Inspirational Book Review: The Essential Guide to Prayer by Dutch Sheets

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The Essential Guide to Prayer by Dutch SheetsI read as often as fat cats think about eating. During the winter, I really give them a run for their money. My favorite books to read, understandably, cover my favorite subjects: God, the Golden Age of Hollywood, cooking, cats, birds, angels, American history, Ancient Egypt, writing, baseball, the Golden Age of Television, preventing Alzheimer’s, nutrition, the Civil War era, and Bigfoot.

What can  I say, I’m all over the place.

Inspirational books have a special place in my heart, for obvious reasons. I mean, can we ever get enough inspiration. I’ll go ahead and answer that… heck no.

The most recent Inspirational book I read was by a favorite author, Dutch Sheets. Is that a great name or what? He was born to be either a movie star, author, politician, or baseball player. I’m not sure about his other skill sets, but I’m going out on a limb and saying he chose wisely.  While I’ve read several of this author’s books, I’d count him among my favorite authors if this particular book, The Essential Guide to Prayer , was the only one I’d read.

It’s that special.

“Your prayers and mine can make a difference. We must become convinced of this. Our prayers can be irresistible to God and indefensible to Satan. That’s pretty strong language, isn’t it? Do I believe it? Yes, and so can you.” – Page 39

If you were to observe me as I read a book (not exactly must-see entertainment, mind you), you’d be able to tell how special a particular book is by my behavior. When a book is extra special, I take notes that’d impress any college professor. When the book is extra extra special, I will also frequently close the book and just sit and think about what I’ve just read.

With this particular book, I discovered a third level of special… the extra extra extra special level. On this level, I photograph passages to send to my daughters along with heart and praying hand emojis.  All the while knowing I’ll be passing the book along to them to read as well. At least they get the emojis this way and, trust me, my emoji game is strong.

From the Back Cover:

Life-Changing Teaching On the Simplicity of Having A Powerful Prayer Life

A prayer life with God isn’t complex, but sometimes not knowing how to start can be enough to make a person turn away altogether. In The Essential Guide to Prayer you’ll discover that the starting point is to find your motivation for prayer in the power of love by forming a solid relationship with God as Father and Friend. As Dutch Sheets lays the foundation for your motivation to pray, he challenges you to reflect with “Did you understand?” questions at the end of each chapter. Dig deeper into the core of your prayer life by learning to pray effectively both alone and in groups, and by persisting in prayer until you see God’s answers.

The Essential Guide to Prayer is a must read for anyone who is interested in improving their prayer life. This beautiful (and very, very funny) book will make you fall in love with prayer again. You’ll be more excited and anxious to pray than you probably have been in years.

Whether, like me, you’ve been praying for nearly as long as you’ve been walking or you’re relatively new to prayer, this beautiful book will do more than just inspire and inform you… it will ignite a fire within you to pray bolder, larger, and further-reaching prayers than you’ve ever dared to pray before.

Although I had been praying faithfully for too many years to count, about three years ago, I read a story on Guideposts.com about a woman who was a “prayer warrior.” The image of her sitting at her kitchen table praying squeezed my heart and I decided, then and there, that I wanted to be a prayer warrior, too. I studied Bible verses about prayer, read great Christian authors, and armed myself with as much information and inspiration as possible.

I wish I had this book years ago – the information would have right there in one beautiful place!

 

If you’re already a prayer warrior or simply want to improve your own prayer life,  I simply cannot recommend this book enough. It is a fast-reading, fascinating, eye-opening, and heart-stirring book and you will cherish every single word.  This book can take your prayer life to the next level and, as you can imagine, that can make a world of difference – not just in your own life but in the lives of countless others.

You’ll probably even take pictures of passages and text them to everyone you know.  Just don’t forget the emojis.

About the Author:

Doug Sheets is an internationally recognized author, teacher, and speaker. Based in Colorado, he travels extensively, empowering believers for passionate prayer and societal transformation. He has pastored, taught, and served on the board of directors of numerous organizations.

Find The Essential Guide to Prayer by Dutch Sheets on Amazon. This book is one you are going to love.

I received this beautiful book from Bethany House in exchange for writing a review. The thoughts, opinions, picture, and high praise are my own! ~ Joi (“Joy”)