Essence of Prayer PDF Download

Author: Ruth Burrows
Publisher: Paulist Press
ISBN: 9781587680397
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 226

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Book Description
Reflections on different aspects of prayer.

Author: Ronald Rolheiser
Publisher: Franciscan Media
ISBN: 1616366575
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 48

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Book Description
Prayer: Our Deepest Longing looks at the issues facing people of faith in today’s culture, and offers a way of more effectively dealing with them by seeking out opportunities for prayer. With simple, down-to-earth language, Rolheiser illustrates the importance of prayer and offers techniques on how to pray, using examples from daily life, Scripture, and contemporary writers. He delves into the places that we fear to go with our issues about prayer, encouraging us with gentle kindness and words of hope and inspiration. The book is divided into five sections. 1. Why Pray? Illustrates the purposes and benefits of prayer for ourselves, as well as for the broader Catholic community and even the world. 2. Why Is It so Hard? Notes how our contemporary culture conspires against taking time out for solitude and prayer, and how our own ego—with its fears, restlessness, and narcissism—can work against developing a deeper relationship with God through prayer. 3. What Is Prayer? Outlines the two basic types of prayer, that is, affective (personal) and priestly (for the world). This section also notes the many ways or methods for each type of prayer, such as meditation, contemplation, the divine office, the Mass, and Scripture. 4. Sticking with It When It Gets Hard. This section covers the development of mature prayer, discussing ways to pray in times of boredom, disillusionment, crisis, helplessness, or after a loved one’s death. 5. Mysticism. Here we learn about this increasingly popular form of intimate relationship with God. There will be a leader’s guide for this book, making it an ideal resource for use with prayer groups, small faith communities, and retreats. This is a book for all manner of believer, whether your faith is solidly rooted in Catholicism, wavering between the Christianity of childhood and non-participatory faith as an adult, or just not sure what you believe—or whether you believe at all. It addresses topics that typify our culture, such as narcissism, pragmatism, efficiency, and self-gratification, and that work against a healthy spiritual life. Finally, the book takes us to a place of contact and comfort, in relationship not only with God but with our true selves as well.

Author: Justin McRoberts
Publisher: WaterBrook
ISBN: 0525653058
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 130

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Book Description
A simple yet profound guide to facilitate the instinctively human desire to pray. We pray because we are human, not because we are religious. Something in our nature points beyond itself; something in us searches for and desires personal connection with God. Although communicating with our Creator through prayer is innate, the effective practice of it often feels just beyond our reach. This unique book guides you to pray in deeper and more authentic ways. The short prayers and thought-provoking imagery, interspersed with contemplative reflections and suggested practices, will stir, inform, and encourage you. The simplicity of the prayers and the aesthetic appeal of the images will inspire people in every facet of life, including those with no real religious background at all.

Author: Daniel Henderson
Publisher: Bethany House
ISBN: 1441214666
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 256

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Book Description
Praying Christians are hungry to learn how to connect with God in a way that takes them beyond the typical grocery-list approach. Transforming Prayer explores the profound difference between seeking God's hand (what he does for people) and seeking God's face (who he really is). With captivating stories of the transformative power of personal worship and its connection with prayer, this book equips readers with practical tools for a more effective personal and corporate prayer life.

Author: E.M. Bounds
Publisher: Gideon House Books
ISBN: 1943133379
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 100

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Book Description
Edward M. Bounds takes us on a journey deep into the heart of active, powerful, life-giving prayer. He invites us to pray in such a way that involves and touches our entire being: mind, soul and body. We have all heard stories of great men and women whom God used to change the world as they wrestled with Him on their knees. This book uncovers the secrets to their devotion and gives practical ideas and advice for entering into a more intimate and powerful life with God through prayer.

Author: Imam Al-Ghazali
Publisher: Islam Digital
ISBN: 1780410115
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 82

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Book Description
This book describes the importance of prayer and its requirements. It describes what is essential for the disciple in terms of the external acts and its inner secrets of prayer, and revealing its refined hidden meanings in terms of humility, sincerity and intention. Presented to the English speaking public is a translation of two chapters of Ghazal's great work, Ihya .ulum al-din. The chapter is entitled kitabasrar al-salah (the book of the secrets of prayer and its requirements). This translation was originally carried out by E E Caverley which I have edited in places to give the reader a clearer understanding of the text and correcting the Quranic references. I have also included in the book the prophetic narrations in the original Arabic to give the reader of Arabic a fuller flavour of the intended meaning. The two chapters selected are entitled "fefadail al-salahwa al-sajudwa-aljama.hwa al-azaanwaibarihaï" (virtue of the prayer, prostration, congregation, call to prayer and its precepts). And the third chapter from the book entitled fee shuruut al-batinah min a.amaal al-qalb. (Inward stipulations for the acts of the heart) The first chapter generally focuses on the pre-eminent status of prayer and its superiority over all other forms of worship in Islam. Instilling in the one who is about to initiate the prayer the enormity and seriousness of the action. The second chapter in the book focuses on the mind-set of the one who is engaged in prayer, humility being a fundamental pillar in this regard. Imam Ghazali also offers practical remedies to attain this status of humility and describes the base nature of heedlessness before one's Creator. I hope this book acts as a means of proximity since nothing can facilitate this noble goal to reach one's Lord but the Prayer. But prostate in adoration, and bring thyself the closer (to Allah) Surah Alaq.19

Author: Timothy Keller
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 0698161408
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 334

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Book Description
Renowned pastor and New York Times bestselling author of The Prodigal Prophet Timothy Keller explores the power of prayer. Christians are taught in their churches and schools that prayer is the most powerful way to experience God. But few receive instruction or guidance in how to make prayer genuinely meaningful. In Prayer, renowned pastor Timothy Keller delves into the many facets of this everyday act. With his trademark insights and energy, Keller offers biblical guidance as well as specific prayers for certain situations, such as dealing with grief, loss, love, and forgiveness. He discusses ways to make prayers more personal and powerful, and how to establish a practice of prayer that works for each reader. Dr. Keller’s previous books have sold more than one million copies. His Redeemer Presbyterian Church is not only a major presence in his home base of New York, it has also helped to launch more than two hundred fifty other churches in forty-eight cities around the world. His teachings have already helped millions, the majority of whom pray regularly. And with Prayer, he’ll show them how to find a deeper connection with God.

Author: Darrell Johnson
Publisher: Regent College Publishing
ISBN: 1573832782
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 122

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Book Description
Nowhere is Jesus' brilliance more manifest than in the prayer he taught his disciples to pray, the prayer that has come to be known as the "Lord's Prayer." A mere fifty-seven words in the original Greek, the Lord's Prayer gathers up all of life and brings it before God. In eight stirring meditations, Darrell Johnson shows how the Lord's Prayer sums up the essence of Christian faith and, when prayed in faith, draws us into draws us into the Triune God's work of transforming the world. Darrell W. Johnson is Associate Professor of Pastoral Theology at Regent College in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. A popular conference and retreat speaker, he has also served as the preaching pastor for a number of congregations in North America and the Philippines and Adjunct Professor of Preaching for the Doctor of Ministry program at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California. His other books include Experiencing the Trinity and Discipleship on the Edge: An Expository Journey through the Book of Revelation.

Author: William Edward McLaren
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Prayer
Languages : en
Pages : 64

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Author: E. Stanley Jones
Publisher: Ravenio Books
ISBN:
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 23

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Book Description
When the disciples asked Jesus, “Lord, teach us to pray,” they uttered one of the deepest and most universal cries of the human heart. For men of all ages have instinctively felt that prayer is the distilled essence of religion. If we know how to pray, we know how to be religious; if not, then religion is a closed book. Where there is no effective prayer life, the heart of religion has ceased to beat and religion becomes a dead body of forms and customs and dogmas. And yet how few Christians have an effective prayer life! (And this includes many ministers.) If I were to put my finger on the greatest lack in American Christianity, I would unhesitatingly point to the need for an effective prayer life among laity and ministers. Kagawa once said to second-generation Japanese Christians on the West Coast: “Your greatest lack is that you do not know how to pray.” He saw that their Christianity was anemic and ineffective, because they had not learned the discipline of prayer. If I had one gift, and only one gift, to make to the Christian Church, I would offer the gift of prayer. For everything follows from prayer. Prayer tones up the total life. I find by actual experience I am better or worse as I pray more or less. If my prayer life sags, my whole life sags with it; if my prayer life goes up, my life as a whole goes up with it. To fail here is to fail all down the line; to succeed here is to succeed everywhere. In the prayer time the battle of the spiritual life is lost or won. Prayer is not an optional subject in the curriculum of living. It is a required subject; it is the required subject. And there is no graduation into adequate human living without prayer. Perhaps we are all more or less convinced of this viewpoint, but the “how” of prayer is the crux of the difficulty. To try to answer that word “how” is the burden of these articles. I propose to begin at the lowest rung of the ladder so that no one will feel I begin beyond him.