One of the books kindly provided to us by our friends at 10ofthose, required reading for iServe Africa apprentices, reviewed here by Daphne Kabeberi:
As the title suggests, “Enjoy your prayer life” encourages Christians to pray and teaches succinctly on how Christian prayer works. It seems chiefly aimed at those for whom prayer has been a struggle. It’s written to help the reader understand that prayer should be a natural expression of Christian faith – a gift to be enjoyed rather than a duty to be performed. The book is a very easy read because of its concise nature. It’s divided into very short chapters, many being two pages only. It’s very different from other books on prayer since it doesn’t seek to make the weak pray-er feel guilty, but rather refresh their prayer life.
The author suggests that prayer is the chief expression of Christian faith. Therefore, we’re all naturally terrible at prayer because we’re sinners. The solution is the gospel of Christ that awakens faith. In Christ, we learn to enjoy praying to God as our Father and Friend. Prayer doesn’t make us more accepted. Instead, prayer is growing in the appreciation of what we have been given. We should focus on whom we’re praying to as opposed to the activity of prayer. Prayer shows that we are needy believers who need God.
In prayer, God speaks to us through God: the Spirit of the Son cries to the Father through us; the Spirit helps us pray. He helps us be like Christ, sharing His life and mission. He also brings us as Christian brethren together in fellowship with God. Basically, prayer is exercising belief that the Almighty is my willing and kind Father, and that, accepting me in the Son, he wants to hear me and bless me. Prayerlessness could indicate self-dependence, need for re-sight of the glory of Christ or lack of belief that this is truly God’s world.
The author definitely succeeds in making me desire to pray in communion with the trinity. Its succinct nature makes it very easy to read – an hour more than suffices! The writing is faithful to Scripture, constantly reminding us of our human frailty and position in Christ.
I recommend this book to each and every Christian, whether struggling with prayer or not. I keep giving it out to friends to read. I eventually lost track of who had it and had to obtain a second copy! Read it. It’s worth it!
[Available now from iServe Africa bookstore]
