Tyler Staton - Praying Like Monks, Living Like Fools: An Invitation to the Wonder and Mystery of Prayer

Praise for PRAYING LIKE MONKS, LIVING LIKE FOOLS

Prayer is a search for help outside the self. Could any statement be more important for our time? Could any act be more essential to spiritual life in our cultural moment? This is a book for our desperate times. My friend Tyler Staton is a world-class leader, a gifted pastor, an extraordinary writer, and, above all, a man of prayer. By reading this book, you will be learning from a master.

JOHN MARK COMER, founder of Practicing the Way and author of The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry

No book has ever left me wanting to pray more. In Praying Like Monks, Living Like Fools, Tyler Staton opens our eyes and hearts to the beauty, mystery, and value of prayer in the life of every believer and skeptic.

CHRISTINE CAINE, founder of A21 and Propel Women

To know Tyler Staton is to encounter a man who is consumed by what it means to live like Jesus. And of course it is inconceivable to live like Jesus without doing what he spent so much of his time doing, which is prayer. Tyler has both given himself to this life-giving practice and provided us with a compelling vision for prayer in the life of the Christ follower. I emerged from this book with my heart stirred to talk to God more.

DR. BRYAN LORITTS, author of Saving the Saved

Tyler Staton is one of Americas most inspiring and gifted prayer leaders today, and his brilliant new book flows from the deepest place of his own personal life. At times it feels like holy ground. I particularly appreciated the practical exercises at the end of each chapter, as well as the closing section about the lost art of praying for the lost. Tyler serves up the full menu of prayerfrom deep contemplative practices to teaching about the power and necessity of intercessory prayer. Theres something here for everyone. Its both an on-ramp for those new to faith who are seeking to grow in a conversational relationship with the Lord and a master class for Christians who are seeking to be stretched and inspired. This is a vital invitation into the highest calling of every person on the planet, flowing straight from the heart of a contemporary prayer warrior, a respected pastor, and a dear friend.

PETE GREIG, founder of 24-7 Prayer International and senior pastor of Emmaus Road Church

ZONDERVAN BOOKS

Praying Like Monks, Living Like Fools

Copyright 2022 by Tyler Staton

Requests for information should be addressed to:

Zondervan, 3900 Sparks Dr. SE, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49546

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ISBN 978-0-310-36538-9 (audio)

Epub Edition SEPTEMBER 2022 9780310365365

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Staton, Tyler, 1987- author.

Title: Praying like monks, living like fools : an invitation to the wonder and mystery of prayer / Tyler Staton.

Description: Grand Rapids : Zondervan, 2022. | Includes bibliographical references. | Summary: In Praying Like Monks, Living Like Fools, Tyler Statonauthor, pastor, and director of the 24-7 Prayer movement in the United Statesuses biblical teaching, powerful storytelling, and historic Christian practices to offer both inspiring vision and practical instruction for how to encounter the wondrous, mysterious, living God through prayerProvided by publisher.

Identifiers: LCCN 2022005475 (print) | LCCN 2022005476 (ebook) | ISBN 9780310365358 (trade paperback) | ISBN 9780310365365 (ebook)

Subjects: LCSH: PrayerChristianity. | BISAC: RELIGION / Christian Living / Spiritual Growth | RELIGION / Christian Living / Prayer

Classification: LCC BV215 .S73 2022 (print) | LCC BV215 (ebook) | DDC 248.3/2dc23/eng /20220705

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022005475

LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022005476

Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quotations are taken from The Holy Bible, New International Version, NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.Zondervan.com. The NIV and New International Version are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc. Scripture quotations marked ESV are taken from the ESV Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version). Copyright 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations marked KJV are taken from the King James Version. Public domain.

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All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any otherexcept for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior permission of the publisher.

Published in association with the literary agency of Wolgemuth & Associates, Inc.

Cover design: Faceout Studio / Spencer Fuller

Cover illustration: Abstractor / Shutterstock

Interior design: Sara Colley

Printed in the United States of America

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For Kirsten.

You have my heart.

You always have.

You always will.

W hen I first met Tyler Staton, I was coming out of a multi-year season of a spiritual and emotional drought. Im a Bible nerd by profession, so I never lost my love and fascination for Scripture, its literary brilliance, or its vibrant tapestry of theological themes. Jesus of Nazareth remained as compelling and beautiful to me as ever. But due to many factors Im still sorting out, all of those things, and even Jesus himself, became more a set of ideas for me and less a dynamic person to whom I relate in my day-to-day activities. I found myself intellectually compelled by the story of Jesus, even personally moved. But I had lost touch with a way of life marked by personal connection or intimacy with the one Jesus called Father, and therefore with Jesus himself.

What I needed was not just a new set of techniques to revitalize my prayer life. I didnt really know what I needed. All I knew was that Jesus felt like an artifact, and the presence of God was an idea, but not an experience. I didnt know what to do, except hope that one day something would change.

And by Gods mercy, something did change. I dont know why or how exactly it happened. I had started a habit of beginning each day with a period of silence, asking God to speak to me or interact with me in a way I could hear and understand. I just needed to know there was someone on the other end of this conversation. To be honest, I did that for a long time without feeling anything at all. Then, in a series of events, some very surprising things happened in my familys life. If I could let my skeptical, intellectual guard down for a moment, I genuinely felt like