Are you familiar with the scriptural passages that promise that you can have anything that you ask for? These are widely known and very popular. How has this worked out for you in practice? Do you know people who ‘hold me to my promises’, and whose prayers are a list of demands? Set aside for the moment the question of whether they get all that they insist on. Are these people that you admire spiritually, and wish to emulate? Don’t you find that prayer is a doorway to humility, and that your demeanor changes when you consciously address deity? I’ll stand by my promises.

Do you ever wish you were in a position to do Christian ministry full time? How do you spend your spare time now? Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. Do you think of treasure only as money? What is more valuable to you than time? The way you spend your money says a lot about you, but the way you spend your time says even more. People who are able to organize their time and spend it effectively tend to have enough money to do what they need to do.

How many faith traditions are you familiar with? Have you noticed that many countries and regions have a dominant faith? Even if you never visit those areas, you may encounter individuals who are members of that faith. Does it seem to you that people practicing their faith as individuals in a minority follow their faith more graciously than when they have majority power? How do you think your faith looks to them? Would they see the same principle in effect concerning Christianity? I have commissioned you to preach the gospel message to every creature.

Do you have a “graduate degree” in Christianity? Many believers take their faith seriously enough that they make a diligent study of it over a period of many years; more years than they spent in formal education. This is worthwhile and admirable. Have you noticed that academics speak to each other in terminology that the layman doesn’t understand? One risk of the increase of knowledge is that it makes your faith inaccessible to outsiders. Don’t assume that they are familiar with the terminology that you are so accustomed to.