Prayerfulness by Peter Adam

How would you describe your prayer life right now in one or two words? That’s the question I posed at a women’s church weekend away last year. We wrote our answers on Post-it notes and shared them with the group. Some responses were encouraging — essential, regular, important, indispensable. Others were more brutally honest — dry, rare, non-existent. I wonder where on that spectrum you would place yourself?

Across my twenty-odd years as a Christian, I’ve experienced both extremes. There have been seasons when prayer has been a joy: keeping a regular prayer diary, easily finding time to pray, and having words that flow naturally. But there have also been desert seasons — times when I realise I haven’t prayed in days, or when prayer feels more like a last resort than a first response. I suspect many Christians would say the same. Sometimes life gets busy, sometimes pride gets in the way of coming humbly before God, and sometimes I simply forget the incredible privilege of prayer and the assurance that our heavenly Father hears us.

That’s why I’m so thankful Peter Adam has written Prayerfulness, a book that encourages us to cultivate a Bible-enriched prayer life. It is both practical and pastoral, full of helpful ideas and wise encouragement for prayer. More importantly, though, it is grounded in the rich foundations of Scripture and reminds us why we pray in the first place.

I particularly appreciated Adam’s description of “praying the Bible back to God” and his emphasis on allowing God’s word to shape our prayers. His writing is warm, engaging, and deeply encouraging. Rather than guilt-tripping readers who struggle with prayer, he thoughtfully explores some of the common reasons we neglect it and gently reorients our perspective toward God.

I think this book would encourage both the new Christian, beginning to discover the wonder of prayer, and the mature believer who has been walking with Jesus for many years.

Reviewed by Sarah Cameron

Sarah lives and serves in Fairfield, where she loves to see women grow as disciples of Jesus and she enjoys the good food of southwest Sydney. On the EQUIP team she looks after our social media feeds.