So many of us experience guilt and frustration about our prayer lives. We want to experience God's presence, to grow towards interceding, meditating and worshipping as earnestly as the prayer warriors and saints that we read about. When we try, however, our thoughts are distracted and we can end up feeling bored and even irritated by the whole exercise.

If we're honest, most of us feel bored, distracted, or discouraged in prayer. We look for resources to give us the "right" words or teach us the "right" technique and are disappointed when they don't seem to help. What we fail to realize is that prayer isn't a place for us to be good or right, and it isn't a place for us to perform or prove our worth. It's a place for us to be honest, present, and known--a place for us to offer ourselves and receive God. Spiritual formation experts Kyle Strobel and John Coe want to show you what you've been missing when it comes to prayer. In this down-to-earth book, they show you how to fearlessly draw near to a holy God, pray without ceasing (and without posturing), and delight in the experience of being fully known and fully loved. Each chapter ends with prayer projects or practices to help you see a difference in your prayer life, starting now.

Inspired by The Valley of Vision, these short prayers are designed for private or church use. Trinitarian and Christ-focused, they provide gospel comfort on many specific topics.

More than 300,000 copies sold "This book will be like having the breath of God at your back. Let it lift you to new hope." --Dan B. Allender, PhD, author of Bold Love This new edition includes an expanded chapter on using the practical "prayer cards"--a hallmark of the teaching found in A Praying Life--and a chapter on the need and use of prayers of lament. Prayer is so hard that unless circumstances demand it--an illness, or saying grace at a meal--most of us simply do not pray. We prize accomplishments and productivity over time in prayer. Even Christians experience this prayerlessness--a kind of practical unbelief that leaves us marked by fear, anxiety, joylessness, and spiritual lethargy. Prayer is all about relationship. Based on the popular seminar by the same name, A Praying Life has discipled thousands of Christians to a vibrant prayer life full of joy and power. When Jesus describes the intimacy He seeks with us, He talks about joining us for dinner (Revelation 3:20). A Praying Life feels like having dinner with good friends. It is the way we experience and connect to God. In A Praying Life, author Paul Miller lays out a pattern for living in relationship with God and includes helpful habits and approaches to prayer that enable us to return to a childlike faith.

Fairacres Publication 46 Prayer and Contemplation & Distractions are for Healing Two of Robert Llewelyn’s works are combined in this edition. In the first, he discusses petition, intercession and the various forms of vocal prayer, as well as contemplation, into which all Christians can expect to be drawn as they spend time with God. In the second, he suggests how wandering thoughts in prayer can be healing for the individual and, by extension, may be used for good in the lives of others.

"While many of us are familiar with such famous words as, "Dearly beloved, we are gathered together here." or "Ashes to ashes, dust to dust," we may not know that they originated with The Book of Common Prayer, which first appeared in 1549. Like the words of the King James Bible and Shakespeare, the language of this prayer book has saturated English culture and letters. Here Alan Jacobs tells its story. Jacobs shows how The Book of Common Prayer--from its beginnings as a means of social and political control in the England of Henry VIII to its worldwide presence today--became a venerable work whose cadences express the heart of religious life for many.The book's chief maker, Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury, created it as the authoritative manual of Christian worship throughout England. But as Jacobs recounts, the book has had a variable and dramatic career in the complicated history of English church politics, and has been the focus of celebrations, protests, and even jail terms. As time passed, new forms of the book were made to suit the many English-speaking nations: first in Scotland, then in the new United States, and eventually wherever the British Empire extended its arm. Over time, Cranmer's book was adapted for different preferences and purposes. Jacobs vividly demonstrates how one book became many--and how it has shaped the devotional lives of men and women across the globe"--.

These are heartfelt and very realistic prayers about college life. Kerry Weber beautifully expresses all the familiar emotions, all the highs and lows, all the fears and dreams that every college student experiences. She learned early on in her own college life that she couldn't cope without God's guidance and she clung to her faith to see her through. She makes a compelling case for staying close to God from the first unfamiliar days on campus to the moment of graduation. This is a wonder gift for any young person heading off to college. It offers reassurance and comfort and encourages them to build a vibrant life of faith and prayer.