How to Pray

How to Pray
C. S. Lewis

C. S. Lewis here offers wisdom and lessons that illuminate our private dialogue with God—prayer—in this collection drawn from the breadth of his writings.The revered teacher and bestselling author of such classic Christian works as Mere Christianity and The Screwtape Letters, C. S. Lewis here offers wisdom and lessons that illuminate our private dialogue with God—prayer—in this collection drawn from the breadth of his writings.C. S. Lewis’s insights on Christianity and his reflections on Christian life continue to guide us more than fifty years after his death. How to Pray showcases Lewis’s enduring wisdom on prayer and its place in our daily lives.Cultivated from his many essays, articles, and letters, as well as his classic works, How to Pray provides practical wisdom and instruction to help readers nurture their spiritual beliefs and embrace prayer in all its forms. While many people would like to speak to God, they often don’t know how to begin. Lewis guides them through the practice, illuminating the significance of prayer and why it is central to faith.A welcome addition to the C. S. Lewis canon, How to Pray offers a deeper understanding of our personal tradition of prayer, our faith, and what is means to be a Christian.

Copyright (#u1991eadf-8835-536e-93b7-ca8fe9c80840)

William Collins

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First published in Great Britain by William Collins in 2018

First published in the United States by HarperOne in 2018

God in the dock. Copyright © 1967 by C. S. Lewis Pte. Ltd. Published by Eerdmans.

Letters to an American lady. Copyright © 1967 by C. S. Lewis Pte. Ltd. Published by Eerdmans.

How to Pray. Copyright © 2018 by C. S. Lewis Pte. Ltd. All rights reserved.

Every effort has been made to obtain permissions for pieces quoted or adapted in this work. If any required acknowledgments have been omitted, or any rights overlooked, it is unintentional. Please notify the publishers of any omission, and it will be rectified in future editions.

Cover Designer: Jack Smyth

Designed by Yvonne Chan

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publishers.

Source ISBN: 9780008192549

Ebook Edition © June 2018 ISBN: 9780008307103

Version: 2018-07-18

Epigraph (#u1991eadf-8835-536e-93b7-ca8fe9c80840)

Master, they say that when I seem

To be in speech with you,

Since you make no replies, it’s all a dream

—One talker aping two.

They are half right, but not as they

Imagine; rather, I

Seek in myself the things I meant to say,

And lo! the wells are dry.

Then, seeing me empty, you forsake

The Listener’s role, and through

My dead lips breathe and into utterance wake

The thoughts I never knew.

And thus you neither need reply

Nor can; thus, while we seem

Two talking, thou art One forever, and I

No dreamer, but thy dream.

“PRAYER,” POEMS

Contents

COVER (#ue1fac0a2-dcd2-5406-9467-6aed3d4a780a)

TITLE PAGE (#ub16e8097-330d-5193-a332-877f19da116e)

COPYRIGHT

EPIGRAPH

PREFACE

CAN PRAYER BE PROVEN TO WORK?

WHY MAKE REQUESTS OF GOD IF HE ALREADY KNOWS WHAT WE NEED?

DO OUR PRAYERS DEPEND ON HOW DEEPLY WE FEEL OR MEAN THEM?

ISN’T IT PRESUMPTUOUS FOR US TO BRING OUR CONCERNS BEFORE GOD?

HOW DOES PRAYER FIT WITH THE IDEA OF GOD’S PROVIDENCE? ARE WE ASKING FOR MIRACLES WHEN WE PRAY?

DOES PRAYER REQUIRE MORBID INTROSPECTION OF OUR SINS?