Prayer by Philip Yancey

I finished reading the book by Philip Yancey called “Prayer. Does It Make Any Difference?” Ahhh, now what to say about it. I don’t like to be too negative, but honestly I didn’t like this book. From a superficial standing, it is loooooooong and doesn’t flow well. There are little stories and illustrations scattered in text boxes throughout the body of the book, which I think detracts from the flow of reading—either you skip those sections with the intent to return to them later, or you read them and then go back to the main body of the book and have to remember what you were reading before.

As to the content, the book is full of questions regarding prayer, but not many answers, at least not definitive. Prayer is a subject which is addressed countless times in the Bible, but Yancey does not use too much Scripture to back up his teachings. Rather it’s stories about people and events. Reading the book made me question my own prayer life, such as is it important at all, etc. I had to return to what I know from Scripture to settle those questions.

I really wouldn’t like to recommend this book. There are many books written on the topic of prayer from a Biblical perspective and much of the Bible itself teaches about prayer. I prefer other alternatives to this book.

I received a free copy of this book from Zondervan publishers in exchange for my honest review.