When You Pray

How many Christians can confidently say that they have “mastered” the art of prayer?
Probably no one.

What is blessedly refreshing about Professor Hanko’s work, When You Pray, is his admission that none of us is good at prayer-including himself-yet over the years of one’s life, the author assures us, a person can make progress in praying.

Professor Hanko shares with his readers homely yet highly meaningful lessons he learned from growing up in a covenant family and covenantal church community. He also tells the specific benefits of praying to the sovereign God of the universe, who knows our sins and weaknesses but love us still. Valuable is the professor’s clear explanation of how God can be likened to the father of an earthly family, loving and caring for his own dear children.

An eye-opening and very helpful part of his book is the author’s pinpointing of misconceptions people have about God and prayer that bar them from praying in a God-honoring way.

Prayer that does not clash with Scripture is of prime importance for the author, whose sensitivity to scriptural truths has been honed in more than thirty years of study and teaching as professor of New Testament and church history in the Theological School of the Protestant Reformed Churches in America. Professor Hanko is a down-to-earth writer, one who very much feels with his readers the struggle that it sometimes is to take the time to engage in heartfelt, sincere prayer. His apt illustrations from everyday life make the underlying theology of prayer vividly understandable.

If you have found your devotional life to be frequently barren, reading what the author has learned the hard way-over fifty years in the ministry-will not discourage you further, but will give you a renewed desire to fellowship with your Father in prayer.