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Prayer: Recommended Resources

Readings on Prayer

Some New Ways to Pray

Devotional Reading and Collections of Prayers

  • Seeking God’s Face by Philip F. Reinders provides a simplified daily office—intended for once-a-day use—designed especially for thoughtful Christians. Inside you'll find an entire year of daily prayers and readings, each featuring seven elements, including an opening prayer, a psalm and Scripture reading, suggestions for personal prayer, a prayer based on a classic creed or confession, and a closing blessing.
  • Morning and Evening Prayers by Cornelius Plantinga (Eerdmans 2021) provides 30 days of prayers to offer to God upon waking and retiring. Beautifully written, this collection is a lovely gift for yourself or for someone else.
  • A Rhythm of Prayer: A Collection of Meditations for Renewal by Sarah Bessey is “a companion for all who feel the immense joys and challenges of the journey of faith.” Note: Some of the prayers in this book are intensely felt and expressed, in line with imprecatory psalms in the Bible.
  • Check out acollectionofprayers.com, a website that has gathered more than 1,000 Christian prayers, both ancient and modern. The site is a labor of love by Rev. Paul C. Stratman of the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod.
  • Prayers from the Heart by Richard J. Foster, author of Celebration of Discipline, offers prayers that address “three aspects of the human journey: looking inward to the heart, reaching upward toward God, and moving outward to care for others.”

Learning Opportunities

  • Does prayer really work? In this episode of Open to Wonder,  Jill Weber, Global Convenor of The Order of the Mustard Seed, responds to that question and more. 
  • The Lord’s Prayer: An Intergenerational Event and Worship Experience is a downloadable free resource from Faith Alive and Faith Formation Ministries with which people of all ages can learn about and/or deepen their understanding of the Lord’s Prayer.
  • Rich Villodas, pastor of New Life Fellowship Church in New York City, leads a helpful class on “Ancient Pathways to a Life of Prayer” (Part 1) and (Part 2).