Prayer – Why So Serious?

As Jude previously wrote, the two of us are tackling Keller's new book on prayer. When we were mulling over various books to read together this one seemed to jump out as something I absolutely needed to work on. I look forward to working through this material togehter over the next many weeks.

The first chapter was packed full of reasons why prayer needs to be taken seriously. As a summary at the end of the chapter Keller writes:

Prayer is the only entryway into genuine self-knowledge. It is also the main way we experience deep change–the reordering of our loves. Prayer is how God gives us so many of the unimaginable things he has for us. Indeed, prayer makes it safe for God to give us many of the things we most desire. It is the way we know God, the way we finally treat God as God. Prayers is simply the key to everything we need to do and be in life. We must learn to pray. We have to.

Earlier in the chapter Keller writes of a time when he and his wife were going through many challenges. His wife challenged him to treat prayer, specifically praying together as a couple, as serious as a pill that he needed to take to live. That's how powerful she understood prayer to be and how serious it should be taken.

I need that. I'm flippant with prayer and often times realize I haven't prayed at all until I'm about to drift off into Never Never Land. I look forward to the continued learning in this book and that looking back I can say that God changed my prayer life through this book.