Click to Login or Sign Up

Baptist Message

"Helping Louisiana Baptists Impact the World For Christ"

Don’t be afraid to pray for yourself

By Steve Horn ALEXANDRIA, La. - In 1 Chronicles 4:9-10, in an otherwise mundane list of genealogy, we get these powerful two verses about an otherwise unknown man named Jabez. This mention is truly a great “pause” over a man named Jabez. The brief mention is about this one thing of prayer—specifically a prayer for himself. Are you afraid to pray for yourself? Are you afraid to ask God to bless your life? If your response is “yes,” maybe you have said more about your beliefs about God than you intended. Why wouldn’t God want to bless you? Don’t you want to bless your children? In the same way, God wants to bless you—His child! The prayer of Jabez gives us a Biblical prayer that we might pray for ourselves. In the prayer of Jabez we can identify four specific requests that can become our model for praying for ourselves. Before we consider these four requests let’s consider what we know about Jabez, the person. The Bible does not tell us much about Jabez, but we do learn a few things about his life. We know that Jabez was named for the pain that he brought in childbirth. We know that Jabez stood out among his brothers. We know that God granted his request. In addition to all of these things, the most … [Read more...]

CENLA gathers to pray for schools, community

By Brian Blackwell, Baptist Message staff writer ALEXANDRIA, La. (LBM) – Louisiana Baptist pastors joined other concerned citizens from Central Louisiana, Oct. 2, to pray for students, teachers, families and the community. Held outside the Rapides Parish School Board offices in Alexandria, the event was marked by special music and prayer led by pastors of various denominations and by small groups who prayed for an area recently impacted by social media shooting threats involving several schools, Sept. 27-29. Juveniles who published the threats against Alexandria Senior High School, Peabody Magnet High School, Pineville High School and Tioga High School have since been arrested on charges of “terrorizing” and  were placed into the Renaissance Home for Youth in Alexandria. The Peabody Magnet High School principal as well as local officials and law enforcement considered the social media posting against that school to be a credible threat and consequently cancelled the homecoming parade and football game that had been scheduled for Sept. 27. Brad Webb, pastor with Family of Grace Church, Alexandria, said that the events of the week did not take God by surprise and that God still is on His throne. “Today, God, we come, … [Read more...]