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Listen to what God has to say about prayer and learn from the example of the great prayers of the Bible.
Part of the Interactive Bible Studies series.
Most humans on this planet pray at least once in their lives. Children pray, often with alarming simplicity and ease. And yet for many Christians prayer can seem like the most difficult thing in the world. We know we ought to pray, but it is the area of our Christian lives which gives us the greatest sense of failure and guilt. In these five careful and insightful studies into the nature and practice of Christian prayer, we listen to what God has to say about prayer, and learn from the example of the great prayers of the Bible.
A supplementary chapter by Don Carson gives additional help on the mechanics of getting down to prayer.
How to make the most of these studies
1. God and us
2. The essence of prayer
3. What use is talk?
4. God's fellow-workers
5. How to pray in 52 words or less
6. Prayer from our side
Appendix: Lessons from the school of prayer
Tips for leaders
| Contributors | Tony Payne |
|---|---|
| ISBN | 9781921441820 |
| Format | Paperback |
| First published | January 2004 |
| Dimensions | 152mm x 224mm x 4mm |
| Weight | 0.11 kg |
| Language | English |
| Pages | 72 |
| No. of studies | 6 |
| Publisher | Matthias Media |
Thank you to Tony Payne for this excellent study on the How and Why of prayer. Questions are good, and invite the reader to write down answers intelligently. What of 'deliver us from temptation.' Tony suggests: 'We want to survive - desperately - and we know only too well our weakness and frailty.' ..... pray .... that he might shelter us from temptation (or testing) and might finally deliver us from the evil that pervades our world....' Highly recommended for everyone.
A small group of older Christians, our House Group has been studying Bold I Approach. The format is clear but we find there is far too much content to do one part per session. The first sessions are an introduction to "prayer" and give much to think about - some of which we would not have expected to find in a study on prayer, so it has been eye opening. We have been distracted towards a study of Romans 8! I would not recommend this book for people young in the faith.
I really like this study. I've used it in a variety of setting and over a number of years. I like the fact that it places and prayer in a theological context and the skilful way it encourages people to pray or to persist in prayer and not to become discouraged about failure or to be put off from trying.
As good as the study is, the latest iteration (received Feb 2014) is awful. Those familiar with the Interactive Bible Studies over a number of years will be use to the way in which questions were boxed and labeled as 'For Starters' 'Investigate' and 'Think it Through'. Though the questions remain, the boxes, titles and the graphics have gone, resulting in a cluttered feeling. The use of two columns for the text doesn't help (why?). Although there is more space for question answers, this edition also finds the need to cover every part of the page with text.
Finally, and people will react differently to this, this study is now based on the ESV as whereas previously it used the old 1984 NIV. I'm sure there are good legal reasons for this, but it's not a version that my congregation are use to.
We used this study in our Ladies Home Group. It is wonderful value for money as the studies are so in depth & engaging that we took 2 weeks over each one. Starting off with the Attributes of God & closing with practical advice from Don Carson, with the riches on prayer from a thoroughly biblical study in between,helped us all mature in our prayer life & gave us a renewed vision that prayer is the Christian Life.
Ann Sims
Ely
We used this book in our Bible Study group and although most of us are 'long term Christians' we all learnt a lot from it. We particularly enjoyed the last very thought provoking chapter in fact the study got better week by week and the notes / writing at the end were excellent. Would thorougly recommend this to everyone.
We are using this in a small Home Group of very mature people with a long experience of the bible. We would say that it is important for the individual to read and look at the study material for themselves as suggested BEFORE discussing it in the Group. That way the intent is much more sharply focussed as the writer intends.
We are using this book in our nurture group and the first session went really well. We got part way through the first chapter and it was very thought provoking.
We used this material as part of our house group program. It was well received and all the feedback was positive.
We are using this study booklet for our homegroup study. It provides a helpful structure and guides us along well trodden pathways. We have used a number of Tony Payne guides and always find them reliable and sound. However some of the studies seem rather contrived and in these cases quite alot of additonal preparation is needed deliver a rewarding meeting.
