Book Review: Prayer Coach by James L. Nicodem

I made a goal this year to be a Year of Fervent Prayer. I planned a prayer schedule and books to read.

My schedule needs some tweaking and improving, and I am sadly lagging in my reading. The main reason is that work has been crazy lately but no excuse, and that's obvious (cause I've been trying instead to beat stress with the television.)

I'm still stuck halfway through Carson's A Call to Spiritual Reformation. It's not an easy read and having it as a print copy is not making it easier either.

However, I have just finished reading this delightful book by someone whom my spell check reminded me whose last name is a derivative of the Jewish teacher Jesus spoke at length to. Interesting!


Prayer Coach: for all who want to get off the bench and onto the praying field
by James L. Nicodem

This is a good book. If you need help and tools and a good push for you to get serious into regular praying, read this book.

Nicodem is a good writer and he managed to present the technicalities and truth about prayer without coming off as dry and complex nor with it coming off as a picnic either. He was able to teach all the necessary requirements of praying according to Scripture with a tinge of humour all at the right time. (I love his off-hand remarks he places in parentheses.)

What is included in the book is what he termed as prayer launchers, i.e. tools that help launch us into praying:

1. Praying the attributes of God (the book comes complete with an appendix full of His attributes)

2. Committing our body parts to God in prayer according to Romans 6:13, "Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness," in confessing what we have done with it and praying what we will do with it.

3. Praying the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23).

4. And this is my favourite: praying the Believer's Armour (Ephesians 6:19-20) piece by piece.

5. Keeping a prayer list and mark them off as you go and doing it all over again when you've completed the round.

6. Praying for the persecuted with a link to The Voice of Martyrs in www.persecution.com.

7. Thank you's, a list of things we need to thank God for.

8. Spirit promptings, what the Spirit prompts us to pray particularly when it's out of our scheduled time.

This is only at the beginning of the book. There are more to it as you read along, and I hope I have convinced you to pick up a copy to read and that it will help you will make your year and years fervent in praying as well.

pearlie