Status
Checked out
Due 5 September 2019
Collection
Subjects
Publication
3 L (2012), Edition: 1., Aufl., 336 pages
Description
God doesn't demand hectic church programs and frenetic schedules; he only wants his people to know him more intimately, says top-selling author D. A. Carson. The apostle Paul found that spiritual closeness in his own fellowship with the Father. By following Paul's example, we can do the same. This book calls believers to reject superficiality and revolutionize their lives by embracing a God-guided approach to prayer. Previously published as A Call to Spiritual Reformation, this book has now been updated to connect more effectively with contemporary listeners.
Original publication date
1992
ISBN
3941988506 / 9783941988507
User reviews
LibraryThing member peterp6
Many things compete for the attention of the Western church. D.A. Carson argues that the one thing that demands priority is "a deeper knowledge of God."
Such a quest may sound both ambitious and obvious.
But though A Call to Spiritual Reformation is not difficult to read, it is not simplistic in its
The bulk of the book thoughtfully examines several of the Apostle Paul's petitions in Romans, 1 and 2 Thessalonians, Ephesians, Philippians, and Colossians. Carson gently and repeatedly coaches his readers to pray more for the kinds of things that Paul prayed for (and perhaps less for the kinds of things we Christians often tend to pray for).
I found this book to be theologically stimulating, sometimes convicting, and always spiritually encouraging. Here is a discerning theologian who writes with a compassionate pastor's heart.
Such a quest may sound both ambitious and obvious.
But though A Call to Spiritual Reformation is not difficult to read, it is not simplistic in its
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instruction, either. And while its focus is necessarily limited, what it aims to do — guide us toward biblically oriented prayer — it does well.The bulk of the book thoughtfully examines several of the Apostle Paul's petitions in Romans, 1 and 2 Thessalonians, Ephesians, Philippians, and Colossians. Carson gently and repeatedly coaches his readers to pray more for the kinds of things that Paul prayed for (and perhaps less for the kinds of things we Christians often tend to pray for).
I found this book to be theologically stimulating, sometimes convicting, and always spiritually encouraging. Here is a discerning theologian who writes with a compassionate pastor's heart.
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LibraryThing member gosdena
At New Word Alive 2008 Don Carson (professor of New Testament at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, Deerfield, Illinois) was interviewed by Richard Cunningham head of UCCF. As I recall when listening on-line someone said how much they had enjoyed this book – A Call to Spiritual Reformation –
This book is based on a series of sermons which Carson preached a few years ago, and he takes as his starting point the “urgent need of the church” which is a deeper knowledge of God. For Carson, all the other problems in the Church and in Society at large point back to this. The book then goes on to address a (the?) vital part of that challenge to know God better – that is, prayer. Robert Murray M’Cheyne said, “what a man is alone on his knees before God, that he is, and no more.” Where better to learn how to pray, than to look at Paul’s prayers and “align our prayer habits with his” ?
There are practical tips on how to plan to pray, and organise your prayer life. Strongly recommended is to tie your prayer to your Bible reading and to “think through, in the light of Scripture, what it is God wants us to ask for.” This seems to me so fundamental – that to pray with confidence we must pray knowing that God wants to give us what we ask for. Yet how little time I spend trying to seek God to find out those things which I believe he has promised me. And what joy and fantastic answers to prayer I have known the few times I have really sought God in this way.
At the heart of Carson’s approach is his belief that “the Bible simultaneously pictures God as utterly sovereign, and as a prayer-hearing and prayer-answering God.” This approach saves us from both “a resigned fatalism that asks for nothing and a badgering desparation that exhibits little trust.” He advises us to follow the Puritans and “pray until you pray.”
Alongside practical advice Carson takes us through model prayer’s of Paul’s from practically all of his letters. A whole chapter on praying for others brings together all the verses from the epistles where Paul prays for others, for us to to read through and meditate on, while his conclusion on Paul’s passion for people, evident from his prayers, is that many a church would benefit hugely if “by God’s grace we make it our commitment not to put anyone down – except on our prayer list.”
Other chapters look at Excuses for not praying, Praying for Power, and a very helpful overview from Romans of how we can best pray for our Ministers and Church Leaders.
I found the chapter on God’s Sovereignty very helpful. As our appreciation of the complete Sovereignty of God increases, it is easy sometimes to think that our prayers no longer matter. Carson admits that at one point he was tempted down that path. But as he says: “something has gone amiss in our theology if our theology becomes a disincentive to pray.”
This is a book that is worth reading slowly and carefully, and coming back to. Above all it’s a book to act on.
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but thought it might have had more readers if the title had been changed to “Paul’s Pukka Prayers”.This book is based on a series of sermons which Carson preached a few years ago, and he takes as his starting point the “urgent need of the church” which is a deeper knowledge of God. For Carson, all the other problems in the Church and in Society at large point back to this. The book then goes on to address a (the?) vital part of that challenge to know God better – that is, prayer. Robert Murray M’Cheyne said, “what a man is alone on his knees before God, that he is, and no more.” Where better to learn how to pray, than to look at Paul’s prayers and “align our prayer habits with his” ?
There are practical tips on how to plan to pray, and organise your prayer life. Strongly recommended is to tie your prayer to your Bible reading and to “think through, in the light of Scripture, what it is God wants us to ask for.” This seems to me so fundamental – that to pray with confidence we must pray knowing that God wants to give us what we ask for. Yet how little time I spend trying to seek God to find out those things which I believe he has promised me. And what joy and fantastic answers to prayer I have known the few times I have really sought God in this way.
At the heart of Carson’s approach is his belief that “the Bible simultaneously pictures God as utterly sovereign, and as a prayer-hearing and prayer-answering God.” This approach saves us from both “a resigned fatalism that asks for nothing and a badgering desparation that exhibits little trust.” He advises us to follow the Puritans and “pray until you pray.”
Alongside practical advice Carson takes us through model prayer’s of Paul’s from practically all of his letters. A whole chapter on praying for others brings together all the verses from the epistles where Paul prays for others, for us to to read through and meditate on, while his conclusion on Paul’s passion for people, evident from his prayers, is that many a church would benefit hugely if “by God’s grace we make it our commitment not to put anyone down – except on our prayer list.”
Other chapters look at Excuses for not praying, Praying for Power, and a very helpful overview from Romans of how we can best pray for our Ministers and Church Leaders.
I found the chapter on God’s Sovereignty very helpful. As our appreciation of the complete Sovereignty of God increases, it is easy sometimes to think that our prayers no longer matter. Carson admits that at one point he was tempted down that path. But as he says: “something has gone amiss in our theology if our theology becomes a disincentive to pray.”
This is a book that is worth reading slowly and carefully, and coming back to. Above all it’s a book to act on.
Show Less
LibraryThing member David.Alfred.Sarkies
I first heard of this book when it was being promoted (read flogged) at youth group. The thing that sort of put me off the book was that at the time the title did not seem to be all the connected with the contents of the book. In fact, the title probably more suits a book like Francis Schaeffer's
The problem with Carson though is that he tends to write in a way that is not really all that accessible. Don Carson is a very well known (and popular) evangelical theologian, however I have noted that he tends to use complex words and discusses complex theological topics as if we are already versed in these concepts. As such, it is not the type of book for new Christians, nor is it a book to those who are not academically inclined. Christianity (as with any subject) is full of jargon, and using the jargon to attempt to explain such complex theological concepts to those who are not familiar with the jargon will inevitably result in failure.
The other issue is not so much with the book itself but rather how my former church responded to the book. Basically they thought that the content of the book was so good that it pretty much formed the basis of all of their talks on the subject of prayer. I remember once at youth group the leader decided to lead a number of talks on prayer, and in doing so, pretty much recited verbatim from the book so that when I went to read the book myself I suddenly realised that I had heard it all before.
Now, Carson uses Paul's prayers as a model on how we should pray, and granted, while he is using that for the purpose of this book we must remember a few things (particularly since my former church did not take this into account at this time):
1) These prayers are written prayers, and while we can use them as an idea as to how Paul would pray, we cannot expect that this was the only way that he prayed, or that this was how he prayed when he vocalised his prayers. Also, being written prayers, they are enmeshed into the works of his letters, and while I don't actually see pastors use this technique in their sermons (they tend to open and close in prayer, but rarely, if ever, do they enmesh a prayer into the sermon), it still requires some work to pull them out, and we also can't pray them verbatim.
2) Paul's prayers aren't the only prayers in the Bible. While Paul's prayers are good and can work as a model, for quite a while my church seemed to forget that there is a much, much, better model prayer in the Bible, and that is the Lord's Prayer. First of all, when he was asked how one should pray, Jesus responded with the Lord's Prayer. Secondly, it is a vocal prayer, and many, many, churches will recite this prayer during their services. Finally, it is actually a very good model prayer, and for those of us who do not know how to pray, or struggle with prayer, the Lord's Prayer is a brilliant model to turn to.
As such, while this book may be a good book, and also have some use, there are actually much better books out there. As such I would only recommend it to those long term Christians who are comfortable with academic works.
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trilogy, which in sort challenges our modern mind set and tries to encourage us to return to a more spiritual and interventionist reality rather than our mechanical and disconnected modern society. However, when I think about it I can see where Carson is getting at in that prayer is the essential element to a true spiritual reformation.The problem with Carson though is that he tends to write in a way that is not really all that accessible. Don Carson is a very well known (and popular) evangelical theologian, however I have noted that he tends to use complex words and discusses complex theological topics as if we are already versed in these concepts. As such, it is not the type of book for new Christians, nor is it a book to those who are not academically inclined. Christianity (as with any subject) is full of jargon, and using the jargon to attempt to explain such complex theological concepts to those who are not familiar with the jargon will inevitably result in failure.
The other issue is not so much with the book itself but rather how my former church responded to the book. Basically they thought that the content of the book was so good that it pretty much formed the basis of all of their talks on the subject of prayer. I remember once at youth group the leader decided to lead a number of talks on prayer, and in doing so, pretty much recited verbatim from the book so that when I went to read the book myself I suddenly realised that I had heard it all before.
Now, Carson uses Paul's prayers as a model on how we should pray, and granted, while he is using that for the purpose of this book we must remember a few things (particularly since my former church did not take this into account at this time):
1) These prayers are written prayers, and while we can use them as an idea as to how Paul would pray, we cannot expect that this was the only way that he prayed, or that this was how he prayed when he vocalised his prayers. Also, being written prayers, they are enmeshed into the works of his letters, and while I don't actually see pastors use this technique in their sermons (they tend to open and close in prayer, but rarely, if ever, do they enmesh a prayer into the sermon), it still requires some work to pull them out, and we also can't pray them verbatim.
2) Paul's prayers aren't the only prayers in the Bible. While Paul's prayers are good and can work as a model, for quite a while my church seemed to forget that there is a much, much, better model prayer in the Bible, and that is the Lord's Prayer. First of all, when he was asked how one should pray, Jesus responded with the Lord's Prayer. Secondly, it is a vocal prayer, and many, many, churches will recite this prayer during their services. Finally, it is actually a very good model prayer, and for those of us who do not know how to pray, or struggle with prayer, the Lord's Prayer is a brilliant model to turn to.
As such, while this book may be a good book, and also have some use, there are actually much better books out there. As such I would only recommend it to those long term Christians who are comfortable with academic works.
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LibraryThing member thornton37814
D. A. Carson has updated his 1992 work A Call to Spiritual Reformation. He explores Paul's prayers and offers insights for modern readers and how they should be praying. The book should appeal to those in ministry as well as to many laypersons in the church. There are questions at the end of each
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chapter which lend themselves well to group discussions for small groups. The book is well-indexed. This review is based on an advance readers copy provided by the publisher through NetGalley for review purposes. Show Less