Title: PRAYzing, Creative Prayer Experiences from A to Z
Author Daniel Henderson
Publisher: NavPress, Colorado Springs, CO
URL: http://www.navpress.com/product/9781600061899/PRAYzing-Daniel-Henderson
I was attracted to this book by the title: PRAYzing, Praying with Zing, Praising. It's a cutsie title, but accurately describes the contents. This book promises to make corporate prayer more meaningful and interesting. Since we are planning a Prayer Summit later this year, this book's examples, drawn from over 300 prayer summit events, promised to be useful.
The author has a problem with "supplication siestas"; prayer meetings filled with drowsy requests and pitiful pleadings that put people to sleep. This book describes his approach to keeping people engaged and energized in Holy Spirit-led prayer. He calls this approach "worship-based prayer."
This book has two major sections. The first 6 chapters are the instruction content. They provide the biblical foundation and motivation for creative prayer. The remainder of the book is a set of 26 specific examples of how creative prayer can occur, taken from real Prayer Summits, arranged in an A-to-Z format.
The first chapter states the problem, then shows us God's commands to keep alert in our prayers. (Col 4:2; Eph 6:18)
The second chapter encourages us to be creative, just like our Father, God.
The third chapter asks us to "Seek direction from the mouth of God." He asks us to start each prayer session with scripture and to pray scripture, personalized where possible. This is the key idea and central passion of the creative pray-er.
The fourth chapter is a call to "Just do it!" Don't be afraid to leap where you have never been before. Take a chance. The fifth chapter continues this thought by showing us that the Holy Spirit is there for us as a mentor and guide. (John 14: 16-18, 25-26 and John 15:26-27) He points us to Romans 8:26-27 to show us the central role of the Holy Spirit in our prayers.
Chapter Six begins with a recap of his prior book, Fresh Encounters, where he uses the 4/4 movements of a conductor's baton as a metaphor for prayer. He then gives us 4 questions to ask as we read scripture as part of our prayers: 1) Who is God? 2) How should we respond? 3) What should we do about it? and 4) Where do we go from here?
This book would be of primary interest to pastors and prayer leaders. Although it provides insights for personal prayer, PRAYzing is focused on how to conduct group prayer, either in small groups or larger corporate prayer settings.
What additional information should potential readers be aware of?
What are the barriers to holding a three-day prayer summit? Is there a fear of an unstructured event? How do we get a group of leaders to isolate themselves for two to three days?
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