Prayer: Experiencing Awe and Intimacy with God

Written by Timothy Keller

Narrated by Sean Pratt

Can't anyone teach me how to pray? Millions of people today are asking the same question. There is a sense of the necessity of prayer—we have to pray. But how?

Prayer is central to Christian faith; indeed, as Timothy Keller notes in his introduction, it is the main way we experience deep change. Yet so many people struggle with prayer—a struggle that the author himself has shared.

This wise and inspiring book is the fruit of those struggles, offering a real and glorious vision of what it can mean to seek God in prayer. Keller begins by giving a theological underpinning of what prayer actually is—both conversation and encounter with a personal God—before describing how we can learn to pray, and then deepen that prayer. Finally he gives detailed, practical suggestions on how to make prayer a part of the reality of daily life.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Hachette UK Audio
• Release date: Nov 6, 2014
• ISBN: 9781473606708

Timothy Keller

Timothy Keller is the New York Times bestselling author of The Reason for God, The Meaning of Marriage, The Prodigal God, Jesus the King, and The Prodigal Prophet.

Reviews for Prayer

[agentx216 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I have read a great number of books on the topic of prayer from a number of different time periods. The basic breakdown for each of them has pretty much been 1) prayer is important 2) you should pray 3) pray the breakdown of the Lord's prayer 4) practical and specific examples of prayer. It is very rare that you have an author even discuss what exactly is prayer for more than one sentence to one paragraph. The problem being, that if you struggle with prayer from the basic foundation of a definition it's really hard to grasp even the first rung in understanding it.

That being said, Keller's book finally breaks the mold. He covers a large number of items concerning prayer and even starts with a very personal story of his own struggle with prayer. The fact that he says it took him two full years to develop a good prayer life is very encouraging. Of course that also means there wouldn't be anything in the book that would flip a switch and make you a George Müller overnight.

The good thing about Keller's writing is that he tends to build upon his chapters. He covers topics like what prayer is but the next chapters go into more depth about it. Chapters 6 and 7 were very important in my further understanding prayer - of course he uses people like Martin Luther and John Calvin really put it into perspective. Reading these excerpts really drove home the need to read things like Calvin's Institutes and other Reformed writings in the future. Keller handles things like the sovereignty of God in relation to prayer (if God is sovereign why should I pray at all). A book that I'm sure Keller uses is A.W. Pink's book on the Sovereignty of God that covers this as well. There are some really helpful application sections of the book in the latter sections. The biggest plus that Keller had going for him was he always kept God in primary focus and was always sure to lovingly hip-check questions that put man at the center of the question. Why? Because this leads to a lot of misunderstandings on the topic and causes issues people might have on the topic of prayer. It was also nice to see that Keller didn't refer to prayer as only a means of changing our hearts and minds as some authors tend to do.

Keller does have a few quirks in his book that come out of left field and don't quite fit with the flow. One major one concern an almost metaphysical aspect of prayer in general and a treatment of mystical forms of prayer and almost legalistic forms. Also, while Keller does a descent job of building upon his chapters and themes, there are times when his flow of writing doesn't always hit its mark. This might cause some to almost get lost in what they're reading.

Overall, this book helped me immensely. I would recommend it to anyone who is struggling with their prayer life or a new Christian looking to start one. It would also be worthwhile for those who have it down to do a wellness check on theirs to see if they are bionically sound or can improve upon it. While not a tough book in terms of theological terms, this is a book whose reading pace should be taken at a slow pace for good, sanctifying reasons. Final Grade - A

[galoma_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Wonderful and helpful ideas on how to improve your prayer life.

[deldevries · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Excellent! An engaging and inspiring journey to prayer.

[kaitanya64 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

While there was some good stuff here, I related it inky three stars because I thought Keller got through his major position point in the first chapter. Seemed like kind of a thrown together book although there were some good bits.

[robsumrall · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Prayer: Experiencing Awe and Intimacy with God is a fresh look at prayer from pastor and author Timothy Keller. Typically, books on prayer tend to be hyper-focused on personal experience and laying out a rigid grid for believers that, if followed, will lead to a vibrant prayer life. While Keller does dabble in the experiential aspect of prayer, he does so by looking over the shoulders of great Christians from bygone eras. Keller brings the voices of Martin Luther, John Calvin, John Owen,Jonathan Edwards and others into the contemporary conversation about prayer. What these Reformation greats have to offer is stunningly modern! More than a historical survey of prayer practices, Keller offers the reader a theology of prayer. I love Keller's insight: "Prayer turns theology into experience" (80).If I were to offer a critique about Prayer, it would be in the application section. Keller seems to have a fondness for lectio divina, the Catholic mystical view of meditation. I don't share his fondness for this practice. While it has some positive elements (like the incorporation of Scripture into one's prayer life), the prerequisite time of clearing one's mind and relaxation smacks of eastern mysticism. Please understand me: I'm not accusing Keller of being an eastern mystic. I am, however, questioning his affection for a prayer methodology that seems so eastern.That one critique aside, Prayer: Experiencing Awe and Intimacy with God is a valuable tool for the modern church. It brings some classic voices into the contemporary conversation and the reader is better for that. Also, it oozes theology, a much-needed quality from books on prayer. This book would be a great addition for anyone interested in becoming more prayerful and understanding the thinking behind and mechanics of a dynamic prayer life.

[jjvors_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

[Prayer: Experiencing Awe and Intimacy with God] by [[Timothy Keller]] presents a comprehensive overview on the subject, not so much from scripture (although there are plenty of scriptures) but from the views of Christian teachings over the 2000 years of the Church. The focus is "Why pray?" and "How should we pray?" Mr. Keller presents both Catholic and Protestant views, although understandably, he leans Protestant--he is a Presbyterian minister. I found all the material clear and understandable, but some people might be put off by the depth of his research. He covers mysticism in prayer and asks how much should we just focus on experiencing God and how much should we dialogue with God. He draws from Jesus (The Lord's Prayer), the Psalms, Augustine, Martin Luther, and John Calvin. He also refers to Paul's prayers in his letters, as well as more contemporary teachers on prayer. His overarching goal is to distill their wisdom down to a series of practical principles for praying.If you already like Timothy Keller's other books (The Prodigal God, The Reason for God, The King's Cross), you'll probably like this book. If you're not put off by extensive research and background on prayer, give it a try.

[dr.ronbrown · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Great book on prayer which makes reference to the works of Augustine, Calvin, Luther and Lewis for the modern reader