Max Lucado
Thomas Nelson, 2014, 192 pp., $19.99
There’s a reason Max Lucado as a popular author, a reason why people like him; and it’s not due to glitz and glamour, charm and charisma, power and pizzazz. People like him because he’s Max. He writes the same way he talks, and because he distills his messages and finer points down to their simplicity so even a child can understand…much the same as I imagine Jesus having done. Through his writing, Lucado feels accessible, because he’s approachable, humble, warm—and real.
In Before Amen: The Power of a Simple Prayer, not only does he go deep in examining and applying The Lord’s Prayer, but he prefaces everything else he has to say with the admission that he’s a prayer wimp. Stretching beyond this admission, however, Max provides readers with a pocket prayer that covers all the bases: It’s relational, between the pray-er and God; it acknowledges God’s goodness; it requests help; it intercedes for others; it expresses gratitude; and it reminds us of whose authority is over all that we pray.
For any pastor—and everyone in the congregation—this resource is designed to help readers connect their hearts with the heart of a loving Father, who is eager to have conversations with those who are humble, yet who come to Him in full confidence of His willingness and ability to hear and help.