Prayer is hard for me. You may not have expected that to be the opening line of an article on prayer. When we seek out resources on a topic, we typically want an expert opinion, tried-and-true tips, or something aspirational. I’m not an expert, but of all the spiritual disciplines, prayer is the one I’ve seen God grow the most in my life in recent years. I’ve grown from someone who shrugged off my lack of fervor in prayer as “not my gift” to someone who looks forward to getting up early to pray—and praying all throughout the day. One of the most important things I’ve learned about growing in prayer is that the best place to start isn’t finding a new note-card system or journal—it’s admitting our struggle to God and asking him to help us pray. Know Your Need During Jesus’s earthly ministry, people talked with him and came to him for healing and salvation. In a way, these men and women in the New Testament modeled prayer, how to talk to God. Consider the father who brought his demon-possessed son to Jesus in Mark 9. This man came brokenhearted over his son. He was exhausted from saving his son from the demon’s repeated attempts to harm him. You can imagine the pain in this father’s voice: “If you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.” And Jesus said to him, “‘If you can’! All things are possible for one who believes.” Immediately, the father of the child cried out and said, “I believe; help my unbelief!” (vv. 22–24) This father uttered only five words, but they’re an example of the proper heart posture of prayer. He didn’t know exactly what to say, but he knew his need could be met only by Jesus. Only the desperate come to God for healing, salvation, and daily bread. You don’t have to come with eloquent words, and you don’t have to come with perfect faith. But you must know your need, or you’ll never come. Making prayer a priority—a discipline—offers us a way to be daily reminded of our true condition. If you struggle to pray, take time to remember your need for God. Consider your dependence on God for every breath. Consider your sinfulness and the even greater grace of Christ. Come to Jesus like this father, and ask him to help your unbelief: Lord, I believe prayer is important. I know I need you. Help my unbelief. Help me pray. Seek God’s Help Praying for God’s help to pray may sound odd, but it’s a prayer we can offer with confidence. God doesn’t give any command that he doesn’t also give the necessary grace to live out. He’ll help us pray. He already has in his Word. If you struggle to pray, take time to remember your need for God. We find examples of prayer all over the Bible, and we can find help for how to pray in any of Scripture’s recorded prayers. But a good place to start is the prayer Jesus taught his disciples in Matthew 6:9–13, commonly called the Lord’s Prayer. There’s not one “right” way to pray, but in the Lord’s Prayer, we find scaffolding for our prayers. When we pray, we come with many needs. The Lord’s Prayer teaches us to make God the focus of our prayers and let all our requests flow from his work and character. We can boldly approach him as our Father as we also reverence his name. Praying for the furthering of his kingdom and the supremacy of his will before addressing our needs helps put our requests in the right perspective. Asking for daily bread and for forgiveness reminds us that God cares about and ultimately provides for both our physical and our spiritual needs. And we’re reminded that we must extend forgiveness to others. Finally, praying for deliverance from evil reminds us that we must turn to the Lord and rely on him for resisting temptation. God will help us pray. He already has in his Word. God understands our weakness and our struggle with prayer. In Luke’s Gospel, Jesus gave the Lord’s Prayer after the disciples said, “Teach us to pray” (11:1). They admitted that prayer is hard—or that at a minimum they didn’t know what to say. Jesus didn’t rebuke them. Instead, he gave them words for their prayers. And he gave those words to help us too. Rest in the Spirit’s Work Jesus does more than give us words we can pray. He’s also praying for us (Rom. 8:34), and his Spirit is working within us. Paul writes in Romans 8:26 that the Spirit “helps us in our weakness” because we don’t always know what to pray. When we’re at a loss, the Spirit is praying for us. When our words fail us, the Spirit never does. There isn’t a prayer spoken (or left unspoken) that the Spirit doesn’t guide and make complete by his power. God expects us to talk to him because we’re in a relationship with him. He wants us to bring our requests, offer praise, and confess our sins, but he doesn’t leave us to figure it all out on our own. If we want to grow in prayer, we can make the disciples’ request our prayer: “Lord, teach us to pray.”

The smartphone has reshaped nearly every dimension of life, and preaching is no exception. Pastors once served as the primary theological voice for their congregations, guiding people through Scripture with few immediate challenges to interpretation or historical claims. Today, nearly every listener carries in their pocket a device that can summon commentaries, articles, linguistic tools, and theological debates within seconds. This accessibility brings benefits, but it also creates new complexities—particularly when congregants “fact-check” the pastor during the sermon. A glowing screen in the pew may no longer signal simple distraction. It may indicate engaged study, or a skeptical congregant’s wish to directly verify something you just said from the pulpit. For pastors who faithfully labor over their sermons, such moments can feel like a quiet questioning of their credibility. This challenge isn’t merely technological; it’s personal and pastoral. How can we shepherd our people to receive the preached Word with humility amid a culture where instant verification has become instinctive? The answer isn’t to resist technology totally or to rebuke the curious. Instead, we must disciple our congregations to listen well, evaluate wisely, and understand preaching as a part of their spiritual formation. Understand the Impulse to Fact-Check Before you begin shepherding sermon fact-checkers publicly (or privately), consider what motivates fact-checking during preaching. Though it may not feel like it when you’re in the pulpit, not every instance of real-time fact-checking is motivated by skepticism. How can we shepherd our people to receive the preached Word with humility amid a culture where instant verification has become instinctive? Some congregants use their phones like Bereans, to engage more deeply. They look up historical references or locations, explore cross-references, or confirm definitions. Their intentions aren’t confrontational but inquisitive. Others may carry a more guarded posture shaped either by negative experiences with church leadership or by the online world’s culture of constant debate. For these fact-checkers, the smartphone has become a tool for verification rather than understanding. Still others reach for their phones simply because our technological age has trained them to respond in this way instantly to any confusion. Rather than listening patiently to the entire sermon, they seek immediate clarity on any issue they have questions about. Understanding these motivations prevents us from assuming hostility where there may be none. Our goal as preachers shouldn’t be to suppress questions but to shepherd the disposition from which those questions emerge. Help Your Congregation Understand the Pulpit’s Purpose What’s the most meaningful way a pastor can respond to phone use during his sermons? He can regularly teach his congregation about the nature of preaching. In a digital age, sermons can be mistaken for lectures or informational talks. If preaching is viewed merely as data transmission, the listener is naturally a reviewer, and one’s phone is seen as the impartial authority. But preaching isn’t a presentation to be evaluated in fragments. It’s the exposition and proclamation of God’s Word for the formation of God’s people (Eph. 4:11–13; 2 Tim. 4:1–5). Pastors don’t speak on their personal authority, nor are their sermons prompts for a rapid-research contest. No, when the Word is preached, the congregation corporately sits beneath Scripture, listening for its divine correction and instruction (2 Tim. 3:14–17). By reaffirming this understanding of preaching—through teaching, modeling, and consistent emphasis—pastors can help their congregations approach the sermon as participants in a sacred act rather than as auditors rating the accuracy of what they hear. Shepherd Your Congregation in Active Listening When teaching on preaching, pastors can also teach church members how to cultivate focus during worship. They can encourage their congregations to use physical Bibles, take notes, and write down questions for later study. They can explain that when church members instantly look up any questions they have, this can interrupt their understanding of the sermon’s flow and its gradually unfolding theological points. Encourage your congregation to put their phones on silent, or even to turn them off during the worship service. This can be done without defensiveness or heavy-handedness. Provide a positive vision for attentive listening instead of a list of restrictions. The goal of speaking directly about phone use during preaching isn’t to discourage further study but to preserve the sermon’s formative purpose. When we acknowledge both the presence and power of technology, we’re being realistic and demonstrating care. If an individual consistently demonstrates a pattern of real-time phone use during preaching that arises from suspicious fact-checking or disrupts others’ engagement in worship, a gentle pastoral conversation may be necessary. You can approach such individuals with curiosity rather than accusations: “I’ve noticed you often look things up during a sermon, that you’re often looking down at your phone. I’d like to understand how I can help you engage more fully.” Curious questions establish relational trust and give the member space to express his concerns or confusion. Some congregants will reveal their theological insecurity or an insatiable hunger to study; others may admit to habits formed by online culture. Whatever the reason for the unrestrained phone use, a clear conversation allows pastors to gently redirect fact-checkers toward healthier discipleship habits. Patience is essential. Congregants formed by technology won’t shift their habits overnight. But with consistent care, we can help them listen with greater openness. Lead Listeners Toward Receptivity Remember, your broader aim isn’t to limit phone use. The deeper goal is spiritual growth. Pastors must help their congregations embrace a listening posture shaped by reverence, attentiveness, and openness to the Spirit’s work. Congregants formed by technology won’t shift their habits overnight. But with consistent care, they can learn to listen with greater openness. Encourage pre-sermon prayer, reflective engagement during preaching, and intentional review afterward to reorient listeners away from instant evaluation. Then the sermon will be received not as an information product but as a formative encounter with Scripture. Technology may provide quick answers, but it can’t produce spiritual maturity. Preaching, by contrast, invites a slower, more contemplative rhythm—one that digital habits often disrupt. Smartphones will remain part of the worshiping environment. There’s no way around it. Instant access to information will continue to shape how congregants listen. Yet with patient shepherding, thoughtful instruction, and a renewed emphasis on the sacred nature of preaching, pastors can help their people engage with sermons in a way that’s healthier and more spiritually fruitful.

A group of conservative Republicans failed to strip an earmark to a left-wing nonprofit supporting illegal migrants in a government funding package on Friday. Lawmakers voted 58-42 to table an amendment that would strip a $500,000 earmark to New York City-based New Immigrant Community Empowerment (NICE) secured by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer in the […]

A new global wave of early market participation by first-time investors is gaining momentum. Young investors in their twenties and thirties are not waiting to establish wealth management accounts with banks or integrated finance platforms. Instead, they are using basic digital tools to learn about money, and how to plan, invest, and create wealth over […]

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