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Paul Miller shares his insights and conclusions about how to connect the broken pieces of your life and allow prayer—even poorly delivered—to fill the gaps with meaning and substance.
Description: A Praying Life is an honest look at the difficulties of prayer, unanswered prayers, and successes in prayer. Readers will appreciate Paul Miller's down-to-earth approach and practical nature. Parents will find his family-life experiences especially helpful.
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A Praying Life
ISBN-13: 9781600063008
Trim Size: 5 1/2 x 8 1/4
Cover: Paperback
288 Pages
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Downloadable
Part of a Series
Available in Spanish
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Excellent book
Paul E. Miller has written an honest, down-to-earth, and extremely practical book. Right at the beginning, he identifies that the focus of the book is not prayer, but getting to know God. We have no problem communicating with someone we know and love! The tone of this book is one of encouragement. Prayer is not some ethereal concept or Olympic-level activity attainable only to professional pastors and theologians. God longs to hear the prayers of each of His children. There is no caveat of "Don't Try This At Home" attached to prayer.
The book opens with the section Learning to Pray Like a Child. This may be one of the most crucial aspects we need to learn and re-learn. I love how he says,
"Jesus does not say, 'Come to me, all you who have learned how to concentrate in prayer, whose minds no longer wander, and I will give you rest.' No, Jesus opens his arms to his needy children and says, 'Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest' (Matthew 11:38, NASB). The criteria for coming to Jesus is weariness. Come overwhelmed with life. Come with your wandering mind. Come messy." (pp. 51-52)
He wants us as we are.
The book's subsequent sessions are Learning to Trust Again, Learning to Ask Your Father, Living in Your Father's Story, and Learning to Pray in Real Life. Illustrations from the life of his own family, including transparent sharing of difficult lessons he's learned, are scattered throughout and make this an authentic book rather than a dry theological tome. While I think most of the time we need to quit reading books ABOUT prayer and just pray, I recommend this book!
Posted by Mocha with Linda on 10/25/2009 8:52:01 PM
Engaging, Transparent and Practical Book on Prayer
Paul Miller has written an engaging, transparent and practical book on prayer. His connection to his everyday life, filled with trials and tribulations (their daughter Kim struggles with autism and developmental delay). This 'real world' approach to prayer lends credibility and quality to the read. Enjoying prayer and our conversation with the Lord is what this book brings to one's life - returning to a close walk with the God who loves us. In his easy to read style, Miller encourages us to 'live in your Father's story.' By this he means “you can’t listen to God if you are isolated from a life of surrender that draws you into his story for your life.” In essence, this is what the five sections of this book does, using humor, pain and his real life adventures as a backdrop for our return into his presence. This may be one of the best books written on prayer in decades, since it combines sound Biblical truth and tested street leather application. I highly recommend this book and encourage you to pick up a copy for yourself and for a friend - this is a great book for a group journey deeper into God’s presence.
Posted by Dr. Matthew Lee Smith on 8/18/2009 6:10:08 PM
Review: A Praying Life
The book "A Praying Life" by Paul Miller is absolutely a tough reading for me. It took me longer than I thought it would take. No, it's not because Paul employed alot of theological jargons which we still have difficulties to pronounce, but because this book is so full of life that we cannot fully comprehend the writer's life experiences.
There is no lack of the absence of spiritual terms and tones, but the main theme of the book is clearly obvious that it is of the Spirit. Rarely do I find books that convey life, not to mention a book on prayer so I think, as such I will appreciate if Sola Scripture advocates can excuse me for my unapologetic praises.
The following was written in the introduction. The apostle Paul said this about how all true ministry works: "For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows" (2 Cor 1:5). I pray that through this book my relatively light suffering will overflow into your life as comfort, freeing you to touch the heart of God.
I cannot agree more with what was written. Only the crucified life has a fragrance of its kind that will lure the broken and only the crucified life has the ability to restore all things. Just as night precedes day in the Creation, death always precedes resurrection or life in God's timetable. There is a mysterious air about suffering which makes it more bearable and joyous for the sufferers.
As I do not wish to indulge you with the life experiences of Paul, I will highly recommend that you get a copy of the book yourself and start reading straight away. Personally, I think it make more sense in regards to the topic of prayer when one understands where Paul is coming from in real life. And that makes it more spiritually authentic.
Overall, this is a must-have on the topic of prayer. In fact, I find this book so good that I am looking forward to getting my hands on Paul Miller's other book, Love Walked Among Us.
Posted by elvineve on 8/15/2009 12:19:57 PM
A book that makes me want to pray
Paul Miller acknowledges how hard it is for many Christians to pray. He starts with where I’m at now, and not with abstract reasons why I should be praying. Right off the bat, that makes me trust him. He satisfies the big questions I have about prayer (such as “Why does it matter?”), interweaving insights and truth with family stories that illustrate his points.
Miller tackles all the important aspects of prayer: our frustrations with it, how to relate to our Father like a child, barriers to connecting with Him (because of both our hearts and the world), how to integrate prayer with life, and practical ways to pray. Less importantly (but still nice), he writes clearly and in a down-to-earth, I’m-in-it-with-you tone that is pleasant to read. Refreshingly, he includes sections on the importance of asking for our daily bread, God’s kingdom to come, and His will to be done. He also talks about balancing listening to God through Scripture and through the Spirit.
This book is basic (in the best sense of the word) and offers a fresh perspective on making prayer an integral part of life. The bottom line is that this is one of the best books I’ve read on prayer (the other two are Prayer: Does It Make Any Difference? By Philip Yancey and Prayer by Ole Hallesby). This conversation about prayer makes me want to pray.
Posted by M Young on 8/9/2009 2:12:51 AM
Highly Recommended
This is absolutely the best book about prayer that I have ever read. I have read several books about prayer and how to pray. After reading each book, I never felt like I had learned anything life-changing or anything particularly memorable. That is not the case with this book!
The book does not give a certain "model" to go by or certain words or phrases to use when you pray. Instead, it addresses many attitudes and beliefs that can cause Christians to think that our prayers don't make a difference and don't change anything. The book explains why these attitudes and beliefs are incorrect.
Then, it moves on to guide the reader into changing the incorrect beliefs in order to allow accurate beliefs to replace them. It includes many examples from the author's life as well as from the Bible.
Toward the end of the book are included some prayer "helps" such as information on rayer cards and prayer journaling. The author also includes the importance of listening to God as well as talking to God when you pray. He stresses why we should both speak and listen to God in order to accurately communicate with Him.
The book uses real-life examples and practical wisdom and advice from beginning to end. While there are a few sections in the book that were not particularly exciting to me, I found that, over all, the it was very interesting to read. I definitely and enthusiastically recommend this book to those who want to learn more about improving their prayer lives and truly communicating with God.
Posted by Wendy Hilton on 8/7/2009 3:06:44 PM
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