The PAPA Prayer

I picked up this book by Larry Crabb last week, and could hardly put it down. He provides a framework for talking about something I've known for some time now — that petitionary prayer that is not based firmly in prior relationship often becomes simply a "to do" list for us to hand to God, as if He were our butler, or the grandfather we've learned to wrap around our little finger.

More importantly, in this book Crabb describes an approach, using the acronym PAPA, to firmly embed our prayer in a first thing relationship with God, as primary and prior to petitionary prayer.

This way prayer becomes truly conversation with God — a conversation in which God Himself becomes our deepest desire and the primary request of our prayer. Such prayer will always be effective.