Book Review: A Praying Life by Paul Miller
My pastor led a group of believers in A Praying Life class using this book that I was involved in for 6 weeks. It was a great 6 weeks of really learning to pray all over again. For 6 weeks I committed to praying for 15 minutes a day, keeping a prayer journal, attending one weekly meeting and praying with the same set of gals each week. I knew I needed that accountability to REALLY keep up with the praying when I started the class. At first 15 minutes felt like a really long time. I set a timer to start with but by the end of the class I was praying much longer even though it didn't feel like very long.
The book grabbed me from the beginning and I read through it quickly. In fact, I didn't want to stop reading once I started. I was fascinated with Paul Miller's discussion of prayer. It helped me to let my hair down so to speak and to relax with prayer. I could sit and "talk" to God like a little child talks. I felt free-er to talk but at the same time I learned a new method of prayer that I really liked. It may not be for everyone but I found Miller's method of posting prayer requests on index cards to be very doable. I also liked his suggestions of posting a Bible verse that went along with the request. I started doing this. I can pray through a few requests a day and no where to pick up the next day or I can go through all of them in a day with breaks inbetween but I know easilily where I left off. I like it better than the list I used to use. I quickly became enthusiastic on most days to spend time with God and pray through my cards. Miller's examples from his life of answers to prayers were a real encouragement to me. He shares answers that took years to receive and others that took minutes. He also shares some of the struggles he went through as he worked on his own prayer life. It felt "real" to me. I think that is a pretty good representation of the Christian life when I think about it. As cliche as it sounds, God's ways AREN'T our ways and I need to be faithful to keep knocking. This book spurred me on to do more of that even though I don't see results right away.
I purchased this book for the class through my church.
The book grabbed me from the beginning and I read through it quickly. In fact, I didn't want to stop reading once I started. I was fascinated with Paul Miller's discussion of prayer. It helped me to let my hair down so to speak and to relax with prayer. I could sit and "talk" to God like a little child talks. I felt free-er to talk but at the same time I learned a new method of prayer that I really liked. It may not be for everyone but I found Miller's method of posting prayer requests on index cards to be very doable. I also liked his suggestions of posting a Bible verse that went along with the request. I started doing this. I can pray through a few requests a day and no where to pick up the next day or I can go through all of them in a day with breaks inbetween but I know easilily where I left off. I like it better than the list I used to use. I quickly became enthusiastic on most days to spend time with God and pray through my cards. Miller's examples from his life of answers to prayers were a real encouragement to me. He shares answers that took years to receive and others that took minutes. He also shares some of the struggles he went through as he worked on his own prayer life. It felt "real" to me. I think that is a pretty good representation of the Christian life when I think about it. As cliche as it sounds, God's ways AREN'T our ways and I need to be faithful to keep knocking. This book spurred me on to do more of that even though I don't see results right away.
I purchased this book for the class through my church.
I also really liked this book. It encouraged me how real he was about his life.
ReplyDeleteAmy @ Missional Mama