Home Pastors Articles for Pastors 3 Books That Will Improve Your Prayer Life Immediately

3 Books That Will Improve Your Prayer Life Immediately

3 Books That Will Improve Your Prayer Life Immediately
Every believer knows prayer can move mountains, draw us closer to Christ, help us live the Christian life more effectively, connect us to answers from Heaven, and so much more. Yet, most of us also readily admit we don’t pray enough and often struggle to pray in faith. Perhaps you can identify with the Christian writer Marshall Segal who recently wrote, “Prayer might be, at the same time, the most pivotal and most puzzling activity in the Christian life. It is the lifeline and life-mystery for believers. We know we need to pray, but we know we don’t pray enough. And we’re not always sure we’re even doing it right when we do pray.”
Because prayer is both powerful and perplexing, I suggest you read one or all of these books to jolt your prayer life back into a healthy rhythm. This isn’t an exhaustive list because if it was I would have to include books by Leonard Ravenhill, David Brainerd, E.M. Bounds, John Franklin, Jack Taylor, Samuel Chadwick, Anne Graham Lotz, Ronnie Floyd, Daniel Henderson, Bill Elliff, Steve Gaines, Bill Bright, Al Mohler and many others. The three books I’ve chosen for this list are easy to read, perfect for getting your prayer life started, or for starting over. So, here’s a brief idea what each book is about and why you should read it.

1) THE HOUR THAT CHANGES THE WORLD by Dick Eastman

For many years, when the low cost paperback edition was available, I led the churches I’ve served to give away hundreds—maybe thousands—of copies of this book. I have recommended it to everyone I know. I once wrote the author and jokingly told him I had singlehandedly made his book a best seller! He wrote me back an encouraging note.
This book divides an hour into 12 segments of five minutes each. It shows the reader how to incorporate the different aspects of prayer, like praise, confession, intercession and eight other categories (praise is listed twice), into our daily communion with God. The book is full of inspirational quotes and uses enthusiastic, simple language to motivate us to pray more regularly and confidently. It is, for all of its rich content, a short book too, so it won’t take you long to read it.

2) WRESTLING WITH GOD by Greg Laurie

There are three things I like about this book. For one thing it is written in a positive, sometimes humorous, common sense way, using everyday language. You don’t need a big theological vocabulary to read this book. Secondly, the book uses numerous examples and stories, excellent quotes and Greg Laurie’s own life experiences to help us overcome one of our biggest challenges in prayer—we get discouraged and tend to give up too quickly. Finally, the book is short. It’s a quick read and you can start benefiting from it right away.
3) FRESH WIND FRESH FIRE by Jim Cymbala 

This book is one of the most influential books I’ve ever read. The story of how God transformed a struggling congregation of about 25 people into one of the leading churches of our time is pure gold! In one sense it’s more than a book about “how to pray.” In fact, it’s not that at all. Yet, in order to grasp in a contemporary context what is possible when people pray, this is “must reading.” The first chapter hooked me and I couldn’t put it down. The entire book is loaded with personal stories of contemporary people who received incredible answers to prayer and transformed lives as a result of prayer. I urge everyone to read this book and I beg every member of my church to read it. If you’re a pastor you have to read this book!

There you have it—a summer reading list on prayer that can revolutionize your prayer life!
This article originally appeared here.