A couple of years ago we did The Prayer Course in our homegroups at church, and it was excellent. Soon afterwards, I picked up the book that tied in with it, and FINALLY I’ve got around to reading it!
It’s a really helpful book, looking at different types of prayer at a really accessible level, and with plenty of anecdotes and examples to help apply what’s being said. But bookending all that, he says that it’s most important to just: “Keep it simple, keep it real, keep it up”. I was glad he did that, because I sometimes think we overcomplicate prayer with splitting it up into all these different types and “how to” do each of them – we learn as a kid is that prayer is just talking with God, building a relationship with Him, so I was pleased he brought it back to this.
Prayer is definitely something I’m not great at, but this book didn’t make me feel bad about that, and was written in a way that didn’t feel too clever, fancy or intimidating – it was encouraging! It also comes with a load of recommended further reading and links to an online toolshed of resources, which I’m looking forward to delving into somewhen.
He shared the story of King George VI calling the country to a day of prayer before Dunkirk, which I had no idea about, and gave a great analogy using the boys who were rescued from the cave in Thailand, how there was a long wait for them between being found and being rescued, and how we can liken that to the now and not yet of our Salvation through Jesus.
Definitely a book I’ll be back to dip in and out of.
ineke.co.uk 