? Where can I flee from Your presence? If I go up to the heavens, You are there; if I make my bed in the depths, You are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there Your hand will guide me, Your right hand will hold me fast” (NIV).

There’s no place I can go without Him—not the heavens, not the depths, not the far side of the sea. I could climb all the way inside my purse, and He would still find me.

And there’s nothing He doesn’t know about me. The opening verses of Psalm 139 remind me that He knows when I’m sitting or when I’m standing and that He knows my every action, word and thought. He knows my thoughts even before I think them. He knows not only the contents of my purse but also the contents of my heart, and He still loves me, guides me and holds me fast.

It’s amazing to me that my heavenly Father thinks about me—and that He thinks of me so often! “How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How great is the sum of them! If I should count them, they would be more in number than the sand” (v. 17, NKJV).

God is thinking loving thoughts of you too. If He had a wallet, it would not only be clean (unlike my purse), it would also contain your picture, tucked in a special place reserved for those He loves.

I’m rejoicing in His love—even though I never found the receipt.

For the record, I think that green squishy thing used to be a jelly bean. I guess we’ll never know. One of the kids ate it.

“Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure” (1 John 3:1-3).

Rhonda Rhea is a conference speaker, columnist for HomeLife magazine and department writer for ParentLife. Her writing has appeared in numerous Christian publications, and her first book, Amusing Grace (Cook Communications), is due out in early 2003. Rhea lives in the St. Louis area with her pastor-husband, Richie, and their five children. Adapted from Amusing Grace by Rhonda Rhea, copyright © 2003. Published by Cook Communications. Permission granted by the author.

Most of us categorize our lives in segments: home life, work life, leisure life and even prayer life. Years ago God began to show me that I didn’t have to settle for just “having a prayer life.” Instead, I could live a praying life.

What is a praying life? It is a dimension of living in which you experience minute-by-minute the flow of God’s provision.

You are met at every step with the progressive unfolding of His tailor-made plan for your life (see Eph. 2:10). You cease your struggle to find the will of God because the will of God has found you.

Prayer is no longer the means by which you attempt to get God to perform for you. Instead, it becomes the means by which you assimilate His heart and mind.

Living life open to the Spirit—actively and intentionally cooperating with God on an everyday basis—is possible. Jesus showed the way. In fact, He is the way.

Jesus’ disciples had an opportunity to observe the Master’s habits firsthand. These 12 men witnessed the depths of the Man who didn’t just set aside time for prayer. He lived prayer. But one of the disciples still asked Him: “‘Lord, teach us to pray’” (Luke 11:1, NIV).

When Jesus outlined what we now call the Lord’s Prayer, His were not merely a set of words sandwiched between “Our Father” and “Amen.” They were the dynamic of His daily living. The settled peace in which He lived and the power with which He operated both had their roots in Jesus’ ongoing prayer relationship with His Father.

As we examine the Lord’s Prayer in that light, we will learn from Him the secret to living in supernatural power and provision with a soul at rest.

Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name (Matt. 6:9). When Jesus responded to the request “‘Lord, teach us to pray,’” He first taught the disciples to acknowledge God’s holiness. Later, as His crucifixion drew near, Jesus continued the praying life. While He struggled with His emotions, He admitted to His disciples, “‘Now my heart is troubled, and what shall I say? “Father, save Me from this hour”?’” (John 12:27).

Jesus’ true heart’s cry was revealed as He hallowed God’s name. “‘No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour. Father, glorify Your name!’” (v. 28).

In His humanity, Jesus longed for an easier way. But His struggle was put to rest as He subjugated His agitated emotions to the purpose of the Father. Because He wanted to see the Father’s name glorified, His emotions did not rule His actions.

As Christ in us molds us into His image, He fashions a heart that desires the Father’s glory. Underneath all our swirling emotions and the pull of our human nature is the Spirit of the Son, sent into our hearts.

We find a settled peace as we surrender to our true heart’s cry: “Whatever path You set me on; whatever flesh pattern must go to the cross; Father, glorify Your name!”

Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven (Matt. 6:10). With these few words, the Prayer Teacher shows us an astounding truth about the role of prayer. Prayer is the conduit that brings the direct, intervening, specific power and provision of God into the circumstances of the earth.

In the hours before His arrest, Jesus endured deep agony over the will of God. “He began to be sorrowful and troubled.” Then He told His disciples, “‘My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death’” (Matt. 26:37-38).

His agonizing prayer continued throughout the night as His human emotions lined up with God’s plan. “‘My Father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may Your will be done’” (v. 42).

When the time came for His arrest, Jesus declared, “‘Look, the hour is near, and the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. Rise, let us go! Here comes My betrayer!’” (vv. 45-46). His soul had found such rest in God’s will that He could meet that which He so dreaded head-on.

Just as it did for Jesus, the praying life gives God access to our hearts and minds, helping us accept the realities of God’s will:

* He is in control. No one else has power over us or our circumstances (see John 19:11).

* His plan has been in place since before the world began (see John 12:27; Acts 2:22-24).

* We can look forward to the results (see Heb. 12:2).

* Our obedience will give God the opportunity to glorify Himself (see John 12:28).

Though we may never come close to Jesus’ experience, the foundation of a praying life brings us the same peace and courage to say, “‘Your will be done’” (Matt. 26:42).

Give us today our daily bread (Matt. 6:11). God could have created us to be self-contained, but instead, He created us with daily physical, emotional, social and spiritual needs. “Meet today’s needs,” Jesus taught us to pray.

I hear the Father whisper: “Jennifer, nothing will come into your life today for which I have not already put provision in place. Just be alert and watchful. Look to Me first; I will point you to the supply.” He takes great pleasure in providing us with everything we require.

Jesus tells the parable of the prodigal son which is, among other things, a story of the Father’s provision. We know well His stunning display of lavish love as He welcomed home the prodigal son. My heart is captured, though, by the words He spoke to the elder son: “‘“My son,” the father said, “you are always with me, and everything I have is yours”’” (Luke 15:31).

Do you see that? “Everything I have is yours.” Any time the elder brother wanted a robe on his shoulders or a ring on his finger or sandals on his feet—any time he wanted to celebrate and eat a fattened calf—it was his for the asking. He just never asked.

Everything the Father has is ours. “All things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future—all are yours, and you are of Christ, and Christ is of God” (1 Cor. 3:21-23). Just ask.

We see Jesus, when He had needs either big or small, simply reaching out and taking hold of the Father’s provision. Did He need money to pay His taxes? Did He need a donkey on which to ride into Jerusalem? Did He need a room in which to observe the Passover with His disciples? The provision was always waiting.

Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors (Matt. 6:12). When Jesus took on the weight of our sin and carried it to the cross, at the same time, He carried the sins committed against us. When we insist on holding on to the hurts inflicted by others, we are denying the power of His crucifixion.

He died for sinners, for the ungodly. “You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom. 5:6,8).

Is your offender a sinner? Christ died for his sins. Is your offender ungodly? Christ died for her ungodliness. The praying life extends grace—the same grace that was extended to us.

There is more good news. Not only did He carry our sin but He also bore the weight of our grief and sorrows. He bore the hurt of the sins committed against us.

By bearing the weight of our own hurt, we are allowing the offense to continue and to multiply its effect on us. “See to it that no one misses the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many” (Heb. 12:15).

As we pass the hurt along to others in our life, the offense grows and spreads. If bitterness is allowed to take root, it will begin to grow fruit. It will create bitterness in those who are exposed to it.

As you live the praying life, let the Spirit of the Son in you cry out: “‘Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing’” (Luke 23:34).

Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one (Matt. 6:13). During the emotionally charged hours before His arrest, Jesus urgently reminded His disciples to strengthen themselves—through prayer—against the onslaught of testing headed their way. At least twice during His prayer vigil Jesus admonished His disciples with these words: “‘Why are you sleeping? Get up and pray so that you will not fall into temptation’” (Luke 22:46).

The Greek word for “temptation” also means “testing, trial, proving.” A fierce spiritual battle was taking place in which Jesus’ mission was tested and proven. As Jesus agonized in prayer, He received from the Father the strength, assurance, endurance, courage and confidence to successfully face not only the temptation but also the trial.

Jesus’ mental, emotional, and spiritual serenity throughout His crucifixion experience was birthed in the hours of prayer and the life of prayer that led up to these events. It was that openness to the flow of God’s power and provision that would provide the victory in the moment of testing for Jesus.

His example shows us that, in a praying life, the battle is won before the attack even occurs. In the moment of battle, the praying person simply stands his ground and enforces the victory.

In his book The Secret of Believing Prayer evangelist Andrew Murray’s words echo why and how the praying life takes place in the believer: “We do this because we are partakers of His life—‘Christ is our life’; ‘No longer I, but Christ liveth in me.’ The life in Him and in us is one and the same. His life in heaven is an ever-praying life. When it descends and takes possession of us, in us, too, it is an ever-praying life—a life that without ceasing asks and receives from God.”

We can live the power- and peace-filled praying life because it isn’t a thing; it’s a Person. Jesus lives in us—and is longing to express His praying life through us.

Jennifer Kennedy Dean is an author, speaker, conference leader and executive director of the Praying Life Foundation. This article is adapted from her upcoming release, He Leads Me Beside Still Waters (Broadman & Holman). To visit her online, click here.