How to Pray: The Best of John Wesley on Prayer (Value Books)
by John Wesley

3 out of 5 stars

This compilation brings together snippets of Wesley’s writing and sermons on the subject of prayer. Each page has a devotional for the day, along with a Bible verse to reflect on.
Some of the pages are obviously taken from the middle of a sermon, and it can be a little difficult to grasp the context. But for the most part, each page has a complete thought regarding prayer or some prayerful aspect of Christian life.

I find that, although I agree with Wesley’s main principles, I don’t agree with his application a lot of the time.
For instance, there is a page where he talks about encouraging the people in your care to pray and attend church. He says a good employer should “restrain them… from taking the name of God in vain and doing needless work on the Lord’s Day.” So far so good. But then he says that if you have household employees who refuse to “yield, they must be dismissed.” That’s where we disagree. Firing employees because they don’t adhere to your rigid spiritual standards is insane. That’s not Christian compassion. But I suppose that strict attitude would have been common for that time in history. You practically belonged to your employer body and soul in those days.

I enjoyed some of the thoughts on prayer, and others either did not speak to me personally, or I outright disagreed with the application.