A Praying Life by Paul E. Miller |

Title: A Praying Life: Connecting with God in a Distracting World
Author: Paul E. Miller
Released: May 15, 2009
Publisher: NavPress
Pages/format: 288 (Trade Paperback)
Source: It was a gift.

Quick Synopsis: Paul Miller points out the underlying disbelief that lies at the root of prayerlessness and walks with readers on a journey of learning to trust God again and recognizing His hand intervening in believer’s lives.

From the back cover:

Let’s face it, prayer is hard! In fact, prayer is so hard that most of us simply do not pray unless an illness or a public setting, such as saying grace at a meal, demands it. Prayerlessness is rooted in a core unbelief that can shape our lives, even as Christians. Because of prayerlessness, our lives are often marked by fear, anxiety, joylessness, and spiritual lethargy.

If prayerlessness marks your life more often than not, then this book is for you. Basing the text on the popular PrayerLife seminar, which has encouraged thousands of Christians to a vibrant prayer life, Paul Miller writes to the heart of the matter. This is, indeed, a book for any Christian who wants to know the joy of a vibrant prayer life.

Quick Review: A Praying Life is a compassionate, practical guide to cultivating a prayer-empowered life filled with real-life illustrations and visual aids which will greatly encourage the reader to connect “with God in a distracting world.”

Long Review:

A Praying Life is divided into five parts and thirty-two short chapters which are subsequently broken down into small sections. Part one discusses the necessity of “learning to pray like a child,” and part two brings the spirit of cynicism in our prayer lives to light with advice on how to deal with it. Part three, entitled “Learning to Ask Your Father” outlines the things we don’t ask for in prayer which we should. Part four offers guidance on how to actively look for God’s hand weaving a story in your life, and part five discusses practical tools you can use to aid your prayer time. The tools he focused on were prayer journaling and prayer cards, both of which I found to be fascinating and practically useful.

My favorite aspect of A Praying Life was Miller’s inclusion of myriad personal stories which illustrated the points he was trying to make. If you’re coming to this book not entirely convinced that prayer is worth the time and effort, Paul’s experiences will probably convince you otherwise. I was especially touched by his stories about his autistic daughter, Kim. I found her life as shared through this book to be encouraging and inspiring. It also gave me a glimpse into the world of autistic adults that I would not otherwise have had.

One of the things I loved about this book was how realistic and practical it was. Instead of setting a cut-in-stone model of what the ideal prayer life looks like, it gently pointed out the underlying reasons believer’s prayer lives are often so benign and offered helpful suggestions for addressing these issues. Where many books on prayer take a slight “holier-than-thou” stance or outline what prayer is supposed to look like without offering sufficient help in reaching that goal, Miller humbly walks with the reader from a non-existent and ineffective prayer life to a vibrant and active one.

I really enjoyed Miller’s writing style. It was simple, expressive, and easily understandable. I also appreciated the charts and visual aids sprinkled throughout the book which helped to clarify Miller’s written illustrations. I think this addition will be particularly appealing to visual and tactile learners like myself. The cover design is simple and elegant and the interior graphics and font are likewise very eye-pleasing.

Overall, though there were a couple of times when I felt the text was a tad too vague and sentimental, I really loved this book and am happy to emphatically recommend it.

About Paul Miller:

Paul Miller is director of seeJesus.net, an organization that develops interactive Bible studies for small groups. He is the author of Love Walked Among Us, The PrayerLife study, and The Person of Jesus Study, an interactive study of the wonder of Jesus and His love. He also travels widely and teaches Jesus Weekends, Person of Jesus seminars, and PrayerLife seminars. Paul and his wife, Jill, have six children and live near Philadelphia.