Pray Like Jesus: Learn to Pray to God as Father

by Mark Driscoll, Ashley Chase

"Spirit-Filled Jesus" presents an inspiring exploration of how the Holy Spirit worked in and through the life of Jesus, offering fresh perspectives and unexamined aspects of His life. The book proposes that the same Spirit that empowered Jesus resides in every believer and is a source of tremendous power and resilience.

With an acute focus on Jesus's approach to enduring hardships, the book illuminates how He utilized the Holy Spirit's strength to resist temptation, endure suffering, and overcome Satan. Readers are guided to apply this understanding in their own lives - to maintain emotional health amid difficulties, mend relationships, find perfection through suffering, offer forgiveness, and utilize divine weapons to defeat evil forces.

Genres: Christian, Nonfiction, Prayer

240 pages, Paperback

Published August 15, 2023

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Mark A. Driscoll is the founder and teaching pastor of Mars Hill Church in Seattle, Washington, as well as the co-founder of the Acts 29 Church Planting Network where he also served as President for a short period. Driscoll continues to serve on the board of Acts 29. He has contributed to the "Faith and Values" section of the Seattle Times and the "On Faith" section of the Washington Post.

Reviews

[Joel Rasmussen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was good, hearing from both a pastors and a daughters perspective on prayer was really effective. I especially liked the way the daughter spoke of God as father and our role as men in modelling that, what an honour and responsibility.

[Macks Milner · Rating 2 out of 5]

Full disclosure: Despite my low rating, there is nothing wrong with this book - it just turned out not to be what I was looking for. Pray Like Jesus: Learn To Pray To God As Father reads like a book for beginning believers who wanna learn more about praying. It's like Prayer 101. And there's nothing wrong with that. Personally, going by the title, I was looking for something that analyzed Jesus' prayers and how He prayed. Instead, this guides readers on what is prayer and what is not prayer, and what things one can pray about/for. It's probably very helpful for new Christians and that's who I would recommend it to. If you've been a Christian for a while, this won't necessarily be life-changing or mind-blowing. What is kinda nice about it though is it ends each chapter with questions of reflection based on the reading. That was helpful.

There is one thing I did find a little disheartening.

Mark Driscoll, the co-author of this book with one of his daughters, was a pastor of an influential and awesome church I attended when I lived in the state of Washington but was then forced to resign, not for anything heretical and he did not get #MeToo'd or anything like that, he resigned based on allegations of being a bully to staff and creating a hostile work environment. There have been opinions opined over the years that he never really formally apologized for his behavior and there was a moment in this book that made me believe that he still must not feel any remorse for it. That moment was when he described his and his family's move from Washington to Arizona (where he now preaches at a new church) was due to "a hurricane of events". So he doesn't address the real reason when this was a perfect time to do so and say something akin to "When me and my moved from Washington to Arizona due to my regrettable behavior that I wish I could take back when I was pastoring at Mars Hill..." but he doesn't. Kind of a shame. Rumor has it he's continuing the same kind of actions and attitudes at his new church. Yikes.

[Marco · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the ways I become better at prayer is by reading books on prayer and this is a great book for that! I love the team-up between father and daughter as Mark and his daughter Ashley have co-written the book. This book surveys the prayer life of Jesus and not only offers some solid theological interpretation regarding Jesus' prayers, but a very practical component as for how Jesus' prayers should inform our prayers!

[Petrus · Rating 3 out of 5]

I feel the book did what it set put to do, but it's a bit... light, empty, or, how do I put it. It's a very fast pace book that run through two people's experiences of what a 'Dad' looks like. Not bad, but expected more meat on the bones. More about praying through Jesus and in the Spirit and less about examples. But the books title is about TO THE FATHER...

[Kerr Howell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Praying like Jesus was a good book. I loved how this father and daughter looked at the prayers of Jesus, and how we took can pray like Jesus, because we are Jesus'. Very practical and very simple. Thw reflection question were good as well.

[Sean · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really enjoyed my time with this quick read. Great example of hearing the truth in love.

[Leah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wanted to get deeper in my prayer life and this book opened up new ways to pray and think about prayer.