Injoy's Blogs + Book Reviews

The Seven Most Powerful Prayers That Will Change Your Life Forever by Adam Houge. I received a free copy of this e-book for review.

To purchase this book: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00CNWGDBS?ie=UTF8&creativeASIN=B00CNWGDBS&linkCode=xm2&tag=injoslifethin-20

The book format lists a scripture supporting a prayer, the prayer itself & the imagined response FROM God to the prayer.

The introduction mentions that God is a loving God who looks for ways to be part of your life. He calls for us to seek Him. One of the best ways of doing so is through prayer.

What I hoped to find in this book was what the title suggests: The Seven Most Powerful Prayers That Will Change Your Life Forever. The author calls these prayers a study & a devotion.

A quote with which I disagree: "God doesn't always answer every prayer, but there are some thing {sic} He will always answer."

I believe God answers every prayer. Sometimes He says "No!" Sometimes he says He says "Yes." Sometimes He says "Wait." Sometimes He says, "I have something better in mind for you." We may not LIKE the answers God gives us but He does answer.

The author goes on to say "These prayers may not be for everyone. If you already know these steps, then they have already changed your life, and you can attest to that. Also if you are not willing to pray them in faith, they will do nothing for you. God requires us to have a heart of faith, and answers our prayers according to our faith."

I'm blessed to already have a strong daily relationship with God in my life with heart-felt faithful prayers.

Location 66 minor editorial change needed "their" should be 'they're'.

Prayer One is to ask for forgiveness & help. Devoting your life to God.

Prayer Two calls for us to abide. "There are three general ways to abide, and usually God calls you to be doing one of the three at all times during the day.

1) Worshipping
2) Praying
3) Reading and Meditating on the Scriptures

"When we worship we aim our praise directly at God. He responds to our adoration, by announcing His presence. He makes Himself apparent and we 'feel' His presence while we worship."

Prayer Three Being Led by the Spirit. Show me Your way & light my path.

Location 230 minor editorial correction "If you're not being led by His" should be 'Him".

Being led by the Spirit (by God) we need to be familiar with His Voice. That comes through worship, prayer, reading & meditating on the Scriptures as shown in Prayer two.

Location 284 three minor editorial corrections: "The never could before" should be 'They'. "How than" should be 'then'. "when 'it' because of our" should be it's.

Prayer Four is called 'Seeking Truth'. I found it seeking unity over doctrine. Yet there's a LOT of doctrinal teaching there.

Prayer Five Walking in Love

Committing self to be of service to others with kindness. Good examples given of what that looks like in real life.

Prayer Six Seasoning Our Words with Salt.

We need to choose words that heal & are kind.

"For example, when we sin we start to beat ourselves up over our failures. God doesn't call us to negative self-speech, but to glorify Him."

A discouraged heart & soul can lead to self-condemnation. We also need to apply kindness to our own self-talk.

"The hardest time to say something that turns another back to the Lord is during an argument. We get heated and easily tempted to say something we don't mean. Perhaps in our anger for the moment we mean what we say. But when we start thinking more rationally, we realize that's not our heart at all. So we end up regretting our words."

We need to cool off & curb our anger then return to speak when we are sober minded.

Part of the prayer is: "Bring holiness to my mouth. Give me words that heal and bring peace. Be my strength in my weaknesses, I commit myself to You." That is a powerful prayer & could be life altering.

Prayer Seven Continual Devotion.

Our lives can grind us down & leave us feeling overwhelmed. That is why we need to give attention to God in the morning, during the day & every night. That is where we can be renewed.

I gave this book a three star rating because of the amount of doctrine instead of prayer in the Fourth Prayer. This, I believe detracts from the purpose of this book.

I recommend it only for someone who is already Christian with at least a fledgling prayer life.