Wrestling in prayer

PRACTISING THE PRINCIPLES OF PRAYER
By David Pawson
Terra Nova Publications. 282 pages. £9.99
ISBN 978-1-90194-958-2

If you were to ask any Christian if they have ever struggled with the discipline of prayer, the answer would, I suspect, be ‘Yes’. A book which encourages us to understand and practise the principles of prayer is, therefore, a good thing.

This book is an attempt to do that and is adapted from a series of talks. Pawson in his preface hopes that its colloquial style is not distracting, but often the main points get lost in a series of anecdotes.

Although Pawson is keen for his readers to compare everything he has written with the Bible, at times the Bible references also get lost.

There is a littering of statements which are hard to justify from Scripture, such as, ‘Did you know that there are two books in the Bible that the devil hates more than any other, out of all 66’ (Pawson, p.138). He is referring to Genesis and Revelation and seeks to prove it from personal experience. Many of these generalisations do not really matter, but without clear Bible references it is difficult for a reader to check them out.

The style and content of this book would suggest that it is aimed at young Christians. However, it would be hard for a reader without prior Bible knowledge to compare all the ideas with Scripture.

There are many clearer books on prayer by others which I would recommend.

Karen Soole,

chair of the Northern Women’s Convention, who teaches on the North West Ministry Training Course