Ten Ways to Pray

Do you want to begin or re-energize a habit of prayer? Perhaps you are tired of gimmicks and too busy or bored to read books heavy on theology and inspiration. You would rather talk with God instead of checking prayer requests off a list. Or falling asleep.

Every chapter in Ten Ways to Pray supplies a brief story of one historic saint’s struggle to pray and a description of his or her approach to being with God. It keeps the rationale behind each prayer method to a paragraph and the discussion of human longings and Christian challenges short. Yet praying, rather than reading about prayer, is the goal, so the bulk of each chapter explains how to work the proposed method. Here readers can follow clear steps easily, but may also find something new when they return for a second try.

Because praying a little is better than not praying at all, this book provides suggestions for how to try a prayer in short bursts when longer periods of time are not available. And it offers ideas for using the method with a prayer partner or small group. Chapters conclude with questions and resources for further study.

This is not a prayer journal, though journaling is encouraged. It’s not a book of ancient prayers, though each saint is quoted in his or her chapter. It is neither a theology, nor an anthropology, though it references the first and builds methods around spiritual direction tools that address human nature. Neither is it a Bible study, though Scripture is frequently cited.

You might think of this as Cook’s Illustrated for pray-ers. The point is to remove obstacles and add strong, but not cumbersome, support so that people can stop reading and pray.