INTRODUCTION
Dr. Dave
Earley put his passion in print in Prayer:
The Timeless Secret of High-Impact Leaders.
He set out with an aim of helping his readers to be more effective
spiritual leaders, to “make a deeply positive spiritual difference in the lives
of as many people as possible.”(ix) The
resulting work provides valuable insight for an often neglected but “non-negotiable
tool in every high-impact leader’s toolkit – prayer.”[1] Earley’s book is highly informative,
surprisingly intimate, and a powerful primer for anyone, leaders especially,
who wants to deepen their walk with the Lord.
In the book, Earley calls to his
readers’ attention the prayer deficiency that plagues the lives of many of
today’s spiritual leaders, then provides a systematic analysis of the
common-denominator of successful spiritual leaders. This is accomplished through a masterful
combination of the author’s personal testimony, historical leadership examples,
and heavy scriptural support. This
synthesis, which includes “anecdotes, quotes and examples from the lives of seventy-seven
spiritual leaders,”[2]
creates an iron-clad case for prayer’s centrality in the lives of spiritual
leaders. Then, it gives a step-by-step
analysis of nine disciplines of these leaders that the author contends are
essential for a high-impact life.
Author of several books and former
director of the Center for Pastoral Leadership at Liberty Baptist Theological
Seminary, Dr. Dave Earley is currently a pastor in Las Vegas, Nevada with a
rich history of church-planting, teaching, and ministry training. This book on prayer clearly comes from a
place of extensive experience and a contagious passion for seeking God through
prayer.
SUMMARY
The book’s introduction begins with
the bold, often quoted statement, “Leadership is influence.”[3] Earley contends in this section that prayer
is the common denominator among “spiritual
difference-makers”[4] of
all eras. After a variety of brief
examples from Christian leaders such as OMS leader Wesley Duewel, Andrew
Murray, J.C. Ryle, and E.M. Bounds, he summarizes in the words of J.O. Sanders,
“The eminence of great leaders in the Bible is attributable to the fact that they
were great in their praying.”[5] He then encourages the reader to adopt the
nine best-practices that are to be expounded upon in the rest of the book.
The chapters of the book may be
divided into three logical sections. The
first, consisting of chapters one and two, creates the foundation for a life of
prayer. Chapter one, Value the Power of Prayer, works to
establish an awareness in the reader that prayer is a necessary priority of the
life of a high-impact leader. In fact
it is his “most important task.”[6] The second chapter, confident that the reader
now understands the value of prayer, encourages them to Make Time to Pray. Drawing
heavily upon examples from Jesus’ own prayer life, Earley writes that prayer
ought to be the first thing in the Christian leader’s day.
The second section of the book,
chapters three through eight, delineates six techniques for building a powerful
prayer life. This section encourages the
reader to pray for those they serve, train others to pray for them, turn
problems into prayer, fast and pray, possess a bold faith, and build upon the
popular ACTS acrostic to “bring variety and balance” to their prayers.[7]
The final two chapters, which
create the third section of the book, tie together the general (section 1) and
the specific (section 2) by identifying application of the nine principles in
the lives of great historical leaders and offering a prayer life assessment and
inventory
.
CRITIQUE
The author accomplishes his task well. That is, he challenges, equips, and encourages
his readers to be devoted to prayer. It
succeeds where other books fail, because many books provide either high levels
of conviction and vision with little practical application, or else they read
like an instruction manual without grabbing the reader emotionally. Earley’s book does both.
In terms of imbuing his readers with his vision, Earley
makes several arguments for the centrality and power of prayer, but three are
especially cogent. He writes that prayer
actually saves time by allowing God “to do more in days, hours, minutes, or even seconds than we could do
in . . . even years of work.”[8] Second, he argues that the work of God is
actually dependent (at least partially) upon the prayers of God’s people. “The more we pray, the more God works.”[9] Additionally, he provides evidence that nothing in the New Testament was ever
accomplished in ministry except that it was prompted by prayer.[10]
As to the task of systematizing his
recommendations, rather than give a laundry-list of do’s and don’ts, Earley
fills the chapters for each of the nine disciplines with gentle admonitions,
emotional stories, and potently relevant Scripture in easily digestible
chunks. This gives the reading a swift
pace and encourages an emotional involvement with the text that often results
in tears as the reader considers God’s past working through prayers and longs
for the same in their own life.
Overall, the greatest strength of
the book is that, due to the weaving of Scripture and historical precedents
into the chapters, one finds an overwhelming amount of evidence to support
Earley’s claim that the disciplines represented will transform the believer’s life.
Difficulties with book are difficult to find, largely due to the reason
above. It could be argued, perhaps, that
chapter 10, Putting it All Together,
seems more like an appendix than a concluding chapter, making it anticlimactic. Also, a suggested bibliography for the
leaders studied would be helpful for those who resonate with one or another and
wish to do further study.
PERSONAL APPLICATION
I started reading this book as I
might any other textbook. The very first
chapter, however, made it clear to me that I was reading a book that would
radically change my life. As I laughed
and cried my way through the text, I easily forgot that I was reading for
school and was deeply edified.
Right away, I was challenged by the
admonitions to make time to pray and to be deliberate about it.[11]
I was particularly impacted by the fact that Jesus, the very Son of God, made
it a priority to pray at the start of his day.[12] The other statement that really stuck with me
was the assertion that “four hours of work after an hour of prayer would
accomplish more than five hours without prayer.”[13]
The subsequent stories of the prayer lives of spiritual giants such as Martin
Luther drove it home even further. The
fact that Luther said he prayed two hours a day, but if he had a particularly
busy day ahead, he increased his
prayer time, revealed to me how distorted my view of prayer really was.[14]
Since beginning this book, I have
begun to establish a routine of praying for one hour each morning. I used to think that an hour a day in prayer
would be the pinnacle of Christian devotion.
Now, it seems but a starting point.
I have also begun a prayer journal in order to record my thoughts
following my time with God, and to record prayers and prayers answered as a
record of God’s faithfulness for that inevitable day when doubt creeps in to
steal my conviction. One area that I am
actively pursuing is that of asking God to teach me what He wants me to pray
for, that I may possess a bolder faith and fire arrows toward heaven rather
than buckshot.[15]
Finally, I have been encouraged by
the book to fast. The significance of
this discipline has always eluded me, but chapter 6 made it very clear what
fasting is and is not, along with providing a biblical basis for it that was
very powerful. I have always thought of
fasting as one discipline and prayer as another, but the book clarified well
the link between the two. I plan to incorporate
fasting into my devotional life soon, and look forward to the added time with
the Lord and greater depth in my prayer life that will come as a result.
As I progress in my prayer life,
this book will be a valuable resource for me.
I plan to add each of the nine disciplines, brick by brick, into my
spiritual architecture. While mastery of
them will take time, it will be time well spent. Each of the disciplines presented seems to be
of immeasurable worth as I progress in my education and ministry, and I am glad
that I will have this book to use as a guide.
CONLCUSION
Prayer is as essential to the
Christian life as “sleeping, eating, and breathing.”[16] David Earley’s book, Prayer: The Timeless Secret of High-impact Leaders is a
passionately written, wildly informative primer on this critical Christian
discipline. It’s emotionality, deep
Scriptural basis, and accessible style make it and engaging read with deep
relevance for Christians at all levels of maturity or ministry.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Earley, Dave. Prayer:
The Timeless Secret of High-Impact Leaders. Chattanooga, TN: Living Ink
Books, 2008.
[1]
Dave Earley, Prayer: the Timeless Secret of High-Impact Leaders
(Chattanooga, TN: Living Ink Books, 2008), ix.
[2]
Ibid., xiv.
[3]
Earley, Prayer, ix.
[4]
Ibid.
[5]
Ibid., xii.
[6]
Ibid., 2.
[7]
Ibid., 129.
[8]
Earley, Prayer, 5.
[9]
Ibid., 7,9.
[10]
Ibid., 10-11.
[11]
Earley, Prayer, 18-28.
[12]
Ibid., 19.
[13]
Ibid., 22.
[14]
Earley, Prayer, 5.
[15]
Ibid., 121.
[16]
Earley, Prayer, 22.
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