OnlineBookClub.org

[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Pray Like A Pro" by Carlene Kelly.]

Pray Like a Pro: A Guide to Strategic and Effective Prayer is a non-fiction book that acts as a guidebook for having a good prayer. The book provides scriptural explanations to the purpose, value, and significance of prayer as a way to communicate with God. Based on her experience and active involvement in church ministries for children, women, music, arts, and drama, Carlene Kelly imparts her advice on having a strategic and effective prayer that God will answer.

The book starts by detailing the value of prayer while highlighting that most Christians know very little about how to pray. Then, it identifies the three categories of prayer: the introduction, the petitions, and the conclusion, all of which make up an hour of prayer. The book explains how to conduct the prayers from each category, as well as showing Scripture to demonstrate each prayer. At the end of every chapter is a “Review” section, which helps the reader retain what he/she has read.

The book does a good job of elucidating the act of praying through the use of Scripture. The explanations are easily understandable, and that the explanations translate fluidly to the supposed contents of a prayer. Most importantly, I find the “Review” section after each chapter to be extremely helpful as it helps me retain the important themes and concepts of prayer. The book also contains a “Notes” section for the reader to write on.

The only problem I had with the book is its claim in the introduction of the book (not the prayer). The author claims that “Religious and even secular institutions agree that the beginning of the moral decline and decay of this great nation [which is the US] can be linked to the period of time when prayer was removed from our public schools’ system.” I wish to know more about this but the book does not provide references to substantiate this claim. Without any reputable references, the claim merely aims to antagonize the current society.

While it is unfortunate that the aforementioned claim is not justified, the book delivers what it is meant to deliver. Overall, Pray Like a Pro: A Guide to Strategic and Effective Prayer is a good guidebook for people who need guidance in forming their prayers. Because of all the factors mentioned above, I rate this book 3 out of 4 stars. While it is hard to recommend this book to non-Christians, I can recommend this book to Christians who don’t know where to start when praying.

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Pray Like A Pro
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As a Christian, I believe a person's relationship with God is personal including how they pray to him. However, I know many Christians will benefit from reading a book like this, especially new converts. Thanks for the review.

This book is certainly not for me, but I'm sure it's a wonderful resource for Christians or anyone having troubles with their religion/spirituality. Thanks for the review!

As a religious person myself, I appreciate that the author is trying to educate other Christians about the act of prayer, using scripture to back up her points. However, the lack of sources as it regards her claim in the introduction of the book is a little concerning to me. Thank you for your honest review!

I must admit, I was a little put off by the cover. It is as if we’re playing chess with God, trying to strategize our way to the answer we want (winning). Having a framework and focus is important in prayer, but what comes from the heart is what really matters. Thank you for your review.

At first I thought it was a guide to playing chess haha. But, I think it a good book for anyone interested in topics related to religiosity, especially Catholicism. Thank you for an amazing review!

I realize the author was trying to be helpful to those people who feel they don't know how to pray. But in my humble opinion, I believe it's much simpler and less systematic; one prays from the heart. I agree that if the author's claim isn't justified, it lacks credibility and leaves the reader with doubt. Although I would not consider reading this book, I understand there are probably some religious people who will find it very valuable. Congratulations on the great review!

This book will appeal to many who are looking for direction in their prayer life. I disagree with the author that the motivation for improving one's prayers is so "that God will answer." Sometimes the answer will be no - for our own good. Thanks for your thoughtful review of this book.