“Prayer is where I do my best work as a husband, dad, worker and friend. I’m aware of the weeds of unbelief in me and the struggles in others’ lives. The Holy Spirit puts his finger on issues that only he can solve. I’m actually managing my life through my daily prayer time. I’m shaping my heart, my work, my family – in fact, everything that is dear to me – through prayer in fellowship with my heavenly Father. I’m doing that because I don’t have control over my heart and life or the hearts and lives of those around me. But God does.” A Praying Life (257)
I don’t know about you, but I feel the same way about prayer. My prayer life represents the best that I can be and do for my family, my friends and my colleagues. But, if I’m being honest, consistently laboring in prayer is the most difficult challenge that I face as a husband, dad and friend. There, I said it. And I don’t think I’m alone. Help has arrived for all of us in Paul E. Miller’s A Praying Life: Connecting with God in a Distracting World.
Miller writes out of a richness of experience with God in prayer that is really inspiring. So, I purposely waited a month after reading it to write this review. Because, while inspirational books often make great reads, what good is an inspiring book on prayer if it doesn’t actually help me improve at “connecting with God in a distracting world” as the subtitle suggests? I didn’t want to review the book on an inspirational high, but upon reflection and in response to what happened in my prayer life as a result of reading it. What I have observed since is a repentance from my self-reliance and self-absorption in areas of my life that I thought I had long ago given over to the Lord. The resulting recognition that I need more of the Lord to be the husband, dad and friend that I long to be has driven me to prayer like never before. I highly recommend A Praying Life for those who desire to walk in deeper relationship with God.
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