How not to pray (by Jeff Lucas)

(Amazon UK link)

It’s almost ten years since I read Jeff Lucas’s little book ‘How not to pray’, which is subtitled  ‘A fresh look at prayer’. I’ve liked everything I’ve read by Jeff Lucas, so decided it was time for a re-read.

The introduction is very reassuring to ordinary people like me who find it difficult to get around to much praying, other than when some potential disaster is looming. Jeff Lucas, in his typical wry style, says that he tends to run in the opposite direction when faced with a book on prayer. He knows that most of them are well-written, full of Scriptural references and great advice. But they’re written by people who are very good at praying…

So he’s come up with this gem, which looks at the prayer generally known as the ‘Lord’s prayer’, a sentence or two at the time. And he looks at ideas or beliefs that can make it difficult or impossible to spend time in prayer. Or which make us feel inferior to those ‘prayer warriors’ who get up early and spend many hours interceding. 

The first chapter tells us that one block to prayer is the inherent belief that we can’t. This might happen when we glance around a meeting of believers, perhaps a church service, and see everyone else engaged in spiritual activity while we feel entirely separate from them. Lucas reminds us that sometimes we’re only told good things - that accounts of wonderful answers to prayer tend to leave out the times of bleakness when there don’t seem to be any answers. 

As with most of this author’s books, he uses anecdotes and some self-deprecating humour to illustrate and make some of his points. I find the writing very readable and appreciate the thoughts that are often easier to discover and remember than those written in a more formal or academic style.

Subsequent chapters remind us that prayers don’t have to be long or well-formulated, and that sometimes it’s good to be with others, agreeing in prayer or even using the same words written by someone in the past. We need to know that God is here, that he welcomes us; that prayer isn’t just about us, but that we should bring all our needs to God. 

It’s not that there’s anything new in this book - most of this advice can be found elsewhere. But it’s refreshing to read it from someone who acknowledges his own failings. I can almost picture Jeff Lucas feeling bored with a long sermon; dropping off in a prayer meeting or finding his mind wandering entirely off topic. I can imagine him, too, about to go on stage to give a talk only to be distracted - and perhaps rather worried - by well-meaning but misguided prayers of would-be encouragers.

It’s a book by an ordinary person who wants to follow Jesus, and who believes in the importance of prayer, yet who struggles to find the discipline to pray, and who often feels rather cynical. I like the way that he expresses all his main points as negatives - as how ‘not’ to pray, as the book title says, rather than telling us directly what to do. I love that he’s honest about the fact that he often gets it wrong. But God loves him anyway.

Definitely worth reading, probably more often than once a decade.

Recommended. I'm sad to see that this book is now out of print but it should be possible to find it second-hand, or perhaps in a church library.

Review copyright 2024 Sue's Book Reviews