A Praying Life – Paul Miller

How does prayer and life intersect?  This book helps answer that question.  Miller takes Biblical principles and shows how they have intersected with his family life.  This dual approach anchors the book in truth while also making it practical and encouraging – a greater prayer life is not beyond our reach. 

He begins by helping us see that we are helpless – and hence must pray.  Our problem is that we think we can do life on our own – and so we don’t pray.  He then explores the need to trust God so that we will pray.  If I don’t trust God, I simply won’t bother with prayer (why would I pray if I can’t trust him?).  Both our helplessness and his trustworthiness were ideas I needed to wrestle with and grasp onto, and I suspect others would benefit from his exploration of these foundational topics as well.  He continues by considering our requests, and helping us to see how prayer and our daily life fits into God’s bigger story.  Finally, he suggests some practical ideas (like using prayer cards and a prayer journal) to help us grow in prayer.  Recommended.