I have spent some time in these prayer guides by Trevin Wax.
Psalms in 30 days
Life of Jesus in 30 days
Letters of Paul in 30 days
Prayer can be a struggle for some Christians. If I'm being honest it can be difficult for me. Much of my prayer life is very informal, conversational. But formal prayers for me often feel forc
...Read MoreRead more about I have spent some time in these prayered, contrived, vain repetition. I am not suggesting that is the case for all Christians. In fact, I hear some people pray, and I envy their ability to articulate clearly their heart in a formal way that doesn't feel forced or contrived nor rehearsed to the degree that it has lost its sincerity. This is me admitting my weakness publicly.
I have had other prayer guides before these. The first one I had was the Piercing Heaven - Prayers of the Puritans. These are beautiful and powerful prayers from our Christian forefathers. These are laid out in a thematic way. Each theme is segregated and the section is filled with prayers from Puritans about that theme. These are great! Lexham Press
The 2nd prayer guide I obtained was from William Varner: Handbook for Praying Scripture. Dr. Varner makes it clear in his introduction that he doesn't want to pray the prayers of others but that he wants to pray directly out of Scripture. And so his is laid out in a 30 day prayer guide as well but strictly Scripture and his layout is the same every day: Adoration- Thanksgiving- Confession- Affirmation- Disciple's Prayer- Petition- Intercession- Benediction. This is a very helpful structure. Three Sixteen Publishing
Trevin Wax does both things. The way Trevin lays out his prayer guide is by far my favorite. Not to diminish the 2 guides before they are great. We are blessed by all these faithful men and their edification for us in their respective books.
Trevin beautifully follows the theme of the Scripture whether it be from the Psalms, Gospels, or Epistles of Paul.
He doesn't use Scripture exclusively but also the prayers of the saints who have gone before us, i love the way Trevin expresses his heart in the preface about this section:
"Over the years, I've also found the written prayers of faithful Christians who have gone before me to be a help in my prayer life. Praying the written prayers of saints from years gone by is a lot like children trying on the shoes of their parents. We wonder if our feet will ever fit into the spiritual shoes of the giants who have gone before us. We wonder if our devotion will match the intensity and clarity we find in their words. We want hearts that are oriented in such a way that we would ask for and desire the right things. Praying the psalms alongside other Scriptures and other faithful expressions of faith over the years is one way of forming our hearts and minds daily."
AMEN!
Trevin also incorporates creeds and confessions into our prayer life! Oh how I long to incorporate these into my worship more.
Trevin encourages us to set aside a special time of prayer 3 times a day as is supported throughout Scripture.
I love how he thought this out.
Every time he uses Scripture to call us to pray.
Then in the morning we have a Confession of our faith.
Also in the morning utilize in a historical canticle in our prayer
Then he uses the text in view, a selection of psalms, or a selection from the Gospels or from one of Paul's Epistles.
Then a line from the Gloria.
Then the Lord's prayer
Then a prayer from our heritage. Intercession for others and our church.
Then ends with a blessing.
The midday Trevin is shorter noting that most of us are busy and understandably find it harder to consistently find 15 minutes to dedicate to this so it's about 5-8 min shorter.
The call to prayer
The selected Scripture
The Gloria
The Lord's Prayer
Blessing
The evening ends the day with the same structure as in the morning except that instead of the Confession of Faith, we do a Confession of Sin and repentance. I LOVE THIS. Very thoughtful. We start our day confessing our faith, establishing our grounding, and anticipating to live out that faith, while we fail and end the day confessing our failures. This is so good and necessary.
Overall, of all the 30/90 day devotionals and prayer guides I own, I think these 3 volumes are sure to be my favorite and most used.
Lastly, some SPECS:
These are hardcover editions and they are beautiful rivaled only by Lexham's Piercing Heaven.
Font size: 9
GSM: Approximately, 45 by my measurements. The paper held up without bleeding through my Bible highlighters and micron pens.
Wide Margins: 2.5 inches outside column. 1.5 inches inside column. Room for taking notes.
He uses the Christian Standard Bible (CSB) as his source text which is an excellent translation!
I highly recommend them. Sorry for the long review! Read LessRead less about I have spent some time in these prayer
