Paul W. Powell Legacy Library

What is prayer? First, it is asking God for what we need. Jesus taught us to ask for things (Luke 11:2). If God is really our father and we are really his children, it cannot be wrong to ask him for things. Second, it is praising God for who he is. Jesus often turned to God for gifts, but at times he turned to him just for the sake of fellowship. Prayer is not...

Many people in and out of the church think of the Christian faith as gloomy, sad, and dismal. I do not know where this idea came from, but it certainly didn’t come from Jesus. The Pharisees didn’t think of him that way. They called him a glutton and a wine-bibber. He had a reputation for enjoying life. Tax collectors didn’t see him as dull either. H...

Nothing is more useless than worry. Corrie Ten Boom wrote, “Worry does not empty today of its sorrow—it empties today of its strength.” While worry does no good, it can do much harm. It is also the cause of many physical ills. Jesus once asked if we could worry our way to a taller stature (Matthew 6:27). The answer is obvious and points out the usel...

Man needs some authority in his life. Without duly recognized authority, chaos would soon result in every realm of life. For example, there is in Washington, D.C., a Bureau of Standards to uphold the perfect measurement for every weight and measurement that we use in the United States. There is a perfect inch, a perfect pound, a perfect ounce, etc. They are the author...

Discipline is both positive and negative. Another devotional listed the five do’s of discipline. This week presents the five don’ts of discipline. 1. Don’t compare. Every child needs acceptance for who he is. Comparing children often crushes the spirit. Encourage each child to be his best self. 2. Don’t overprotect. The ultimate result of pro...

A news article told of an Oklahoma church that had scheduled its Sunday school on Wednesday because, in the pastor’s words, “We’ve become a city of boat owners: with every new lake more people are spending the weekends out of town.” This article pointed out the fact that more people are disregarding the third commandment, which says, “Re...

A newspaper article once told how the 83-member crew of the USS Pueblo, who had previously discarded faith as excess baggage, turned to prayer and the Bible to sustain them in their 11-month imprisonment by the North Korean government in 1968. The article said, “A symbol of both their faith and their unity was the ‘Pueblo Bible,’ scraps written...

Someone said, “God made the country, man made the city, and the devil made the small town.” He could have had your town in mind. Most people at one time or another contribute to the spread of idle gossip and groundless rumors. Rare indeed is the person who will let such information end with his hearing. While most people participate in rumors about others...

Donald Phlegar, missionary to Thailand, shared a story that was circulating among the Thai people about a man who had a lion. The lion had a habit of eating people. His owner told him it would be all right for him to eat one or two people a day, but the lion must not eat any Christians. One day the lion ate a man except for a small area around his lips. When the...