BooK Review: Prayer as a Total Lifestyle by S.G. Preston
“The Lord is near to all who call upon Him,
to all who call upon Him in truth.”
-Psalm 145:18
See the Reviews this Book received at AMAZON BOOKS.COM — Posted Lower Down on this Page!
"LiVE in PRayER / LiVe in PEAcE / LiVE in PuRity: LiVE in CHRiSt"
Book Review: Prayer as a Total Lifestyle by S.G. Preston; Back Cover
S.G. Preston and his wife, Linda Founded the PrayerFoundation™ in 1999. The first Evangelical Monastic Order on the Internet, Christians in all 50 States and 47 Countries have joined with them. They live in the Pacific Northwest with four cats and a Scottish Terrier named Hermiston.
Learn prayer from George Muller, Hudson Taylor, E.M. Bounds, C.S. Lewis, St. Francis, St. Patrick, Bonhoeffer, Spurgeon, Luther, Chrysostom, Augustine, and many others.
The PrayerFoundation™ is a “Mere Christianity” ministry. It is Interdenominational, containing “The Best of Prayer Teaching and Resources from All Christian Communions and Eras.”
This is the first Volume of a History of Prayer in two Volumes. Twenty years of study and practice in a life and ministry of prayer has been condensed into two Practical Handbooks of “prayer tips” and “prayer truths” from the Early Church to the Reformation and World Missions Movement to today.
The third volume of this Prayer Trilogy, Answers to Prayer: A Global Prayerchain Since 2000, shows the outworking of a life of prayer in the resulting experience of constant answers to prayer.
The entire Trilogy makes a thoughtful gift of prayer encouragement for friends, relatives, and young people.
Book Review: Prayer as a Total Lifestyle by S.G. Preston; Chapter 1, Section 1
1.1 Assisi: Where St. Francis Walked
In December of 1998, Linda and I visited the small hilltop town of Assisi. The train trip from Rome required an entire day of traveling through the Italian countryside.
At the base of the mountain, we transferred to a bus taking us to the end of the line: a parking area just below the medieval town. After climbing a long series of steep steps, we arrived at the town proper.
No vehicles are allowed on the ancient streets. From the top of the mountain, the view was breathtakingly beautiful.
Far below was the vast panorama of undeveloped rural Italy: fields, vineyards, and farmhouses, extending as far as the eye can see. At this time of year there were almost no tourists.
Small remnants of snow, not yet melted, remained on the ground; drifting against a nearby stone wall.
It was exciting when a Franciscan Friar walked by; even more so, for some reason, when he unexpectedly brought his hood up!
In the Footsteps of the Saint
We walked to the Papal Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi, the Mother Church of the original Franciscan Order of Friars Minor. Here St. Francis’ body was hidden for fifty years after his death.
Such were the times, Franciscans feared attempts by other Orders to steal it for what were then considered valuable relics. We realized we were standing where Francis had stood, walking where he had walked, and seeing what he had seen.
The Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi
Knowing this, and that the buildings and scenery were virtually unchanged from his time, was intense and exhilarating. Reaching the Church we paused to take it all in.
The building of this Basilica was begun in 1228 A.D., the year Francis was canonized as a saint; just two years after his death at age 44. The Upper Church was closed for repairs, due to the partial collapse of the roof during a recent earthquake. We were able to look through the main doors and see inside.
A Habit St. Francis Wore
Touring the Lower Church, we were entranced by Giotto’s beautiful frescoes. Beneath the Lower Church, we visited the crypt where the “little poverello” (poor one) is laid to rest.
In awe we viewed, preserved under glass, the very Habit, or robe, that St. Francis was wearing when he went home to be with the Lord. Everything in Assisi deeply touched and affected us.
Book Review: Prayer as a Total Lifestyle by S.G. Preston; Chapter 5, Section 3
5.3 Hudson Taylor
“God always gives His very best to those who leave the choice with Him.” -Hudson Taylor (1832-1905) Founder, China Inland Mission
Go for Me to China
Although today’s Chinese Christians are mostly unaware of him, the Christianity that exists in China today is due largely to the efforts of this one faithful man of prayer. Before his birth, Hudson Taylor’s godly parents prayed that if they had a son, he would become a missionary to China.
God eventually mightily answered their prayer, but it seemed for many years that He would not. Hudson was very sickly as a child — and he was not a Christian! His parents gave up any hope that he would ever become a missionary.
Hudson Gives His Life to Christ
When he turned seventeen, however, Hudson received Christ as his Lord and Savior. He made a promise to God that he would go anywhere, do anything, and suffer anything for Christ. One day he felt that he heard a distinct call from God: “Then go for Me to China.”
Prayer and Living On Faith
Still in England, Hudson determined to “live on faith.” He entered Medical School as a preparation for his missionary work. Hudson denied himself many comforts and lived in extreme poverty, so as to be able to pay for his schooling.
He refused any offers of financial support. At one point, he nearly died from an extreme fever he contracted while attending school.
Hudson Taylor and George Müller
In 1853, at the age of twenty-one, Hudson Taylor went to China as a missionary. However, the missionary society that sent him wasn’t very well organized, and they often failed to send him money.
Hudson found he had no money to pay for food and rent. He prayed, and a donation arrived…from George Müller!
Prayer and Giving
Müller not only “prayed in” all of the support for his own extensive orphanage and schooling ministries, he also continually gave away the equivalent of millions of dollars in today’s money to hundreds of missionaries all over the world. Yet Müller never solicited funds, or even made his needs known outside of his own ministry.
Hudson Inspired by Müller
Following the example of George Müller, Hudson Taylor resigned from his Mission Board, trusting God to supply all his needs, and determined not to ask anyone other than God for money.
Hudson founded the China Inland Mission (CIM; later known as: Overseas Missionary Fellowship, and OMF International) on the same principles. All of the missionaries that he recruited were also required to “live on faith.”
God Will Provide
The missionaries of the China Inland Mission would have no guaranteed salaries, nor were they allowed to appeal for funds.
Hudson required them to simply trust God for supplying any needs.
Hudson Taylor said: “Depend upon it. God’s work, done in God’s way, will never lack for supplies.”
Evangelizing China
Until Hudson arrived in China, there were only a very small number of missionaries in just a few of the coastal ports of China.
At the time of his death, after spending 51 years of his life in China, the CIM included 205 Mission stations with over 800 missionaries, and 125,000 Chinese Christians in eighteen provinces. It would become the largest missionary organization in the world.
Recommended Book and Film
The story of his life is one of the most amazing and inspiring stories that we have ever heard. To learn about his life is to receive many spiritual blessings: Hudson Taylor’s Spiritual Secret by Dr. Howard Taylor is our favorite book about this great man of prayer. Dr. Taylor is Hudson’s son.
There is also a greatly inspiring Film on Hudson’s life simply called: Hudson Taylor which we have watched many times. We have even played it for a group of young people from a visiting Christian missionary ministry.
1900 – The Boxer Rebellion
Hudson’s message was: “China is not to be won for Christ by quiet, ease-loving men and women… The stamp of men and women we need is such as will put Jesus, (and) China souls first and foremost in everything and at every time – even life itself must be secondary.”
By the time of the Boxer Rebellion, an anti-foreigner reign of terror in 1900, half of all the missionaries in China were members of his organization.
During this horrific Rebellion, most missionaries and over 2,000 Chinese Christians were murdered, becoming martyrs for Christ.
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Copyright 2018, 2020 S.G. Preston. All Rights Reserved.
Book Reviews of this Book from AmazonBooks.com
“Prayer as a Total Lifestyle” oscillates between the practices of the author and their Lay Order and insights and quotations ranging from the Desert Fathers to more recent examples of individuals who lead a prayerful life.
It reads like a compendium of quotations and practices from stalwarts of prayer through the ages. The book inspires one to prayer and gives practical examples of how a prayer practice might look in contemporary life.
Though the book comes in at almost 300 pages, I read it in less than a week. The design of the book is that once you finished it, you go back through and soak in and implement its guidance. While it took less than a week to read, it will take many decades to master its inspirational guidance.
I would recommend it to anyone looking to become serious about prayer and need a place to find inspiration and examples that complement the teaching of prayer found in the Bible.
biLLy GRAHAM / MARtiN LutHER / St. AuGuStiNE / C.S. Lewis / St. JOHN cHRySOStOM
“The Psalms will tell you how to get along with God.”
“True prayer is a way of life…”
Billy Graham (1918-2018)
“For every man, on every occasion, can find in the Psalms that which fits his needs, which he feels to be appropriate, as if they had been set there just for his sake.”
“Pray, and let God worry.”
-Martin Luther (1483-1546)
“True, whole prayer, is nothing but love.”
-St. Augustine (354-430 A.D.)
-C.S. Lewis (1898-1963)
“Prayer should be the means by which I, at all times, receive all that I need, and, for this reason, be my daily refuge, my daily consolation, my daily joy, my source of rich and inexhaustible joy in life.”
-St. John Chrysostom (c. 347-407 A.D.)
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