by Jonathan Powers | Apr 1, 2026 | Uncategorized
Prayer and God’s Will
By Stephen Rankin
I recently wrote about the problem of too much subjectivism in prayer. Many of us, myself included, sometimes have strong impressions when we pray. They come with a misleading sense of urgency about their rightness, of their having come from the Lord. Sometimes, these false impressions, if we act on them, lead to no big consequence. Sometimes, they turn out to be big mistakes.
We know that God speaks. Only modern secularists make fun of the idea that we actually hear God’s voice, as the talk show host Bill Maher loves to do. Despite the scorn, the vast majority of the world’s people across the eons have believed in some form of divine speech. One of philosophy’s greatest thinkers, Socrates, bore witness to his experience of receiving messages from a daemon. Not to be confused with the Christian understanding of demons, from a daemon is an oracle, a “sign,” that inner voice.
A big question, then, is, “How do you tell the difference between mere subjective impressions, which do not represent God, and the voice of the Lord in truth? How do we separate the wheat from the chaff?”
In his sermon “The Nature of Enthusiasm,” John Wesley takes up this question. “Perhaps some may ask, ‘Ought we not then to inquire what is the will of God in all things? And ought not his will to be the rule of our practice?’ Unquestionably it ought.” Yes, we should seek for and believe in God’s guidance. We should expect “a word from the Lord.”
In another sermon, “On Providence,” Wesley discusses God’s general providence and God’s particular providence. God’s general providence is shown in the steady rotations of day and night, the turning of the seasons, the law of gravity, etc. God’s particular providence, on the other hand, has to do with specific persons and communities and their circumstances. For example, a person struggling financially receives an unexpected check in the mail from a friend who writes something like, “I was thinking of you the other day and praying for you, and the Spirit of God prompted me to send you this gift.” God’s particular providence for the financially strapped person came through in God’s particular will for the generous friend.
In a parallel way, we can think of God’s general will and God’s particular will. God’s general will comes through loud and clear in scripture. It applies to all believers regardless of personal circumstances. Another of Wesley’s thoughts from “The Nature of Enthusiasm” assists us to understand God’s general will. There he reminds us that God’s general will is our holiness (one of numerous topics we could cover under God’s general will). As Leviticus 11:44-45 reminds us, God’s people are to be holy because God is holy. It applies individually, to small groups, to churches, and even to whole denominations (a much-needed reminder these days). It is universal for Christians. It does not change.
Wesley talked about holiness (God’s general will) through a variety of scriptures. One of his favorites paired Deuteronomy 6:5 and Leviticus 19:18, with, of course, Jesus’ own direct commentary on them in Matthew 22:37-39 and various teachings elsewhere. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and strength. Love your neighbor as yourself. Full stop. No compromises.
So, Mr. Wesley says, in effect, to know God’s particular will, we should examine our faithfulness to his general will. He asks us, “Does the impression you’re receiving in prayer tend toward love of God and neighbor?”
To explore this question, Wesley gives an illustration: “Suppose, for instance, it were proposed to a reasonable man to marry, or to enter into a new business.” Here, we have two good scenarios where a person would desire to hear clearly from God for direct guidance. Wesley goes on: “In order to know whether this is the will of God, being assured, ‘It is the will of God concerning me that I should be as holy and do as much good as I can,’ [God’s general will, in other words], he only has to inquire, ‘In which of these states can I be most holy and do most good?’” Here the example looks for God’s will applicable to a particular set of circumstances, whether to get married, in the one case, or to start a business, in the other.
Thinking about God’s general will, the question of motive arises. It is a good discipline to ask ourselves about our motives. I’m sure many of you have used the device of putting the “positives” in one column and the “negatives” in another to sort out whether you should take that job offer or buy that house or go to that school. This is a good practice, but, I admit, my lists can be easily skewed by my desires. So, as I’m making such a list, I really need to think about what motivates me in this situation. Why am I drawn? What does it appeal to within me? Can I answer the question about God’s general will in the affirmative?
Back to Mr. Wesley’s advice. Since Scripture gives us God’s wisdom and guiding principles but does not explicitly address every particular situation in Wesley’s 18th-century England or in our 21st-century United States, the answer for God’s particular will does not come explicitly from Scripture alone. So, he says that we must also use reason and experience as we seek to discern God’s will. What does he have in mind?
Reason has to do with good and proper understanding. One needs a good grasp of the situation. One needs to think carefully and honestly about what is before them. It includes talking the possibility over with trusted, wise Christian friends. Take your list of pros and cons, working through it is to exercise reason, and have a friend help you analyze your thoughts and reasons. Does she or he see something that you don’t? What might your friend add or modify? Sometimes others can see our motivations, fears, or blind spots more clearly than we can ourselves, and their wisdom can help bring clarity to our thinking. Reason, then, is not opposed to faith; rather, it is one of the ways God helps guide us as we seek to be faithful and make good decisions.
Experience has to do with more subjective matters. Let’s take the example of a person who is thinking that he should get married. “Experience” could involve asking questions like, “What attracts me to the person I love? What do I feel when I am with her? What happens to my life, my faith, and my sense of calling when we are together?” One might also think about experiences in other relationships, romantic or otherwise. What have I learned from past relationships? What have I learned about myself, my strengths, my weaknesses, and my patterns? Such a step may seem unnecessary, but if we honestly want to know God’s will, work like this needs to be done. God often guides us not only through Scripture and reason, but also through the patterns of our lives, the desires of our hearts, and the ways we see him at work in our experiences. But we must always remember that our experiences will never contradict Scripture or the general will of God. Rather, they help us discern how to live out God’s will in the particular circumstances of our lives.
You can see, then, that discerning God’s particular will takes purposeful effort. It takes time. Although it is possible that we have to make some sort of snap decision on rare occasion (and God is faithful to guide in such moments), the vast majority of situations for discerning God’s particular will should not be made under duress. The process of discerning God’s will itself is a means of grace through which God’s Spirit grows us in holiness. The process itself is a gift and a domain for divine illumination.
To be sure, we must avoid the dangers of misguided subjectivism in prayer. At the same time, and more importantly, we must be confident in God’s speaking to us. He does speak. He does guide. We can grow in proper confidence. Then prayer becomes a joyful adventure of walking with our Lord, and we have the privilege of bearing much fruit.
Stephen Rankin is the Contributing Editor for Good News Magazine.
by Jonathan Powers | Mar 24, 2026 | Uncategorized
Hunger, Desire, and the Bread of Life
By Jonathan A. Powers
A Simple Lesson about Hunger
There are two words spoken many times each day in our home by our daughter Elizabeth, two words spoken in many homes around the world: “I’m hungry.” As tiresome as it can sometimes be to hear those words repeatedly, especially right after dinner, they are actually important words. They are words we are glad to hear because we know that hunger is a good thing. It means she is growing and that her body and mind are aware of her need for food.
This lesson became especially clear to us in the first few weeks after Elizabeth was born. She did not eat very much and slept far more than expected. During an early check-in with her doctor, we learned that she was not gaining weight as she should because she was not eating enough. The problem was that she was not feeling hunger in the way a newborn normally would. She wasn’t crying to be fed, and she would often fall asleep while eating. For several weeks we had to establish new routines and feeding schedules to help her body recognize its need for nourishment. Eventually, her body became aware of hunger, and ever since then, she has not stopped letting us know.
That experience taught us something simple but profound: hunger is a gift. Hunger reminds us that we need nourishment to live. This truth is not only physical, it is also spiritual.
Human Beings as Creatures of Desire
In his book For the Life of the World, Alexander Schmemann observes that human beings are not merely homo sapiens (thinking beings) but homo adorans (worshiping beings). Since worship is related to love, Schmemann’s point is that at our core we are desiring beings. Our lives are driven by desire.
One of the most fundamental desires we experience is hunger. From the moment we leave the womb, we have an innate hunger for food. Hunger directs us toward the means of life. If we do not feel hunger or do not respond to it properly, it will eventually lead to our deterioration. Hunger is therefore not the enemy but a guide.
Hunger also reminds us that we are not self-sufficient. We cannot survive on our own. We need something outside ourselves to live. We need food and drink that come from outside us to satisfy a need within us.
This physical reality points to a spiritual reality. Just as we need physical nourishment, we also need spiritual nourishment. Jesus himself made this connection when he said:
“Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4; Deuteronomy 8:3).
Physical hunger can therefore remind us of our spiritual hunger. The physical and the spiritual are not opposed to each other; they are intertwined. God often uses physical things, even physical desires, to draw us toward Himself. This is why fasting is such a significant spiritual discipline in the Christian life. The physical urge we feel to eat when abstaining from food reminds us that we have desire, and that our desire needs proper direction.
Desire and the Problem of Consumerism
Within some movements of Christianity, there has been an idea that the goal of the spiritual life is to eliminate or transcend physical desire, as if physical desire itself were evil. Practices such as fasting or abstinence are sometimes misunderstood as attempts to suppress the body in order to become more spiritual.
But the Christian goal is not the eradication of desire; it is the ordering of desire.
Fasting, abstinence, prayer, and other spiritual disciplines are not meant to destroy desire but to redirect it toward God. These practices intensify our awareness of desire so that we might turn toward God rather than self-gratification. They teach us to seek satisfaction not on our own terms but in God’s provision.
The problem, however, is that we tend to want instant gratification. We want our desires satisfied immediately. When this happens, our desires become disordered, and we settle for false forms of satisfaction. This is the spiritual problem of consumerism.
Consumerism is not only an economic or cultural phenomenon but a spiritual disposition. Consumerism is characterized by indulgence, restlessness, and constant dissatisfaction. It trains us to believe that satisfaction is always just one more purchase, one more experience, or one more achievement away. But consumerism depends on dissatisfaction. It thrives on keeping people always wanting more.
This is why consumerism ultimately enslaves the soul. It turns people into addicts of consumption. It trains people to treat the world as an object for personal pleasure rather than as a gift from God.
In contrast, St. Augustine spoke of the Christian life as a life of rightly ordered love. Augustine famously wrote:
“You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in you.”
Rightly ordered love means that our desires are oriented first and foremost toward God, the only One who can truly satisfy the human heart. When our love is rightly ordered, we begin to practice patience, simplicity, moderation, self-control, and charity. Our desires are not destroyed. Instead, they are transformed.
Through prayer, fasting, worship, and acts of mercy, our desires are gradually reordered so that we learn to receive the world as a gift rather than consume it for pleasure. What were once self-indulgent desires become self-giving acts of love, justice, empathy, and compassion.
True satisfaction is therefore not something we can create for ourselves. It is a gift that can only be received from God.
The Crowd That Sought Bread
This theme of desire helps us understand Jesus’ teaching in John 6. After the feeding of the five thousand, a crowd follows Jesus across the sea, searching for Him. When they finally find Him, Jesus says something surprising:
“Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life” (John 6:26–27).
The crowd is chasing Jesus not because of who He is but because of what He can give them. They want more bread. They want another miracle. They want their physical hunger satisfied.
Jesus does not deny the importance of physical needs. He had just fed them. Now He wants to address their deeper hunger because their desires are disordered. They are focused on temporary satisfaction rather than eternal life.
This connects to another Gospel passage where the disciples are described as having hardened hearts because they “did not understand about the loaves” (Mark 6:52). The issue is not intellectual misunderstanding. It is a problem of desire. Their hearts are not rightly ordered.
The crowd in John 6 reveals the same problem. They are spiritually hungry but do not realize it. They are focused on temporary bread while standing in front of the Bread of Life. So, they demand another sign from Jesus and even reference the manna in the wilderness:
“Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat’” (John 6:31).
They are essentially saying, “If you want us to believe you, do what Moses did. Give us bread from heaven.”
Jesus responds with a correction and a revelation:
“It was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world” (John 6:32–33).
The manna in the wilderness was not just food. It was a sign that God was sustaining His people (Exodus 16; Psalm 78:24). Now Jesus tells them that the true bread from heaven is not merely something God gives, it is someone God gives.
Jesus Himself is the Bread of Life (John 6:35).
He is not simply the giver of bread; He is the bread. He is the one who gives not just physical life but eternal life. Just as bread is necessary for physical survival, Christ is necessary for spiritual life. Only in Him is true and abundant life found (John 10:10).
Learning to Hunger for God
Human beings are creatures of desire whose hearts seek satisfaction. Our desires remind us that we are not self-sufficient. We need something outside ourselves to satisfy our longings. This is true both physically and spiritually.
But too often we try to satisfy our deepest desires with lesser things: food, sex, pleasure, success, possessions, entertainment, or achievement. When we set our desires on these things, our love becomes disordered, and our hearts become restless and hardened to spiritual realities.
We need the Holy Spirit to reorder our desires and awaken us to our spiritual hunger for the Bread of Life. We need to become aware of our hunger for God.
This is one reason the Church gathers for worship, prayer, Scripture reading, fasting, service, and the sacraments. These practices are not empty rituals but are means through which God offers grace to awaken our hunger for Him. They train our hearts to desire the right things.
This is especially true at the Lord’s Table. In the Eucharist, we are fed by the grace of God. We receive the Bread of Life, Jesus Himself, who was sent from heaven so that we might have life (John 6:51).
We come to the Table hungry, and Christ feeds us.
We come restless, and Christ gives us rest.
We come empty, and Christ fills us.
As we learn to hunger for Him, we begin to discover what St. Augustine meant when he said that our hearts are restless until they rest in God. True satisfaction is not found in consuming the world. It is found in communion with Christ. He is the Bread of Life. And He offers Himself to us so that we might truly live.
Jonathan Powers is the Associate Professor of Worship Studies at Asbury Theological Seminary in Wilmore, KY and the Editor-in-Chief for Good News magazine.
by Jonathan Powers | Mar 17, 2026 | Uncategorized
Proclamation and Power
By Peter J. Bellini
Therefore I glory in Christ Jesus in my service to God. I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me in leading the Gentiles to obey God by what I have said and done—by the power of miraculous signs and wonders, through the power of the Spirit of God. In this way, I have fully presented the Good News of Christ from Jerusalem all the way to Illyricum. (Rom 15:17-19)
The gospel is never merely spoken. It must always be demonstrated.
In this pericope, Paul presents himself to the church at Rome by summarizing his ministry as he looks toward Rome and the completion of his mission. He encapsulates his work in Romans 15:18–19 with the phrase “what I have said and done,” which, more literally in Greek, is logo kai ergo, “word and deed.” This can be understood as proclamation and power. Verse 18 emphasizes this pairing, while verse 19 elaborates on the “deeds” as the “power of miraculous signs and wonders through the power of the Spirit of God.” In this way, Paul declares that he has “fully presented the Good News of Christ from Jerusalem all the way to Illyricum.” The deeds, then, are not merely actions, but manifestations of the Spirit’s power, signs and wonders accompanying the proclaimed word. The key phrase in this passage is “fully presented,” which raises the question of its meaning.
One interpretation suggests that it refers to the geographic extent of Paul’s ministry, stretching from Jerusalem to Illyricum. However, a more compelling interpretation is that it refers to the nature and fullness of Paul’s proclamation itself. The phrase “in this way” (translated from the Greek hōste, meaning “thus” or “therefore”) points back to the preceding clause concerning signs and wonders performed through the Spirit, indicating that a conclusion is being drawn. Through both word and supernatural deeds, therefore, Paul has fully presented the gospel. In this reading, “fully presented” modifies the manner of proclamation, namely, through both word and deed. What emerges, then, is the understanding that to preach the gospel fully involves both proclamation and demonstration: the word declared and the power of the Spirit revealed. The pressing question for us, then, is whether we have likewise fully presented the gospel in proclamation and power, or whether we have demythologized and diminished it to mere words, devoid of the accompanying power of God.
Proclamation and Power
This pattern of proclamation and power is not an isolated feature of Paul’s ministry but is woven throughout the biblical narrative. It appears in the Old Testament prophetic tradition, stretching back to figures such as Moses, Elijah, and Elisha, and reaches its fullest expression in the ministry of Jesus Christ and his disciples in the New Testament. Consider Moses before Pharaoh: the command “Let my people go” was not sufficient on its own for Pharaoh’s hardened heart. The proclamation required the accompaniment of divine power, i.e., the plagues and signs that demonstrated God’s supremacy over Egypt’s political and spiritual powers. In Scripture, when God speaks, he acts: “Let there be light”; “Be healed”; “Peace, be still.” Conversely, when God acts, he is also speaking, revealing his character and authority. God’s word is never empty; it is active and effectual. Unlike human speech, which often lacks follow-through, God’s word is always accompanied by his power. Thus, prophetic calls to repentance, such as those issued to Ahab and Jezebel, are sometimes accompanied by dramatic demonstrations of divine power, as seen in Elijah’s confrontation with the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel. These moments underscore the inseparability of proclamation and power in the work of God.
Jesus’s Pattern
This pattern reaches its pinnacle in the ministry of Jesus. Throughout the Synoptic Gospels, Jesus’ work is marked by a fourfold pattern: preaching, teaching, healing the sick, and casting out demons. His ministry consistently integrates proclamation with demonstration: the announcement of the Kingdom of God alongside tangible manifestations of its power. This same pattern is extended to his disciples, whom he commissions not only to proclaim the nearness of the Kingdom but also to enact it through healing, deliverance, and restoration. As Matthew 10:7–8 records, “Go and announce to them that the Kingdom of Heaven is near. Heal the sick, raise the dead, cure those with leprosy, and cast out demons. Freely you have received; freely give.” The Gospel of John likewise emphasizes this dynamic, structuring its narrative around the signs of Jesus, which reveal his identity as the Messiah and Son of God so that people might believe and have life in his name (John 20:30–31). Jesus himself appeals to this union of word and deed, saying, “Even though you do not believe me, believe the works” (John 10:38). Once again, we see the inseparability of proclamation and power: the word spoken and the works that testify to its truth.
Acts of the Apostles
We observe proclamation and power in the Acts of the Apostles, beginning at Pentecost in Jerusalem and moving to Judea, Samaria, and the ends of the earth. Chapter 1:8 serves as a kind of table of contents for the book of Acts: “You will receive power (dunamis—God’s power/ability) to enable you to be my witnesses… in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” In other words, God will speak through the disciples by his Word and through his supernatural actions. They will receive power to proclaim and power to act in the book of Acts, just as Christ did in Luke’s Gospel, because they have the same Spirit.
In Acts, Paul is a prime example of this ministry of proclamation and power. Following his supernatural encounter with the risen Christ, his ministry begins. Like the other disciples, Paul preaches the good news with signs and wonders confirming the word. These signs and wonders confirm both the message and the messenger, and they also reveal the content of the Kingdom: healing, deliverance, liberation, and salvation.
Paul describes this ministry of proclamation and power in 1 Corinthians 2: “I came not with persuasive words of human wisdom but with a demonstration of the Spirit and of power.” In other words, he came demonstrating the Kingdom. First Corinthians 4:20 proclaims that the kingdom comes “not in word but in power,” and 1 Thessalonians 1:5 declares that “our gospel came not only in word but also in the power of the Holy Spirit.” When the Kingdom comes, the blind see, the lame walk, lepers are healed, and the dead are raised. This demonstration of proclamation and power is what Paul is referencing in our pericope in Romans.
Ministry Today
Move 2,000 years forward to our scientifically minded world today. With our causally closed universe and hyper-rationalistic worldview, we often deflate, disenchant, and flatten the Gospel narrative, its miracles, signs and wonders, and especially exorcisms. We demythologize them or remove them entirely from our proclamation. And in the end, we don’t have enough power to blow our nose.
Today in the church, I like to think of our ministry as proclamation and power in the Holy Spirit, a proclamation of holiness and a demonstration of God’s power to heal, deliver, and transform. As Wesleyans, we are attempting to hold onto the holiness aspect, but we have often bifurcated the flame, as my former mentor Howard Snyder states. We have separated the two (holiness and power), holding on to the former and neglecting the latter. But as Snyder, others, and I have written, this is not scriptural. First Corinthians 12:7 reminds us that each member is given a gift or manifestation of the Spirit.
Why are we reticent to follow the ministry of Christ, the disciples, and Paul (and even our own John Wesley) regarding the demonstration of the Spirit? Perhaps we fear it may puff us up. But the gifts are not for us, nor do we define ourselves by them. We walk in the Wesleyan way, which offers a corrective to the excesses found in some expressions of the charismatic movement. We stress fruit over gifts, holiness over power, and character over charisma. I struggled with what I witnessed as a young Christian in ministry. I saw the misuse of the gifts in the church. They were often flaunted as badges of merit rather than worn humbly as gifts of grace.
God impressed an image on my heart one day. I had received a package, and God drew my attention to the unassuming, plain brown UPS van and the plainly dressed driver. He was not the package, the sender, or the recipient, just the messenger. That’s all we are. We are not the gift, nor the giver, nor the recipient. It’s not about us. We are simply the unassuming, plain-brown dressed UPS driver, faithful messengers.
Conclusion
Now, from Acts 29, I want to share a story. Around forty years ago, I was a young, zealous Christian who wanted to do the will of God no matter what. I told the Lord that I was completely at his disposal, whatever, whenever. One night, God took me seriously. I sensed him waking me up. It was 3 a.m. The thought came clearly: remember when you told God you would do anything he asked? Well… here we are. Mind you, I was not a morning person, but God was clearly waking me for an assignment. I could feel it.
When God speaks to me, it is not in an audible voice but as a still, small voice in the deep recesses of my spirit. God uses my own vocabulary, thoughts, memory, and personhood, imprinting his will so that I clearly know what he wants. Sometimes it is an intuition, a knowing, even a green light. That is how I heard him that morning, like a friend speaking to a friend.
“Get your car keys,” he said. “Where are we going, Lord?” I asked. “You are on a need-to-know basis—and you don’t need to know.” “Get your guitar.” What am I going to do with the guitar? Still, I obeyed. I sensed him leading me south toward downtown, then to a park by the river. I parked and was led to a concrete bench in the middle of the park. It was 3:15 A.M. No cars, no people, no one.
“Okay, Lord, what do you want me to do?” I wondered if I was supposed to play something simple, “Smoke on the Water,” maybe. But suddenly, the Spirit came upon me like a fresh breath, and I felt filled. I strummed a G chord and began to sing. It was prophetic, almost bluesy. Now, those who know me know I have a deep bass voice, but not for singing. I’m what you might call a “prison singer,” as in I am behind a few bars, looking for the right key.
Still, I sang. I sang about a man who had lost everything—his job, money, wife, children, friends—because of alcohol. He wanted to end his life. Toward the end of the song, I sensed someone behind me. I turned and saw an African American man in his early seventies, weeping uncontrollably. Through tears he said, “You sang my life… You don’t know me, but that song, that was me. I lost everything. I came here to jump off that bridge, but I heard a voice say, ‘Just wait one more day.’ I waited. And tonight, I came back to die. But I heard you singing…”
I told him I had not finished the song. “The song goes on,” I said, “to tell you that Jesus loves you, and you don’t have to die tonight. He wants to save your soul and restore your life. He wants you to live and not die. Do you believe me?” He prayed with me through tears, and I led him to the Lord, taking him by the hand into his first steps toward eternity.
What about you? What will you do when God wakes you up at your metaphorical 3 a.m.? Will you respond? Will you do as he says, even if it seems preposterous or absurd? Will you proclaim the good news wherever, whenever, and to whomever he sends you, not just in proclamation, but in power? That night, I needed both, and so will you. At 3 a.m., God’s heart was broken for a broken man. He was looking for someone crazy enough to obey. Next time, he may call you.
Peter J. Bellini is the Professor of Church Renewal and Evangelization in the Heisel Chair at United Theological Seminary in Dayton, OH.
by Jonathan Powers | Mar 10, 2026 | Uncategorized
Practicing Sabbath
By Tammie Grimm
It can be startling to discover that for all the spiritual practices or means of grace we can name, none are listed in the Ten Commandments. Prayer, which is considered to be primary by many people of faith isn’t mentioned once. Neither is the necessity to attend public worship, to read or study Scripture, or to receive the Lord’s Supper. It may help to realize that uniquely Christian practices of faith aren’t mentions in the “Big 10” because they were given to Moses long before Jesus walked the earth. The Ten Commandments helped establish ways of living that distinguish the people of God in Moses’ day — and for every generation to follow — from the ways of the rest of the world.
And yet, the essence of the fourth commandment, to keep the Sabbath holy, finds a home in Wesley’s General Rules. There, in his first rule, to avoid evil, he riffs on the commandment when he writes to avoid “profaning the day of the Lord, either by doing ordinary work thereon, or by buying or selling.” Even though the Lord’s Day (Sunday) is different than the Sabbath day (Saturday), Wesley and most Christians throughout church history have sought to keep the spirit of the law by keeping one day of the week holy by not working or allowing those in one’s household or employ — including beasts of burden — to work (Exodus 20:8 and Deuteronomy 5:12).
Though not technically listed as a “means of grace” in Wesley’s rubric, practicing Sabbath rest is nonetheless a spiritual discipline. More than just being the only “practice of faith” listed in the Ten Commandments, it is present in the story of Creation. On that seventh day, after God saw all the work of the previous six days and declared it to be “very good,” he rested and called that day “holy.” It is that opportunity to be still for a full day — to rest in God’s goodness, to enjoy creations just as God did, to discover Sabbath delight — is at the heart of Sabbath rest. Still, there can be nothing so difficult to begin to practice than Sabbath rest. Even if our non-stop, 24-7, digitally fueled 21st Century world wasn’t antithetical to it, our ability to become legalistic about religious practices complicates things. Jesus himself got into trouble and was scolded by the Pharisees in Mark 2 when he and his disciples idly plucked grain as they walked through fields. His reply, “The Sabbath was made to serve us, we weren’t made to serve the Sabbath,” may seem a little flippant, but it does provide hints to what it means to practice Sabbath rest.
First, we need to understand Sabbath is not “stolen time.” Rather, it is time set apart by God as holy. It is time for humanity to come back to itself. Resting from our workaday labors is necessary. We can only push ourselves so far. But Sabbath rest isn’t about resting so that we can be more productive at our jobs. Rather, it is our opportunity to rest and be restored, to be aligned with the work God is doing in us that we might be made more whole, just as God intended and first created us to be. Accepting Sabbath as holy time means entering into it with intentionality. Sabbath may be about rest, but it doesn’t mean doing nothing. Eventually, lethargy sets in that may lead to acedia, the condition of being a spiritual sloth. Nor is practicing Sabbath about accomplishing the “to do” list of the things you didn’t have time for over the rest of the week. Doing laundry, grocery shopping, and getting errands done is what Eugene Peterson calls a “bastard Sabbath.”
Rather, to delight in the Sabbath you need a plan regarding the things you won’t do, e.g., those mundane, everyday chores. If it isn’t work and something that you find life-giving and honors the Lord, do it! It can be reading, spending time with people you love, going for a walk, taking a nap, journaling, or maybe even making a gourmet meal if that is your thing. You might be surprised at where your natural talents and God-given talents lead you to. Practicing Sabbath may not be listed in Wesley’s means of grace, but it is, nonetheless, an important spiritual discipline. Setting aside time for prayer, or reading Scripture seriously, or volunteering at the local mission might feel awkward at first. So will it likely be with Sabbath. But with time, and trusting that time to God, you just might find that you depend upon the rhythm Sabbath makes in your week as much as your body depends upon the rhythm of your own heartbeat.
Tammie Grimm is the Associate Professor of Christian Discipleship and Practical Theology at Indiana Wesleyan University in Marion, IN.
by Jonathan Powers | Mar 3, 2026 | Uncategorized
But I Prayed about It!
By Stephen Rankin
There once was a man who went to talk with his pastor about a personal family catastrophe that he had managed to cause. A Christian friend of his pitched an investment idea to him that promised to bring a return three or four times the going rate for companies in a particular sector of the stock market. The man knew this possible investment was risky, but his own business had been through some recent hard times, and he could really use an infusion of cash. The man poured out his heart to the Lord, and, after a time, he felt that he had gotten an answer. He threw some big money at the investment.
In the end, the man not only failed to receive the three-fold return, but he also wound up losing a lot of money. His business went on life support. His wife was furious with him. He was deeply discouraged and confused and even more frustrated. “But I prayed about it!” he exclaimed to his pastor.
A good deal of confusion exists around how God speaks to us in prayer. It is a big topic, so in this article I am limiting my focus to just one area of concern, namely, the problem of subjectivism. The man’s plight illustrated in the story above is a prime example of what subjectivism looks like in prayer. The term “subjectivism” refers to that compelling inward sense of the absolute rightness of decision or plan, intensified by having prayed about the matter. For example, I remember, as a naïve college boy being absolutely convinced that God was bringing a certain girl and me together. Apparently, God had not spoken to her! On the basis (alone) of having prayed about something, complicated, perhaps, by cherry-picking Bible verses for confirmation, too often people can conclude that God has blessed their plan and will guarantee the right outcome.
Subjectivism in prayer is a genuine problem and not a matter for scorn and condescension. Sometimes people can make a shipwreck of their lives if prayer is not approached properly. Improper postures of prayer can also provoke spiritual crises, even if the situations are not as high stakes as the opening example.
Before going any further, it is important to make clear that I am not encouraging hesitance to ask boldly in prayer, nor is any of this to cast doubt on the fact that God does speak to us in prayer. In fact, my goal is quite the opposite. As we grow in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord (2 Peter 3:18), we should find a growing efficacy in prayer, coupled with the confidence that we have real fellowship with the Triune God. As James says, we can trust the Father of lights in whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. I can name several crucial times in my own life in which I have no doubt that God spoke directly in response to my appeals.
What we need, then, is wisdom and discernment in prayer. To grow in this direction, we must recognize pitfalls and build proper theological boundaries around prayer. A good starting point is addressing the influence of our American culture. In the past fifty or sixty years, in general as a society, we have become much more prone to trust our subjective impressions. It’s a form of what the sociologist Robert Bellah calls “expressive individualism.” Many people have come to believe that to thrive and to experience the good life, they need the freedom to express a deeply felt inward core of their identity. Many Christians recognize this as problematic and disagree with the basic concept; however, we can still fall prey to its influence. Generally, it can be easy for Christians to think about their relationship with God in more individualistic terms. They therefore are more prone to a kind of Christianized version of expressive individualism. “But I prayed about it!” fits well within this framework.
What guidance can then be given as a corrective? It never hurts to start with John Wesley. In “Cautions and Directions Given to the Greatest Professors in the Methodist Societies,” published in 1762, Wesley offers this wise caution: “Do not ascribe to God what is not of God. Do not easily suppose dreams, voices, impressions (emphasis added), visions, or revelations to be from God without sufficient evidence.”
What prompted Mr. Wesley to write these words? That date, 1762, gives us a clue as it situates us in the middle of an extraordinary work of God among Methodists. In particular, the Methodists were witnessing a substantial increase in the number of testimonies to Christian perfection, the raison d’etre for the Methodist movement to exist. A whole slew of people claimed to have experienced perfect love for God and perfect freedom from sin.
Wesley was not entirely confident in the legitimacy of some of the “professors’” testimonies, however, since he did not see them exhibiting the kind of character that should accompany the experience. There should be sufficient evidence, Wesley insisted, to go along with the experience. The fruit needs to be tested.
To determine the legitimacy of the experience, then, such professors then and now need to apply certain guidelines.
The first guideline is always to start with Holy Scripture. “Try all things by the written Word, and let all bow down before it,” Wesley admonished. Therefore, we test the impressions that surface in prayer: Are they firmly grounded in Scripture? Do they align with what Jesus teaches about the kingdom of God? Do the align with what Scripture says about holiness?
Or course, determining whether a particular conviction gained through prayer is supported by Scripture takes some work; thus, this guideline helpfully slows down the decision process. It also calls for us to test our sense from Scripture with other wise Christian friends. In the same context as mentioned earlier, Wesley speaks of the importance of “consulting the children of God.” It’s a reminder of the proverb that “in an abundance of counselors there is safety” (Proverbs11:14b).
Finally, along with searching Scripture and asking for counsel, we consider the disposition of our hearts: Is my heart open, humble, and yielded to good guidance, even if that guidance cautions me away from what I feel strongly about how God is leading? Is my mind changeable on the matter? Again, along with Scripture, we need input from others to know our own hearts.
Once more, the goal of this writing is not to incite such caution about prayer that someone is afraid to trust what they sense God is saying in and through prayer. Instead, the goal is for more of us to gain wisdom, confidence, and efficacy in prayer, and to live more fully in light of what Scripture says about prayer. “But I prayed about it,” by itself, is an insufficient measure. We can do better.
Steve Rankin is the Contributing Editor for Good News magazine.
