People in Prayer (by John White)

(Amazon UK link)

'People in Prayer' is a 1970s IVP book by the late John White. The focus is ten prayers taken from the Bible, starting with Abraham's bargaining with God in Genesis, and ending with Jesus' prayer in Gethsemane, and his last words.

The author quotes one of the prayers in full at the start of each chapter, and then expounds on them. He looks at the motivation behind the prayer, the kind of person praying, and the relevance to modern life. The book is well-written and quite thought-provoking, and I read about half a chapter per day or a bit more, over a couple of weeks.

It's a book for Christians who take the Bible seriously, not one to pick up and learn about prayer from scratch. On the other hand, it's not particularly heavy and the principles mentioned are straightforward. Nothing new or dramatic, but there's nothing wrong with reminders about how to pray more effectively.

I don't know that I'd recommend it highly unless this is a topic that interests someone, but it's a good book to have on the shelves.