God, Help Me: How to Grow in Prayer [Paperback]

Jim Beckman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 15, 2009

If you want to know who you are and why you re here, start praying every day. From Chapter One

You're in your teens, your twenties, your thirties, and you're wondering does prayer have anything at all to do with your life? You don't pray, at least not regularly, and you don't really know how. On the other hand, if God is who he says he is, and if he communicates with us through prayer, as Scripture and the saints and plenty of ordinary people say he does, then clearly you're missing out on something huge.

Jim Beckman will not only introduce you to the wisdom and teaching of the Church regarding prayer, he will also provide tools that will help you achieve real intimacy with God. Nothing can replace that relationship with God, and nothing can get you there except the mysterious, unfolding experience of daily prayer.

Editorial Reviews

Review

...a refreshing presentation of the spiritual journey for our times and the critical need for intimacy in prayer. For anyone who desires to grow in their prayer life, this book will help them get there. If you read only one book on prayer this year, God Help Me should be that book. --Archbishop Charles Chaput, O.F.M. CAP., Archdiocese of Denver, and author, Render Unto Caesar: Serving the Nation by Living Our Catholic Beliefs in Political Life.

Jim Beckman navigates a clear path through our modern culture and the deceptive tricks of the enemy. He shows the reader how to develop great intimacy with God in prayer. --Christopher West, fellow, Theology of the Body Institute, and author, Good News About Sex and Marriage: Honest Questions and Answers about Catholic Teaching.

If you read only one book on prayer this year, God Help Me should be that book. --Mary Beth Bonacci, author, Real Love: Answers to Your Questions on Dating, Marriage and the Real Meaning of Sex

About the Author

JIM BECKMAN is the executive director of ImpactCenter, a youth minister mentoring and consulting ministry based in Colorado. A passionate, dynamic speaker, he has been a host of Franciscan University of Steubenville s summer youth conferences for more than twenty years and has served in various leadership roles in national youth ministry. Jim and his wife, Meg, have five children.

Product Details

• Paperback: 168 pages
• Publisher: St. Anthony Messenger Press (March 15, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0867168900
• ISBN-13: 978-0867168907
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.1 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #170,985 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding book on prayer!, June 22, 2009

By 

Kathleen M. Osenbau "Kathey Osenbau" (Chandler, AZ, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: God, Help Me: How to Grow in Prayer (Paperback)

God, Help Me: How to Grow in Prayer

Absolutely one of the best books I've read in quite some time on growing in personal prayer! Jim's interweaving of family stories with solid Catholic teaching makes the book very easy to read and hard to put down. I highly recommend "God, Help Me: How to Grow in Prayer" for anyone wanting to take their prayer life to a deeper, more enriching level.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Keys to helping youth develop personal prayer life, May 27, 2009

By 

Carol Blank (USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: God, Help Me: How to Grow in Prayer (Paperback)

God Help Me is written primarily for youth and young adults and those who minister to them. As a youth minister, Beckman contends that over the past 20 years the Church has failed to help young people develop a personal prayer life. "This fundamental poverty has left a generation defenseless against today's attacks on the faith," he writes. Beckman turns to wisdom found in the tradition and writing of the Church to help readers discover ways to connect intimately with God in prayer.

The ten chapters are grouped under three categories: prayer for our times, understanding prayer, and coming alive in prayer. Chapter 4, know your enemy, opens with the story of a college student who was "turned off" by his parish liturgy and had taken to spending time alone with God in the mountains on Sunday mornings instead of going to church. Beckman finds the story familiar and disturbing. "There's a heck of a lot more going on at Mass than what you can see on the surface," he says, referring to less than inspiring music and a priest who isn't particularly engaging. Basic to our faith, Beckman reminds us, is the knowledge that God "has always hidden himself and left a certain element up to our faith and personal assent." He dismisses the idea that praying alone in the woods is an adequate substitute for the corporate worship found in the liturgy. Beckman characterizes the thoughts that led the college student to favor the woods over Mass as "classic desolation." Thinking of this kind, he writes, comes from the devil's power and ability to manipulate the flesh and the "world" to tempt us. To counter these temptations, Beckman offers a discussion of basic discernment skills and St. Ignatius' rules of discernment with guidelines for applying them.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars God help me, May 29, 2009

By 

Joan Darron - See all my reviews
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This review is from: God, Help Me: How to Grow in Prayer (Paperback)

This book is outstanding. This book discusses the topic of prayer on a level that is easy to understand. This book would enhance everyone's prayer life and should be read by all. There are lessons in this book that I will keep in my head and heart forever.