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Pray Confidently and Consistently

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Pray Confidently and Consistently: Finally let go of the things holding you back from your most important Conversation by Valerie Woerner.
Valerie Woerner has written a thoughtful book full of prayer, scripture, quotes on prayer and ways to begin or rediscover your prayer life. Three things will help us pray: to come humbly, to confess often, and to have faith.
She describes prayer based on sharing with God rather than simply asking for things.
Here are some points: the best way to hear from God is to regularly listen to God.
Remember that prayer is a process; it is for God’s glory. We also need to remember God’s character and to pre-joice before prayer and to receive God’s answers.
This definitely made me think about how I approach prayer and what my purpose is.

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A great resource on prayer. It is a practical book, you won’t find a lot of theories of explanation on Bible verses, but if you use it as a day by day tool it is great.

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Praying Confidently and Consistently by Valerie Woerner was the first book I've read from this author. I am glad I had the opportunity to read this and would highly recommend it to anyone who wants to grow their relationship with Christ. Prayer is an area of my life I never would have considered myself comfortable with; but I loved the author's suggestions in each chapter. Her writing style was relatable and encouraging. This is a book I would refer to over and over again throughout the years. It's great as a refresher for people who feel they have a great prayer life but also wonderful for the new believer who feels intimidated with the word "prayer life".

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Very well-written, biblically based, accessible and simple yet at times containing profound truths about prayer, and how and why we can pray consistently and confidently.

I found myself highlighting a lot of passages. I also loved that she shares honestly about her own experiences and also some wonderful snippets of wisdom from long established Christian writers.

Highly recommended, and I plan on buying a copy for the church library.

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I already knew of the author and was looking forward to reading this book.

This is straight-forward and meaty encouragement to rely on and build a prayer habit in one's daily life. The chapters were manageable and the content is so well needed.

Highly recommend.

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Not only about prayer but also about trusting God
Blogger, author, creator of prayer journals and a course about prayer, Valerie Woerner presents her book "Pray Confidently and Consistently. Finally Let Go of the Things Holding You Back from Your Most Important Conversation" published by Tyndale House Publishers – Tyndale Momentum. The book contains fifteen chapters in four parts: 1) Approach, 2) Trust, 3) Engage, and 4) Persist. Woerner considers the topics of these chapters (e.g., "Am I Doing this right?", "You Want It All?", "Where Did You Go, God?", or "Are You Sure That Command Was for Me?") as fifteen weights that hold us back from our most important conversations. She uses Hebrews 12:1-2 as the key passage of the book. She states her goal for herself and her readers as: "I want our prayer lives to be unencumbered by the distractions that threaten to steal precious time with the Lord in favor of trivial things. I want us to learn to pray with confidence and really know the God we’re praying to. I want our prayer lives to be rich and deep and to transform the way we think. I want us to love God so much that we can’t imagine not being in conversation with him every day. I want us to experience the joy of persistent, consistent prayer that glorifies God" (p. x). Each chapter ends with a segment with questions entitled "reflect" and Bible references to "read." The book also contains notes (footnotes and endnotes) and various tips in the chapters which is a help to those readers who want to dig even deeper into the topic of prayer.
I appreciate Valerie's honesty, especially when she says: " I’ve struggled to understand its power. And sometimes I recognize its power and still choose my dumb cell phone" (p. x) and her presentation of six primary characters of God that will affect how we pray (p. 6-16). She does not only talk about prayer but also about God in our life. As such I highly recommend this book to readers (young or old, male or female) who want to be more serious about their prayer life.
The complimentary copy of this book was provided by the publisher through NetGalley free of charge. I was under no obligation to offer a positive review. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.
#PrayConfidentlyAndConsistently #NetGalley

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Prayer is something I have always struggled to be consistent with, so this book grabbed my attention. Valerie Woerner has based her latest book on Hebrews 12:1-2: "Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God."

Valerie structured this book around the weights in our lives that hold us back from a consistent, vibrant prayer life. She gives practical advice on how to throw off these weights - including the weight of perfectionism, hesitation, control, emotion, and more - and fix our eyes on Jesus instead. I loved the format of the book and Valerie's relatable, conversational writing style. She has walked this journey herself, and her story will be encouraging to anyone who wants to rededicate themselves to prayer. I found myself highlighting passages from almost every page, and I know this is a book I will want to return to. It has helped re-orient my understanding of the purpose and practicalities of prayer. I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to grow in their relationship with the Lord!

I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

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Prayer has always been a struggle for me. There have been a few seasons where I felt like, "maybe I'm making progress!", only to take five steps back. Then something happened this year and now I feel like I can't pray for certain things anymore. God will just do what He will do and nothing I say will change that. This is the mindset I have right now towards prayer. I'm mad at God.

But I also know that nothing will get better if I don't fight for it. So I'm wrestling. Some days I wrestle harder than others. Some days I want to give up. But I wanted to read this book in my pursuit of finding my way back to conversation with God.

Valerie writes in a simple, approachable, yet powerful way. She shares personal triumphs and trials, but also shows us examples of prayer from Biblical times to our more "modern" faith heroes. I highlighted so many passages.

One of the best things about this book is that you can go back and read a section based on what you might be struggling with in a season. We'll deal with different weights at different times, but if you can identify your weight, the thing that is currently holding you back the most, you can go find encouragement in that particular chapter. I also love the prayers she includes at the end of the book.

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I have read many books on prayer, this one felt a little different. It’s not just instructions on how to pray but who God should be in our life. One of the authors earlier comments is “you aren’t praying to a statue or a lifeless mythical God. You’re praying to a God who acts throughout Scripture on His people’s behalf” phew now that speaks volumes about RELATIONSHIP.

When I’m reading and filled with joy in what I’m learning I have a tendency to keep going, this book has several moments for the reader to pause and marinate on what we’ve read and there is also Scripture so you can hear from God. I enjoyed those moments.

I hope you didn’t just pass by the devotional moments, reflection breaks which includes questions to help you connect with the reading.

One of my favorite teaching tips from the book is “Come humbly, confess often” I will always remember this share

I received a copy of this book in exchange for my thoughtful and honest review.

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I have read a lot of books on prayer. This one had some good reminders and even some moments that made me pause and rethink some things. It was very similar to many other books about prayer.

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