Book Review of The Prayer Project

 One of the purposes for my blog is to provide Christians with tools to strengthen their relationship with God.  An important way to get to know God is by spending time with him. This is essentially prayer. The Prayer Project by Becka Goings is a great resource for learning how to pray and ultimately how to grow closer to God.

The purpose of this book is to encourage believers to make their lives a prayer project--to continue to grow in their prayer lives.  The book teaches the basics of prayer and is aimed at those who don't pray, but even if you have a strong prayer life , you can glean many fresh insights from it. It is concise, clocking in around 175 pages, but touching on almost every aspect of prayer you can think of. There are even prayers for the reader's spiritual and prayer growth at the end of each chapter. The strength of this book is its demonstration on why it is important to pray in the first place. According to the author, prayer is "conversation with God" . It is intimate communion with him. Thus, a person cannot merely pray at dinner, during church service, or with other Christians and expect to know God intimately.God wants alone time with us and our full and undivided attention. The Prayer Project aptly describes the reason why he desires such alone time with us:

" If you spend no personal time with God, you cannot say you know Him personally. We have friends, but there’s always that one friend we tell our secrets to.  The one we confide in; the one we’re real with. God longs to be this Friend." (19-20)

Thus, getting to know God personally requires personal,  private time with him.

  Another plus of this book is that the author gives examples of why God may delay an answer to prayer or even reject a prayer. Sometimes he requires we wait for a season so that he may test our faith or force us to seek him more deeply.  Other times he simply says no because we do not pray according to his will, or have the wrong motivation for asking (James 4:2-3). The flip side to this principle reveals the surest way to get an answer to prayer. Pray God's will.  Pray Scripture.  Because Scripture is God's word it is his will. The author emphasizes if believers pray Scripture, they will have power in their prayers and see tremendous growth in their lives.

  Overall, this was a wonderful book to read, well written and  filled with spiritual wisdom.  I highly recommend it. Make your life a prayer project.