Victor Chen Ministries

I have read many of Philip Yancey's books and this one is as good as any of the previous. As usual it is not an overnight read with his books, but a reflective approach to the topic of "prayer".

This book helped me understand prayer in a different light. Today, we kind of expect God to perform His magic each time we pray. We tend to view God as a genie in a bottle, answering every wish, every desire that we ask. The truth is that most of us have had our faith shaken when our prayers go unanswered. What makes it worse is that there are sweeping statements in the Bible that suggest we can have anything as long as we have the mountain-moving faith. On top of that there is much cheery optimism of consumer-oriented faith which is apparent in today's church circle. For example, there is so much emphasis on the prosperity gospel, instilling optimism to believers but often leading to disappointment. The same goes with miracle healing sessions whereby most people are left unhealed. These miracles of supernatural breakthroughs in business and genuine healing are are few and far between.


In fact most of us have prayers unanswered. However, "the greatest tragedy in life is not unanswered prayer, but unoffered prayer" F.B..Meyer.

Philip writes in page 208 that "My emphasis in prayer has moved from petition to companionship..". I have to agree with him on this. Prayer is conversing with God as Adam did before the fall of man.

Prayer! Does it make any difference? If it does, is there any proof to offer?

The great author CS Lewis pointed that.."this impossibility of empirical proof is a spiritual necessity. A man who knew empirically that an event had been caused by his prayer would feel like a magician. His head would turn and his heart would be corrupted. The Christian is not to ask whether this or that event happened because of a prayer. He is to believe that all events without exception are answers to prayer in the sense that whether they are grantings or refusals the prayers of all concerned has been taken into account. All prayers are heard, though not all prayers are granted".

"Only faith vouches for that connection, Lewis concludes. "No empirical proof could establish it.

We are to trust God's character and believe that if a prayer is answered it is more than just a coincidence. Coincidence is God's way of protecting his anonymity and faith is our way of acknowledging God's background activity.

This book is a must read!