Marcia Ford - The Indispensable Guide To Practically Everything: Prayer

The Indispensable Guide to Practically Everything: Prayer

ISBN: 978-0-8249-4775-0

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Acknowledgments
Every attempt has been made to credit the sources of copyrighted material used in this book. If any such acknowledgment has been inadvertently omitted or miscredited, receipt of such information would be appreciated.

Scripture quotations marked CEV are from the Contemporary English Version, copyright 1995 by the American Bible Society. Used by permission.

Scripture quotations marked HCSB are from the Holman Christian Standard Bible, copyright 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Holman Christian Standard Bible, Holman CSB, and HCSB are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers.

Scripture quotations marked MSG are from The Message. Copyright 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group.

Scripture quotations marked NASB are from the New American Standard Bible, copyright 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.

Scripture quotations marked NIV are from the Holy Bible, New International Version. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked NKJV are taken from the New King James Version. Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked NLT are from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright 1996, 2004. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, IL 60189. All rights reserved.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Ford, Marcia.
Prayer / Marcia Ford.
p. cm. -- (The indispensable guide to practically everything)
ISBN 978-0-8249-4775-0
1. Prayer--Christianity. I. Title.
BV210.3.F66 2010
248.32--dc22
2009016295

Editor: Lila Empson
Cover and interior design: Whisner Design Group
Typesetting: Educational Publishing Concepts

Printed and bound in the United States of America

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Prayer is the vital breath of the Christian; not the thing that makes him alive, but the evidence that he is alive.

Oswald Chambers

If U.S. pollsters are to be believed, Americans are a praying people. Surveys by secular and religious polling organizations routinely report that as many as 90 percent of the nations adults pray regularlyand half of those surveyed say they pray more than once a day. In one sense, thats an astonishing percentage; with Americas melting-pot population, its nothing short of amazing that so many people share a commitment to a single spiritual practice. And yet, in another sense, it shouldnt be surprising at all.

If two of you on earth agree about any matter that you pray for, it will be done for you by My Father in heaven.

Matthew 18:19 HCSB

Prayer has undergirded this nation from its very inception, and the tradition of praying has been handed down generationally for more than three hundred years, with each generationas well as each denomination, congregation, and individualbringing its own personality and flavor to the practice.

But while Americans are particularly prayerful, Christians throughout the world also post respectful numbers in similar polls. Prayer, it seems, is inextricably woven into the multicultural fabric of Christianity.

Regardless of the passage of time, the range of locations, and the diversity of the people, down through the centuries the nature of Christian prayer has remained the same: it is a personal conversation with a personal God. Even so, prayer encompasses so many dimensions that it is a practice at once simple and complex, and people approach prayer with an abundance of questions:

Does God really hear my prayers?

What if my prayers arent answered?

Is there a right way to pray?

How can I hear Gods voice?

Christians have been asking those and other questions about prayer for two millennia, indicating the need for each generation to plumb the depths of prayer and discover for itself the meaning behind the practice. As for the questions that remain unanswered, believers have long recognized this truth: Now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known (1 Corinthians 13:12 NASB ).

Youll take delight in God, the Mighty One, and look to him joyfully, boldly. Youll pray to him and hell listen.

Job 22:26-27 MSG