Description
Is your prayer life characterized by such things as sincerity, urgency, and delight?
Engagement in prayer is a vital part of our communion with God, making a profound impact on our growth in grace. In this book, you will find thoughtful meditations on prayer in the life of the believer, as well as ample encouragement to cultivate this spiritual discipline in your own life. If you want to be more devoted to prayer, or simply want to assess the health of your prayer life, read this book.
It provides both a helpful examination and a needed tonic for those concerned about growing in godliness.
Contents
- Who Should Pray?
- Pray in Christ’s Name
- Pray Believingly
- Pray Privately
- Pray Submissively
- Pray Humbly
- Pray Boldly
- Pray Waiting upon God
- Pray Intercedingly
- Pray Perseveringly
- Pray Thankfully
- Wrestling in Prayer
- Waiting for Answers to Prayer
- Pray with Appetite
- Pray for Laborers
- Pray Watchfully
- Pray Sincerely
- Pray by the Spirit
- Pray and Work
- Pray Reverently
- Pray Fervently
- Pray Constantly
- Pray Dependently
- Unfulfilled Prayer
- Lust-Driven Prayer
- Pray Openly and Unworthily
- Pray against besetting Sins
- Pray for Contentment
- Pray with Scripture
- Pray Thoughtfully
- To Those Who Cannot Pray
Appendix: 31 Marks of True Prayer
Endorsement
“The ancient formula, ‘the law of praying is the law of believing’ (lex orandi, lex credendi), or, using other words, the way we pray determines what we believe, expresses an important but forgotten truth. To this adage we would add ‘the law of living’ (lex vivendi), that is, the way we pray determines the way we live. The strength of Developing a Healthy Prayer Life is that its 31 studies treat prayer not as an aspect of the Christian life, but as the Christian life itself. The Christian life is a life of humble, submissive, patient, persevering, trusting, thanking, wrestling, waiting, working, reverent, fervent, constant, dependent, contented, and thoughtful praying and living. As we pray, so we live, and as we live, so we pray.
We have needed a book that comprehensively, yet simply, teaches us to pray, not by techniques (though some how-to’s are helpful), but by uniting prayer in the presence of God with life in the presence of God; that shows us how dependent and reverent living arises out of dependent and reverent praying. Developing a Healthy Prayer Life is just the book to help us to unite our praying and our living in a Christ-honoring whole.”
— Terry Johnson, Senior Minister of Independent Presbyterian Church in Savannah, Georgia, and author of The Family Worship Book
About the Author
Joel R. Beeke (PhD, Westminster Seminary) is president and professor of systematic theology and homiletics at Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary; a pastor of the Heritage Reformed Congregation in Grand Rapids, Michigan; editor of Banner of Sovereign Grace Truth; editorial director of Reformation Heritage Books; and a prolific author.