Wasted Prayer: Know When God Wants You to Stop Praying and Start Doing by Greg Darley
Book Description:
Faith without works is dead. Prayer without action is wasted.
What would your life look like if you stopped praying about God’s will and just did it instead? How would your church look if it spent as much time serving as it spent praying about serving?
The truth is, sometimes when you think you’re praying, you’re really just procrastinating. And when you think you’re asking that God’s will be done, you’re really telling him no. In times that call for action, prayer can be disobedience in disguise. Wasted Prayer uncovers the ways we use prayer to dodge responsibility for the work God has assigned us.
Complete with punch-in-the-gut biblical exposition that will help get you off your knees—and out of your chair—Wasted Prayer will provide you with the jolt you need to start living like a Christian, instead of just praying like one.
It’s time to stop praying and start doing.
Review:
Wasted Prayer is a pretty fast read, just shy of 200 pages, and filled with wisdom. The kind of wisdom we should already have in our lives, but we tend to forget. I'll be honest, when I saw the title of this book, I balked. Seriously, how can we have wasted prayers? Well, we can, and I am as guilty as the next person.
Let me tell you about one of my wasted prayers, just one mind you. A fellow church member, who happens to be a teacher, asked me if I might be interested in helping her with her classroom. It sounds like a great idea. There are lots of parents that can't make it to special events, parent/teacher conferences, programs, etc. and they are wanting a few people that can be there for these kids. That is a super short description, but trust me it is going to be good. This teacher friend of mine knows that I am not big on teaching kids at church or being in the nursery, so when she asked me I said, "Let me pray about it."
Sounds fine doesn't it? Sounds resonable too, right? Well, after reading Wasted Prayer, I now know that it was a prayer for the Religious Cycle, a reactionary prayer, even a procrastination prayer. You just have to read this book if you can relate.
Greg Darley used several biblical examples of the Discipleship Cycle, a more proactive approach. The Good Samaritan parable was one of them, and it's very fitting. I don't want to give too much away, but the Samaritan just reacted. He didn't have to run home and pray for several days. Another example he gave, to which we can all relate, is that if your house was on fire would you rather your neighbor fall to his knees and pray that it stopped? Or would you prefer he grab his water hose and help put it out.
There are lots of times that we should just react, but we say a procrastination prayer instead. This book opened my eyes to Wasted Prayer, and I hope to have learned from it. There are lots of books out there about prayer, but this one is a must read.
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookLook Bloggers book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
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