Prayer: Confronting the Confusion

Prayer is merely conversation with God. Therefore, it shouldn't require a book to explain how to do it. However, prayer can also be a source of perplexity, doubt, confusion, and even discomfort. It was for me. When I tried to pray, I was plagued with doubts. Did my doubts disqualify me? Did I doubt too much to be able to receive anything from God? It seemed like my mind was continually wandering. Did this mean that I wasn't in touch with God, or worse, that He was rejecting me?Did I have enough faith? What was faith supposed to feel like? Was there a particular faith experience? I knew that without faith, it is impossible to please God. Perhaps I wasn't very pleasing to Him.And the doubts didn't stop there. How was I to pray? Did I first need to quiet my mind? Was I supposed to visualize God? Was I supposed to hear His voice? The Christian mystics convinced me that if my prayers weren't being answered, it meant that I wasn't connecting with God. Should I therefore practice some of their techniques? Should I repeat one "sacred word" over and over again?These confusing doubts and questions and many others tormented me. For years, they continued their debilitating work until I was able to come up with biblical answers that satisfied me. This book is not a book of techniques. Instead, it presents a theology of prayer that answers these tormenting questions, thus enabling Christians to find peace and assurance when they pray. I feel privileged by my Lord to have been given these comforting, biblically coherent answers. It has been a great privilege to pass these truths on to my students. And now, through this book, I trust that more students and many others will be strengthened in their faith and blessed as they pray.