The Prayer of Unwanting
How the Lord's Prayer Helps Us Get Over Ourselves--and Why That Might Be a Good Thing
by David Williams
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Pub Date Feb 11 2025 | Archive Date Jan 13 2025
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Description
An astute, lively book about the Lord's Prayer--the ancient Christian prayer that helps us get over ourselves, which is sometimes exactly what we didn't know we needed.
Sometimes we imagine prayer as a magical incantation--a way to change our circumstances. We try to pray our way toward success, safety, health, or love. But what if true prayer is more about undoing our desires for power and profit than indulging them? What if the purpose of prayer isn't to give us what we want but to change the very heart of our wanting?
Novelist and pastor David Williams leads us toward a new encounter with the prayer Jesus taught us to pray. Prayed through millennia by believers in groups and alone, the Lord's Prayer speaks precisely to our age. Jesus taught his followers this prayer for a reason, and this same prayer rings true to those of us with a hunch that our desires are being endlessly manufactured, manipulated, and managed. If we are to be good little consumers, our hunger must be endless. We want because we are afraid of not having enough. We want because we feel compelled to have more than our neighbor. We want power over others. Our broken wanting can break the world. So Jesus gave us the prayer we need: one that repairs and reorients our longings.
With stories from scripture, whimsical anecdotes, and pastoral wisdom, Williams guides us into profound interaction with each line of the Lord's Prayer. Questions and ideas for ways to experience the Lord's Prayer can facilitate and deepen group conversation and individual prayer. There's power in the Lord's Prayer, Williams testifies, even if it's a power we have yet to understand.
A Note From the Publisher
- Offers a respectful, grounded reframing of the purpose of prayer in the life of the church
- Can be used individually or in group settings for those who want to deepen their spiritual growth and practice
- Back matter includes additional resources such as reflection and discussion questions and ideas for different ways to pray the Lord's Prayer
- Written in pastoral and down-to-earth tone by novelist and pastor Rev. Dr. David Williams
Advance Praise
"Our common practice of prayer is inescapably elusive, open-ended, and somewhat hidden in our faith. In this winsome exposition of prayer, David Williams offers us practical guidance with prayer that is honest, accessible, and filled with insight. Williams walks us through the Lord's Prayer phrase by phrase, with an awareness wrought of real personal engagement and with an eye on contemporary connections. Williams suggests that we can, in our practice, be engaged in 'praying without ceasing.' Those engaged in growth in faith will be grateful for the wise, knowing instruction on offer here." —Walter Brueggemann, biblical scholar and author of more than one hundred books
"What this profound book offers its reader is the gift of encountering a familiar prayer as if for the first time. Excavating the depths of transformative grace in Jesus' ancient words, The Prayer of Unwanting is a timeless and necessary book." —Amanda Held Opelt, songwriter and author of A Hole in the World and Holy Unhappiness
"What do we want when we come to prayer? In The Prayer of Unwanting, David Williams looks at Jesus' ancient teachings and winsomely places them into the realities of our own days and desires. If you've ever wondered what prayer is or is meant to be, let these down-to-earth reflections wash over your mind and heart, pointing the way back to Jesus." —Catherine McNeil, author of Fearing Bravely: Risking Love for Our Neighbors, Strangers, and Enemies
Marketing Plan
- National and online publicity campaign to Christian and spirituality media
- Christian advertising
- Social media and digital campaign targeting centrist to progressive Christians
- Congregational outreach
- Seasonal promotion especially for Lent 2025
Available Editions
| EDITION | Other Format |
| ISBN | 9798889833291 |
| PRICE | $16.99 (USD) |
| PAGES | 176 |
Available on NetGalley
Featured Reviews
Conrade Y, Reviewer
Many have heard of the bestselling book "The Prayer of Jabez." Despite its attractive thesis, it is still a prayer contrasting sharply with the Lord's Prayer. The key difference is the focus. While the Lord's Prayer is how we yield ourselves to God's will, the Jabez Prayer's key thesis is about making God yield to our wants and needs. Enters this book about the essence of prayer. Entitled "The Prayer of Unwanting," it pushes back against almost everything the bestselling book on the Jabez Prayer is all about. Author and pastor David Williams gives us this book as a guide to the essence of what the Lord's Prayer is all about. As far as Williams is concerned, the Lord's Prayer is not a magical list of verses that we can use to bring God to our needs. Rather, it is an opportunity to think more of God and less about us. He guides us through the entire prayer with an exposition of the prayer snippets.
Beginning with "Our Father," he points out that prayer is a personal connection with God as our Heavenly Father. "Who Art in Heaven" lifts us above this finite world toward hope in the Infinite God. We learn to see the proximity of what it means to live heavenly thoughts on earth. "Hallowed Be Thy Name" focuses on holiness. Williams laments about the lack of holy awareness in this world even among believers. This prayer for holiness comes when we learn to let go of our earthly anxieties and gaze at God's holiness. The fourth snippet, "Thy Kingdom Come, Thy Will Be Done, on earth as it is in heaven" takes us to the heart of Jesus.
The fifth snippet is "Give Us this Day Our Daily Bread" to help us sieve through the differences between needs and wants. Learning to find peace with lesser stuff is a mark of growing spirituality. "Forgive Us Our Debts as We Forgive Our Debtors" is a hard petition because forgiveness is not a natural human attribute. For we are not as innocent as we might think, especially when we are exposed before God. "Lead Us Not Into Temptation" checks our heart's desire. Anyone who thinks they can easily overcome any temptation needs to think again. That is why "Deliver Us From Evil" is essential. Though the last phrase "For Thine is the Kingdom, and the Power, and the Glory" is not found in the gospels, it is a fitting declaration that all honour, power, and glory belongs to God alone. Whatever we pray is all about God. He closes with the final two snippets, "Forever" and "Amen."
My Thoughts
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This book is a powerful rebuttal against what the Prayer of Jabez stands for. Williams is spot on when he discerns the essence of the Jabez-Prayer and the Lord's Prayer. The latter is about God while the focus of the former is about ourselves. Moreover, the two verses in 1 Chronicles 4:10 have very little context as to why Jabez prayed that way. Even if I were to grant Wilkinson the benefit of the doubt, I am not so sure that laypersons would not treat the Jabez-Prayer like a magical incantation to tell God to do man's wishes. This reverses the DIY-mentality of the Jabez Prayer to helps us lean toward "Let God Decide" posture. This theme is consistent throughout the book. At every page, we train our minds and hearts to pray according to God's will. If readers can adjust their prayer focus away from self and more toward God, it would be several steps forward in our spiritual growth.
Some might ask: Is attacking the Prayer of Jabez a helpful stance? What about those who have positively benefitted from that book? I would answer: Hold the Jabez prayer on one hand but take this book using the other hand. There is no harm in praying from the teachings of both books. Perhaps, Williams' Prayer of Unwanting could be a good complement to Wilkinson's book. As for those who have not read Wilkinson's, I recommend they pay more attention to the Lord's Prayer. There is a lot more context in Williams's approach. Moreover, there is a section on "How and When to Pray the Lord's Prayer" at the end of the book which should spur our praying exercises.
Prayer is an important spiritual discipline. Having another resource to keep us in a prayer posture is always a good thing. If there is any one reason to get this book, it is probably this.
Rev. Dr. David Williams is the author of several books, including Our Angry Eden, The Prayer of Unwanting, and his critically acclaimed debut novel, When the English Fall. His work has also appeared in The Washington Post, WIRED, Religion News Service, and The Christian Century, among other outlets. He is a pastor in the Presbyterian Church (USA) and currently serves Poolesville Presbyterian Church, a small congregation in Maryland. Before becoming a pastor, Williams worked for ten years at the Aspen Institute. He lives in Annandale, Virginia.
Rating: 4.25 stars out of 5.
conrade
This book has been provided courtesy of Broadleaf Books via NetGalley without requiring a positive review. All opinions offered above are mine unless otherwise stated or implied.
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