Pastor's Bookshelf: Before God: The Biblical Doctrine of Prayer by Mike Sarkissian

I realized that I never posted a review on this book after I had written the review of Paul Miller's work on prayer.  I actually completed this book months ago and most recently our church just completed a 17 week Bible study on prayer using this book to guide us through what Scripture teaches on the matter.  

Let me be on record and state that I feel that Mike's book is possibly one of the most important books written on prayer within our generation.  This book is very theological, very sound, and drives the reader back to the Bible to better understand what Jesus taught in the aptly called "Lord's Prayer".  

Mike does a very thorough job of exegeting the Lord's Prayer and unpacking the implications of each petition contained in it.  He also takes on the issues of how we pray, why we pray, and the reason why we should pray 'In Jesus Name'.  If you have not yet read this book, please put it on your list.  I would go into detail about how extensively God has used this book to shape up my own feeble prayer life, but I do not want to drift into an area of boasting as I still have much room for improvement though, by God's grace, my prayer life has improved significantly.

You can pick this up from Mike's Website or Amazon.com.

I am actually such a fan of Mike's work that I would like to get a copy of this book into someone's hands.  I am giving away a copy of this book.  To enter, comment on this post and answer the following question:  What is your largest struggle in maintaining a healthy prayer life and why do you feel that deficiency exists?

To increase your chances of winning you can:
- Re-post this review by posting it to your facebook or creating a link to this blog using the feature below.
- Follow this blog either using Google or Networked Blogs.
- Tweet this link and mention @brojasonh
 

Drawing will be held on July 1, 2011.  Please be sure that I have a way to contact you and that I know you've posted this to facebook or your blog.

Pastor's Bookshelf: A Praying Life by Paul E Miller

Well, I must admit I did not enjoy this book as much as I had hoped.  The book started very strongly, Miller does a great job of just being real and admitting to struggles that we all feel with prayer.  After all, we are a broken and sinful people and for Christians we hate the sin that dwells within us that constantly gets at us to sin, even in the neglect of prayer.

Then he moved into the way in which we ought to pray.  It was here that I would have to, at least partially, disagree with him.  He makes a point about how we are to pray humbly, and how we are to have faith like that of a child.  I completely agree with that 100%.  However, he then continues driving that point on to infer that there is no real structure that is necessarily important in our prayers.

Now, let me say that in principle I agree with this.  In principle, there are no exact words or special phrases that we can pray that bring a miracle.  Rather it is the heart behind the prayer that God is most concerned with.  After all, Paul does say that we don't know how to pray as we ought but that the Holy Spirit intercedes on our behalf (Romans 8:26-27).  Further we know that what God desires is not empty sacrifice or empty words (Isaiah 1:10-15) but rather a broken heart and contrite spirit (Psalm 34:18; Psalm 51:17).  So in that respect I completely agree with Paul.  Please hear me, we don't have to have big fancy words or methods in our prayers. 

However, I reject the idea that there is no guidelines or prescriptions for prayer offered in Scripture.  Case in point would of course be the aptly named, Lord's prayer in Matthew 6:6-14.  Now, in fairness, Miller doesn't outright suggest that there is no guideline, however, in my opinion (whatever that is worth) he pushes the issue of a childlike prayer too far and in doing so implies what I've suggested as the problem with this part of the book.

For a more thorough handling of the subject of prayer, there are several books I would sooner recommend to you (and would be glad too if you wish to email me and request those titles).  Having said that, it is a good read and probably worth your time, just be discerning about it.