The Prayer Coin

I have always struggled with prayer (and Bible reading) but I often have found myself just praying the Lord's Prayer, adding a couple of things weighing on my mind then getting distracted and stopping. And her words and ideas behind the prayer coin following Jesus's model of prayer in Gethsemene was profound for me and I have found myself using this model in my prayer life lately and found myself at peace with it. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who wants a prayer model that might aid them in a different direction.

Loved this book! Great encouraging read and a tool I will be using with our youth group at church. Easily accessible and a wonderful read.

I think prayer is an area of struggle for many Christians. It is hard to fathom and unforseen God who not only hears our prayers, but cares about our prayers. Prayer Coin gives readers a method of prayer imitating Jesus' prayer life in the garden of Gethsemane. If you are struggling in this specific discipline, Prayer Coin may be of assistance.

The Prayer Coin

Daring to Pray with Honest Abandon

by Elisa Morgan

Discovery House Publishers

Discovery House

Christian , Religion & Spirituality

Pub Date 17 Jul 2018

I am reviewing a copy of Prayer Coin through Discovery House Publishers and Netgalley:

In the Prayer Coin we are reminded that it wasn’t only the Lord’s Prayer that teaches us to pray but Jesus also taught us to pray in the Garden of Gethsemane. We are reminded too that even in the Garden where he knew the pain he was about to endure Jesus cried out in prayer.

It was in the Garden of Gethsemane Jesus modeled a prayer that will transform our prayer life. In the same sentence Jesus created two sides to the same prayer (Take this cup and not my will.)

I give The Prayer Coin five out of five stars!

Happy Reading

Such a helpful, honest look at prayer from one who ( like myself ) struggles to be real in her prayer life, admitting that she doesn’t always get it right, but willing to dig deep and learn more about the way Jesus modelled prayer for us.
Immediately comes to mind the Lords Prayer, but this is not where Elisa takes the reader, but to Jesus prayer in the garden of Gethsemane on the night of his betrayal......
“ Jesus prayed honest, “Take this cup.” But now, in the same breath, in the same sentence, he prays another prayer, seemingly the opposite of the one he just spoke. Side two ofJesus’ prayer coin”.

This is a fresh approach to prayer, this 2-sided prayer “Coin” that I had not previously considered.
Praying with absolute honesty about what we either want or don’t want, but then also with abandon to having Gods will and plan supersede our wishes........

I enjoyed the “non preachy” style of Elisa’s writing, quotes from scripture and well-known authors gave much food for thought, and this is a book I can wholeheartedly recommend to both seasoned and new believers alike. And the best thing ? This two-sided prayer shapes us. It teaches us. It changes us.....

Numerous books have been written on the discipline of prayer, often leading to shame or guilt of not praying enough. A well-known complaint is whether prayer helps. Does God really listen? What is praying according to His will? Elisa Morgan tries a different angle, based on the twofold prayer of Jesus Christ in the garden of Gethsemane. In the same sentence, present in three out of four gospels, Jesus both requested (“Take this cup”) and relinquished (“Not my will”). Prayer is like a two-sided coin, minted in the heat and pressure of life and spent in the bent-knee of practice. In this particular prayer, Jesus showed to His Father, and through the evangelists as well, that both honesty and abandon count.  The Prayer Coin explores this two-sided masterpiece of prayer, inviting you to the intimacy Jesus died to provide.

Morgan shares her personal life how prayers to "Take this cup" and "Not my will" have a pivot in the relationship with God. He listens and answers. Yes, praying like this is a practice, that requires discipline. It's not formulaic, but a set of deep expressions to our heavenly Father of our raw, human, and honest feelings, yet abandoning our own preferred solution to give room for divine providence.

I appreciated this authors honest and transparent look at prayer as she talks about it from several angles. She discusses the problems with prayer, How and Why we prayer? When we pray etc. She shares how she came up with The Prayer Coin” as she studied Jesus’s prayers, “Take this cup,” and “Not my will.” It’s a two-sided prayer approach to prayer. The author gives examples from her prayer journal, so readers can grasp the concept. On the Take this Cup side she has listed “My friend’s trip to celebrate her sister’s 50th wedding anniversary… Take this cup of anxiety. May you rid the worry she’s experiencing regarding traveling etc… She lists prayers for other friends and their situations.

Then on the Not My Will side. She has this prayer for the first friend she already prayed for: “My friend’s trip. May you turn the unexpected and the interruptions into divine appointments. If she doesn’t make it to her destination in time for the anniversary party, or if she’s kept from returning in time for the second event, may you give her peace. May she embrace the solitude of travel as you give yourself to her in it. Not my will.”

Praying two sides of the coin like this makes you humble, surrendered and helps the reader think outside the box as some make God out to be a genie in a bottle and/or Santa Claus granting wishes.

I loved her in depth look and insight into Jesus’ Honest – Take this Cup look at scripture and what was going on in the Garden of Gethsemane as he prayed. His truthful Request, His authentic Expression, with scripture references to back up what she’s detailing. She says, “Honest comes from trust and trust comes from being known. Jesus knew that the Father knew his heart, all of it, and would hear his raw three-word request.”

I liked her approach to prayer that helps the readers get closer to God, be honest and transparent with themselves and God. It’s an invitation from Jesus to draw near. This is something that is going to take practice and journaling to be able to do it well.

I’m excited that this book also had a 6 – lesson companion book along the Prayer Coin DVD. I’m going to suggest this to my small group to do at the next session.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher and NetGalley. 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”

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SVP Promotion

Sometimes you find yourself in a situation where you want to reach out to God in prayer, but are unsure what to say. Sometimes you feel like you are not praying "the right way" or that your prayers are selfish. This book provided a practical way to pray: by praying both sides of the prayer coin. The first side is to pray "Lord, take this cup." The author uses the example of Jesus asking God in the garden of Gethsemane to take this cup of suffering from him. We can pray this when we are going through suffering or a tough situation. The other side of the prayer coin is the second part of what Jesus prayed in Gethsemane: "Not my will". Jesus prayed for God to take the suffering from him, but yet said that he wanted God's will to be done, not his. We can show our trust and love for God by praying this as well. I liked and will use this method of prayer. It allows me to be real with God and asking for help, while also praying to stay in accordance to his will. I felt the book was slightly redundant at times, but it is definitely worth reading and offers sound prayer advice, with plenty of real life examples.

This is a wonderful book on prayer. This is a book I will reread and refer back to often. It is very well written and easy to understand. Thank you Discovery House Publishers via NetGalley for the free copy of this book. This is my honest opinion.

"The Prayer Coin is a wonderful teaching on prayer. It draws the reader to view prayer with Jesus as our model. He went to the Garden of Gethsemane and prayed the way she is teaching us to pray. He prayed honestly that He did not want to take the cup and then He abandoned himself to God's will. This prayer reveals how much Jesus struggled to die for our sins. We also need to surrender ourselves to Him in prayer. When we surrender to Him we give our whole heart. The book talks about why we can not pray and what to do to help our areas of struggle. Elisa shared examples of how to pray with honesty and abandonment. She reads her journal and gives examples of how she struggles and wrestles in prayer. She encourages the reader to also journal and wrestle with God. She talked about how a coin is minted and the work that is involved. She equates our walk with God in the same way of the minting process. The book comes with a study guide that asked specific questions . The study guide challenges the reader to apply these principles. The author asked the reader now that you have read the book how will you apply the book to your life? Will you be willing to jump in and see what The Prayer Coin will do for you? I doubt you will read it without being transformed. Thank you for the publisher and netgalley for making this book available to me to read and write a review..

If you have ever felt like an organ this is the book for you. Our prayer life is vital to the growth of our lives, of our faith, and to live in abundance. This book helps us understand how to pray and the importance of prayer.

This book came at the perfect time. Elisa Morgan is a great author- I've read several of her other books and I love how she can take a concept- make it easy to understand, even easier to apply, but yet a valuable lesson and way to grow your spiritual practices. This book may be my favorite of hers yet.

She explains her desire to learn to pray consistently, effectively, and fervently. This leads her to process the models that Jesus gave us- and in this book she explained how she learned to journal- Take this cup-- and not my will from Jesus prayer in Gethsemane.

It's a habit that I am implementing already and have found simple, yet really convicting, sanctifying, and revealing about how often I get stuck on me... Thank you for teaching me and pushing my faith forward with a lesson you learned in your own life. Thank you Netgalley for the ability to review the book.

I enjoy Elisa Morgan’s deep Scripture digs on the radio program Discover the Word, and she does the same great job in her books. The Prayer Coin shows us how Jesus’ honest, two-sided prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane can inspire our own prayers and deepen our trust in God’s plan for our lives.

Jesus prayed both “Take this cup” and “Not my will” in his famous Garden of Gethsemane prayer. On the night before he died, he offered this honest prayer to his Father in heaven. He did not want to face the inevitable shame of sin, physical suffering, and separation from his Father. So he asked that the cup would be taken. But in the same breath, he prayed that the Father’s will would take precedence. He was willing to do whatever the Father thought was best. Aren’t we all glad that he decided to follow his Father’s will? I’m rejoicing right now as I write these words!

Elisa applies the two-sided prayer coin to several of her life struggles. I was inspired by the way she demonstrated how to practically apply this prayer. I’m now using her two-sided prayer model on a regular basis, and I’m so grateful for the biblically-based insight this book provided me.

Netgalley generously provided me a copy of The Prayer Coin.

This book really gave insight to the biblical accounts of Jesus's last night when He beseeches the Father to take this cup from Him. This is often the side of the coin we immediately pray when struggles, trails, and heartache cone. But there's a second side to every coin and both sides make it whole.So while we may plead for the Lord to take things, circumstances, hardships from us,we must ultimately lay it at His feet and declare "Your will not mine ". Because He knows the outcome, the big picture and what's best for us. Plus this ensures His Glory is given not ours.

The Prayer Coin by Elisa Morgan is a book that brings about a requisition to pray with an honest heart, but also an appeal to pray with an abandoned heart. Honest and abandoned are the key to this author’s words about the two-sided prayer coin. She really brings the reader along on a journey of His Word and then brings about her ideas of what she has been learning as she presses into His Word. I really appreciated her vulnerability to share personal experiences in her writing. Her participation in what she is asking of me and everyone who reads her writing. This is my first book from her in a while and I’m so thankful that I’ve read it. The journaling aspect that she brought up really has challenged me and I’m resting in God’s plans for me in it. Looking forward to seeing what He reveals in my honest and abandoned prayers.
I received a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

“Prayer is like a two-sided coin, minted in the heat and pressure of life, and spent in the bent-knee of practice.” So says Elisa Morgan in The Prayer Coin, an engaging and challenging book with a simple practice that isn’t easy, writes Amy Boucher Pye.

She takes the idea that Jesus, in the Garden of Gethsemane, prayed both “Take this cup” and “Not my will” in one single sentence, and she forms that idea into a two-sided prayer practice.

On the one side of the coin – take this cup – is our honest laying down of our dreams, feeling, hopes, and emotions before God: “Honest prayer searches the dark crevices in my cranium, ejecting the truth and laying it open for dissection. For examination. So I can see what it is I really want or don’t want.”

On the other side of the coin – not my will – is our relinquishment, our surrender, our abandon: “What if it’s when we pray in deep distress, overwhelmed with sorrow, risking the vulnerability of wailing out to God our deepest longings and wants and desires that we experience our utter humanness before him? The pain. The struggle in all its reality. About our kids, our money concerns, our marriages, our health, our jobs, our churches, our addictions, our woundings?”

Elisa shares how to pray this way, with the one side of “honest” and the other of “abandon,” through stories from the Bible, quotations from theologians and, most powerfully, from her own experience of engaging with the practice.

She preached at her church at the beginning of the year on this new venture, inviting others to join her. Little did she know that the very next month, she’d be facing a family crisis, separated by thousands of miles from her loved ones, wondering how in the world she could lay down her concerns honestly before God, abandoning herself to his mercy.

I couldn’t put her book down while reading this account of prayer forged in the fire of crisis, of faith developed in the furnace.

I also loved her inclusion of the often overlooked third side of the coin – the edge. This, she says, is intimacy with God. That is, as we flip from honesty to abandonment in prayer, we deepen our intimacy with God.

For many, September feels like a time of fresh starts, with the leaves beginning to change and the kids going back to school. Why not try implementing a new practice during this month, instead of as a New Year’s resolution? I love Elisa’s suggestion of buying a new journal and writing “Take this cup” on one side of the page with the corresponding “Not my will” on the other.

Do share with us if you take up this challenge, and how God’s worked through it in your life.

I liked the content and overall idea of this book, but I didn't like how it was written and how the information was structured and presented.

I suppose I'm not the target audience for this book, because I couldn't settle into the rhythm and near-hand-holding of the storytelling process.

Overall I'd say this book is what it says "on the box." It's about looking at prayer from a dual hopeful/surrendering perspective. That concept alone could be enough to get you past needing the book at all, but if you know you like this style of sitting with an idea and following along to explore further, you could find this is a comforting and encouraging book.

My thanks to the publisher and Net Galley for the chance to review a digital copy.