A praying life : connecting with God in a distracting world / Paul E. Miller. [print]

"Previous edition published in 2009"--Title page verso.

"What good does it do?" -- Where we are headed -- Part one : Learning to pray like a child -- Become like a little child -- Learn to talk with your Father -- Spending time with your Father -- Learning to be helpless -- Crying "Abba"- continuously -- Bending your heart to your Father -- Part two : Learning to trust again -- Understanding cynicism -- Following Jesus out of cynicism -- Developing an eye for Jesus -- Part three : Learning to ask your Father -- Why asking is so hard -- Why we can ask -- How personal is God? -- What do we do with Jesus' extravagant promises about prayer? -- What we don't ask for : "our daily bread" -- What we don't ask for : "Your kingdom come" -- Surrender completely : "Your will be done" -- Part four : Living in your Father's story -- Watching a story unfold -- A Father's love -- Unanswered prayer : understanding the patterns of story -- Hebrew laments : relearning desert praying -- Understanding how laments work -- How God places Himself in the story -- Praying without a story -- Hope : the end of the story -- Living in Gospel stories -- Part five : Praying in real life -- Using prayer tools -- Keeping track of the story : using prayer cards -- Prayer work -- Listening to God -- Prayer journaling : becoming aware of the interior journey -- Real-life praying -- Unfinished stories.

Prayer is simply you -- a child of a good Father -- making conversation with him a rhythm of your life. For most of us, prayer is so hard that unless circumstances demand it, we simply do not pray. Prayerlessness is rooted in unbelief. Because of prayerlessness, our lives are often marked by fear, anxiety, joylessness, and spiritual lethargy. If prayerlessness marks your life more often than not, A Praying Life is for you. Now with added chapters on prayers of lament and further guidance for using prayer cards, Paul Miller introduces us to prayer that regularly and consistently hopes, trusts, and expects God to act. - Back cover.

Prayer is so hard that unless circumstances demand it an illness, or saying grace at a meal most of us simply do not pray. We prize accomplishments and productivity over time in prayer. Even Christians experience this prayerlessness a kind of practical unbelief that leaves us marked by fear, anxiety, joylessness, and spiritual lethargy. Prayer is all about relationship. Based on the popular seminar by the same name, A Praying Life has discipled thousands of Christians to a vibrant prayer life full of joy and power. When Jesus describes the intimacy He seeks with us, He talks about joining us for dinner. A Praying Life feels like having dinner with good friends. It is the way we experience and connect to God. In A Praying Life, author Paul Miller lays out a pattern for living in relationship with God and includes helpful habits and approaches to prayer that enable us to return to a childlike faith.