The Worship Quote of the Week for (11/27/2001):

Successful Prayer How does one measure the success of a prayer? If Scripture instructs me to pray without ceasing, how do I know if my life of prayer is really connecting with the one true and living God? Today’s WORSHIP QUOTE is from a short book which is an exposition on the Lord’s Prayer. SUCCESSFUL PRAYER The tragedy of contemporary Christianity is that we measure the success of our prayer life by the size and scope of our accomplishments, rather than the strength of our relationships with God. All too often we are fixated on our outwardness, while God is focused on our inwardness. —Hank Hanegraaff, THE PRAYER OF JESUS: SECRETS TO REAL INTIMACY WITH GOD, Nashville: Word Publishing, 2001, p. 10. ISBN 9-8499-1730-1 [That reminds me of the story Jesus tells about the prayers of the tax-gatherer and the Pharisee, Luke 18:9-14. Powerful stuff. Do you remember what Samuel, Israel’s judge, said about outwardness and inwardness? Take a quick look at I Samuel 16:7. It may inform your prayer life.] Have a great week, Chip Stam Director, Institute for Christian Worship School of Church Music and Worship Southern Baptist Theological Seminary Louisville, Kentucky www.carlstam.org www.sbts.edu