Today I’m pleased to introduce what I like to call America’s Prayerbook, called PRAYERS FOR MY CITY: A Fixed-Hour Prayer Guide for Hometown, USA.
It’s the final book in a prayerbook series I launched last year, originally exclusively for West Michigan. The book is a condensed, amended version of The Divine (Daily) Office, an ancient Christian spiritual prayer practice that combines the Psalms, Scripture reading, ancient prayers, and ancient creeds. The book originally began as a website several years ago, and last year I thought it would be great to turn it into a book to help broaden the reach and impact of this prayer practice and connect Christians to this prayer format.
I know there are several prayer books already available, whether The Book of Common Prayer itself or a similar one that originally inspired the website by Phyllis Tickle, called The Divine Hours. In fact, you could say PRAYERS FOR MY CITY is a cross between the two, but with several unique features that will benefit your spiritual life.
An Accessible, Simple Prayer Guide
Instead of the 30-40 minute prayer sessions for which the BCP and The Divine Hours is known, PMC is an amended form that takes the best of the original BCP and pairs it down into three, seven day prayer sessions: morning, afternoon, and evening. Each session lasts about 15-20 minutes, which makes using this ancient spiritual practice much more manageable. So this prayer book is unique in that it preserves the vital elements of fixed-hour prayer, while making it incredibly accessible and simple to follow.
A Hyper-local Prayer Guide
Another unique feature are the twenty-one daily prayers I’ve written for your city, which is why I like to call this prayerbook a hyper-local prayer guide. It’s designed to help you pray for intercession for the homeless and unemployed; to pray for your city leaders; to pray for the school system and education of your city’s children; to intercede for widows, orphans, and single parents; and even pray for your own unique role in your hometown. The goal is to make this ancient spiritual practice apply to your modern life and unique hometown.
A Scripture Reading Prayer Guide
Also, included are two separate Bible reading plans to help you engage God’s Word every day. The book includes a calendar plan for reading the Bible in one year from January 1 to December 31, It also includes a 365-day reading plan that allows for missed or skipped reading days, which means you can read your Bible from Genesis to Revelation at your own pace. So if you’ve ever wanted to make it through the Bible in one year or simply want to read it from beginning to end, now you can along side dedicated prayer sessions. And since the back-to-school season offers a new opportunity to restart life, this could be just the ticket toward diving deeper into God’s Holy Scriptures and connecting to Him more intimately in prayer.
I actually discovered the ancient practice and power of fixed-hour prayer myself while working as a pastor of sorts on Capitol Hill in Washington D.C. Some staffer friends and I used this practice during the Season of Lent. It was a life changing experience for me, which is why I wanted to introduce and offer it to my own hometown last year. Now I am as pleased to offer it to your own hometown. I hope this book will help Christians throughout America not only grow deeper in relationship with God through Jesus Christ through regular prayer and Scripture study, but also help them join with one voice in praying for the rescue and re-creation of their hometown.
Our world is speeding up, people are busy, and worship is considered a waste of time. I hope this book will be an oasis amidst this chaos, and help you reorient your life around the Eternal.
A Special Limited Launch Offer
Throughout this week I will be offering some more information about the prayer book and the specifics of fixed-hour prayer in edition to this special launch offer:
You can purchase it now in print for $8.96 from amazon.com or as an ebook (Kindle, Nook, or Kobo) for the limited-time $2.99 price. **As a BONUS if you purchase a print version email me the receipt (jeremy {at} jeremybouma.com) and I’ll send you the ebook for free. Enjoy 🙂
I’ve also included today a link to a free PDF sample that includes introductory material to the book and the practice of fixed-hour prayer in addition to the entire Monday prayer guide. So jump start your week by using the ancient power of fixed-hour prayer!
