In Constant Prayer by Robert Benson

I chose to review this book from Thomas Nelson Publishers because I have always been intrigued by the scriptures that tell us to be in constant prayer. I love reading books about prayer mainly because I feel like I can always learn something that I need to improve in my prayer life.

Unfortunately, this book was confusing to me from the very beginning. I had never heard the phrases "fixed-hour prayer", or "keeping of the offices", or "observing of the divine hours". Benson seemed to pride himself on speaking in layman's terms, but I couldn't understand a lot of what he was talking about and I have to wonder, if I hadn't studied the Bible for as many years as I have, maybe I would feel really lost when reading this book.

I persevered in reading this book only to give it an accurate review, and I'm actually glad I did finish it. For every two or three chapters that I disagreed with doctrinally, I would find some pretty large paragraphs that really spoke to me (and I will actually blog about some of these in the future). Also, it turned out that Benson has a pretty good sense of humor which he shared in these pages and I really liked that as well. I like authors that don't take themselves too seriously and although this was a really serious, important topic to Benson I like that he still chose to involve humor in his writing.

Like I said, I don't necessarily agree with this book doctrinally. I don't believe that God wants us to pray at fixed hours - I believe he is accessible at all times of the day. I don't believe we should recite prayers to Him - I believe He wants to hear what we have to say from the heart. But do I believe we should pray more? Yes. Do I believe we should revere prayer more? Yes. Do I believe in having a prayer partner? Sure. And because Benson touched on all of these points as well, I was able to enjoy this book.

I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”