Review: Too Busy Not to Pray

Too Busy Not to Pray by Bill Hybels
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Pastor Hybels shares authentically about his personal journey in prayer, with most anecdotes being real-life events that occurred in interaction with people he knows. The book has plenty of advice for Christians to consider implementing. As with any other books authored by Hybels, the style is engaging and lively, the content is highly accessible to the lay Christian. For example, Bible stories quoted are often paraphrased with dialogue that modern believers can immediately understand. Hybels also does not shy away from the difficult discussion of when God does not answer prayer. In fact, I felt that he did so in a sensitive and pastoral manner.

While I thoroughly enjoyed his books on leadership (most of which I regard to be 6 out 5 stars), this book did not venture into deep exegetical or theological discussion. Well, that is probably due to Hybels being a pastor rather than a bible scholar. For the purposes of a small group study, perhaps this book could be used as introductory material to James Bryan Smith's Apprentice Series (https://www.goodreads.com/search?q=Ja...) or one of Kenneth Boa's books on spiritual formation. But it would be inaccurate for me to conclude that the book suffers from the serious deficiency of a watering down of the gospel. I came away with a renewed commitment to pray and found many practical suggestions extremely useful. To highlight a couple, it would be reflect on the previous day in the prayer journal so as to examine our lives, and that we could pray whenever we are commuting or going about our daily lives.

I received this book from InterVarsity Press for the purposes of providing an unbiased review. All views are my own.

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