Prayer is a discipline many of us need help with. Okay, maybe you’re doing great in your prayer life. I need a lot of help in mine. Thankfully, there are a lot of really great books out there on the subject. Here are six I’ve found particularly helpful and you might, too:
Prayer: Experiencing Awe and Intimacy with God
Tim Keller is always reliable, but this may well be my favorite of his work. As I said in my review, Prayer “is rich in its theology, winsome in its approach and wise in its application. There may be few good modern books on prayer, but Prayer is one of them—and among the finest I’ve read of any era.”
Buy it at: Westminster Bookstore | Amazon
The Mighty Weakness of John Knox
True, I recommended this one when talking about biographies you and I should read, but Douglas Bond’s book on John Knox offers us an example to look to when we want to know what a life submitted to the Lord in prayer looks like. “Because of his candid acknowledgment of his great need, he sought the aid of the God of the universe, and one way he sought it was through the prayers of fellow believers.”
Buy it at: Westminster Books | Amazon
Memoirs of an Ordinary Pastor
Don Carson’s book on his father, Tom, is another powerful “pray by example” book (even if not technically a book on prayer). As I wrote elsewhere, Carson shows his father as a man who prayed as though the Lord really is sovereign—that He must intervene for the lives of his hearers to be transformed.
Buy it at: Westminster Books | Amazon
Praying the Bible
Donald Whitney has written one of the most practical and easy to apply books on prayer I’ve read possibly ever, and one I’m happy to commend to any Christian seeking to improve their prayer life. It’s short, simple, and an all around excellent cure for the “boring” prayer life in the spirit of A Simple Way to Pray: The Wisdom of Martin Luther on Prayer (thoughts on this book can be found here), and R.C. Sproul’s children’s book, The Barber Who Wanted to Pray (itself a child-appropriate retelling of Luther’s The Way to Pray.)
Buy it at: Amazon | Westminster Bookstore
A Call to Prayer
This little book is one of the most challenging, if for no other reason than J.C. Ryle’s willingness to call out the complacency of Christians in his day (a complacency that looks familiar in ours, as well). He writes:
Can we really believe that people are praying against sin — when we see them plunging into it? Can we suppose they pray against the world — when they are entirely absorbed and taken up with its pursuits? Can we think they really ask God for grace to serve him — when they do not show the slightest interest to serve him at all?
Buy it at: Westminster Books | Amazon
Valley of Vision
As mentioned above, often the best way to learn to pray is by example rather than by instruction. Sometimes the best way to pray in a given moment is to pray with someone else’s prayer. That’s where the Valley of Vision, with its powerful, gospel-rich prayers, is so helpful.
Buy it at: Westminster Books | Amazon
Reader’s choice: A Praying Life by Paul Miller. I’ve not read this (yet), but I keep hearing I should and that you should, too! (You can get it at Westminster Books or Amazon.)
What books have you found helpful for cultivating your prayer life?
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The book on prayer that has impacted me most in the past five years (I don’t recall reading one on prayer before that!) is “The Folly of Prayer” by Matt Woodley. I reviewed it here: http://discerningreader.com/book-reviews/the-folly-of-prayer
I love E.M. Bounds’ collection on prayer.
Another good choice 🙂
Completely agree on both “A Call to Prayer” and “The Valley of Vision”. Probably worth mentioning R.C.Sproul’s “The Barber Who Wanted To Pray” as a children’s re-telling of origins of Martin Luther’s leaflet on the way to pray.
When people ask me about books on prayer, top of my list has always been “A Praying Life: Connecting with God in a Distracting World” by Paul Miller.
Agreed on the mention of The Barber Who Wanted to Pray. I was waffling on adding it, so based on your encouragement, I’ve done so.
Also, great recommendation on Paul Miller’s book. I’ve not read it (yet), but I’ve heard good things.