Book Review: Prayer

A friend recommended Philip Yancey's book, Prayer: Does it Make Any Difference? It fit my passion, devouring books about prayer. I am primarily interested in intercessory prayer (because of my ongoing 2023 Facebook Prayer Project). Yet I have enjoyed pondering various difficulties and questions about prayer. Yancey is thorough in his investigation into prayer. He highlights the mysteries and the dilemmas of prayer. He discusses the language and the practice of prayer. Interspersed throughout, the reader gets snippets of perspective from various anonymous individuals. Some are impressive accounts of the miracle of prayer, while others express disappointment with the results of prayer.

For me, this question has never really been plagued me - "Does prayer make a difference?" Is this because of my own life story of miraculous answers to prayer? Probably. My testimony, from an early age, referenced an experience my father had when I was three. I almost died from double pneumonia. While doctors and nurses surrounded me, attempting to restore my hold on life, they ushered my father into the hallway. Once there, he begged God, as expected, "Please, Lord, don't take my little girl." Then the truth of God's sovereignty broke through and he changed his tune, instead praying, "Thank you for the gift of this child. If you must take her, give me the grace to endure." When they let him back in, they told of a miracle. During a procedure sending medicine through a vein in my ankle, I suddenly revived, sat up, and asked them what they were doing. It was at the very moment my father's prayer had changed, surrendering his will to God's.

Here are a few thoughts I gleaned from this book: 

"Prayer is a declaration of dependence upon God." When we realize we are helpless in a situation, it is a knee-jerk reaction to turn to God. My goal is to make prayer a response before I get to a point of desperation.

"In the presence of the Great Physician, my most appropriate contribution may be my wounds." Love that!

"Peter Marshall once remarked that God has equipped us to go deep-sea diving and instead we wade in bathtubs. What makes the difference, I firmly believe is how seriously we take prayer. I see prayer as the process of becoming available for what God wants to do on earth through us." - an observation by Bud.

"The greatest tragedy in life is not unanswered prayer, but unoffered prayer." - F. B. Meyer

And finally, I love his reiteration of a Quaker expression I have heard before (was it in the outstanding book, Prayer in the Night?). When Yancey had an almost-fatal car accident, others said, "We are holding you in the light." I love that word picture. I feel honored to hold my Facebook friends in the light. It is a privilege to lay my requests before the throne of God and to pray, "Have Your will in their life."