book review: "handle with prayer" by charles stanley

"God desires to make known the unknown to His children. He desires to unveil the hidden. Yet many times we are satisfied not knowing. Either we aren't willing to take the time to wait, or we aren't sure God even wants us to know." God reveals these things to us through prayer. It's when we lay aside our plans and our agendas that God is able to speak to us. Charles Stanley talks about the different aspects of prayer as well as the different kinds of prayer itself. He discusses why we don't always receive an answer to our prayers (or maybe it's that we don't receive the answer we want). He talks about the benefits of fasting coupled with prayer as well as the importance of having people who will both pray for you and that you can in turn lift up in your life.

I've not ever read anything by Stanley but I've grown up hearing his name and know he's written quite a few books. I enjoyed this book! Prayer is a deep topic so it's something I want to keep on hand to refer to when I need to remember the points he made. There's also a study guide included at the back of the book. To me, I feel like the theme of the book is: in order to pray effectively, you have to take the focus off of you and not only be willing to pray sincerely but also listen to what God is saying back. It's not a time of us having our chance to talk and then we throw in a hurried "amen" before God can respond. We have to exchange our timetable for His. "Regardless of what kinds of storms come our way, regardless of our circumstances, we are to keep looking at the Word. He wants our prayers to be God-centered, Christ-centered, and Spirit-centered - not thing-centered, trial-centered, and circumstance-centered."

I received a copy of this book from The B & B Media Group and was not required to write a positive review.