A Call to Spiritual Reformation: Priorities from Paul and his Prayers
D A Carson (1992) Baker Book House Company
Reviewed by Andy Lines, Crosslinks
All evangelicals will acknowledge the importance of prayer and all self-aware evangelicals will acknowledge our weakness in this area. Carson, in his preface, states the problem: 'What is both surprising and depressing is the sheer prayerlessness that characterizes so much of the Western church. It is surprising, because it is out of step with the Bible that portrays what Christian living should be; it is depressing , because it frequently coexists with abounding Christian activity that somehow seems hollow, frivolous, and superficial. Scarcely less disturbing is the enthusiastic praying in some circles that overflows with emotional release but is utterly uncontrolled by any thoughtful reflection on the prayers of Scripture.'
I was given this book during a period of mission education in the UK, in the midst of a period of service in South America. In the West prayerlessness was evident, whilst in enthusiastic South America the issue was more of the lack of reflection on the prayers of Scripture. My own frustrated devotional life featured systematic Bible study and then prayer in the form of an unrelated list of petitions. It is so easy to listen to God through Scripture and then close the Bible (physically or metaphorically) and 'turn to prayer', prayer which has no relation to what the Bible has just taught us about the God we are now speaking to.
Don Carson's book was and is a wonderful tonic to which I turn on a regular basis. The book is based on seven sermons preached by Carson at the CMS Summer School in New South Wales in 1990. His method is to go back to Scripture: "Just as God's Word must reform our theology, our ethics, and our practices, so also must it reform our praying." He does this by helping us think through some of Paul's prayers as recorded in six of Paul's letters so that we might align our prayer habits with his: 'We want to learn what to pray for, what arguments to use, what priorities we should adopt, what beliefs should shape our prayers, and much more'.
The person who gave me this book used to remind us that the church prayer meeting was the most important meeting in the church diary and demonstrated this by returning from wherever he was to be there. We would begin an intense 75 minutes with a plenary time where we thanked God for who He is and what He has done, and made no prayers of petition at all. We would not naturally have done that, as evidenced by the number of times I and others started by giving thanks but then slipping quickly into petition, but the Bible reminded us of this important aspect of prayer. I am currently trying to work on the area of ascription in prayer, consciously and verbally remembering the attributes of the God to whom I am praying and letting my prayers be crafted in the light of these wonderful truths. I have much more to work on and will doubtless need to return to Carson's masterly book time and time again.
I was given this book during a period of mission education in the UK, in the midst of a period of service in South America. In the West prayerlessness was evident, whilst in enthusiastic South America the issue was more of the lack of reflection on the prayers of Scripture. My own frustrated devotional life featured systematic Bible study and then prayer in the form of an unrelated list of petitions. It is so easy to listen to God through Scripture and then close the Bible (physically or metaphorically) and 'turn to prayer', prayer which has no relation to what the Bible has just taught us about the God we are now speaking to.
Don Carson's book was and is a wonderful tonic to which I turn on a regular basis. The book is based on seven sermons preached by Carson at the CMS Summer School in New South Wales in 1990. His method is to go back to Scripture: "Just as God's Word must reform our theology, our ethics, and our practices, so also must it reform our praying." He does this by helping us think through some of Paul's prayers as recorded in six of Paul's letters so that we might align our prayer habits with his: 'We want to learn what to pray for, what arguments to use, what priorities we should adopt, what beliefs should shape our prayers, and much more'.
The person who gave me this book used to remind us that the church prayer meeting was the most important meeting in the church diary and demonstrated this by returning from wherever he was to be there. We would begin an intense 75 minutes with a plenary time where we thanked God for who He is and what He has done, and made no prayers of petition at all. We would not naturally have done that, as evidenced by the number of times I and others started by giving thanks but then slipping quickly into petition, but the Bible reminded us of this important aspect of prayer. I am currently trying to work on the area of ascription in prayer, consciously and verbally remembering the attributes of the God to whom I am praying and letting my prayers be crafted in the light of these wonderful truths. I have much more to work on and will doubtless need to return to Carson's masterly book time and time again.
Andy Lines, Crosslinks, Dec 2015
