I want to preface this little book review with a few points before we dive in....
First, this is a book that was written in the mid-1990's. So it's got a bit of history behind it. It's actually one of the most recommended books in Adventism about prayer. So that was a win for me, I love reading the books that have stood the test of time. So this was a great fit for my weekend reading list :)
Second, I suck at prayer! I am not sure how someone can be bad at praying but I kind of fail at building a consistent prayer habit. It's crazy because when I was in the world, I seemed to pray more. But once I was saved, my prayer life suffered. I'm not sure why....
So I want to improve my prayer life and yes, that means actually doing it, and I thought this book could give me a few tips and strategies on how to humble myself and get to praying more! So with that, let's dive into....
"If My People Pray by Randy Maxwell"
The book is based around 2 Chronicles 7:14 which reads:
"If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land."
Pastor Randy goes through real life experiences and shares his examples of how he built prayer into not only his personal life, but also within his church family. Which was a huge take away for me right from the start....This wasn't only about our journey. Prayer was so much bigger than that.
In fact the entire Christian experience is to be, death to self, and serving others. Which this book highlights. Intercessory prayer players a big role in our prayer life, and this book highlights how important that is!
But here was the first 'big aha' moment for me in the book:
I am going to print this out, highlight it, and stick it right in the middle of my bible because it's such a powerful statement when it comes to prayer. Humble ourselves! It's not like we pray and God doesn't know what's on our mind. He knows everything about us and what we desire, before we even do. So prayer according to Pastor Randy, isn't about 'asking' for things.
It's about humbling ourselves and communing with the Creator of everything. An actual relationship with our Lord and Savior!
Sometimes Christians pull a 'holier than thou' attitude when it comes to how we act. It's all for appearance, and not the change of the heart...This book tackles that in this paragraph here:
I love this!
What a quote:
"...the externals are often the easy part of Christianity. It's easy to look righteous..."
Nail in a sure place!
This book was such a pleasure to read, and I understand how it stood the test of time. But when it comes down to it, this was the big message....We can read all the books, listen to all the sermons, do bible study after bible study about the topic...But when it comes to prayer, the only way to build a strong prayer life is to...
Get on our knees and pray!
Here's the book details:
ISBN: 978-0-8163-1246-7
Copyright 1995 Pacific Press Publishing
Page count: 186
Author: Randy Maxwell