A Praying Life: Connecting with God in a Distracting World

In the Christian life, prayer can often feel like an afterthought. Prayer is often just something we do from time to time. Something we do before we eat. Something we do when things are going poorly for us. Maybe even something we do because we feel guilty about the total lack of prayer in our lives. Here Miller poses a question—How do we live a life more connected to God through prayer? What does that look like in our everyday lives? This question begins a journey into Miller’s life and his own personal relationship with his family, his church, and ultimately God through his pursuit of prayer. A Praying Life is very much a look into Miller’s personal experience of prayer. For some that will make it immediately appealing. It is undoubtedly an easy read, written not for the theological elite, but for the everyday Christian. Whether you have been walking with God for ten days, or ten years, this book is easily digestible. For others who prefer Timothy Keller to Paul David Tripp, this may seem like a criticism, though it is meant simply to point out a difference of style rather than to elevate one above the other. For those unfamiliar with the reference, Miller’s book, (much like the writing of Tripp) is steeped in anecdotes from his life. We hear about God’s answered prayers in the lives of Miller’s wife, children, fellow church members, neighbors, and more. Each answered prayer coming in the form of a short story to show how good God is. That is not to suggest that A Praying Life consists solely of these prayer stories. Miller does an admirable job linking his stories to the text of scripture. He often starts with a biblical concept, such as approaching God “like a child” (see Matthew 18), then he will unpack his view of what the biblical text practically means by this, then he will illustrate that view with a story from his life. With this book, Miller has challenged me in my own views of prayer. Though I confess I found myself occasionally questioning the interpretation of certain passages, (i.e. I recall feeling slightly uncomfortable at the way in which Miller talked about God wanting us to prosper, though I don’t think he ever came close to endorsing a Prosperity Gospel or Word of Faith understanding of God’s promises.), I was constantly reminded that my ability to interact with God through prayer is a divine miracle for which I am often dismissive and ungrateful. I also found reading A Praying Life to be a very hopeful experience, and was reminded on nearly every page that the God of the universe not only created me, and gave up His only Son to be die for me, but loves me and continues to call me to repent of my sin, take up my cross, and follow Him. What a beautiful reminder of God’s love for sinners.3/5 Stars

I have been confused by prayer before I ever came to know the Lord and have struggled with and been afraid of it from day one. I never volunteer to pray and never meet the eyes of anyone who I think might ask me to, although everyone says it is super easy and words seem to come so much more naturally for them. Rather than trying to overcome those feelings or getting to the bottom of why I felt that way, I just kind of pushed prayer to the back of my mind. I absolutely prayed for people when they asked me to, sometimes on my own... but for the most part, prayer was something I avoided because every time I tried it, I came away feeling like I had done something wrong. I had always heard in church, "don't only call out to God only when you need something! You should just spend time with Him." Whatever that meant. It felt as if perfect prayer... no, even functional prayer was something I was never going to be able to reach. And then I crack the spine of this book. By the second page, I was in tears."Few of us have [the] courage to articulate the quiet cynicism or spiritual weariness that develops in us when heartfelt prayer goes unanswered. We keep our doubts hidden even from ourselves because we don't want to sound like bad Christians. No reason to add shame to our cynicism. So our hearts shut down.""The glib way people talk about prayer often reinforces our cynicism. We end our conversations with "I'll keep you in my prayers." ...Many who use these phrases, including us, never get around to praying. Why? Because we don't think prayer makes much difference. Cynicism and glibness are just part of the problem. The most common frustration is the activity of praying itself. We last for about fifteen seconds, and then out of nowhere the day's to-do list pops up and our minds are off on a tangent. We catch ourselves, and by sheer force of will, go back to praying. Before we know it, it has happened again. Instead of praying, we are doing a confused mix of wandering and worrying. Then the guilt sets in. Something must be wrong with me. Other Christians don't have this trouble praying. After five minutes, we give up saying, "I am no good at this." Something is wrong with us. Our natural desire to pray comes from Creation. We are made in the image of God. Our inability to pray comes from the Fall. Evil has marred the image.""Complicating this is the enormous confusion about what makes for good prayer...""Prayer exposes how self-preoccupied we are and uncovers our doubts. It was easier on our faith not to pray.""American culture is probably the hardest place in the world to learn to pray. We are so busy that when we slow down to pray, we find it uncomfortable. We prize accomplishments, production. But prayer is nothing but talking to God. It feels useless, as if we are wasting time.""Because we can do life without God, praying seems nice but unnecessary...Our trust in ourselves and our talents makes us structurally independent of God."So many of the things he had written were just beautiful to see on the page. Just to know that I wasn't alone in my struggles was comfort enough! This book is beginning to unlock some serious strongholds for me, helping me to open my eyes to see what prayer truly is and what is was never intended to be. It was never supposed to be this lofty, unreachable, formulaic thing. It is opening your mouth and laying your thoughts out before the Lord. Yes, it's that simple! The fact that your mind wanders or you're not narrating a bestseller doesn't matter. Just spending time with the Lord, dumping what's on your heart, is enough! I love that this book has helped release me from the long-thought ideas that I can't pray or I wasn't doing it correctly or that God doesn't want to hear the stupid things I have to say. None of that was/is true and I am becoming more and more unhindered as I keep reading.On my way into work I usually keep the radio off. Sometimes I'm not completely awake until I get to work and don't notice the silence. When I DO notice the silence, it usually reminds me that the Lord is waiting to hear from me. The morning after I read the first few sections of this book, I thought I would give the whole "just saying what's on your mind" thing a try. In the past, my prayers have been on behalf of someone with a need, or asking for Him to help me get through something... this was the first time I had ever opened my mouth and just said, "Good morning, Lord... here's what I'm thinking."And it was sooooooooo freeing! No structure, no key points I felt like I had to hit, no checklist of things to say before I was done... It was like I was on the phone with Jason or Kim, filling them in on what happened that day and what I thought about it. My mind wandered and I let it. It was incredible! I pulled into work feeling like I had had the most amazing conversation, and it wasn't anything anyone else would have thought was even remotely spectacular or even interesting.. Most things that enter my mind aren't. But still. It was a sweet time spent at the Lord's ear, with Him seeming to hang on every word.I am excited to read more in this book and see what other walls come crashing down. And I encourage you to check it out if you haven't! It is absolutely changing my world and I'm so glad I chose this one.

PORQUE LO PIENSOTODO, CONTENIDO Y CONTIENENTEA CUALQUIERA QUE LE INTERESE EL TEMANO ME GUSTA QUE ME PONGAN CUPO DE PALABRAS

A book I found easy to read which inspired me to remember God is there to speak to in all aspects of life.

The best thing about A Praying Life is that you soon realise that it's really not just about prayer: it's about living as a Christian. Somehow it didn't hit me until I was almost halfway in that the author absolutely meant the "Life" part in the title.This is possibly the best book on prayer I've ever read, and I've read many. It's not often that you get a Christian book that combines solid theology with practical guidance: many good ones are strong on one side and weaker on the other. This one not only beautifully combines both: it goes one step further to add the author's personal stories, to show how what he's saying works out in real life. And the stories don't feel in the least bit self-aggrandising.And the result? A book that challenged misconceptions about prayer I didn't realise I had, but in a way that made me more eager to pray and also giving me very practical ways to go about it such that halfway into the book, my praying was already starting to feel more real. Be warned though: it's not all excitement. There's hard stuff in here too: and I don't mean hard to understand, I mean hard in actual experience. He shares difficult stories and deals with the issue of unanswered prayer in a way that's manages to face the reality of how hard it is while staying true to the Bible and still remaining encouraging.This book won't just make you better at praying. It goes one further: it'll show you how praying helps you to be better at living.

...and I've read a LOT of books about prayer this year!I'm ashamed to admit that I almost put this book aside after just a few chapters, when it became apparent that nearly every illustration the author used was going to be about his family and especially about his special-needs daughter. For some reason, I found that unappealing and vaguely depressing.However, I've glad I stuck with the book, because it very quickly started dealing with prayer in a no-nonsense, nuts-and-bolts, life-in-the-real-world manner that was quite unlike anything else I've read recently. The author doesn't shy away from any of the difficulties with (or objections to) prayer. During the period when I was reading this book, I frequently 'caught' myself praying at odd moments during the day, almost subconsciously.There's just something unique about this book - I don't envy the author his family life, and one or two of his anecdotes actually made me dislike him slightly - but I think it's a book that will get you praying.It even covers a 'new' method which I've found helpful - using filing cards to hold your prayer list, rather than a scrap of paper or notebook.I know this is an awful cliché, but if you're only going to read one book about prayer this year... read this one!

Through the years I have read many books on prayer. This book, though started very slowly contains a wonderful balance of theology, Good Biblical grounding and personal experience along with good practical stuff. I was amazed at how honest and real Paul was about his own struggles and those of his family (Oh that more Americans learnt to be half as real and honest about who they really are without all the masking that goes on!!) and its amazing how much Kim has brought them closer to God, revealed more of God and also how they are now using it to encourage others in their journey with God.This was one of those books, that having read on kindle I will buy a hard copy because I feel there is so much I want to mark/note and re-read through the years.The timing was great for me and I feel excited about the story I am part of!Thanks Paul for your work, your honesty and taking the time to share what God has shown you with us all!