Book Review: "[RE]Understanding Prayer"

This is my first book from Relevant Media Group. I’ve been reading their magazine for the past year and chose this title to review for personal reasons. Prayer is something, though I believe in to my core, find myself unsettled about. I needed to hear a new take on the subject and thought this title to be an excellent entry point:**”[RE]Understanding Prayer

” – Kyle Lake, Relevant, © 2005**

Just weeks before his [tragic and unusual death](http://emergent-us.typepad.com/emergentus/2005/10/kyle_lake.html&e=9797), Kyle Lake’s “[RE]Understanding Prayer” (Relevant, ©2005) hit shelves promising a fresh take on our world’s oldest “conversation.”Lake reminds us prayer is hardly scientific and was never intended to be anything but an organic and on-going conversational exchange between The Creator and His Creation. The reader will see Lake’s life-long process of shifting from inaccurate interpretations, arriving at a loosely-Eastern, very God-centric perspective on prayer.>”Previously, prayer was defined in terms of quantity and duration. Now, prayer has become more fluid and open-ended, lacking compartments or parameters.” — p. 96He debunks formulaic prayers, along with prayers for God to act as our butler. He deconstructs the list of cliché words that have made honest prayer irrelevant and unattainable. Lake puts prayer in a bright and clear light, making it accessible to those who previously thought it wasn’t:>”It is not a monologue but a dialogue of intimate, heightened sensitivity and receptivity to God’s presence, input, and perspective.” — p.119Replete with supporting quotes from Scripture, classic and contemporary Christian authors alike, Lake makes further study of prayer easy. But aside additional reading, Lake’s desire from the reader is that they live a prayerful life:>”For all that God is and all that God offers, we must respond likewise–not just from the shoulders up, but with our whole lives.” — p. 88Though “[re]Understanding Prayer” starts slow, I was well-encouraged by the later chapters. This book is not the definitive word on the subject. But it points the reader in the right direction. Kyle Lake “got it” when it came to prayer (among many other subjects, no doubt) and we can be thankful for the printed word that his insights will be preserved for years to come.