Prayer: Experiencing Awe and Intimacy with God Hardcover – November 4, 2014 Author: Visit Amazon’s Timothy Keller Page | Language: English | ISBN:
0525954147 | Format: PDF, EPUB
Prayer: Experiencing Awe and Intimacy with God – November 4, 2014
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- Hardcover: 336 pages
- Publisher: Dutton Adult (November 4, 2014)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0525954147
- ISBN-13: 978-0525954149
- Product Dimensions: 6.3 x 1.2 x 9.4 inches
- Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
- Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #66 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #1 in Books > Christian Books & Bibles > Bible Study & reference > Bible Study
- #2 in Books > Christian Books & Bibles > Worship & Devotion
- #4 in Books > Christian Books & Bibles > Christian Living
“Writing a book in your 50s will go twice as fast and be twice as good as if you try the same book in your 30s. It’s just good stewardship to wait.”
That was Tim Keller’s advice to pastors who desire to write. And he would know, since by my count, Keller has written nine books in the last two and half years. Talk about prolific writing!
Keller’s latest work is simply entitled “Prayer.” As he explains in the introduction, his aim is to combine the theological, experiential, and methodological in one book (1). He wants to drive home that prayer “is both conversation and encounter with God” (5).
We must know the awe of praising his glory, the intimacy of finding his grace, and the struggle of asking his help, all of which can lead us to know the spiritual reality of his presence. Prayer, then, is both awe and intimacy, struggle and reality. These will not happen every time we pray, but each should be a major component of our prayer over the course of our lives. (5)
Keller begins by acknowledging that he “discovered” prayer in the second half of his life with a series of moments: his teaching through the Psalms, the events of 9/11 (his wife implored him to pray together every night), and after his treatment for thyroid cancer (9ff.). This book, then, is the fruit of what he learned and what over the years, in both reading and in practice, he has discovered. Rather than giving a thorough review of this work, I will simply offer a couple of points that landed powerfully on me.
WARMTH AND LIGHT
Keller repeatedly emphasizes the need for both sound doctrine and vibrant devotion–or what John Murray called “an intelligent mysticism” that steers clear of cold assent to truth on the one hand and passion devoid of truth on the other.
There are two topics I try to read books on regularly: the gospel and prayer. I read on the gospel because I need it to grow me, to humble me, to sanctify me, and to help me remember what God has done in Christ to save me. I read on prayer because my prayer life needs encouragement and guidance to strengthen my desire and skills at communicating with God.
Naturally, when I heard one of my favorite authors, Timothy Keller, was coming out with a book on prayer, I was eager to get my hands on a copy and dig in.
Prayer: Experiencing Prayer and Intimacy with God is a book that was birthed out of Keller’s realization of his own shortcomings in prayer. Both he and his wife were diagnosed with diseases during a certain season of their lives (his was thyroid cancer and hers was Crohn’s disease). This coupled with pastoring in Manhattan around the time of the September 11th terrorist attacks forced Keller to his knees and really begin to practice and wrestle with the concept of prayer.
Readers will sense within the first five pages just how well-read and well-thought-out Keller is in dealing with prayer. Keller sought to write on the essentials of prayer from a “theological, experiential, and methodological” perspective, and thus do something most books on prayer seldom do (1).
A Brief Summary
This book is divided into five parts, each comprising from two to five chapters. Part one is called “Desiring Prayer,” which answers the “why?” question about prayer and digs into its necessity, mapping out the terrain for the rest of the book.
Part two, “Understanding Prayer,” describes the many differing views of prayer from many vantage points including world religions, the non-religious, and various Christian traditions.
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