Praying the Lord's Prayer for Spiritual Breakthrough

by Elmer L. Towns

Towns reveals the power of prayer in this fascinating look at the Lord’s Prayer.  Each chapter examines a line from the Prayer, revealing power points for every believer desiring a more dynamic prayer life.

Towns says: “What would you say if you were ushered into the throne room of God with only one minute to request everything you needed, but didn’t know how to put it into words?  The Lord’s Prayer includes everything you need to ask when you talk to God . . . it is a model prayer that teaches us how to pray.” 

Genres: Prayer, Christian, Religion, Spirituality, Nonfiction

220 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1997

About the author

Dr. Elmer Towns is a college and seminary professor, an author of popular and scholarly works (the editor of two encyclopedias), a popular seminar lecturer, and dedicated worker in Sunday school, and has developed over 20 resource packets for leadership education. He began teaching at Midwest Bible College, St. Louis, Missouri, for three years and was not satisfied with his textbooks so he began writing his own (he has published over 100 books listed in the Library of Congress, 7 listed in the Christian Booksellers Best Selling List; several becoming accepted as college textbooks. He is also the 1995 recipient of the coveted Gold Medallion Award awarded by the Christian Booksellers Association for writing the Book of the Year, i.e., The Names of the Holy Spirit.

He was President of Winnipeg Bible College for five years, leading it to receive American Accreditation and Provincial authority to offer degrees (1960-1965). He taught at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, in greater Chicago, Illinois, in the field of Religious Education and Evangelism (1965-1971).

He is co-founder of Liberty University, with Jerry Falwell, in 1971, and was the only full-time teacher in the first year of Liberty's existence. Today, the University has over 11,400 students on campus with 39,000 in the Distance Learning Program (now Liberty University Online), and he is the Dean of the School of Religion.

Dr. Towns has given theological lectures and taught intensive seminars at over 50 theological seminaries in America and abroad. He holds visiting professorship rank in five seminaries. He has written over 2,000 reference and/or popular articles and received six honorary doctoral degrees. Four doctoral dissertations have analyzed his contribution to religious education and evangelism.

His personal education includes a B.S. from Northwestern College in Minneapolis, Minnesota, a M.A. from Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas, a Th.M. from Dallas Theological Seminary also in Dallas, a MRE from Garrett Theological Seminary in Evanston, Illinois, and a D.Min. from Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California.

Reviews

[Dave Wheeler · Rating 5 out of 5]

Our Father.

I guess the LORDs prayer means different things to different people, I loved saying it at school and Sunday School and enjoyed the reverence it was given. With so many Churches not touching the prayer taught by JESUS to HIS disciples Elmer has captured so much of what we are missing out on and the power that is made available to changes lives and our environment. For me this starts by changing my life that lets The FATHER change what's going on around me because first i have to adjust my eyes. For that to make sense you best read the words in the book rather than my poor attempt to put words here. I really do highly recommend this book I don't think you will regret it.

[Jonathan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really appreciate how the author approaches the Lord's Prayer. He goes into great to tell on every one of the seven sections of the Lord's Prayer and explains how we can pray through it as a model prayer. There are also application questions and actions at the end of each chapter. This was very useful and helpful in my prayer time. I recommend you read this book if you need to learn how to use model prayers like the Lord's Prayer.

[Mary Sulzer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Your Prayer Life will increase to a new level!!

This book deserves a 5 star rating plus. If you are looking to adding a new dimension to your prayer life; I highly recommend this book.

[Diane Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very thought provoking

I enjoyed this book, a prayer we say everyday but do we understand each line which means so much and different to each one of us. Read as part of Lenten discipline and highly iter book.

[Gail · Rating 3 out of 5]

While there were some good insights in this book, I can’t recommend it as a great book on the Lord’s prayer. The book would have been more effective if greatly shortened...too many stories and words to sift through that did not add to the book

[Bruce Nicodemus · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was very interesting and I have enjoyed it. I h

I have enjoyed this book. I have learn a lot about praying to my Father in Heaven. Thank you for insights.

[Teresa Yarbrough · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book

Elmer Towns dos a wonderful job explaining how to pray the Lord’s prayer. Highly recommend this book as a lifegroup study.

[Terrie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book!

I am glad I purchased this book. It has given me a different outlook on The Lord’s prayer, a better understanding. .

[joy mansion · Rating 5 out of 5]

Praying

I chose this book to teach ten to twelve year olds how to pray.But what I learned was how to pray . In the end I taught my self how to truly pray.

[Brian Orahood · Rating 5 out of 5]

Elmer’s Glue for the Soul

Elmer Towns is a marvelous preacher with a knack for making the Bible accessible and understandable. His writing style is succinct. In this particular book, he weaves doctrinal truths together with practical application regarding the Lord’s Prayer. The goal? To challenge Christians to be better pray-ers because prayer is the glue that holds us close to “our Father who art in heaven.”

[Michael Walker · Rating 3 out of 5]

Written by a seasoned Christian and author of numerous books, Dr. Towns is co-founder of Liberty University in Virginia. My copy of this book was published by the Billy Graham Evangelistic Assn. It is a solid introduction to the Christian's prayer life, with real-life anecdotes. Don't be put off by the title - this is not about "vain repetition," but about patterning one's prayer life according to the Master's outline. For young believers this is a 5-star book; for seasoned believers, you can profit from Towns's wisdom.

[Mindi · Rating 2 out of 5]

While the book contained spiritual truth about the Lord's prayer, it did not motivate me to want to pray. It was like reading an appliance manual about prayer. He also believes that only specially trained experts should engage in spiritual warfare. If the church believes that, we are in trouble since every believer faces spiritual warfare. He has a lot of valid points, but I forced myself to finish the book and then kind of wished I had done it.

[Ralph Davis · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was very surprised to find how much I liked this book and learned from it. Elmer Towns is an associate of Jerry Falwell and an officer of Falwell's madrasah, Liberty University. But I gained a new appreciation for the Lord's Prayer from this book. I assume that Elmer Towns is a fundamentalist, but this never intrudes on his discussion.

[Sharon Daniell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best book I have read on pray

Best book I have ever read on Pray that actually teaches you how to pray. Every Christian should read it. I have always wanted to find a book that will truly help me with pray this book did that without question

[Angela · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful insightful book form a termendous author

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very Powerful Book!

[Lam Opal Huang · Rating 3 out of 5]

The message of this book is very clear and assessable to general readers. It's quite refreshing to help us refocus on the basics of our faith.