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24-7 Prayer Movement, Book Review, Christian, Dirty Glory, Isaiah 56:7, Missions, NavPress, Pete Greig, prayer
Title: Dirty Glory: Go Where Your Best Prayers Take You
Book #2 of the Red Moon Chronicles
Author: Pete Greig
Published by: NavPress (October 18, 2016)
Pages: 368 (Paperback)
Blurb: For many Christians, prayer is an obligation that has little bearing on everyday life. The story of the 24/7 prayer movement demonstrates in gripping detail how prayer is far more than an obligation and how God is far more interested in prayer than we are. Continuing to chronicle the life and extraordinary ministry of the 24/7 prayer movement for a readership anxiously awaiting this title, Pete Greig tells story after story of God’s faithful interaction with human prayer to change lives and cultures.
My Take: I snagged this book on impulse, having heard about the 24-7 Prayer Movement and was curious to know more about it and how they view prayer. I opened the cover expecting to have my prayer life challenged and changed, to be touched by the stories Greig tells and to be transformed to be more active and intentional in my own prayers. This book fulfilled every expectation.
I never felt like I was really missing out on not having read the first book in the series, which I understand chronicled the beginning of the 24-7 Prayer Movement. This book follows its own arc, following the stories of 14 different people in various places and at various times who have some sort of connection to the 24-7 Prayer Movement. Much of the content in this book is not so much on how to pray, or even why you should pray, but rather they are chronicling what happened in each of these stories when the person said YES to what direction God was leading them. And ultimately, that is what this book is going to do, to show you what can happen when you give God control of the decisions in your life. They aren’t blindly made, impulsive decisions. But ultimately, in spite of wrestling with the guiding of God, these people went all-in.
There are four overarching themes found in this book, all mentioned and introduced in the introduction and it is easy to see their heartbeat throughout each and every chapter and story within the pages. These are:
- Incarnation – A celebration of the “Word made flesh” through stories of God’s glory happening in places that are ordinary, yet unlikely, and being done by ordinary people.
- The presence paradigm – A way of viewing the message of the Bible through the lens of God’s desire for friendship, family, and partnership and how it shapes major aspects of our lives and faith.
- The house of prayer – Explores what it means to be a “house of prayer for all nations” (Isaiah 56:7), which is emphasized over and over, not only about being a house of prayer but the importance of praying globally.
- The life of prayer – Stories and experiences designed to both equip and inspire the reader in prayer.
These four areas were explored thoroughly and done in a great way that can reach and inspire readers who may struggle through a more doctrinally, theologically dense book. This is the book for ordinary Christians who want to become more intentional with their prayer life and, perhaps, find reassurance that there are prayers which get answered even if those answers come later than we’d like. I cannot recommend this book enough for anyone seeking a readable book on prayer, anyone who wants to expand their prayers beyond their own community’s borders, and for anyone with a heart for missions.
I received a copy of this book from Tyndale in exchange for an honest review.
Author David Wiley 