This Sunday, we begin a five-week miniseries on The Lord’s Prayer. Prayer is a foundational practice for Christian spirituality. Many saints in the Bible and throughout church history model this. And, of course, our Savior prayed often during His earthly ministry and part of His continuing ministry is His intercession for us. Yet, many find prayer challenging. So, I thought I would provide you with some resources to stimulate your prayer life.

The Psalms

There is no better place to start than with the prayerbook of the Bible itself, the Psalms. Here we find some of the richest expressions of praise, confession, lament, and intercession. Pray the Psalms and let them form your imagination. A few books about Psalms you might consider are:

N.T. Wright, The Case for the Psalms

C.S. Lewis, Reflections on the Psalms

Eugene Peterson, Answering God

Fixed Prayer

Sometimes, we find ourselves in situations where we can’t find the words to pray. This is where fixed, written prayers can be helpful, especially when they are time-tested. The Book of Common Prayer is a wonderful resource for such prayers as well as a collect (weekly prayer) that can focus the heart and mind. Phyllis Tickle’s The Divine Hours provides prayers combining Psalms and other traditional prayers in settings for morning, midday, and evening. If you want a prayer for particular events or life moments, the Every Moment Holy series by Douglas McKelvey is amazing.

Books on Prayer

You might want to read a book on prayer to give you some new ideas, encouragements, or methods.

Richard Foster, Prayer - explores 21 (!) different types of prayer

Phillip Ryken, When You Pray - a reflection on the Lord’s prayer and its meaning

Tyler Staton, Praying Like Monks, Living Like Fools - inspiring call to the ordinary yet radical way of life that is prayer

Pete Greig, How to Pray - the title says it all

Pete Greig, God on Mute - perhaps what you might need if you are struggling with unanswered prayers.

Saints, regardless of whether you use any of these or not, let us be a community that is growing in fervent prayer. Don’t get stuck on where you think you should be in your prayer life. Do what you can now. If it’s one minute a day, start there. You will likely find the one grows to two and two to three and so on. Part of the benefit we have in the work of Christ on our behalf is access to the throne of grace. Let us boldly make use of it and let us pray.