7 Books Like Abide in Christ

The characters and their situations moved right into my heart. Their small town nestled in the mountains is gorgeous, the mysterious quest complex and intriguing, and despite the darkness there is light. The ending brought multiple misty-eyed "awww" moments and a real feel-good satisfaction. I want to read this story again.

This was good, clean fun: a stalker novel yet not traumatic. It felt more like a puzzle I wanted to help the main character solve. And I loved seeing the story from Alex's point of view. She's a neurodivergent character with high-functioning autism, and being in her head helped me understand her. Oh, and mountains. The story's set in gorgeous West Virginia in the mountains.

With Pete Greig’s How to Pray, the subtitle says it all: A Simple Guide for Normal People. Greig is a worldwide authority on prayer, but as a self-described “scruffy Brit,” he writes in a way that makes prayer both appealing and accessible. With disarming humor and candor, Greig addresses questions we’ve all asked, from why God heals some people but not others (Greig’s wife, for example, suffers severe epilepsy) to whether or not it’s okay to pray for a parking space. (Spoiler alert:  Greig says yes to parking place prayers, since doing so equips us to live life with greater gratitude. Love that.) I have more than two dozen well-loved books about prayer on my shelf, but How to Pray might be my favorite. It is, to borrow a word from the Brits, “brilliant.”

If you’re looking for a well-loved prayer “classic,” you won’t find many books with more staying power than Andrew Murray’s With Christ in the School of Prayer. Murray doesn’t see prayer as one facet of the Christian life; rather, he says that it is the “root and strength” of all that we do. “Jesus never taught his disciples how to preach,” Murray writes, “only how to pray.” And the secret to a powerful prayer life is abiding in Christ—growing into his likeness—so that our lives (including our thoughts and desires) look more like his. As we enroll in Jesus’ “school of prayer", we will learn to pray in harmony with God, be equipped to impact our world, and discover the true purpose of prayer.

Live a Praying Life is, hands-down, my top pick when it comes to making a study of prayer. Jennifer Kennedy Dean understands that we want to know the “why” and the “how” behind prayer, and she tackles the thorny questions to equip us to persevere when it doesn’t look like the needle is moving. In looking at the lives of folks who’ve gone through more than a few tricky places (guys like Joseph, who thought he was supposed to be a ruler but wound up being sold as a slave), Dean warns us not to mistake God’s will for his ways, or confuse what he is doing with how he is doing it. We only see part of the picture. And, she writes, “We cannot control God or tell him how to accomplish his plan.” We can, however, partner with him to accomplish his best purposes—and the way that we… show more.

Prayer is like breath to me. I am a writer who prays best when I’m writing my prayers in a journal or on the computer. 

In every book I write, my characters pray. They are people from the pages of Scripture, so they knew the God of the Bible. To know God is to communicate with Him. Joseph probably did a lot of praying. Judah…not so much. But eventually, I think both wanted to communicate with their Creator.

In praying, the book says, the Spirit of God “assures you that you are a child of the only One whose opinion and power matters. He loves you to the stars and will never let you go.” Prayer is a connection I can’t live without because it touches God’s heart and mine.

Prayer isn’t just for grown-ups, and Nancy Guthrie invites children to experience the joy and peace that come with talking to God in her book, What Every Child Should Know about Prayer. With child-friendly language and inviting illustrations, each page in this book helps kids (and adults!) know how and why we should pray, whether we’re asking God to do something, telling him how we feel, or giving thanks for all the ways God shows us his love. As a fan of Bible-based prayers, I love the fact that every one of the lessons Guthrie teaches is rooted in Scripture, and I appreciate the simple—but oh-so-powerful—prayers she provides. I can’t wait to share this treasure with my grandchildren!