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LEARNING THE LOVE OF GOD RESOURCES
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God, Help Me: How to Grow in Prayer
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"If you want to know who you are and why you're here, start praying every day." From Chapter One
You're in your teens, your twenties, your thirties and you're wondering does prayer have anything at all to do with your life? You don't pray, at least not regularly, and you don't really know how. On the other hand, if God is who he says he is, and if he communicates with us through prayer, as Scripture and the saints and plenty of ordinary people say he does, then clearly youre missing out on something huge.
Jim Beckman will not only introduce you to the wisdom and teaching of the Church regarding prayer, he will also provide tools that will help you achieve real intimacy with God. Nothing can replace that relationship with God, and nothing can get you there except the mysterious, unfolding experience of daily prayer.
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This review is taken from http://soundmindandspirit.blogspot.com
All summer I have heard God telling me to Be Still. Ive heard Him say it at church in the readings, the Homilies; Ive heard it through songs and music that pop into my head or come on the radio. As a working mom, my time is already largely spent away from my family, and making time to develop a relationship with God outside of Mass is a challenge. "Be Still" and do what exactly?
Jim Beckman's book God, Help Me. How to Grow in Prayer, begins by noting that many young adults were never taught to pray. While we have grown up with programs and events, a whole generation is defenseless against todays attacks on the faith. I immediately recognized myself as one of those (not so young anymore) adults raised on CCE classes that were less about learning the catechism and more about feeling good in our knowledge that God Loves Us.
In fact, I chose this book from the Catholic Company reviewers program because I was curious how to grow in prayer. Growing up praying meant a specific prayer and as an adult praying a Rosary is the closest Ive come to a structured meditation of prayer. I suspect Im not alone in saying that I havent been formally exposed to the specifics on using prayer to broaden my relationship with God.
God, Help Me! is divided into three parts. Part One addresses why prayer is important and defines the cultural realties that prevent us from developing a capacity for true intimacy with God.
In the first chapter Beckman addresses the major excuses of why we dont pray today, predominantly a lack of time. But, the most intimate relationships in our lives are with those people with whom we purposefully schedule quality time. So it is with God, and regular, consistent, daily prayer is our doorway to embracing that loving relationship.
Beckman also addresses the daily influences within our culture that steal our attention and diminish our ability to pray, including living in a godless society of isolation, independence, tolerance, and sexual confusion. We are constantly busy, over-saturated, and blind to our spiritual journey. Distracted prayer is not conducive to a deep prayerful life.
Part Two focuses on understanding meaningful prayer, how the Holy Spirit speaks to us, the ebb and flow of desolation, and how to discern what messages are coming from God vs. our enemy. Beckman elaborates on the core principles and dynamics of a good prayer, which requires consistency and honesty. (Chapter five is a key chapter) He also identifies key roadblocks to achieving good prayer.
Part Three demonstrates what can happen in our lives when prayer comes alive. Real experiences illustrate the gift of Christian imagination and discernment in prayer to connect with spiritual realities. Beckman encourages the development of good habits. Little things done consistently become a formidable force in our lives.
The challenge of committing to purposeful prayer is to take our natural habits and push past them to develop new, healthy supernatural habits, similar to adopting a physical work out schedule that over time supersedes our natural habit, or desire, to be at rest. Our spiritual life is a journey, always moving, either toward or away from God. Beckman presents an effective analogy of that spiritual journey compared with the Lord of the Rings movie trilogy. (Youll have to read the book for the fascinating details.)
The book closes with testimonies and five appendices of additional information on finding closeness with God through structured prayer.
This book, like the prayer it recommends, requires an alert and active mind for thoughtful processing. For a working mom who multi-tasks everything, especially reading, I note the irony that as I read this book these sentences really stand out to me.
The pace of our life, the constant noise in our environment, the barrage of media and images all contribute to a poverty of silence, which is the breeding ground of the interior life. Years of this rapid, noisy pace leave us somewhat impaired, sort of attention deficit when it comes to prayer. We have a difficult time quieting ourselves, stilling our hearts and listening.
Even in these few hours Ive taken to read the book and write the review, I've been distracted, even guilted, about the time it's taken. The kids are calling, doors are opening, the TV is loud in the other room, the phone rings, the dryer buzzes, and my husband interrupts me to talk. My house is never still except when all are asleep.
However, if you too feel the call from God to be still and don't know what to do with that message, I encourage you to read this book.
This review is taken from Salvation is an Adventure
Anyone who has been following my blog for a while knows that I am an avid reader. As a matter of fact, I'm in the middle of three different books right now. I believe that good spiritual reading can bring you closer to Christ, so I always try to have a spiritual book with me. When I found out that an acquaintance of mine wrote a book I picked it up. Jim Beckman, whether he realizes it or not, has played a pretty significant role in my spiritual development. I first met Jim last summer at a conference at Franciscan University in Steubenville, Ohio. I was there to get my youth ministry certification, and Jim was the coordinator of the program. Jim recently published a book titled God Help Me: How to Grow in Prayer. Of course when I saw it as an available review book for Catholiccompany.com I had to get it to review.
I have mentioned in a couple of my recent blogs the importance of prayer. Prayer and Sacrifice discusses the need to sacrifice ourselves in prayer and force ourselves to do it even in the midst of feeling spiritually desolate. Beckman addresses this issue that we all face in our prayer and encourages his readers to be consistent in prayer despite how we feel. I make specific reference to Beckman's book in Honesty and Consistency, which are two main themes of prayer in his work.
This is a fantastic book and one that I will re-read over and over again. Beckman really challenges his readers to deeper prayer and gives some practical tools to do so. This book is recommended to anyone who wants to grow deeper in prayer.
This review is taken from the Non-Domestic Goddess
I have a confession to make. When I learned my rote prayers years ago, I thought that was all I needed to know to pray. I have routinely said my Our Fathers, Glory Bes, Rosaries, and Novenas for years, thinking that I had it all figured out.
I didn't.
This book, titled God, Help Me by Jim Beckman, has helped me to see how inadequate my prayer life really was. I now view my prayer life as a burgeoning relationship with God, instead of an obligatory recitation of daily prayers I have known since childhood. I can now be silent and meditative and let God speak to my heart.
The author clearly describes how we let our modern culture interfere with our prayer life. He outlines the excuses we all come up with (and I am as guilty as anyone else of these) and how to change our mind set so that we overcome these excuses and continue on our faith journey. Something that struck me was how he explained that we are never stagnant on our journey--we are either moving forward (toward God) or backward (away from God). That really hit home for me.
I really enjoyed reading the appendices and suggestions for prayer time and family prayers. I have started using the methods in my personal prayer time and plan to introduce family prayer as he suggests very soon. I never felt like God heard my requests before. And I dont know how to explain it, but since I have stopped talking the whole time, I have more time to listen and I have felt more at peace since taking the time to listen to God.
He targeted this book toward people in their teens, twenties, and thirties, but I feel like the scope of the book benefits everyone who may be struggling in their prayer life. It is a good read and well worth it.
(Note: The only compensation I have received for this review is a copy of the book.)
This review is taken from Just Another Catholic Mom
When I saw God, Help Me- How to Grow in Prayer by Jim Beckman listed in the reviewer program, I really went back and forth on whether or not to choose it. As a convert and former atheist, prayer is something that has always perplexed me, something I've never felt I was doing "right," and sadly, something I'd largely given up on. I was still going through the motions of doing rosaries and trying to talk to God, but without much understand or direction, and very little satisfaction. In the end I decided to give it try, and I'm very glad I did!
I was hooked from the introduction. Beckman nailed all the internal longings I had been feeling and laid them all out. He writes, "Prayer...provides the experience of deep intimacy that our human hearts crave. Through prayer, and only through prayer, we come to a full understanding of who we are and why we are here." He goes on to say that "whether you realize it or acknowledge it, there is something deep inside you longing to be reconnected with the very source of life that gave rise to your existence in the first place. It's in you, you can't silence it." I hadn't articulated these things, but reading them, I knew instantly their veracity.
The book isn't just a "how-to." While Beckman does give thorough step by step instruction on various approaches to prayer, he first explains why prayer is important. Drawing on the wisdom of the Saints, the Catechism, and Scripture, Beckman guides us to an understanding of the influence of our culture and the enemy on our prayer life and the fundamental reality of our hearts and spirituality. He pointedly addresses many of the common excuses for neglecting prayer, in a manner that is both gentle and upfront; he isn't afraid to make us uncomfortable with the truth when necessary. Seeing so many of my own excuses and failings in front of me forced me to acknowledge and confront them.
Beckman goes on to introduce and explain some of the common approaches to prayer in a way that's easy to understand and implement without seeming "dumbed down." I found his explanations extraordinarily helpful, and with the help of this book have had the most moving and fruitful experiences with God in prayer that I've ever had. The book gave me a very well rounded foundational understanding of prayer, it's importance, purpose, and function, that I believe will serve me well as I read some of the more theologically complicated writings of the Saints. Although the book is categorized as "youth," I say it's a must read for anyone struggling with their prayer life.
GOD, HELP ME: HOW TO GROW IN PRAYER
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