We spoke with Max Lucado about his most recent book, Before Amen: The Power of A Simple Prayer. We talked about how to teach on prayer and the reminder that God is always in control.

1. I think a lot of Christians going to churches instinctively know that we need to pray but always feel guilt like I don’t pray enough, I don’t pray right. How would you speak to that?

I encourage us to resist the urge to complicate prayer. I think those of us who have struggled with guilt about not praying enough or not praying right, it is because we are focusing on a form or formula. We love to create forms and formulas. Pray for a certain amount of minutes or use a certain type of prayer language or even prayer shawls or prayer beads. We create forms and formulas; well, sometimes these forms and formulas can be a guide, they can help us, yes, absolutely, but don’t beat yourself up. At its simplest core, prayer is simply a conversation with God. So, I’m wanting to remind ...