Developing A Healthy Prayer Life

If we're honest, most of us feel bored, distracted, or discouraged in prayer. We look for resources to give us the "right" words or teach us the "right" technique and are disappointed when they don't seem to help. What we fail to realize is that prayer isn't a place for us to be good or right, and it isn't a place for us to perform or prove our worth. It's a place for us to be honest, present, and known--a place for us to offer ourselves and receive God. Spiritual formation experts Kyle Strobel and John Coe want to show you what you've been missing when it comes to prayer. In this down-to-earth book, they show you how to fearlessly draw near to a holy God, pray without ceasing (and without posturing), and delight in the experience of being fully known and fully loved. Each chapter ends with prayer projects or practices to help you see a difference in your prayer life, starting now.

In this New Studies in Biblical Theology volume, David Pao offers a comprehensive and accessible study focusing on the theme of thanksgiving in the letters of the apostle Paul.

Pray40Days is a 40 days prayer program for people of any age who want to set their prayer life on fire! Whether a beginner in prayer or more advanced, everyone can benefit from the 6 different ways of praying presented in this book.

In this searing meditation on the bonds of family and the allure of extremist faith, one of today’s most celebrated Christian writers recounts his unexpected journey from a strict fundamentalist upbringing to a life of compassion and grace—a revelatory memoir that “invites comparison to Hillbilly Elegy” (Publishers Weekly, starred review). “Searing, heartrending . . . This stunning tale reminds us that the only way to keep living is to ask God for the impossible: love, forgiveness, and hope.”—Kate Bowler, New York Times bestselling author of Everything Happens for a Reason Raised by an impoverished widow who earned room and board as a Bible teacher in 1950s Atlanta, Philip Yancey and his brother, Marshall, found ways to venture out beyond the confines of their eight-foot-wide trailer. But when Yancey was in college, he uncovered a shocking secret about his father’s death—a secret that began to illuminate the motivations that drove his mother to extreme, often hostile religious convictions and a belief that her sons had been ordained for a divine cause. Searching for answers, Yancey dives into his family origins, taking us on an evocative journey from the backwoods of the Bible Belt to the bustling streets of Philadelphia; from trailer parks to church sanctuaries; from family oddballs to fire-and-brimstone preachers and childhood awakenings through nature, music, and literature. In time, the weight of religious and family pressure sent both sons on opposite paths—one toward healing from the impact of what he calls a “toxic faith,” the other into a self-destructive spiral. Where the Light Fell is a gripping family narrative set against a turbulent time in post–World War II America, shaped by the collision of Southern fundamentalism with the mounting pressures of the civil rights movement and Sixties-era forces of social change. In piecing together his fragmented personal history and his search for redemption, Yancey gives testament to the enduring power of our hunger for truth and the possibility of faith rooted in grace instead of fear. “I truly believe this is the one book I was put on earth to write,” says Yancey. “So many of the strands from my childhood—racial hostility, political division, culture wars—have resurfaced in modern form. Looking back points me forward.”

The first book to explain the popular Christian practice of the examen prayer. Fr. Gallagher takes us deeper into the prayer Ignatius of Loyola believed was at the center of the spiritual life, showing how relevant it is today.

Author Ron Auch Sr. has been teaching principles of prayer since 1980. His burden is to help individuals and churches develop a healthy prayer life. There is so much more to experience in our relationship with Jesus as we learn how to spend quality time in his presence, as there is in just going to church on Sundays. If you are struggling in your communication with Jesus you need to learn the simple steps to a healthy prayer life detailed in this book. We live in a day where communication with our Lord is imperative. We need to learn how to pray things into existence. Are you praying for a lost loved one, someone's healing, or for a broken marriage? These things and much more are available for the person who learns the principles of spending quality time in prayer.

Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit and watching in this with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints. – Ephesians 6:18 The sin of prayerlessness as one of the deepest roots of the evil. Few can plead themselves free from this. Nothing so reveals the defective spiritual life in a pastor and the congregation as the lack of believing and unceasing prayer. Prayer is indeed the very pulse of the spiritual life. It is the great means of bringing to a pastor and the people the blessing and power of heaven. Persevering and believing prayer means a strong and abundant spiritual life. Chapters included in this book… The Sin of Prayerlessness How to Be Delivered from Prayerlessness The Blessing of Victory The Example of Our Lord The Holy Spirit and Prayer The Holiness of God Obedience and the Victorious Life Time in Inner Chamber Taking Up the Cross The Holy Spirit and the Cross