Day 214 - A way of Life

I’ve been reviewing the PAPA prayer by Larry Crabb. This is the final chapter. The teaching behind the PAPA Prayer

• Present yourself to God (be honest about yourself)
• Attend to how you are thinking of God (finally, in this chapter, he more correctly states that we should be attending to WHO God really is)
• Purge yourself of anything that blocks your relationship with God
• Approach God as the first thing in your life

Has sometimes resonated with scripture, sometimes seemed like a forced acronym on prayer remarkably close to the lessons taught in “The Lord’s Prayer”, and sometimes heavily leaned on Postmodern teaching that actually misrepresented what the author later concluded.

For example this last chapter was a better explanation of the teaching of this book than much of the previous chapters. His conclusion that “when we mature enough to want from God what He’s ready to give us, incredible things happen”
Sometimes around us (when God chooses to change our circumstances)
But
Always IN us, because He will always use His power to change our hearts to be like Him

The lesson then, is that “getting close to God is better than any blessing this world can provide.”

I originally picked up the book because of a recommendation of a respected Christian teacher. I found I disagreed with much of the jargon, particularly at least the majority of the first half of the book because there was little scripture backup as it explained what Crabb called the PAPA prayer. Although there was valid teaching and I found the final chapter to be the most legitimate in that it most clearly explained what the author had, I felt, intended to convey through the rest of the book, which to be honest, instead had me constantly scrambling to scripture and feeling the need to clarify.

Despite the good points I could not recommend the book to others, although I do recommend the more thoughtful aspects of prayer - the four steps, rephrased closer to scriptural teachings

P – present yourself to God
• be in the mirror (the Word of God) and to be honest [confess] before God with what the law reveals about me
A - attend to how you are thinking of God (chap 20 he says Attend to Who God is as revealed in the scripture NOT who you think God is based on life experience)
• study the Names of God to better understand WHO God really is

P – purge yourself -
• bow before Almighty God and let him purge the sin from my life (repent)
A – approach God as the ‘first thing’ in your life
• approach the throne of Grace, realizing I need God and His grace, more than I need any thing and to approach Him and His presence as first - all other issues, people, circumstances and things being secondary


Interestingly my words for the four steps – Confess, Attend, Repent and Approach spell CARA – an Italian word meaning dear one.

After all this discussion Crabb finally says what I’ve been waiting for – now you are coming to Him not to change things, make you happy, or give you things, but “You’re now entering His world to bring Him glory, to become a source of joy [to Him}.”

End of review and discussion on The PAPA Prayer by Larry Crabb. 

Food for today was the Pineapple Chicken Teryiaki& Sweet Potatoes

and finish off the Naan with Asian Coleslaw (replaced a little of the oil in the dressing with Toasted Sesame Oil)