Every Christian knows we should pray. We pray at meals and church services. Authors dedicate devotionals and Bible studies to prayer. Scripture teaches us to bring our concerns to God in prayer. And we should intercede on behalf of others, both Christians and the unsaved. 

Several passages instruct us in the persistence of prayer. We get tired and worn down continually bringing the same requests to God without a direct answer or seeing real change. Does that excuse us from praying? Is there a time when we can cease praying?

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The biblical canon closes with the Revelation of Jesus Christ. This book has fascinated Christians for centuries and sparked the imagination with visions of fearful beasts and epic events. Revelation also contains prophetic pictures of future destruction and death through plague, war, and oppression as evil figures like the Antichrist appear. In some ways, people focus on the terrible and disturbing nature of God’s judgment. 

And yet, at the same time, the book claims the Revelation of Jesus Christ, our savior, the one who loves us. Among the great and horrible events in the prophecy, we can draw amazing and wonderful insights about God and our life in Him today. 

Here are seven beautiful lessons from Revelation.

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How do the two witnesses in Revelation 11 both reveal a future event and inspire us today?

Most people hate work. I used to tell people, “Yes, work is hard, that’s why they don’t call it fun.” We can’t wait for vacations, saving large amounts of money and looking forward to “time off” of work. We celebrate when someone gets to retire from work, when they hit a certain number of years in the job or reach a certain age. Now they get to live the dream of “not working.” 

Therefore, it’s difficult for us to think of work in heaven. Isn’t heaven supposed to be fun? Work isn’t fun. Shouldn’t paradise be the opposite of work? 

At the same time, certain images of heaven seem boring. We just sit around and play harps on clouds? 

Perhaps work means something more to God, something different. Maybe in a broken world, we’ve lost sight of God’s design for what it means to work and what heaven will be like. And going back to the beginning, we might see this design.

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Communication serves as the foundation of a great relationship, and since it’s so important, healthy communication is key. Toxic communication breaks bonds and separates people, while constructive and encouraging conversations bring us closer together. 

The Bible gives the family as a model for the church, and the idea of pastor refers to caretaking or shepherding a flock. Scripture doesn’t teach spiritual leadership as an organizational hierarchy but relational, a servant leader among fellow children of God, brothers and sisters. 

The pastor has many roles, but most expect him to give a sermon on Sunday. Pastors generally stand before the congregation during a service and teach a message from the Scripture to encourage, challenge, and grow the family of God. In the standard of healthy communication, we should give the pastor feedback on his sermon. 

Sometimes we have positive feedback. But because the pastor is human, and so are we, there can be misunderstandings or errors. We also have a spiritual enemy who tries to divide and cause conflict within the faith family. With this in mind, we must endeavor to communicate in loving and generous ways with our pastor, even more so during potential conflict. 

Here are seven good ways and bad ways to give your pastor feedback.

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While the Old Testament possesses several whole books by people we regard as prophets, what about during the early church? Were there prophets in the New Testament?

Studying Scripture sometimes leads us to discover more in the text than we think, for example, when a book uses a chiasm.

While "I will sing of the goodness of God" is a nice phrase, we should take time to dig deeper into its meaning. Why is it important to remember his goodness? And why do we sing about it?

The threshing floor may be a strange image to us today, but it has vital lessons.

The Romans Road to Salvation is an iconic evangelistic model. But where did it come from? And should Christians use it today?

According to the Bible, what does it mean for a person to be anathema, or cursed?

For the people of God today, what does it mean for us to live under the new covenant?

The Bible speaks a great deal about wisdom. However, its definition of wisdom differs from what the world generally says.