Too Busy Not to Pray Hardcover – Deluxe Edition, April 7, 2008
Author: Visit ‘s Bill Hybels Page ID: 0830834745
Review
“A practical guide.” (BTS Booklist,)
“The most helpful book on Prayer that I have read.” (The Good Book Stall)
About the Author
Bill Hybels is founding and senior pastor of Willow Creek Community Church in the Chicago suburbs, where over 15,000 attend each weekend. He has written a number of books, including Honest to God, Becoming a Contagious Christian, Making Life Work, Too Busy Not to Pray, Just Walk Across the Room, Holy Discontent, Courageous Leadership and Who You Are When No One’s Looking.
Hardcover: 198 pagesPublisher: IVP Books; 20th Anniversary Edition edition (April 7, 2008)Language: EnglishISBN-10: 0830834745ISBN-13: 978-0830834747 Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 0.9 x 8.2 inches Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces Best Sellers Rank: #66,983 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #4812 in Books > Christian Books & Bibles > Christian Living #15542 in Books > Religion & Spirituality
(2nd edition, InterVarsity Press, 1998.)
In his usual relevant, personal style, Bill Hybels promotes a practical look at the discipline of prayer in a believer’s life. This is not simply a truth he teaches but one he has personally applied. We can desire his results when he says "the greatest thrill has been the qualitative difference in my relationship with God" (11). We can relate to his struggles when he readily admits that "the real reason my prayers were weak was that my faith was weak" (31). We can begin to follow his journey into a life of prayer by considering his take on re-ordering life – "We just cannot grow with no structure, no sense of intentionality about our spiritual life, any more than we can lower our body fat or develop good muscle tone or increase our net worth by just sitting back and waiting for whatever happens" (44). Too Busy Not to Pray would be a helpful beginning for some while it might be too light for others.
In terms of weaknesses, we can consider the loose biblical support for this look at prayer. As an example, Hybels begins his journey with a very exciting look at the newly rescued Hebrews and their battle with Amalek. Hybels is not alone in his interpretation of this text as one supporting prayer, but many theologians would disagree. In Exodus 17, Moses raises his staff, and Joshua wins. When his arms are lowered, the Hebrews struggle. Two come alongside to hold up Moses’ arms and thus the staff to ensure the win for the Hebrews. Nowhere in this text does Moses mouth words of prayer, nor do we see any evidence later of this being an instance of prayer. It is a beautiful picture of God’s power and protection ("The LORD is my banner"), but it does not adequately fit a foundational text on prayer.
This was my first experience reading Bill Hybel’s work and it won’t be my last. While his writing style is not as engaging to me as that of a Max Lucado or Frederick Buechner, I think that Hybel’s instruction and guidance made it one of the best Christian books that I’ve read. It covers many questions that people have about how to pray, as well as, how people can get off track with their understanding of prayer and it’s purpose for our lives.
Power Chapter: "In my head I have always believed in God’s omnipotence…But too often this belief hasn’t registered where it really counts–in my heart (p. 31)." In chapter 3, Hybels shares his findings from studying God’s power and omnipotence. He broke it down into "God’s Power over Nature," "God’s Power over Circumstances," "God’s Power over Hearts," and "The Same Yesterday, Today, and Forever." After going into depth about God’s power, he closes by reminding us that God, like a good father, doesn’t want us to think we have to flog ourselves, begging for hours to get Him to pay attention; instead, God is "listening very closely, hoping" to hear our voices…that God actually takes great pleasure in meeting our needs.
Another strong aspect of Hybel’s book is the way he approaches misconceptions in how we think about responding to the Spirit’s promptings that come through a more disciplined prayer life. I think this part of the book is especially helpful because it addresses not just how to talk to God, but also how to hear and know better when it is God speaking in our lives.
The book is a good reminder of some of the basics of prayer and also serves as a corrective to a prayer life that is non-existent, out of focus, or off-balance. It is also extremely practical and useable. It covers a lot of ground but in this review I want to highlight a few big ideas that were a good reminder to me personally and also, I believe, are representative of some major themes in the book.
In Chapter 6 Hybels lays out a "Pattern for Prayer." This pattern is the now relatively common ACTS pattern and stands for Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, Supplication. The purpose of following this pattern is to build balance into prayer life. For most of my life, my prayers have been pretty out of balance – weighted heavily toward the "supplication" (I want something) side of things. I’ve personally been following ACTS since college and, when I remember to do it, I stay in balance.
Hybels compares prayer to a workout regime. If you go to a gym, he says (and I’ll have to take his word for it here), you’ll see examples of imbalance; the super strong who can’t run around the track and the cardiovascular elite with no upper body strength. Imbalanced prayer can lead to a skewed view of God and inadequate understanding of prayer.
I would also like to highlight Hybels’ discussion on following the "leadings" and "tuggings" of the Holy Spirit. Given our extraordinarily subjective and experiential culture I’ve developed a slightly reactionary attitude toward the role of experience in religious life. So, when Hybels brought out the language of "leadings" and "tuggings" I got a little nervous. I’ve grown accustomed to associating this language with a turn-off-the-brain mentality or an I-don’t-need-the-bible mindset.
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