Everyday Prayer with John Calvin

This originally appeared at The Irresponsible Reader.
—
Let's get this out of the way at the beginning: I do not like devotionals. Morning and Evening, Our Daily Bread, Ligonier's Tabletalk...or any number of other daily helps that millions find helpful. They're too brief, too...I don't want to say shallow, but introductory, I guess. The instant they get near depth, they have to wrap up because they're about to get too long for the format. And I understand why, but I just find them frustrating.

Which is just to say that I should never have bought this book. And so you know that my lack of enthusiasm isn't necessarily a criticism. This was never going to be a book I really liked.

The term devotional shows up nowhere in the blurb, title, anywhere—”Everyday” was the only clue I overlooked (but I thought the term suggested “ordinary,” “regular,” non-pulpit prayer).

Prayer is central to the Christian life, which is why John Calvin spends more time on prayer than on any other topic in his Institutes of the Christian Religion.

Drawing from the Institutes and Calvin's Old and New Testament commentaries, Donald K. McKim comments on Calvin's biblical insights on prayer and intersperses his short readings with Calvin's own prayers. Reflection questions and prayer points help you to meditate on Scripture, understand Calvin's teaching, and strengthen your own prayer life.

Institutes

Institutes