How to Pray - Book Review

An easy read that our Tuesday AM Guys Group tackled recently, Pete Grieg creates an extremely great guide on understanding prayer and how to improve at it. Not only that, there are a plethora of online resources like guides, videos, and group discussion questions that match every chapter. Like other books, below is my 1-2-3 and my list of key takeaways from the entire book. Let me know if you've read or how you've improved at prayer!

DDD

1-2-3

1(00) Word Summary:

“A simple guide for normal people” deserves to be on the cover. This book’s key point is to keep prayer Simple, Real, and Keep it Up. Through using PRAY as an acronym, we can always stay grounded in many types of prayer, but we don’t need to use them all every time. Pause, Rejoice (praise Jesus!), Ask (petition, intercession for others, and perseverance), and Yield (contemplation, listen, confession, and dealing with evil). Our soul’s most native language is prayer, or at least a posture of attentive openness to the divine. Relationships are #1. Prayer is our relationship with Jesus.

2 Reasons I Read This Book:

1. It was Sam's turn to pick for our guys church group

2. We wanted to eventually read a book more focused on prayer
   

3 Things I'll Takeaway:

1. Keep it Simple, Keep it Real, Keep it Up. Jesus rewards effort, persistence, and consistency. Pause, Rejoice, Ask, Yield

2. Prayer is ultimately our relationship with Jesus. It is not transactional in either direction. We must be vulnerable, be ok listening, and be content in contemplation for long periods on end. That's when he speaks most clearly

3. Forgiving and asking for forgiveness might give us more life than anything else we can do. Both of these ultimately lead to a life lead by humility while distancing us from pride

My Notes For Key Takeaways:

• Pause, Rejoice, Ask, Yield; 4 basic PRAY Steps that can be used by anyone, anywhere, to help ground them in prayer

• Our souls native language is prayer - our natural posture is attentive openness to the divine (David Benner) - We see this in almost every famous figure, religious or not

• “Thin Places” - find our place. Our place to be vulnerable. Allows us to “show up” and “put in the work” even when we don’t feel like it

• Keep is Simple, Keep it Real, Keep it Up; Jesus actually warns us about being to complicated. Other than that, there are hardly ANY rules with prayer. Show up.

• Prayer is our relationship to God; It's relational, not transactional. We must be vulnerable. We must show up daily in order to thrive and not just survive.

• Hallowing the fathers name. God want's to bless us. Our identity is tied up in being God's dearly loved children. Therefore, he isn't impressed by fancy words and smooth prayer. It is THE HEART that prays and that God listens too.

• Ask is broken down by Petition, Intersession, and Perseverance.

  • We must ask for even the little things. Pray for parking spaces. NEVER give up, keep coming back every day. Be "child-like".

  • Asking God for others is a way of loving others. Get informed, Get inspired, Get indignant, Get in synch

  • Prayers might be unanswered. For now.....Remember that this is God's world, His war, and ultimately His will. This is why friends and community are also important

• Yielding is the form of Contemplation, Listening, Confession, and Spiritual Warfare. Let us surrender but be armed by Jesus

  • Contemplation is essentially meditation. Be still and LISTEN. 3 stages; Me and God (meditation), God and Me (Contemplation), Only God (Communion)

  • Praying is also listening; We can hear God through the Bible, through dreams and visions, through counsel and common sense, through reflection, and also noticing God in action

  • Confess through the Examen; Replay, Rejoice, Repent, Reboot. There is more grace in God than sin in us, full stop

  • Reconciliation; Unforgiveness is like drinking poison and waiting for the other person to die.

    • Without forgiveness, everything else we do, and from this book, is essentially "dead religion"

  • Spiritual Warfare; Know the enemy, know your authority (WE ARE IN CHRIST WHICH CANNOT BE BEATEN), Know how to fight (the sword of the spirit, feet grounded in the gospel of peace)

• Amen is the thank you and I love you. Affirming God's love for us. Prayers compound and God plays the long game. Never stop. Never stop loving. Never stop being a child of God.