Pray With Your Eyes Open

Pratt, Richard. Pray With Your Eyes Open. Phillipsburg: Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing Company, 1987. (Click on title to see the cover and other information)

Growing up in a Christian atmosphere, prayer was a common feature in both family and church settings. Also, Bible College and Seminary were significantly dotted with periods of focused prayer; however, through all the years of exposure to this hallmark of faith, only once in my experience has anyone provided personal instruction concerning the practice of prayer beyond an infrequent sermon on the subject or an occasional elective course offered in the academic settings mentioned above. One professor spent 30 minutes giving instruction on how to pray from the pulpit in two years of homiletics courses.

Richard Pratt’s introduction to prayer is quickly becoming a classic, a standard on the principles of prayer. Through concise biblical instruction, Pratt reveals how a small view of God produces weak and narrow prayers. The book is divided into three parts: Looking at God; Looking at Ourselves; and, Looking at our Communication. Each chapter concludes with applications through exercises that help the reader put the principles of biblical teaching to immediate use.

The first chapter, “The Problem with Prayer,” helps the reader understand the necessity of having the right conception of God and how prayer is often skewed due to our lack of proper worship. Pratt assists the reader in correcting his view of God through the next consecutive chapters where one learns to expand his view of God’s character and actions. Now prayer becomes fueled by the articulation of these truths in worshipful communication. We understand we are communicating with a living being, in a relationship He has established.

The relational aspect is underscored by Pratt’s indirect address to the worldly philosophy that the words of a man are more important than the man. This concept drives world religion. Since through this view prayer becomes reduced to a manipulative force to an impersonal power, is it any wonder that people get bored with it? Pratt demonstrates the fact that we don’t have a book of the Bible solely devoted to Jesus’ teachings; rather, the records of His actions in the Gospels demand we meditate and converse with Him on the significance of the events bound up in the person of Christ. We are directly affected by Him in those events, and our prayers can be deeply stirred by the recounting of them.

The second section assists the reader connecting his or her awestruck conversation with God to real life and the necessity of walking by faith. The Christian life and prayer are inseparable. Pratt explains the connection between prayer and blessings, trials, and experiencing joy through the correct perspective of the exaltation of Christ and the humility of the self in prayer.

The third section explores not merely the form and freedom in prayer, but how we are able to express our dependence on the Lord as we pray. Pratt expounds the communication aspect by taking the reader through various means of expression by prayer. He teaches how to pray through Jesus’ model prayer and how to break the formalism through “freedoms” in prayer. Pratt underscores the importance of emotion in prayer by examining various psalms such as laments and the role of petitions in prayer.

I recommend this book to everyone who seeks to know the rationale of prayer, grow in range of understanding and know what it means to get close to God’s heart.