Prayer is an activity that all of us ought to be familiar with and yet it remains one of those aspects of our spiritual lives that is often gathering dust on the shelf. Not only are our lives speeding by so that we rarely take time to be still, but we also succumb to looking to others to do the praying.
Leveling the Praying Field: Helping Every Person Talk to God and Hear from God by Donna Barrett is unlike most books or articles on the topic of prayer.
Donna opens her introduction as follows:
“Do you feel like prayer is important, but just not your “thing”? If you were totally honest, would you admit that you find prayer boring? Or perhaps you’re not sure it makes a difference or is really the best use of your time. Perhaps you find prayer intimidating because you don’t feel like you’re good at it, don’t know how to pray, how to use the “right words,” or how to have the endurance to stay with it.”
This opens the door to facing ourselves honestly and how we may have fallen into the trap of turning prayer over to those we consider “intercessors” or “prayer warriors”. That becomes our excuse for not even trying to pray and misses the point of prayer being a connecting point God wants between each of us and himself.
Donna’s passion is that everyone no matter what stage of life, what level of Christian maturity, what gender, or what level of education will get in the game, get on the field, and start looking at prayer differently.
Her newly released book invites the reader into her thoughts, heart, and experiences with prayer from childhood through her call to ministry in various places and capacities as a pastor in the Assembly of God. This is not a “how to” or a recipe. She invites the reader to see prayer as the dialogue between a child and a father at the most basic and intimate level.
Her writing style is to invite you into a conversation with her as if you were enjoying a favorite cup of coffee looking at this topic. As you read and “listen,” it will be evident this is not a subject she teaches as much as one that she lives out in every venue she finds herself.
I know exactly what that feels like as a friend who has conversed with her many times about prayer.
Donna reminds the reader:
“He created us to relate with Him, to respond in a give-and-take, to bond emotionally, and to communicate, even in an infantile way initially. But then we shut Him out, stare off as if He isn’t there, and tune Him out.
God has always planned to redeem a family for Himself from “every nation, tribe, people and language” (Revelation 7:9). This love relationship includes and is facilitated by prayer − the incredible privilege of hearing and speaking with our Father God.”
Whatever your experience with prayer is or has been, whatever part of the body of Christ is your home, this book will offer you insight to what gets in the way of a vibrant relational prayer life and inspire you to get on the field, get in the game, and experience the Lord as never before.