No Holds Barred

by ROBERTS, MARK D.

• ISBN13: 9781578567058
• ISBN10: 157856705X
• Format: Trade Paper
• Copyright: 2005-03-15
• Publisher: WaterBrook

Summary

God wants your whole heart. So let him have it. Does your relationship with God feel stale and predictable? Do you struggle to find the time and energy for prayer? Then perhaps you're being too polite with God. If your prayers lack passion and honesty, then God may be as bored as you are. Guarded and "religiously correct" prayers might sound nice, but to God they sound half-hearted. He wants you to pray with freedom, boldness, and raw honesty. The prayers we find in the Psalms run the gamut from awed worship to stunned silence to doubt, desperation, and rage. David and others like him had no time for safe, sanitized prayers. They wrestled with God when they prayedwith no holds barred. Starting today, you can enjoy an energizing intimacy with God.No Holds Barredwill help you plunge deeper into different types of prayerasking, thanking, praising, and confessing. It also will lead you into new forms of prayingprayers of desperation and doubt, prayers that question God's apparent slowness, prayers that demand answers. These are the prayers that hold your attentionand that capture God's attention. Don't wait any longer to begin a rich new conversation with God.

Author Biography

<b>Mark D. Roberts</b> is senior pastor of Irvine Presbyterian Church in Irvine, California, and an adjunct professor of New Testament at Fuller Seminary. He earned degrees in philosophy and religion at Harvard University, where he also received a Ph.D. in New Testament. He is the author of <i>Dare to Be True </i>and <i>Jesus Revealed, </i>as well as <i>Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther </i>in <i>The Preacher’s Commentary Series</i>. Mark and his wife, Linda, live in Southern California with their two children. Visit his website at www.markdroberts.com.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	xi
Introduction: No Holds Barred	1	(158)
1 Hey, God-Get Up!	19	(16)
Prayer of Asking
2 Praying Like Elephants	35	(16)
Prayer of Remembering
3 The Quiet After the Storm	51	(12)
Prayer of Silence
4 A Standing Ovation for God	63	(16)
Prayer of Physical Expression
5 Groaning in the Night	79	(16)
Prayer of Desperation and Doubt
6 Speaking the Unspeakable	95	(16)
Prayer of Vengeance
7 Savoring Life	111	(16)
Prayer of Thanksgiving
8 Flooding God	127	(16)
Prayer of Praise
9 The Dreaded Encounter	143	(16)
Prayer of Confession
10 Facedown Before the King	159	(16)
Prayer of Worship
Discussion Guide: Questions for Reflection and Growth	175	(8)
Notes	183