ESV Prayer Bible (Review)

"The new ESV Prayer Bible from Crossway lends us a hand in our prayer lives, providing us with some helpful features sure to stir us to deeper prayer lives as we spend our devotional time in God’s Word."

Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
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Is your prayer life anemic and in need of a spark? I feel that way more often than I’d like to admit.  When I don’t use my Bible and notebook to pray, I end up rambling and chasing squirrels for 15 or 20 minutes—if I can last that long.  Even when I use the Bible, some portions lend themselves easily to prayer while others prove more challenging.

The new ESV Prayer Bible from Crossway lends us a hand in our prayer lives, providing us with some helpful features sure to stir us to deeper prayer lives as we spend our devotional time in God’s Word. If you want to grow in prayer, here are a few features that are sure to be a blessing to your prayer life:

1. An introduction to praying the Bible from Don Whitney, author of Pray the Bible. He offers “a simple, permanent, biblical solution” to our struggles with prayer, calling us to “speak to (God) about what we read, verse by verse, in the Bible”.

2. Nearly 400 prayers from theologians, pastors, and Christian writers throughout history have been weaved throughout this Bible. The prayers are easily distinguishable from the biblical text with a smaller and lighter font. This is my most favorite feature because I am encouraged by Spurgeon to pray in light of the truths in Numbers 13 or John Wesley in Proverbs 3. Our most favorite theologians, preachers, and writers were first men and women of prayer and we get a glimpse into the intimacy some of them had with God to stir us to more fervent and biblical prayer.

3. The author index features a skillfully illustrated portrait of each featured author with a brief biography of their lives and impacts. You’ll find writers and preachers such as Augustine, John Calvin, Martin Luther, John Newton, Blaise Pascal, Richard Sibbes, Charles Spurgeon, John Wesley, George Whitfield, and many more!*

4. The prayer index lists the scripture passages where prayers are found. What’s so cool about this index is that Crossway provides readers with the source of each prayer. For hungry or interested readers, this will be a great way to beef up your library with some excellent resources to spur on your prayer life!

The ESV Prayer Bible is a much-welcomed addition to my library and has already stirred up my prayer life. Seeing prayers in Numbers and Leviticus pushes me to read prayerfully, even in sections that don’t seem to be easily prayed through.

Grab a couple of copies and start praying through the Bible with someone!

*I noticed that some of the authors with featured prayers include post-Reformation Catholics, Anglo-Catholics, mystics, and others with whom you and I might disagree. For me, this doesn’t take away from the quality of this Bible because the majority of the prayers come from writers and preachers with whom I consider to have sound doctrine.