#RedeemerRecommends - Persisting in Prayer
As our Transforming Prayer series comes to an end, #RedeemerRecommends some books to encourage you to continue pressing into a life of powerful prayer!
Last Sunday we reached the end of our preaching series on Transforming Prayer, and this week sees us finishing our prayer journals in our meetups! Never fear! We will have 3 more weeks of meeting and praying together in groups, followed by a church wide Week of Prayer from the 7th to the 13th of April.
But after that, it is our hope that the whole of the Redeemer community doesn’t simply stop praying, but is instead inspired by this season of Transforming Prayer, and the effect it has had on our lives! So inspired in fact that we continue to pursue transformation in our own situations and the situations of those around us through the power of prayer! As Christians our desire is that our relationship with God is constantly growing closer and more intimate, and one of the best ways to ensure this is by pressing into prayer throughout our lives.
So this week’s #RedeemerRecommends is hoping to supply you with a few books which you might find helpful as you continue to develop in your prayer life and your relationship with God.
Book #1 - Too Busy Not To Pray (Bill Hybels)
This is a book which encourages individuals at any stage of their walk with God to press into prayer. Hybels sets out practical ways to ensure we slow down and prioritise times of prayer. The book helps to expand our view of just what God can do in our lives and in the lives of those around us when we do so.
Book #2 - Letters to Malcolm: Chiefly on Prayer (C.S. Lewis)
This book, a collection of letters to a close friend of Lewis’ named Malcolm, speaks of many different aspects of prayer and how they affect our lives. Reading it takes us on a journey to understanding just how crucially important prayer is and how it increases the depth of our relationship with God.
Book #3 - The Power of a Praying Woman (Stormie Omartian)
Focusing on personal prayer, this is a great book for women of all ages looking to establish a discipline of prayer and hoping to see breakthrough in their own lives through persistence in prayer. Encouraging readers to ‘cover every area of life with prayer’, each chapter ends with a prayer to follow or to use as a model for your own personal prayer time.
Book #4 - God on Mute (Pete Greig)
A book specifically aimed at those who are struggling with seemingly ‘unanswered’ prayer, Pete Greig, the founder of the 24/7 global prayer movement, writes of his personal struggle. It’s an incredibly eye opening and honest account of his journey as his wife Samie fought a battle with a brain tumour. The book focuses on the questions which come up in situations when our prayers seem to be met with total silence, and aims to cultivate a sense of hope and faith in God’s love, a love which goes beyond our understanding.
#RedeemerRecommends - 24/7 Prayer
This week’s #RedeemerRecommends invites us to learn more about an inspirational, global prayer organisation which started in just one room in the south of England….
As we continue to look forward to Transforming Prayer, which kicks off this Sunday, this week’s #RedeemerRecommends focuses on the blog of a prayer organisation which is seeing transformation in prayer lives and transformed communities as a result of prayer all across the world.
The 24-7 prayer movement began in 1999 with a single prayer room on the south coast of England, and their prayer room model has since expanded across the globe. 24-7 International now reaches over half the countries on earth. Their story is told in the books Red Moon Rising & Dirty Glory.
To discover more about the movement you can also visit the website by following the link below, where you will also find helpful blogs on prayer, along with inspiring testimonies of the transformational power of prayer!
Let’s be inspired by what God is doing in the global church and believe that he can do incredible things in and through US as we enter into this season of Transforming Prayer! I hope to see you on Sunday as we begin this new, exciting, life changing journey of prayer as a church. Everyone is welcome to join us!