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Dutch Sheets ~ Intercessory Prayer (How God Can Use Your Prayers to Move Heaven & Earth)

Well, it's been quite a good long while since I have posted a book review. Yup - you guessed it...I'm back at it again. A bit more selectively, albeit, but back at it nonetheless.

I have been reading through a book written by Dutch Sheets entitled Intercessory Prayer. It is a book about exactly what you think it's about when you see the title; prayer, and specifically that of intercession. If you don't know what that is off the top of your head, no worries - you are certainly not alone. In a nutshell, intercessory prayer is any praying done on behalf of other people or situations that is intended to generate a specific and tangible change. An excellent example would be the time spend praying for your child in one certain way - concertedly, and until God moves and answers.


This book, published by Bethany House and available for purchase at Amazon and other retailers, is one of the few books I have read on prayer that actually talks about how to pray. Not vaguely dancing around the idea, quoting Bible verses and giving general thoughts on prayer - which is fine, but shouldn't a book about prayer be about actually praying? Well, Dutch talks a whole lot about how to pray, what to pray, when to pray, and gives loads of examples of how prayer impacted life on earth in the here and now. It's 316 pages all about prayer. Which is excellent, since prayer is the most important daily business a believer can be about.

I pray quite a lot. So I am all about books that encourage Christians to pray. So many overlook this aspect of a disciple of Christ's life. Our prayers make a difference while we are in the flesh on this planet living out our one short life. There will be no need to pray in the next life, as we'll be with our Lord and will see Him and speak with Him face-to-face. Let's make a difference in this life by spending time in intercessory prayer. You will never regret one moment spent in prayer - but you might well regret all the moments you failed to spend praying. (Go ahead - write that down on your to-do list or on your calendar or text it to yourself...it's actually a pretty important point and I really, really want you to get a grasp on it.) I love that this book is all about prayer. There's a whole lot that can be learned and/or gleaned from Intercessory Prayer.

And yet there are some things in this book that I found myself uncertain about. Was that because they were wrong, Biblically speaking? Not necessarily. Were those things traditions that I am unfamiliar with in my Christian experience?  Possibly. Were any of these ideas or methods right for someone else but very foreign to me? Absolutely. Have I been applying what I have learned to my own prayer life? Yes - yes, I have. So overall, I think this book is a "winner winner chicken dinner" when it comes to an in-depth, applicable study on intercession.

Prayer - just do it. That would make a pretty great slogan for Christians, wouldn't it? So if you're up for some challenging, inspiring, make-you-really-think reading to spur on your prayer life, go ahead and pick up a copy of this book.

On my "Page Turner Scale" of 1 to 5, I gave this book a 4.5

Disclaimer ~ I received this book free of charge for review purposes from Bethany House Publishers. All opinions shared here are solely my own. 

 Day 341 done :)

Jan L. Burt
The Homeschooling Mother's Bible Study
All Things Homeschool
available on Amazon

Comments

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