A good book on prayer is a delight, especially when it makes me want to pray (not just reminding me that I must), gives me hope that I can (not just pointing out how I fall short), and offers practical wisdom for growth. Paul Miller’s A Praying Life does all three. It’s the first book I recommend on this vital topic.
Miller’s warmth and humor play a big part. Like me, he has a child with significant disabilities. That experience has shaped his understanding of prayer, lament, and perseverance, but also of ordinariness and not taking yourself too seriously. The result is a book that makes prayer feel as natural as brushing your teeth. You read it and think, Yes. I can do this.
It also makes you want to pray. The most underlined sentence in my copy is: “Many people struggle to learn how to pray because they are focusing on praying, not on God.” That floored me. Prayer seeks intimacy and relationship—like Jesus joining for dinner (Rev. 3:20) or a child asking parents for ordinary things (Matt. 7:7-11). Prayer is conversation, not performance; it is not strong people displaying virtue but weak people expressing need.
That simple insight lies at the heart of A Praying Life. It reshaped how I pray and how I teach others to pray, impacting not only my spiritual life but my church’s. Good books on prayer do that. And this one is excellent.
Andrew Wilson is the teaching pastor at King’s Church London and author of Gospel Stories: How the Greatest Story Is Richer, Deeper, and More Wonderful than We Think.
