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Pray for Jim Kelly

Jim Kelly was my childhood hero. I wore the number 12 on my football jersey from 9th to 12th grade in honor of him, and I still have his old Buffalo Bills jersey hanging in my closet. I wore that jersey all the time when I was a kid, and I had this poster hanging on my wall (it’s actually still on the wall of my old room at my dad’s house):

 

He loves the Lord and has quite a story; and now, he’s battling serious cancer. If you read this post, please take some time to pray for him.

You can read a story about his current situation HERE. And you can hear some of his story HERE.

A Few Resources I Recommend

It dawned on me today that, since I devote most of my posts on the blog to particular things I’m reading, I don’t actually share links and resources that often. I thought I would post links to a few resources that you may find helpful (or at least that I’ve found helpful).

AUDIO BIBLES

First, I’ve meant to share this before, but my absolute favorite audio recording of the Bible is available HERE. The translation is actually the World English Bible, which isn’t too bad and is available for free because it’s in the public domain. The only downside with this site is that you have to listen to each chapter of the Bible individually and click a link for each new chapter. But I actually like that feature until you get to Psalms. I use this audio Bible literally every day.

If you don’t care for that one, you can use my number two choice HERE. You can pick the translation and from various readers. I like to listen to Max McLean personally. The reason I prefer the David Field audio to this one is the speed. Field reads a bit faster. I generally use this version for the psalms and if I want to hear how McLean pronounces a word.t

PRAYER

Next, I want to recommend (again) a recording of some of the pastoral prayers of Martyn Lloyd-Jones. While we have many of the great sermons of the great preachers left in print, we do not have many of their prayers. Here we have the blessing of hearing the Doctor pray in his own voice. You can listen to them HERE.

You can also read a good number of Charles Spurgeon’s prayers HERE. I also have a little book of prayers by John Calvin that I read fairly regularly, and have for years. The closest thing to it I’ve found online is HERE. A great overall site for prayer, based on Matthew Henry’s Method for Prayer, can be found HERE.

COMMENTARIES

As far as commentaries, I have Calvin’s commentaries in my library, but I often use the easily accessible online version found HERE. I also frequent the online version of Matthew Henry’s commentary HERE (you can choose from a number of classic commentaries on the page).

SERMONS

As far as reading sermons, for printed sermons I usually go HERE for Spurgeon and HERE for others. The second site linked here is Monergism, which I highly recommend. Another great resource is Yale’s Jonathan Edwards page HERE.

For audio sermons I frequent the MLJ Trust (Martyn Lloyd-Jones’ audio sermon archive) HERE, Redeemer’s free audio page HERE (sermons by Tim Keller), and Desiring God (John Piper) HERE. I also occasionally visit HERE to search for audio readings of the sermons of Spurgeon, Jonathan Edwards, George Whitefield, and others.

BOOKS

Finally, for free audio books I frequent Books Should Be Free, which can be found HERE. I’ve listened to several G.K. Chesterton books via this site, as well as some John Owen and John Calvin. In addition to that, I have listened to several fairy story books with my children.

AUDIO JOURNALS

I highly recommend Mars Hill Audio. I can’t imagine what my life would be like had I never been introduced to their audio reports and conversations. There is some free content on the site, but most of it isn’t free. Everything I have ever purchased from them has been well worth the price. Ken Myers is about as thoughtful a Christian as we have these days, and he speaks with people who have thought deeply about the various topics they discuss. There are many great resources available on C.S. Lewis, reading, philosophy, culture, and all sorts of other things. You can create an account to get a free sample of their audio journal HERE.

POETRY

I usually read poetry from a few massive volumes I have bought at library book sales. There is, however, a great online source HERE.

A WORD ON BOOK SALES

Speaking of library book sales, let me encourage avid readers to find out if their libraries have such sales. Our local library has one the first weekend of every month, and other libraries in our area have similar sales from time to time. You can usually get paperbacks for a quarter. If you live in a metropolitan area, thrift stores like Goodwill or Salvation Army are a great resource for cheap books. I have found some of the greatest books that I’ve every read at so-called junk stores.

As a matter of fact, just a couple of months ago I was at one such store and discovered that, apparently, a large chunk of a minister’s library had been donated. There were books on Hebrew and Greek and all sorts of other books on sale for a quarter each. I bought a whole collection (8 volumes) of G. Campell Morgan sermons, two Francis Schaeffer books, some C.S. Lewis, and several other books as well, for less than 5 dollars.

That’s all for now, happy reading.

Snippets: Why did Daniel keep Praying? The Need to Pray

  • When Daniel knew that the document had been signed, he went to his house where he had windows in his upper chamber open toward Jerusalem. He got down on his knees three times a day and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as he had done (Daniel 6:10)

Not because he was a rebel: He went to his own house apart.

Not because he wanted trouble: He did not start a petition or hold a sign.

Not because he had a death-wish: Jerusalem was the longing of his heart.

Not because of his powerful position: He got down on his knees time after time.

But because he had trained his body and soul by repetition –

By a life of spiritual discipline.

The lions might tear him apart,

But lack of prayer might break his heart.

Only those who by habits have been enslaved

Truly know what it is to need to pray.

Snippets: The Context of Private Prayer (Daniel 6)

  • When Daniel knew that the document had been signed, he went to his house where he had windows in his upper chamber open toward Jerusalem. He got down on his knees three times a day and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as he had done (Daniel 6:10).

In a Predicament: When Daniel knew the document had been signed…

Make it Personal: He went to his house…

Find a Place: He went to his house where he had windows in his upper chamber opened…

Grab a Promise: Where he had windows in his upper chamber open toward Jerusalem…

Pick a Posture: He got down on his knees…

Stick to a Program: three times a day…

Make your Petition: And prayed…

Give Him Praise: And gave thanks before his God…

Persevere: As he had done.

Parrot-Prayers, Parrot-Science (John Owen)

John Owen comments that prayer and scientific discussion can have something in common – many do both simply by repeating what they have heard or what they think they should be saying. And in so doing, they give up their humanity.

…Just as birds are taught by men to say ‘Goodbye,’ or ‘Farewell,’ or ‘God bless you.’ Such prayers and desires are uttered by birds without the semblance of emotion or humanity, and with no notion of what they are saying – it is but an exercising of their tongues. In this exact way, many men are trained for the sciences and seem to be most wise.

-John Owen, Biblical Theology, p. 92