65. Teach Me to Pray

65. Teach Me to Pray: Praying God's Word from A to Z. Kristen Wetherell. 2025. 112 pages. [Source: Review copy] [4 stars, children's book, prayer book]

First sentence: Anger

O God, I'm so angry!I feel so upset!

You're slow to be angry. Don't let me forget!

You're patient with me, and you're gentle and kind. 

Your mercy surrounds me before and behind.

In light of your tenderness, help me to see

How slowness to anger can also mark me.

Lord, help me to listen, and then help me to speak.

To use self-control doesn't mean that I'm weak.

I thank you that Christ bore your wrath in my place.

My anger's forgiven, for I've received grace.

In Jesus's name I pray, Amen.

Teach Me to Pray is a an alphabetical, topical prayer book. Each topical prayer includes a RHYMING prayer, a Scripture verse, a mini-devotion, and suggested application. For example, for the anger topic, it states, "Have you been sinfully angry toward someone lately? Confess your anger to God, ask for his forgiveness and help, and then apologize to the person you hurt."

I believe there are fifty-two topics in all. Each topic is concise. 

Here's another example of the prayer style. 

Temptation

Dear Father in heaven, temptation is hard.

Please help me to flee it and be on my guard!

My heart is deceitful. My enemy's strong.

But you are my strength, my salvation, my song.

Please always provide an escape I can take

When temptation invites like that slippery snake.

Please help me to see the destruction sin makes,

That sin never gives--only kills, wrecks, and takes.

O Lord, you were tempted and tried, just like me;

And now you're my hope to stand firm and to flee.

In Jesus's name I pray, Amen.

I do truly like the idea of the book. I like the idea of topical prayer books OR topical devotional books. I'm not sure it had to be alphabetical. But I don't have a problem with it being alphabetical either. 

IF the goal is to teach children and middle schoolers HOW to pray on their own, this might not be the absolute best fit. I'm not sure that is the goal. I personally found the choice to have all the prayers in this prayer book RHYME to be a little odd. I don't know that rhyming in prayers is something we should strive for or seek out. If the mind is focused on rhyming, then the mind isn't exactly focused on God, on talking with God. 

© Becky Laney of Operation Actually Read Bible

59. Daily Liturgy Devotional

Daily Liturgy Devotional: 40 Days of Worship and Prayer. Douglas Sean O'Donnell. 2024. 272 pages. [Source: Library] [4 stars, devotional, prayer, christian nonfiction]

First sentence: One day, after Jesus finished praying, a disciple asked him, "Lord, teach us to pray" (Luke 11:1). Jesus responded with the Lord's Prayer (or the Disciples' Prayer!), a short and simple prayer that offers the perfect substance of and model for Christian prayer. The Daily Liturgy Devotional--with its prayers and patterns, Scriptures and songs--is designed to offer further help. If you struggle to pray, read God's word, or meditate upon what you have read, then this devotional will guide you; if you already practice good devotional habits, then this can serve as an additional resource to support you.

The basics: This devotional offers eight weeks of devotions (five devotions per week). Each week centers around one theme in Scripture: The Gospel, Faith, Love, Hope, Wisdom, Holiness, Perseverance, and Witness. Each of the eight weeks offer a memory verse. 

Each day blends historic prayers, scripture readings, commentary, and song. I would say the concise commentary and the memory verse segment--in addition to the themes--are what set it apart from other recent liturgical devotional books. (Be Thou My Vision, Psalms in 30 Days, Life of Jesus in 30 days, etc.) 

It also features suggestions on how to pray in italics. I haven't decided if this is micro-manage-y OR if it is a good thing. The italics almost read like stage directions in a play. Since my quotes appear in italics already, I'll bold what the book has in italics.

Pray the Agnus Dei. Then take time to ask God through Jesus to forgive specific sins. Also offer prayers of lament. Pray that God would deal with sufferings and injustices both now and when Christ returns. Cry out, "O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?" (Rev. 6:10), or "Out of the depths I cry to you, O LORD! O Lord, hear my voice! Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my pleas for mercy!" (Psalms 130:1-2)

Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world,

Have mercy on us.

Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world,

Have mercy on us.

Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world,

Grant us peace. Amen.

It is hard to review devotional books. I was not reading the book one devotion at a time for eight weeks. (For one thing it was a library book!) I read one week at a time--or sometimes two weeks--each day over the course of a week. As I was wearing my "book reviewer hat" (if you will) I wasn't following the stage directions either. 

© Becky Laney of Operation Actually Read Bible

56. Cloud of Witnesses

56. Cloud of Witnesses: A Treasury of Prayers and Petitions Through the Ages. Jonathan W. Arnold (editor) Zechariah Carter (editor). 2024. 345 pages. [Source: Library] [Prayer, devotional, christian nonfiction, history] [5 stars]

First sentence: He said to them, "When you pray, say: 'Father, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread, and forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation.'"

Cloud of Witnesses is a collection of [historic] prayers. This book of prayer features exactly one hundred prayers covering a wide range of subjects, themes, topics. The book is organized relatively chronological. The first section of the prayer book covers the early church (100-500), the medieval church (600-1500), the reformation church (1500-1700), and finally the modern church (1700-1900). The second section isn't so much a 'prayer book' as a history lesson. It features mini-introductions of all the writers included in the one hundred prayers. Again these mini-biographies are arranged chronologically. They do provide greater context for appreciating the one hundred prayers. The third section is technically the appendix, this section might be the least practical, however it isn't without its charms. This third section features the one hundred prayers in their original languages--or the source material for which these English translations are made. 

If you are looking for a prayer covering a specific topic or subject, there is an index for that.

The prayers vary in length and style. Some are very short, concise, practical. Others are longer--much longer. A few seem a little too wordy to be practical. But overall, I enjoyed reading this devotional prayer book. 

Prayer number 14 (Old Gallican Rite)

Grant holiness to new believers, O Father. Give knowledge to the ignorant. Give aide to those who are running their course. Give sorrow to those who have erred without knowledge. Give passion to those who are lukewarm. To those who are mature, give a good ending. We ask all of this for the sake of Christ Jesus, our Lord, Amen. 

Prayer number 70 (Thomas Cranmer)

Blessed Lord, who has caused all Holy Scriptures to be written for our learning, allow us to hear them, read them, mark them, learn them, and inwardly digest them in such a way that, by the patience and comfort of your holy word, we may embrace and ever hold on to the blessed hope of everlasting life that you have given to us in our Savior, Jesus Christ. 

I am so glad that I read this one! Don't be intimidated. The one hundred prayers make up a small part of this one. They can be read and reread. 

© Becky Laney of Operation Actually Read Bible

6. Piercing Heaven

Piercing Heaven: Prayers of the Puritans. Robert Elmer. 2019. 321 pages. [Source: Library]

First sentence: What does it take to pray like a Puritan? And why would we want to? 

Robert Elmer has collected 'prayers' from the works of over thirty Puritans for his prayer book, Piercing Heaven. These prayers seem to be arranged mostly topically. There are titled chapter headings: "Teach Me to Pray," "Help Me Ask for Help!," "Help Me Through My Doubts," "Help Me Through My Time of Sadness and Suffering," "Help Me Endure Temptation," "Help Me Rest in God's Love," "I Believe--Help My Unbelief!," "Prepare My Heart for the Lord's Day and the Lord's Table," "Take My Life and Let It Be Consecrated," "Help Me Give the Gospel to Others," "Forgive My Sins," "Help Me Praise and Thank the Lord," "Help Me Begin the Day," "Help Me Live the Day," "Help Me Close the Day," "Your Kingdom Come." Prayers vary from a few sentences--one paragraph--to a full page(s)--many, many paragraphs. Each prayer is attributed to a specific Puritan. (Brief biographies are included for all authors. And there's an index for each author.)

Perhaps you are seeking out Piercing Heaven because you love, love, love, love Valley of Vision. Confession, that is why I checked this one out from the library. I really crazy love and adore that poetry collection. So how do the two compare???

The [only] weakness of Valley of Vision is that it lacks all attribution of authors. Readers almost have to take it on faith that the author/editor Arthur Bennett is using the actual words of actual Puritans. Readers don't know how many Puritans are represented within Valley of Vision. Readers don't know how crafted/manipulated the original texts were to get them into poetic form. Readers certainly don't know which Puritan wrote which poem. Everything about Valley of Vision is a complete mystery. 

As I mentioned above, every author is attributed in Piercing Heaven. There are even author biographies and an author index. 

But is that enough to make it better than Valley of Vision????? 

I found Piercing Heaven to be a bit of a busy layout, a bit cluttered. Perhaps I am just too set in my ways. But the white space of Valley of Vision is super-helpful. It blocks out distractions. It aids meditation and prayer. 

While Piercing Heaven may be a true(r) representation of the Puritans' actual words/works, the Valley of Vision is a thing of BEAUTY in terms of language and literary style. 

Now, to be completely fair: I did not read Piercing Heaven the way it was intended. The fact that it was a library book with a definite due date didn't help matters. But also I was more curious than prayerful. I wanted to read it cover-to-cover in a week. I didn't have time (or opportunity) to use it as a topical prayer book...or even a legitimate prayer book. For those that do pray individual prayers--over weeks, months, years--that use this book as a devotional/spiritual aid, I'm sure it would prove more beneficial. 

I was reading with one thing in mind: do I love it enough to buy myself a copy of this to have on hand????? And the answer was, I can probably make do with the Valley of Vision for my Puritan needs. 

© Becky Laney of Operation Actually Read Bible