Just Asking: Restoring the Soul of Prayer

We need to state the obviousprayer is about asking. If we deny, dilute, or diminish that, the bones of our prayer lives will suffer from spiritual osteoporosis. Prayerlessness is a failure to ask and keep on asking. Isnt it obvious what asking is about? Perhaps, but that is precisely why it is taken for granted and not even mentioned in most books about prayer, and if it is, it is treated as if it were a lesser and lower form of prayer, equated with the immature requests of a child. Nothing could be further from the biblical truth.

Asking is not simple prayer. Prayer is simply asking. The assumption is that asking will be transcended by more mature forms, so prayer is presented in an ever-increasing number of levels, which seem to make the climb to the throne ever more arduous and unattainable.

Just Asking is just about asking. The majority of books about prayer discuss any number of kinds of prayers in general. Asking is all that this book talks about specifically. It invites you into a comprehensive biblical study of asking and then encourages you to just do it. After all, it was Jesus who said, Ask and you will receive and then repeated the invitation no less than six times in his last conversation with his disciples. Arent last words important? Why can we ask with confidence? What makes for effective asking? Read this book and lets just ask together!

A graduate in Literature and Theology at Cambridge University, Stuart taught Literature before being called into pastoral ministry. He planted Christ Our Shepherd Church on Capitol Hill, Washington D.C. in 1987, where he continues to serve. Together with his wife, Celia, he serves as the International Director of ASK NETWORK (www.asknetwork.net) and also as a Senior Teaching Fellow for the C.S.Lewis Institute (www.cslewisinstitute.org)