“The Prayer Team” is a daily devotion written by Fr. Stavros N. Akrotirianakis, written every day since February 2015. Fr. Stavros is the Parish Priest at St. John the Baptist Greek Orthodox Church in Tampa, Florida. It began in February 2015 as an opportunity to write more on the subject of prayer and now has branched into other subjects.
No man has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and His love is perfected in us. By this we know that we abide in Him and He in us, because He has given us of His own Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Read more
But the wisdom from Above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, without uncertainty or insincerity. James 3:17 I love playing sports. I love watching sports. I have favorite teams that I root for. And when one of my teams is playing, Read more
Now you have observed my teaching, my conduct, my aim in life, my faith, my patience, my love, my steadfastness, my persecutions, my sufferings, what befell me at Antioch, at Iconium, and at Lystra, what persecutions I endured; yet from them all the Lord rescued me. Indeed all who desire to Read more
Some Historical Background from the Old Testament For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by a slave and one by a free woman. But the son of the slave was born according to the flesh, the son of the free woman through promise. Now this is an allegory: these Read more
Set a guard over my mouth, O Lord, keep watch over the door of my lips! Psalm 141:3 We’ve all heard the phrase “like a bull in a china shop.” This describes a person who seems reckless and is a threat to break everything around them. In the “china shop,” Read more
Jesus said, “If any man would come after Me, let Him deny Himself and take up His cross and follow Me. For whoever would save his life will lose it; and whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it. For what does it profit a Read more
Brethren, knowing that a man is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ, and not by works of the law, because by works of the law shall no Read more
Jesus said, “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.” Matthew 5:5 The eighth of the nine Fruit of the Spirit is gentleness. In the original Greek, the word which we translate as “gentleness” is praitis. In Matthew 5:5, where we read “blessed are the meek” the word Read more
Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth. 2 Timothy 2:15 We know that stealing is a sin. If you went into a store and took $100 of merchandise, you’d be arrested Read more
Be watchful, stand firm in your faith, be courageous, be strong. Let all that you do be done in love. I Corinthians 16:13-14 Today we will focus on being faithful in relationships with others. The first one I’ll mention is the relationship one has with a spouse. When people come Read more
The saying is sure: If we have died with Him, we shall also live with Him; if we endure, we shall also reign with Him; if we deny Him, He also will deny us; if we are faithless, He remains faithful-for He cannot deny Himself. 2 Timothy 2:11-13 Yesterday we Read more
Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. Hebrews 11:1 Before we can understand what it means to be faithful, we should understand what the word “faith” means. In his letter to the Hebrews, St. Paul sums up the meaning of faith Read more