Finding God in the Verbs: Crafting a Fresh Language of Prayer

by J. Brent Bill, Jennie Isbell

Do you long for deeper communion with God? Spiritual director Jennie Isbell and Quaker minister Brent Bill know how easy it is to lapse into repetitious refrains of prayer: "Our hearts told us that we had lapsed into easy God speak. We weren't reaching deep into our spirits and drawing out living words of praise, confession, concern, intercession and longing. We were tired of speaking in clipped shorthand to God. We wanted to pray in such a way that we showed up with our whole selves." If you have experienced a similar longing, come join the authors on this prayer journey into the deep waters of the Spirit. This book offers companionship and guidance as you begin to notice, consider and deepen your prayer experiences, with refreshing exercises sprinkled through every chapter to offer you a fresh language for prayer. Find God here in the nouns and the verbs of your conversation."

192 pages, Paperback

First published March 13, 2015

About the author

Brent Bill is a Quaker minister, photographer, and author. He is the author of many books and magazine articles. He lives in rural Indiana on Ploughshares Farm -- a wildlife retreat with woods and native prairie.

Reviews

[Leah · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've enjoyed all of Brent's books, but the ones that directly engage the reader's connections with God are his best! Although it's not in a traditional workbook format, this colorfully covered book he co-authored with Jenny Isbell is full of simple exercises or activities a reader can work through in order to connect more intimately with God. As I tried a few of the suggestions I wrote in a spiral bound notebook ; that's been my style for other spiritual and general self-help books, though there's no reason not to make notes on the pages of the book instead of or in addition to.

Finding God in the Verbs is altogether very well done yet in a rare way that doesn't often happen in printed – or on-screen – media. I easily can imagine the Good Book's psalmists approaching their prayers and songs that have become part of both Hebrew and Christian canons in the diverse ways the authors suggest.

Brent and Jenny include sample scriptures, prayer examples, and contemporary real-life incidents. I love the chapter titles! The bright splashy cover would look excellent alongside your scriptures; it would be a good reminder routinely and randomly to add some of these ways of Discovering God in the Verbs to your daily devotional times. You'll probably appreciate the endnotes, too.