A Praying Life – a short book review
I just finished a good book on prayer. Paul Miller wrote A Praying Life and parts of it seemed to be pointed right at me. Most of the books I read have one or two things that I take away and try to put into action in my life. If what we read does not change our behavior then we are doing ourselves a great injustice by spending the time reading and not doing.
The first thing I got from the book was that God wants us to ask for what we want. The example that sticks in my head was the story of Jesus praying in the garden before his execution. He asked God for another way but we all know that God did not answer that prayer. Not the way Jesus wanted him to. Even writing that makes me reflect on the relationship that exists between God the Father and Jesus (God the Son) but that is likely off point for now. Jesus asked for his ‘want’ and then in the next breath said ‘not my will but Yours’. He submitted to God. My take is that it is OK to ask for what you want but then we need to submit to God who has a plan for us and allow that to work in our lives. Not to get caught up in the supposedly unanswered prayer but to submit to God in this life that is mostly too complicated for us to manage or even comprehend most days.
The second thing I got was the idea of Prayer Cards. I plan to implement that inside an online tool called Evernote but the idea is the same. A simple way to gather our thoughts and remind us of who and what we are praying for. It’s in the book near the end so you can read it for yourself.
Check out the book and give it a chance. You can read it for yourself and maybe come back and leave a comment.If you want to see what else I am reading or what I have read this year check out the Reading List page.
Thanks for listening,
Jerry Robertson