My Review of God's Prayer Book

God's Prayer Book: The Power and Pleasure of Praying the Psalms by Ben Patterson

rating: 4 of 5 stars

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Usually when devotional-type books come across First Wildcard, I pass. I know that the authors' approaches to faith and Christianity are different from mine, and have no reason to aggrevate myself or write critical reviews. However, for some reason I decided I wanted this one, and I'm glad He suggested it. It will probably occupy a long-term spot beside my bed. There is an introductory chapter that gives some background about prayer, the Psalms, and Jesus' relationship to the Psalms. The author quotes a lot of people including St. Augustine, St. Benedict, Martin Luther, John Calvin, and Peter Kreeft. Next, there are sections on each of 65 of the psalms. For each psalm, first the psalm itself is printed. Following that, one verse is highlighted. Next there are about two pages of reflective material, starting off with a real-life story that the author relates the the psalm and followed by some prayer pointers relating to particular verses.
I've tried praying the Liturgy of the Hours on occassion and while I liked the psalms, I almost found it to be too much of a good thing--or maybe I needed to pray it more so as to become more familiar with the psalms--but in any case, I have not found it to be, at least for now, the way I need to pray the psalms. This book may be.

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