Before the Amen: The power of a simple prayer

We all pray... a little.

We pray for sobriety, sanity, or solvency. When the tumor appears malignant. When the money runs out before the month does. When the marriage crumbles. We pray.

But don’t we wish we prayed more? Better? With more fire, faith, or fervor?

Yet we have kids to feed, bills to pay, deadlines to meet. The calendar pounces on our good intentions like a tiger on a rabbit. And what about the ups and downs of our prayer history? Unsettled words. Unmet expectations. Unanswered requests.

We aren’t the first to struggle with prayer. Jesus’s first followers needed prayer guidance as well. In fact, the one instruction manual they requested was on prayer.

And Jesus gave them a prayer. Not a sermon on prayer. Not the doctrine of prayer. He gave them a quotable, repeatable, portable prayer. Can’t we use the same?

In Before Amen, beloved author Max Lucado joins readers on a journey into the very heart of biblical prayer, offering hope for the doubtful and confidence for the prayer-anemic. Distilling prayers from the Bible into a simple, pocket-sized prayer, Max reminds readers that prayer is not a privilege for the pious or the art of a select few. Prayer is simply a heartfelt conversation between God and his child. Let the conversation begin.