Alone With God: Rediscovering the Power and Passion of Prayer

John MacArthur, Jr. is the pastor of Grace Community Church and has written numerous books. Alone with God is about prayer.MacArthur goes through each petition of the Lord’s Prayer (Matthew 6:9-13). Framing those chapters are discussions about the proper attitude that Christians should have when praying, and the proper things to pray for. According to MacArthur, the proper things to pray for are the spiritual growth of other believers and the salvation of non-believers.My impression of this MacArthur book is similar to that of the vast majority of other MacArthur books that I have read. MacArthur presents a high standard that I cannot live up to. For instance, he says that any negative thought about God fails to hallow God’s name. But did not the Psalmists have negative thoughts about God? While MacArthur is challenging to read in that respect, he is still edifying. He has an engaging, yet weighty, style. Moreover, while I cannot live up to God’s “law,” God’s law is edifying, as a righteous and wholesome set of propositions about how people should be.MacArthur is especially edifying when he lays out biblical rationales for his points. In the chapter about praying for non-believers, for example, he systematically goes through biblical examples of people of God praying that Israelites, or others, might arrive at a right relationship with God. In his chapter on forgiveness, he lists practical reasons for Christians to forgive each other.When MacArthur wrestled with difficult issues, he was effective. For instance, there is “lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” Why would we need to ask God to do this, since God never tempts anyone, anyway (James 1:13)? If the petition asks God not to lead us into trials, how does that reconcile with New Testament statements about trials refining or purifying the character of believers, making them, arguably, a good thing? I will quote MacArthur’s solution on page 113, for future personal reference:“I affirm with Chrysostom, the early church father, that the solution to this issue is that Jesus is not dealing with logic or theology but with a natural appeal of human weakness as it faces danger (Homily 19:10). We all desire to avoid the danger and trouble that sin creates. This petition is thus the expression of the redeemed soul that so despises and fears sin that it wants to escape all prospects of falling into it, choosing to avoid rather than having to defeat temptation.”On some topics, MacArthur could have wrestled more. On “Give us this day our daily bread,” he addresses the question of how Christians in the West can pray this, when many of them do not have to worry about their next meal. MacArthur argues from the Bible that God promises to provide for the needs of believers. That may be, but what about people who starve to death due to poverty? MacArthur could say, I suppose, that they are not believers and thus are not entitled to God’s provision, but Jesus presented a scenario in which a poor man, Lazarus, died and went to Abraham’s bosom. Did God fail to fulfill God’s promise to provide for the godly in Lazarus’s hypothetical case?On “Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors,” MacArthur distinguishes between judicial forgiveness and parental forgiveness. All Christians have judicial forgiveness from God, in that God considers them righteous through Christ rather than sinners. They may lack a relational parental forgiveness from God, however, because they have failed to confess their sins or to forgive others. That is one way to harmonize the two different depictions of forgiveness in the New Testament: that it is a state that believers enter through their faith in Christ, versus the view that it is something that people need continually receive through confession, repentance, and forgiving others. Another way to harmonize these two approaches is the Roman Catholic view: people become Christians through baptism but then have to maintain their Christian status through regular confession, rather than falling into hardness of heart or mortal sin.At the same time, MacArthur backs away somewhat from any notion that Christians can refuse to forgive others while still trusting in their positional, judicial righteousness in Christ, for he states that a “Christian” who is not merciful may lack the new heart that God gives to believers and thus may not even be a Christian.Then there is this statement on page 108: “Because God deals with us just as we deal with others, we are to forgive others as freely and graciously as God forgives us.” Is God’s forgiveness of us truly free and gracious, however, if he deals with us as we deal with others? One approach is, well, free and gracious, whereas the other approach is very conditional and limited according to our paltry ability to forgive.Overall, MacArthur does try to harmonize details of Scripture with his Calvinist viewpoint. Why, for example, should believers pray for others’ salvation, when God has already determined who should be saved or damned? That adds an interesting theological element to the book.MacArthur also tells an anecdote about when he was a child and vandalized a school. Who would have known? MacArthur was a bad boy!The appendix has questions for group discussions, which are good and fairly open-ended. It also recommends accessible, yet meaty, Christian books for further edification and study.

Sometimes we can spend too much time reading about prayer rather than doing it. However, this shortish book (180+ pages) is a great resource for aligning our focus.Too often our prayer can be too needs-based, ie, it's all about us. Whilst in taking us through The Lord's Prayer and then Paul's priorities in prayer, MacArthur provides a challenge to allow prayer to be more God focused. Most of the book walks through MacArthur's reflections on the Lord's Prayer. I've been using The Lord's Prayer a lot recently, so I found this a good reminder of Jesus' intentions when reciting this prayer.However, it's the last two chapters that spoke to me the most. MacArthur moves from Jesus to Paul's prayer life to outline what Paul prioritised in His prayers. He highlights two key priorities:1. "That we would be worthy of our calling." I'd never noticed that Paul exhorts each of the Epistle churches with this command. Rather than being needs based (God has promised to look after these re: birds of the air, flowers of the fields in the Gospels) Paul emphasises a focus on our spiritual health (and our brothers and sisters). As we are growing holy, God's light will shine through us, enabling us to serve.2. Pray for the lost. "Evangelism begins with prayer". As a church we often feel compelled to make a noise about issues we don't agree with and effectively can become a disruptive element. MacArthur suggests by reference to Paul's letters we live a quiet life committed to praying for those who don't belief. Particularly, for those we disagree with and the leaders of our nations that we may struggle with. Our weapons are "divinely powerful". We can achieve little, but God can achieve much, so long as we are praying.I'd recommend this book for anyone seeking refreshment in their prayer life. I know it has adjusted mine.

Alone With God: Rediscovering the Power and Passion of Prayer (John MacArthur Study)I read R.C. Sproul's Does Prayer Change Things followed by Tim Keller's epic Prayer before downloading this one. I recommend Sproul's brief work over this one as a first book. MacArthur's work gives the "what" and "why" of prayer, but not so much the "how," which Keller's work spends a good deal of time on. There is little in MacArthur's book looking at how people have prayed through the centuries, in contrast with Keller's work.In his writing, MacArthur is content not to reconcile God's foreknowledge with our responsibility. It's a mystery he lets stand. We know that God is sovereign over events, yet we are commanded to pray. He does give a theology of prayer and looks at several New Testament examples. Praying is part of our overall spiritual health that helps us be "worthy of our calling." While giving a basic defense of Calvinism, MacArthur exhorts the reader that evangelism begins with prayer; the Bible says so (Matthew 9:38, 2 Timothy 2:25, etc.).The best part is the line-by-line approach to the Lord's Prayer, a chapter for each. I note that MacArthur encourages Christians to submit to their governments and pray for it. He of course has the stance that the American Revolution was sinful rebellion. He reminds the reader that "we cannot legislate morality," so evangelical efforts of lobbying are mostly a waste of time-- better off praying for our leaders' hearts to be convicted toward repentance.MacArthur gets points for succinctness and biblical application. But he delves too much into Greek etymology of words to make his point, that is similar to his book Slave. Three stars out of five.

This book challenges believers to be vigilant in prayer. Are you luffing up lost people to the Lord for salvation? If not, what’s holding you back?

John MacArthur is truly a man of God. His writings are inspirational and always lead you to our Father God's word.

As a Christian of many years, some of this book was repetitive. But it doesn't hurt to hear it again. However, the book contains some thought provoking & challenging teaching. Some of his teaching was so good I had to take notes. At the end of the book John has written some questions to challenge the reader & these can be used by individuals or in groups.I got this Kindle version when it was reduced & for the price I paid it was great value.I have always loved John MacArthur's preaching & writing. I loved hearing him preach on Premier Radio & always learn so much from him.Good sound Biblical teaching on prayer, a good read.

Challenging, helpful and thorough....’Encouraged with many new insights to feed on .....found the audible clear and useful as the first visit to the text Recommended 5 star!

Excellent as usual, and there is a study section in the back for group study.Much food for thought. Balanced.

The title says everything when we need to be alone with God.and it starts a good introduction from quoting Dr Martin Lloyd Jones but it is action not reading that'simportant

This book has made me realised how important it is the prayer in all occasions of our lives , if you need a push into getting closer to God this book really it's for you.