The newest book isn't always the best book. It almost always looks better on the shelf, but that doesn't mean it's preferable.
R.C. Sproul wrote a wonderful little book (it's probably more of a booklet--it's only 80 pages, and can fit in your pocket) called Effective Prayer. The first printing was in 1984, when I was three years old. The pages of my copy are yellowed and feel old. The cover illustration is probably not what it would be if the book were first published today. But the wisdom contained in this little book make it well worthy of the short amount of time it takes to read.
The book is broken up in to six chapters--the purpose, place, pattern, practice, prohibitions and power of prayer. Sproul talks about the reasons to pray, the ways to pray, ways not to pray, different methods to prayer, and the outcomes of prayer. Sproul doesn't linger too long on any particular chapter, but each one is focused and well developed.
In the end, though, the point is well-made: to develop in prayer, you have to spend time doing it. All the books in the world and all the seminars in the world won't make you into a dedicated person of prayer. Spending time before God, pouring your heart out and letting God fill you, will make you a person of prayer. Dedicating ourselves to a life of prayer is the most important thing--our abilities to pray and to listen to God develop over time, but they will not develop if we spend our lives waiting to be perfect at prayer.
So let us pray. Deeply, often, depending on God to lead us forward.
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