Prayer

Who Prays These Days? Almost all of us do. The practice of prayer is shared by an overwhelming majority across diverse beliefs and backgrounds. But, with the ongoing decline in the membership of institutional religion, it's apparent that many people don't go to church to pray. Many of us now turn to literature for spiritual guidance. This journal will help you to reconnect with your inner need for prayer. Prayers are extremely personal, an intimate conversation coming from a deep human desire to communicate with God. But too many of us are locked into a one- dimensional model of prayer. How do you pray with your whole heart if you are still relying on the prayers of early childhood that begin "Now I lay me down to sleep," or the official, formally-structured prayers of institutional religion? Tom Harpur invites readers to view prayer as an intimate conversation with a personal God, and to use the same language as they would use with a lover or a best friend. Harpur brings the broad theological perspective of prayer to the personal level by exploring the deep yearning that calls one to prayer. He includes suggestions which will help both the fully initiated and the bewildered novice experience more practically and deeply the spiritual benefits of prayer. He also includes, for personal adaptation, a chapter of prayers written for his own use. This is a truly down-to-earth, simple yet honest -- from the heart and from the gut -- book on prayer that will help you discover what prayer means to you.