This is one of my favourite Philip Yancey books. I would rate it right up the with the more acclaimed ‘What’s So Amazing About Grace?’ and ‘The Jesus I Never Knew.’ In 'Prayer: Does It Make Any Difference,' Yancey tackles a subject that is at the very heartbeat of the Christian faith. In theory, prayer is vital to every God-follower - an opportunity to connect in an intimate way with God - but in practice many find prayer to be confusing, difficult and more than a little frustrating. Here Yancey tackles both the theory and practice of prayer in a way that only he can. He views the topic through an investigative journalist’s eyes, as he probes and challenges it, but also wrestles with the topic as a believer who himself has faced many dry, difficult moments. Those periods of life where our prayers seemingly disappear into thin air.
Yancey explores such questions as: •Is God listening? •Why should God care about me? •If God knows everything, what’s the point of prayer? •Why do answers to prayer seem so inconsistent and capricious? •Why does God seem sometimes close and sometimes far away? •How can I make prayer more satisfying?
All of these are very real human questions, and Yancey is courageous enough to voice them when many of us have been too afraid to speak them out loud. The result is a book that anyone and everyone who is keen to learn more about the theory AND the practice of prayer should definitely read. This book is quite an emotional read at times because Yancey so skilfully draws in personal stories and testimonies regarding the highs and lows of ordinary people’s prayer lives, and the disappointments that seem to occur for some in this regard (including his own). Yancey writes from his heart, both thoughtfully and candidly, and his gift with words means that he can shift his readers' perspective just enough to gain new insights. At the very least, Yancey manages to get his readers to think more carefully and comprehensively around deep and difficult subjects like this.
While Yancey does not even begin to pretend to have answers for all our questions regarding prayer, he does continually point back to the single most importance aspect of prayer which is our relationship with God. “I have found that the most important purpose of prayer may be to let ourselves be loved by God,” says Yancey. I could not miss the strong chord of yearning contained within Yancey’s more personal reflections, and ultimately this in itself is a reminder that prayer is a doorway which contains some of our deepest hopes and dreams.
If you have ever struggled with prayer or just want to learn more about the subject, then you will benefit greatly from reading this book.