Goldsworthy challenges us to see prayer as our response to what God has said and done, not simply as a means of requesting things from Him. Although full of practical implications, Goldsworthy’s goal is to first provide a proper foundational understanding of prayer that will then affect the way we pray. He places a strong emphasis on the necessity of Christ’s mediation in making prayer possible and discusses the role of faith. A powerful, thought-provoking read.

Questions about who God is, what He is like, and how He has acted to save us should be considered prior to questions about who we are and how we should live and pray. The latter questions will be totally out of focus if we do not seek to answer them in light of the former. [16]

When faith is lacking the antidote is not introspective self-examination but contemplation of the object of our faith: Jesus the Lord, our sufficient Savior. [71]

Praying when the mood takes us does not make peace with God. Nor does the conviction that we are essentially decent people. Peace with God is firmly grounded on the work of Christ and that alone. [136]

Faith is nothing less than taking God at His word and having complete confidence that He will not, and cannot, deceive us. [137]

It is clear that some prayers are not granted, not because we lack faith, but because the sovereign will of God is expressed in another way. God has a wisdom that, from time to time, uses our sufferings and even martyrdom for His glory. Whenever such an answer is received it throws us back onto trust in the goodness of God and the fact that He often chooses not to reveal the details of His plan for us. [171]

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