Face to Face: Praying the Scriptures for Spiritual Growth

Rating:
Summary: A terrific guide to full and meaningful prayer
Review: As a newly "re-found" Christian, I found this book a great source to learning how to pray again. I didn't want to call on God only from desperate need, nor did I want to thank Him only when things were going great. This book is a terrific guide to a daily time of purposeful prayer with God. It takes us step-by-step through Praise, Confession, Renewal, and Intercession,(among others), using scripture verses right from the Bible. The premise is that by praying God's own promises and glories as written in the Bible, we can more align ourselves with His will and more fully realize Him in our lives. On the same vein, I really appreciate "Praying the Bible for your Marriage" by David & Heather Kopp.

Rating:
Summary: A focus for your prayers
Review: I have a very difficult time keeping my focus while I am praying. This book has helped me so much to direct my prayers and keep them in a Scriptural context. It not only leads the reader in daily prayers of Adoration, Confession, Renewal (Scriptural reminders), Petition, Intercession, Affirmation, Thanksgiving, and closing prayers, but also has a weekly schedule of praying for yourself and others such as your church, your family, and world missions. The Scriptures are well-chosen for their subjects, as well as not chopped up so as to make them out-of-context. This book is for morning devotions, and there is a companion evening devotion book which is excellent as well.

Rating:
Summary: A focus for your prayers
Review: I have a very difficult time keeping my focus while I am praying. This book has helped me so much to direct my prayers and keep them in a Scriptural context. It not only leads the reader in daily prayers of Adoration, Confession, Renewal (Scriptural reminders), Petition, Intercession, Affirmation, Thanksgiving, and closing prayers, but also has a weekly schedule of praying for yourself and others such as your church, your family, and world missions. The Scriptures are well-chosen for their subjects, as well as not chopped up so as to make them out-of-context. This book is for morning devotions, and there is a companion evening devotion book which is excellent as well.

Rating:
Summary: A Great Devotional
Review: I have gone through this devotional guide several times and each one is a rewarding experience. Boa helps you to personalize the Scriptures to your individual needs. My copy is well-marked with thoughts, dates, and locations. Any tool that helps an individual grow in his or her relationship with God the Father through Jesus is to be commended. Prayer is two-way communication with God. There is a place for answered prayers in the back of this book. Both the Old and New Testaments are included in the readings. Intercessory prayer is part of the experience, i.e., he references Scriptures that pertain to praying for other people, including those in leadership. Jesus said the law is summed up in two principles, to love God with all your heart, mind, and soul and to love your neighbor as you love yourself. This book helps a person to do that on a consistent basis by getting one's thoughts aligned with God's Word and will.

Rating:
Summary: Great Devotional Meditations on Scripture
Review: The idea for this excellent compilation of personalized Scripture couldn't be more natural. "Praying the Scripture for spiritual growth," as the subtitle says it, can nurture a person's faith like no teacher's commentary can.

Author Ken Boa has advocated meditating on and personalizing Scripture for many years. In this book, he offers his own translation of many Bible verses, adapting them into a first person or second person perspective. In this way, a reader dwells on the Words of God offered as direct praise. Instead of reading, "Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might" (Deut. 6:4-5 ESV), he reads, "O Lord my God, You are one. I want to love You, Lord my God, with all my heart and with all my soul and with all my strength." Instead of reading, perhaps passively, these words from Proverbs 23:4-5, "Do not toil to acquire wealth; be discerning enough to desist. When your eyes light on it, it is gone, for suddenly it sprouts wings, flying like an eagle toward heaven" (ESV), Boa urges the reader to dwell on its personal application: "I will not wear myself out to get rich; I will have the understanding to cease. I will not set my desire on what flies away, for wealth surely sprouts wings and flies into the heavens like an eagle."

For devotional use, the book offers Scripture meditations in five categories for each day of a three month period. The categories are "The Attributes of God," "The Works of God," "My Relationship to God," "The Character I Want to Cultivate," and "My Relationship to Others." With a couple mediations in each topic, Boa encourages the reader to follow a 93-day pattern of thoughtful consideration and prayer, praising God with His own words and being confronted by His demands on our character.

That's the first half of the book. The second half is a topical guide to Scripture's affirmations of God's character and the Holy Spirit's work in us. Divided into the same categories listed above, this guide lists many more verses than are printed in the devotional section, which could facilitate longer meditation on God's glorious character and His teaching. For someone in the habit of reading through the Psalms and Proverbs every month, this book or it's companion, Face to Face: Praying the Scriptures for Intimate Worship, would be a great alternative.