Salvation Summaries

One of my New Year’s resolutions is to read through a number of books on prayer for more guidance on how to pray (it’s not something Christians automatically know once they become a Christian) and to improve the effectiveness of my prayers (most of mine seem to go unanswered, so I must be doing something wrong).  I have about a dozen to get through, so the plan is to review one per month.  If your prayer life could use a boost too, then feel free to read each of my posts on prayer.

For each book I review, I will highlight the main points or what I found to be interesting and/or helpful.  I’ll also note what I did not fully agree with or thought was lacking.  Last, I’ll write a sample prayer (that you can use) at the end to incorporate what I learned about prayer from reading the book.

In addition to reading books on prayer, I plan to review every verse in the Bible that includes the word “prayer” (or something similar to it, such as pray, prays, etc.) and verses that may not include this word but represent a prayer (such as a number of the Psalms).  I’ll then write a post or two on what I learned from studying these verses.

So, without any further delay, here’s my review of prayer book #1…

Prayer Book #1: Dialogue with God

Dialogue with God was written by Guy Appere and translated into English in 1979.  At that time, Appere was a French pastor of the Evangelical Baptist Church in Geneva, Switzerland.

This is a small book of 68 pages, and it includes 8 chapters: Man before God, Motives in prayer, The nature of prayer, The scope of prayer, How to pray, Perseverance in prayer, The Word and prayer, and Faith and prayer.

What I found to be interesting and/or helpful

• Definition of prayer – Praying is primarily a time of fellowship with God; it’s a conversation. It is where the heart speaks and listens; where it gives and receives.

• Preparing for prayer – When we approach God for prayer, or seek to come into His presence, we should revere Him, for He is holy and we are sinners (Ps 33:8).  We should also be humble. Our words should not be hastily thought or impulsive, but few.  I believe too many prayers that people say lack adequate fear and reverence for the One we are speaking to, and allocate far too much time to our needs rather than acknowledging Who He is and expressing our sincere thankfulness for Him.

• Understanding Who we are praying to and what to say to Him – God knows what you need before you ask Him (Mt 6:7-8). He knows your thoughts and what you will say (Ps 139). As such, prayer need not be a time of informing Him of your situation, unless verbally expressing it makes you feel better.  Instead, you should share with Him the things that grieve Him (e.g., Jesus wept over the death of Lazarus), and rejoice with Him over those things that give Him joy (there is joy in heaven when a sinner repents).  Also, realize that your prayers give God joy (Prov 15:8).

• Motivation to pray – Prayer is not an opportunity to change God’s mind.  Repeating the same requests over and over does not increase the chance that your prayers will be answered in the way you expect them to.

• How to pray – We are to pray with our mind and the Holy Spirit.  The author says the Holy spirit works through our mind (speaks to our hear via our conscience, speaks in Scripture and bears witness with our spirit), which seems to make sense, but there were no scripture references for support.

• The need to pray – God has chosen to respond to our needs via our prayers to Him, and thus, this is the main reason we should pray to Him.  I had not heard or read this before.

• How to have your prayers answered – For our prayers to be answered, they must conform to God’s will.  Romans 12 tells us to not conform to this world but be transformed by the renewing of our mind so that we may prove what the will of God is.

• Ending or closing your prayer – If you end your prayer with “in Jesus’ name,” the requests or petitions in your prayer should be aligned with the will of Jesus and what He wants for you (John 14:14).

What I did not fully agree with or thought was lacking

• What God wants to hear – According to the author, since God knows our thoughts and what we are going to say, there’s no need to discuss your worries, trials, troubles and failures; instead, your prayer should focus on your grief, regret, repentance, etc.  However, God knows these things too.

• Praying with the Holy Spirit and God’s will – Given the apparent importance of these two issues when we pray, the author devoted several pages to them. However, I did not fully understand what he wrote, and thus wished he would have provided more clarity.

• Examples of prayers – I believe a book on prayer should provide the reader with examples of what good prayers look like and why.  This could include actual prayers found in the Bible (such as Ephesians 1:17-19 or Colossians 1:9-12), or ones the author thought of.  The author did not do either.

• Reasons for unanswered prayers – The author devoted several pages to delayed (answers to) prayer and the need to persevere in our prayers, but I thought he could have done a better job addressing the reasons why so many of prayers seemingly go unanswered.

• Who we are to pray to – I’ve always been a little confused as to whether our prayers should be directed to God the Father or Jesus our Lord, and if/when it’s OK to pray to the Holy Spirit.  The author did not address this.

• The Lord’s prayer – There was no evaluation of, or reference to, the Lord’s prayer.  I believe anyone who wants to learn how to pray must well understand this prayer that Jesus taught his disciples, and anyone who writes about a book about prayer should include at least a brief evaluation of the Lord’s prayer.

• Prayers in the Psalms – There was no evaluation of, or reference to, the many prayers found in the Psalms in terms of their structure, formality or common elements.

Sample prayer from reading this book

Holy Father,

As I humbly approach You and come into Your presence, I do so with an awareness of how great and powerful and holy You are, and how sinful I am.  Lord, have mercy upon me, a sinner. 

Father, I realize that You know my words before I say them, and even my thoughts before I think them, so I don’t have to go into detail with You on the trials and problems I’m currently facing.  However, I still want to share my concerns with You, as it helps me better cope with them, knowing that You hear every word I say. 

In particular, I want to pray for the unbelief of (fill in the blank).  Lord, it grieves me and I’m sure it grieves You too that (fill in the blank) remain unsaved, and thus will not spend eternity with you.  I would guess that the Holy Spirit within me has expressed to You, in groans, the level of concern this has been to me for so long.  

Father, if it be Your will, soften their hearts I plead, and give me the right words to say so I can effectively witness to them about You.  I eagerly look forward to their decision to repent and turn to You, and surrender their lives to the Lord Jesus.  I know that You and Your angels in heaven will rejoice if and when this takes place.   

Lord, I thank You for hearing what is on my heart, and this time of fellowship. 

In Jesus’ name,

Amen.