Liked clear focus and direction, seemed a 'mash up' of previous works to fulfill a book contract rather than a message that needed to be shared.

Pete Greig writes, “the church needs to be as honest as the Bible about the struggle of faith, the pain of life, and the fact that wrestling with the silence of unanswered prayer is not an act of unbelief but of defiant and deepening faith.”

In his book, Pete Greig focuses on the days leading up to Christ’s death and resurrection – from Maundy Thursday through to Easter Sunday, whilst considering the questions: ‘How am I going to get through this?’; ‘Why is God allowing this to happen?’; and ‘Where on earth are you, God, when heaven is silent?’

What I particularly like about this book is the honesty within it. Pete Greig shares openly about his own struggles with unanswered prayer surrounding his wife, Sammy’s, battle with a brain tumour and then her long-term battle with pain and epilepsy and how hard it is to watch someone you love suffering and not being able to do anything about it. Greig also gives examples of others he knows who have struggled with prayer. He writes that despite all the struggles, there is still hope to be found.

I also like that this book is so relevant for us all and the journey we are on in our relationship with God and our communication with him. Each one of us has had or will have struggles with our own unanswered prayers and struggled or will struggle with trying to make sense of them.

“But the incomparable story of Christ’s agony, abandonment, and eventual resurrection – that story remains the greatest hope for a hurting world.”

Greig points out how we can still keep trusting and resting in God the Father’s love, even when we can’t pray.
“When we open our hearts to be honest with God in prayer, He hears us, and steps through the door to be with us, totally unfazed by the mess of our interior world.”

Greig explores the reasons for unanswered prayer. These reasons are grounded in Scripture and help us to understand a little more why our prayers may be unanswered. However, he does point out that there will always be times when we just won’t know why and it’s in those times we need to make the decision to persevere in our faith.

Greig explains how faith is a key to effective prayer, that faith is a gift from God and is not something we can conjure up on our own, but there are things we can do which leads to us receiving more faith and growing in faith. He shares ten things which have helped him, including fellowship, fasting and journalling.

In the section on Holy Saturday and God’s absence, Greig shows us how to engage in the silence in practical and helpful ways.

In the Easter Sunday section of his book we come to see there is a bigger picture, there’s more than what we can see in the here and now. Something far better is coming. We have an eternal hope.

There are two appendices at the end of the book, both of which, in my opinion, are worth reading, Appendix A gives a personal checklist looking at why my prayer is unanswered and Appendix B gives examples of heroes of the faith (both Biblical, historical and current) and unanswered prayer.

Pete Greig has included at the very end of this edition a devotional called ‘God Unmute: A Forty-Day Journey of Prayer’. Each day’s devotional is based on the acronym PRAY – Pause, Reflect, Ask and Yield. If you enjoy using this devotional, you may be interested to know there is also a free app available: Lectio 365, which continues this format and has been produced by the leaders of the 24-7 Prayer movement in partnership with CWR.

This is a book which I recommend to anyone. It will help you to see you are not alone in your struggles and your questions surrounding unanswered prayer. It will also encourage you in your faith and in your questions, taking you deeper in your relationship with God.

In the book God On Mute, author Pete Greig, writes an honest account of his journey through his wife Sammy’s fight for life with her debilitating brain tumor. With raw honesty, Greig faces the questions so many have asked through the struggles of life. But what do you do with silence? Your world collapses and everything is silent. But that’s when you need God more! Greig writes: “The atheistic philosopher and Nobel laureate Bertrand Russell speaks with bleak honesty on behalf of those who have no such faith in God in his autobiography: "We stand on the shore of an ocean, crying to the night and to emptiness; sometimes a voice answers out of the darkness. But it is a voice of one drowning; and in a moment the silence returns. The world seems to me quite dreadful; the unhappiness of most people is very great." We all stand on the shore of that ocean—atheists, agnostics, God-lovers, and God-haters alike—and we all eventually experience seasons of great unhappiness. But how tragic it is to be the one "crying to the night and to emptiness" without this profound comfort of knowing the love of God the Father.”
This was hard book to read because of the nature of the content. But it was a great book with lots of comfort and insight into grief! I would highly recommend this book to anyone going through a dark time in their lives. I received a copy of this e-book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Christian books that are written from a place of honesty - what life is really like rather than what we think it should be like - are always refreshing, and God on Mute is no exception. Pete Greig is well-known for the emphasis he places on the importance of prayer, so it was good to see him write candidly about the times when our prayers appear not to be answered (or at least, not in the way that we had hoped). Greig acknowledges how hard this can be, sharing his own personal experiences of unanswered prayer. He does spend time discussing some of the reasons our prayers may not be answered, but this is done in a gentle and non-condemnatory way, and he also allows for the fact that often, we may never know the reason God appears to be silent.

The book is structured around the three days up to Jesus’ death in Jerusalem, and how God didn’t answer Jesus when he prayed at that time. Each day, Maundy Thursday (in the Garden of Gethsemane), Good Friday (at the cross), Holy Saturday (in the tomb) and Easter Sunday (Jesus rises) have several chapters on various aspects of prayer and include the telling of the story of his wife’s seizures and diagnosis of a brain tumour. Despite what may sound like depressing concepts, Greig writes so honestly and so unpretentiously the book is a delight to read.
Although this may sound strange reading the book is very worshipful as Grieg constantly calls us back to Jesus, back to God. The personal honesty in the writing means it’s completely relatable and the content means it’s completely practical.
I think it’s a book I’d like to come back to again and would certainly recommend to others.

Pete Grieg is one of a kind. His passion for prayer is very much evident through this book. His honesty and vulnerability helps tackle an issue that many find taboo. We love giving testimonies of answered prayer, but what about unanswered prayer? I would highly recommend this book to everyone, particularly those who have struggled with unanswered prayer but also those in leadership/pastoral care

Grieg makes the hard choice to be raw and honest about his personal journey of facing unanswered prayer, and the hard-won lessons he has discovered in that particular struggle. The result is half memoir and half manual, bringing together the best elements of both. A most excellent read.

Beautiful take on a subject we may have questions on, but no answers. Awesome read!

Thanks to author,publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book. While I got the book for free,it had no bearing on the rating I gave it.

#God on Mute# by Pete Greig is a non fiction Christian living book. Pete Greig is a pastor and award winning author. He leads the Emmaus Road Church and serves as director of Prayer for Holy Trinity Brompton—one of the most influential churches in Europe—and Alpha International in London, England. .He started the 24/7 prayer movement. This prayer movement has spread through many nations. He reminds us Jesus struggled with being asked to go to the cross for us. He wanted to know why He had to die on the cross when He was in Gethsemane. He shows the reader we can go to God since He also had questions and doubts. He shows the reader how personal God is. He shares stories from his life and other people's lives . These stories show how others struggled. He shared about prayer . He explained why God does not answer prayers. This book is really candid and is a help when you are going through your own questions and doubts. He encourages the reader to lament and be candid with God in the midst of their struggles. There is a Bible study at the end of this book. This book is a republication of this book. There are not many books that address questions and doubts in such a candid and honest way. I highly recommend this book for pastors, counselors and any Christian. Thank you to the author, publisher, netgalley for allowing me to read and review this book. The opinions are my own. .