ENRICHING YOUR

CONVERSATIONS WITH GOD

SEVEN TRANSFORMING THOUGHTS ON PRAYER,

ONE GOOD JOKE ON PRAYER,
FIVE BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS ON PRAYER.

Dr. Max Anders

 Enriching Your Conversations with God
Seven transforming thoughts on prayer,
one good joke on prayer,
five book recommendations on prayer.
Not long ago, I concluded a sermon series on prayer en5tled, Prayer: Exploring the
Mystery of Talking to God. Studying for it was a deeply rewarding experience, and I
came across so many good thoughts and quotes on prayer that I can hardly contain
myself. I hope to turn my studies into a book in the not-too-distant future. But in the
mean5me, I want to share with you a few of the nuggets of transforming thoughts I
discovered on prayer.

Seven Transforming Thoughts on Prayer

1. Henri Nouwen: Struggling with prayer
Henri Nouwen was a Dutch theologian/Catholic priest who specialized in spiritual
forma5on. Even someone as spiritually oriented as he struggled with prayer… not
theologically, but just the hard work of prayer. When he was on the faculty at Yale
University, he converted a walk-in closet into a prayer closet.

“The simple fact that I'm in the closet means I'm praying. I might have 1000 things to
think about while I'm in there, but the fact that I'm siRng in this physical place means
I'm praying. I force myself to stay there for 15 minutes. I do my best to center my mind
and clear it of distrac5ng thoughts and get down to prayer, but if aTer 15 minutes I
haven't en5rely been successful, I say ‘Lord this was my prayer, even all this confusion.
Now I'm going back into the world.’" (Prayer - Does it Make Any Difference, Philip
Yancey)
 Enriching Your Conversations
2. C. S. Lewis: Praise in prayer
“The humblest, and at the same 5me most balanced and capacious minds, praised
most... while the cranks, misfits, and malcontents praised least. The good cri5cs found
something to praise in many imperfect works; the bad ones con5nually narrowed the
list of books we might even be allowed to read. The healthy and unaffected man, even if
luxuriously brought up and widely experienced in good cookery, could praise a very
modest meal: the dyspep5c and the snob found fault with all. Except where intolerably
adverse circumstances interfere, praise almost seems to be inner health made
audible.” (ReflecAons on the Psalms, C. S. Lewis)
3. Timothy Keller: Thankfulness in prayer
“Learning to praise changes us! If we perceive God accurately, we will praise him! It is
unavoidable. To not praise him is a reflec5on of our own incompleteness. When God
calls us to praise and exalt him, He is invi5ng us to rise to an accurate percep5on of
reality, and in doing so, enter a world of sa5sfac5on and pleasure that cannot be
experienced any other way.

A failure to thank God reflects ingra5tude rooted in the delusion that you are spiritually
and otherwise self-sufficient. It is taking credit for something that was a giT. It is the
belief that you know best how to live, that you have the power and ability to keep your
life on the right path and protect yourself from danger. That is a delusion, and a
dangerous one. We did not create ourselves, and we can't keep our lives going one
second without his upholding power.” (Prayer, Experiencing Awe and InAmacy with
God, Timothy Keller)
4. Blaise Pascal: The “dignity of causality” in prayer
Blaise Pascal, a 15th century French mathema5cian, physicist, inventor, writer and
Chris5an philosopher, wrote that God asks us to pray to give us the “dignity of
causality.” For God to give His children the dignity of causality through prayer means
that God honors us and gives us value by allowing us to cause things to happen
through prayer that would not otherwise happen. (Pensees, Blaise Pascal)
 Enriching Your Conversations

5. James Packer: Putting God first in our lives

“When we pe55on God, we should lay before him, as part of our prayer the reasons why we
think that what we ask for is the best thing. Then, we tell God that if you “will” something
different, we know it will be beher, and that is what we really want to do.

If this is extremely difficult, then we have disordered lives, things that rival God himself in
our innermost being. Our challenge is to reorder our lives, puRng God at the top. This may
be, in fact, extremely difficult if the issue is a true crisis. But God is the only thing that
cannot be taken away from us. So, if we have something in our lives higher than God, then
our lives are shahered if it is taken away from us. But if He is at the top, other things might
hurt, but will not destroy. So, in His grace… for our sake… He calls us to put Him first. He
loves us too much, and has too high of aspira5ons for us, to allow us to be fully sa5sfied
with anything at the top but Him.” (Prayer, Finding Our Way from Duty to Delight, James
Packer)
6. Philip Yancey: Fellowship with God through prayer
“My pastor spent a day of hard labor installing stone steps in his backyard. The individual
stones weighed between 100 and 200 pounds, and it took all of Peter's strength and a few
tools to maneuver them into place. His five-year-old daughter begged to help. When he
suggested that she just sing, to encourage him in his work, she said no. Carefully, when it
would not endanger her, he let her place her hands on the rocks and push as he moved in.
Peter admihed later that Becky's assistance actually complicated the task. He could have
built the steps in less 5me without her help. At the end of the day, though, he not only had
new steps but a daughter burs5ng with pride and a sense of accomplishment. "Me and dad
made steps," she announced at dinner that night. That joy and sense of togetherness was
the ul5mate accomplishment of the day… not the making of a walkway.” (Prayer - Does it
Make Any Difference, Philip Yancey)
 Enriching Your Conversations

7. Timothy Keller: Prayer in spiritual warfare

When we are… in unrelen5ng darkness…, we have the greatest opportunity to triumph over
the forces of evil. In the darkness we have a choice that is not really there in beher 5mes.
We can choose to serve God just because he is God. In the good 5mes, we tend to take for
granted God’s spiritual blessings... the safety of holiness, the rewards of love, joy, and
peace, the freedom of repentance and forgiveness, the hope of eternal life and glory. And,
having taken them for granted, they become invisible, and we begin to long for the
temporal blessings of health, wealth and self-fulfillment, and tend to resent God for not
giving us our desired share of temporal blessings rather than being grateful for the
wellspring of spiritual and eternal blessings.
In the darkest moments we feel we are geRng absolutely nothing out of God or out of our
rela5onship to him. We are, of course. But the things we are geRng out of our rela5onship
with God are the things we are taking for granted, so they are momentarily invisible.

But what if then— when it does not seem to be paying or benefi5ng you at all— you
con5nue to obey, pray to, and seek God, as well as con5nue to do your du5es of love to
others? If we do that— we are finally learning to love God for himself, and not (merely) for
his earthly benefits. And when the darkness liTs or lessens, we will find that our
dependence on other things besides God for our happiness has shrunk, and that we have
new strength and contentment in God himself. We’ll find a new for5tude, unflappability,
poise, and peace in the face of difficulty. The coal is becoming diamond. Many believers
have experienced this peace of God. It is not just posi5ve thinking or willpower. It is a sense
that no maher what happens, everything will ul5mately be all right, even though it may not
be at all right at the moment. (Adapted from Walking With God Through Pain and
Suffering, Timothy Keller)
 Enriching Your Conversations

One Good Joke on Prayer (how not to pray)

A real estate tycoon in New York had an appointment at one of the tall buildings
downtown to close a real estate deal worth millions of dollars. It was nearly 5me for the
mee5ng and he was having no luck finding a parking space. He began to panic. If he missed
this mee5ng, it could cost him seven figures.

With the clock 5cking, and no visible hope of finding a parking space in 5me, he decided
he would resort to praying.

He said, "Lord, you know I'm not a religious man, and I've never prayed much. But I'm in
a world of hurt. And I'm asking you to let me find a parking place.

Nothing.

“Lord, Please! Please! Please!”

Nothing.

In despera5on he said, "Lord, if you let me find a parking space, I promise I'll stop
drinking, smoking, cussing, gambling, running around with women… And I'll even start
going to church!"

No sooner had he finished his prayer than a car pulled out of a space right in front of
him, immediately in front of the building he had to go into. His eyes bugged as he swept
into the parking space. Then he stuck his head out of the window and yelled to the
heavens, "Never mind Lord! One just opened up!"
 Enriching Your Conversations
My Top Five Book Recommendations on Prayer
I have nearly three feet of space on my bookshelves devoted to books on prayer. They
are all good, for the most part. But five stand out in my es5ma5on. I thought you might
like to know which ones they are.

1. Prayer – Experiencing Awe and InAmacy with God, Timothy Keller (Substan5ve)
Though not an easy read, it was compelling, and for me, the best book on prayer I
have read.

2. Prayer – Does it Make Any Difference? Philip Yancey (Substan5ve) Similar to

Timothy Keller’s book, a lihle more philosophical, but very good. I have read it
more than once.

3. A Praying Life – ConnecAng with God in a DistracAng World, Paul E. Miller

(Readable) More of a “how to” book on prayer, it is very prac5cal, with many
helpful insights.

4. Before Amen – The Power of a Simple Prayer, Max Lucado (Easy) This is an easy
read by the always-easy-to-read Max Lucado. Very basic and not overly
philosophical, it is just what many people need to get them started on a life of
prayer.

5. The PAPA Prayer, Larry Crabb (Challenging) I have read this a number of 5mes. I
find it very enriching, though simultaneously challenging. If you want to go a lihle
deeper, you may like this op5on.

Conclusion
I hope you found this interes5ng and helpful. If so, keep an eye out in the future for my
new book, Prayer: Exploring the Mystery of Talking to God.

Copyright © 2016 by Max Anders - Version 1.0