Hello all! I'm finally going to do a book review! I'm continuing on with the Spiritual Disciplines book that I started last year. :-) This chapter is on prayer and once I finish the summary, I will be posting an article by Dad on prayer. You will notice a difference in this review from the previous three on the book. It should be shorter and more summarized. (I hope! :-) ) I also hope to get another book review done this week, if time and personal motivation permits! :-)
Title: Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life
Author: Donald S. Whitney
Published: 1991 by NavPress
Background Information: Donald Whitney is the associate professor of spiritual formation at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminar in Kansas City Missouri. He is the best-selling author of Simplify Your Spiritual Life, Ten Questions to Diagnose Your Spiritual Health, and How Can I be Sure I'm a Christian? (all that was taken from the back the book)
Since 2005, Don Whitney has been Associate Professor of Biblical Spirituality at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, where he also serves as Senior Associate Dean. Before that, he held a similar position (the first such position in the six Southern Baptist seminaries) at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Kansas City, Missouri, for ten years. He is the founder and president of The Center for Biblical Spirituality. (all of that was taken from the website mentioned below)You can learn more about Donald Whitney and his resources at: http://biblicalspirituality.org/
Spiritual Disciplines, Chapter 4, entitled "Prayer...For the Purpose of Godliness"
Bold emphasis is my own.
The chapter begins with the following quote:
"We Protestants are an undisciplined people. Therein lies the reason for much of the dearth of spiritual insights and serious lack of moral power. --Albert Edward Day, quoted in Ronald Klug, How to Keep a Spiritual Journal" (p. 65)
Whitney begins by using an illustration on how people try very hard to hear messages from space, he then writes, "What great lengths people will go to searching for a faint message from space when God has spoken so clearly through His Son and His Word!" (p. 65) He continues to write about how God has not only spoken to us through His written Word, but that "He will hear every prayer of His children, even when our prayers are weaker than a snowflake" (p. 66)
Whitney quotes Carl Lundquist on prayer, and Whitney then writes: "If Lundquist is right, as I believe he is, then one of the main reasons for a lack of Godliness is prayerlessness." (p. 66)
Whitney finishes the chapter by explaining each of these three points. 1. Prayer is Expected, 2. Prayer is Learned, and 3. Prayer is Answered. He gives several Scriptures to back up these points and quotes several people, primarily Puritans, on the subject of prayer.
Here are some highlights for you.
Whitney writes about how lack of prayer is often a lack of discipline, but also he says,
"Often we do not pray because we doubt that anything will actually happen if we pray. Of course, we don't admit this publicly. But if we felt certain of visible results within sixty seconds of every prayer there would be holes in the knees of every pair of Christian-owned pants in the world! Obviously the Bible never promises this, even though God does promise to answer prayer. Prayer involves communication in the spiritual realm. Many prayers are answered in ways that cannot be seen in the material realm. Many prayers are answered in ways different from what we asked. For a variety of reasons, after we open our eyes we do not always see tangible evidence of our prayers. When we are not vigilant, this tempts us to doubt the power of God through prayer." (p. 69)
He also makes the point of that when we sense a lack of nearness to God, this also discourages us from praying. (side note, there's a great song, called "When God is Near" :-) On a CD called "Soldiers of Christ, available through Majesty Music)
He also says: "When there is little awareness of real need there is little real prayer. Some circumstances drive us to our knees. But there are periods when life seems quite manageable. Although Jesus said, "Apart from me you can do nothing" (John 15:5), this truth hits home more forcefully at some times than at others. In pride and self-sufficiency we may live for days as though prayer were needed only when something comes along that's too big for us to handle on our own. Until we see the danger and foolishness of this attitude, God's expectation for us to pray may seem irrelevant." (p. 69-70)
Under his heading, "Prayer is Learned" Whitney gives several ways of how prayer is learned.
First prayer is learned, by praying! He gives the illustration of learning a foreign language, and the best way to learn another language is to actually speak it.
Another way to learn how to pray is by meditating on Scriptures. Whitney writes:
"This is one of the most compelling concepts on prayer I've ever learned. Meditation is the missing link between Bible intake and prayer. The two are often disjointed when they should be united. We read the Bible, close it, and then try to shift gears into prayer. But many times it seems as if the gears between the two won't mesh. In fact, after some forward progress in our time in the Word, shifting to prayer sometimes is like suddenly moving back into neutral or even reverse. Instead there should be a smooth , almost unnoticeable transition between Scripture input and prayer output so that we move even closer to God in those moments. This happens when there is the link of meditation in between." (p. 71)
Whitney then includes several great quotes on meditation and prayer. He uses Richard Baxter, John Owen, William Bates, William Bridge, Peter Toon, and he includes a lengthy article on George Muller. I'm including just one part of what Muller wrote:
"Now what is food for the inner man? Not prayer, but the Word of God; and here again, not the simple reading of the Word of God, so that it only passes through our minds, just as water passes through a pipe, but considering what we read, pondering over it and applying it to our hearts." (p. 76)
Whitney then gives a couple of other suggestions on how to learn how to pray. One is praying with others, he uses the disciples and Jesus as an example. Another way is reading about prayer. He points out that reading about prayer can't be the only thing you do. "But reading about prayer in addition to praying can be a valuable way to learn." (p. 77)
Finally in his last point on "Prayer is Answered" I will use his quote from Spurgeon to summarize this section.
"I cannot imagine any one of you tantalizing your child by exciting in him a desire that you did not intend to gratify. It were a very ungenerous thing to offer alms to the poor, and then when they hold out their hand for it, to mock their poverty with a denial. It were a cruel addition to the miseries of the sick if they were taken to the hospital and there left to die untended and uncared for. Where Gods leads you to pray, He means you to receive." (p. 79)
Whitney then closes is chapter by asking his readers some questions:
"Since prayer is expected, will you pray?" (p. 80)
"Since prayer is learned, will you learn to pray?" (p. 80)
"Since prayer is answered, will you persistently pray?" (p. 81)
Whitney again quotes Muller:
"The great fault of the children of God is, they do not continue in prayer; they do not go on praying; they do not persevere. If they desire anything for God's glory, they should pray until they get it. Oh, how good, and kind, and gracious, and condescending is the One with Whom we have to do! He has given me, unworthy as I am, immeasurably above all I had asked or thought!" (p. 81)
Whitney writes: "Don't let the Enemy tempt you to become silently cynical about God's willingness and ability to answer. Let a love for God cause you to prevail in prayer to Him who loves you, even when His judgements are unsearchable and His ways past tracing out (Romans 11:33)." (p. 81)
Whitney closes the chapter with this challenge: "Would you be like Christ? Then do as He did--discipline yourself to be a person of prayer." (p. 82)
I hope you were challenged by this chapter! Again, there is always a lot a leave out, and I hope the summaries make you want to buy the book!
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