The Prayer God Loves to Answer // hint: it’s never answered

I received this book for free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

The Prayer God Loves to Answer: Accessing Christ's Wisdom for Your Greatest Needs by Daniel Henderson
Published by Bethany House Publishers on 15 November, 2016
Genre: #nothanks, Non-fiction, Religious, Self-help
# pages: 237
Goodreads

Should I take that new job? How can I be a better parent? Who should I marry? How can I make ends meet? We all face challenging questions that keep us up at night, and we don't know who to turn to for answers, or even if there's anyone at all who can help. It turns out there is--the very God who created you.

Everyone needs God's wisdom to navigate the complexities of life and manage responsibilities, difficulties, and relationships. Jesus Christ, the source of all wisdom and knowledge, has not called us to figure these things out for ourselves--he is ready to give us his perfect wisdom as we seek him in prayer. In this book, Daniel Henderson shares a Gospel-centered approach to living wisely in a broken world. He gives you practical steps for praying to receive answers in the midst of our confusion and uncertainty as well as questions for group discussion. There is no question you can ask that God can't answer. He's just waiting for you to ask.

Includes practical prayer guide and questions for group discussion.

DNF @ 67 pages

I’ve realised I dislike devotional-type material for the same reasons I dislike what the church has become today. For one, it feels as if the preachers’ and/or authors’ opinions seep through the cracks and into the text; there is bias, and opinions are passed off as facts and “the truth”, and it’s like one pastor who relocated to California from Texas and explained to us Bible Belt inhabitants: you need to stop forcing your opinions about your faith onto others and avoiding people outside your bubble just because they’re different from you, because that’s not any better than the people you believe yourself to be better than.

I also find they’re closed-minded and don’t properly consider horrendous tragedies. I’m happy people who endured traumatic events found solace in faith, but to think others should just be able to is inconsiderate of what they have been through.

But then, my abuser used the Bible and church to justify his abuse, so I guess my case—similar to many—is one we’re not supposed to talk about.

I didn’t benefit from this book.

I felt like it constantly repeated one guy’s interpretations and beliefs. It didn’t answer the question the title creates—what’s the prayer God loves to answer? Moreover, I understand we have the Bible and whatnot, but since it’s people who decide what is good and bad these days—from [curse] words to etiquette—for the author to have continuously stated what God likes, when we cannot ask him in the present, felt wrong to me.

Between the repetition and lack of actual answers, plus the god-like aura of the author, I stopped reading. If you want a plain answer: it was really boring; droning on and on doesn’t work that well for nonfiction, and I was one of those children who’d always fall asleep in the front pew of her grandparents’ church. Just because it’s a boring topic doesn’t mean we have to teach/talk about it in such a boring way.

I gave it three stars because I figured it might be helpful to some even though I disliked it.