In the Spring of 2016 we did a sermon series called Is God Listening: Making Sense of Prayer. We had two big picture goals in this series:

1. To have a thorough and insightful discussion, from the Bible, on what prayer is and how to do it, and…
2. To give practical handles and resources to help you pray more consistently and effectively.

As you continue to make sense of prayer, we would encourage you to re-listen to one or more of the messages, look for ways to continue to take steps toward this, and have conversations with others about how you are changing with regard to prayer and faith.

We also want to put a few more resources in your hands, and compile those with the few we’ve already given you, to give you a handful of resources to take advantage of as you make consistent and effective prayer a goal in your own life.

First, a Definition of Prayer

While prayer could be described many ways, for the purpose of our series we said that prayer is communicating to God and listening for his response. There is an “us communicating with God” element and a “waiting and listening to God” element. Prayer is more about relationship with God than getting things from God, and in any healthy relationship there is an exchange of giving and receiving things from each other.

Now on to the Resources

A Praying Life by Paul Miller(Book)

Prayer by Timothy Keller (Book)

“The Power and Privilege of God’s Children” by David Mathis (Article)

“The Unexpected Answers of God” by Jon Bloom (Article)

Praying in Circles: Pt. 1 in our blog series offering practical help for prayer.

Prayer Cards: Pt. 2 in our blog series.

PrayerMate: Pt. 3 in our blog series. This describes an app that can be very helpful in praying consistently.

Prayer is a Journey

We said over and over in this series that prayer is just like anything else: if you want to do it well, you plan for it. You don’t show up to a job interview or a date unprepared and expect things to go well. Prayer is no different.

Prayer takes thought, planning, study, discipline, and help–and learning to pray is not just a destination, it is a journey. More than making prayer the goal in itself, God wants to meet us on the journey, give us himself, and teach us to hope in Jesus above all things.

We hope the journey is incredibly fruitful for you and that as we go together, Jesus becomes our hope. Please let us know how we can help. Happy praying!