Archive for category: Resources

Book Review by Major Charity Kramerius
Personnel Officer – College For Officer Training

I recently read the book How to pray, a simple guide for normal people, by Pete Grieg. It’s a quick read, or a short audio book read by the author himself, a person whose clear passion for prayer lead him to co-found and promote the 24-7 Prayer movement around the world.

Mr. Grieg uses the Lord’s Prayer to challenge ordinary believers at all points in their faith journey to pray simple, honest and powerful prayers. It’s not a formula book – how often to pray, where to pray, specific words that would honor God or sway God’s heart. The focus is placed on form – having a genuine heart for God and pursuing a loving and deepening relationship with Him through prayer

Before I even read the first word of Chapter One, I was captured. I like to think of myself as normal and appreciate things put simply. In the intro “How to Read This Book in a Couple of Minutes,” I was challenged to pause. “To start we must stop. To move forward we must pause. This is the first step in a deeper prayer life: Put down your wish list and wait. Sit quietly. ‘Be still, and know that I am God.’” (pg. xiv). From the beginning, Mr. Grieg shares from his own experience. “Merely by showing up, you make a declaration of intent…After decades of night-and-day prayer, I have come to believe that 99 percent of it is just showing up: making the effort to become consciously present to the God who is constantly present to us” (pg. 10).

As women Officers, many of us are pulled daily in two opposing directions…be the heart of the ministry while keeping the show on the road at a heart-stopping pace. Balance family and ministry. Pursue and protect a personal time with God as well as serve others sacrificially. Mr. Grieg brings things back to the basics with the encouragement to keep our relationship and communication with God “real,” as a way of practicing God’s presence and receiving His power. I recommend this book and encourage listening to the audio version. The book is also the basis of a 24-7 Prayer video teaching series, The Prayer Course, available free online with a Toolshed of supporting materials.

Book Review by Major Angelina Koenig
Medford Citadel, OR – Cascade Division

Liturgy of the Ordinary by Tish Harrison Warren is a book that discusses how our ordinary, daily lives are shaping us and forming us to live and respond to others. However, this book looks at the spiritual implications in our daily moments as moments to meet God and work on our beloved-ness and holiness with a holy God.

The author shares that God said of his son, Jesus, “this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased” before Jesus did anything extraordinary. God said this before Jesus performed miracles before he died on the cross and rose from the dead. God is well-pleased with us, before our feet hit the ground. “But each morning in those tender moments—in simply being God’s smelly, sleepy beloved—I again receive grace, life, and faith as a gift. Grace is a mystery and the joyful scandal of the universe” (Warren, 20). We pray and ask God to transform us; yet, we don’t really stop and think about the formation happening in the every-day moments we have. From brushing our teeth to the losing of our keys and the arguments with our spouse or children, these are the moments God invites us to see our beloved-ness and pause for grace and transformation to happen in our lives and the lives of others.

My favorite part of the book are the straight-forward comments that bring the reader to light-bulb moment of awareness and acceptance of our beloved-ness because God so loved the world and God loved us first. I enjoy taking the knowledge of the “I-know” this to the “I see this” and “I see how this works in my life”. This, this gives me the affirmation of the beauty of God’s grace in my life.

I would recommend this book to anyone who needs to learn to accept and see their beloved-ness in God. When we question our self-worth, this book is a gentle reminder of God meeting us in our daily moments to affirm our beloved-ness.