On Forgiveness and Prayer

When you pray with unforgiving heart, you are asking God to do for you what you are unwilling to do for others. You are asking him to give you something you don’t deserve while refusing to give someone else something they don’t deserve (Mark 11:25).

Dever on Pastoral Ministry

“If you’re not willing to be disliked, you shouldn’t be in the ministry.”

This and tons of other good stuff from Mark Dever when he preaches about the four P’s of evangelical (meaning “gospel”) ministry.

1. Preaching
2. Prayer
3. Personal discipling relationships.
4. Patience

It’s worth your time (as it usually is when Dever speaks about the church or pastoral ministry). You can get it here.

Torrey on Why to Pray for Revival

Many pray for a revival. That certainly is a prayer that is pleasing to God; it is along the line of His will; but many prayers for revivals are purely selfish. The churches desire revivals in order that the membership by be increased, in order that the church may have a position of more power and influence in the community, in order that the church treasury may be filled, in order that a good report may be made at the presbytery or conference or association. For such low purposes as these, churches and ministers are praying for a revival, and oftentimes too God does not answer the prayer.

Why should we pray for a revival? For the glory of God, because we cannot endure it that God should continue to be dishonored by the worldliness of the church, by the sins of unbelievers, by the proud unbelief of the day; because God’s Word is being made void; in order that God may be glorified by the outpouring of His Spirit on the Church of Christ. For these reasons first of all and above all, we should pray for revival.

— R. A. Torrey, How to Pray, p. 77.