Coleman reinforces importance of prayer
By Mike Haynes
“Hello. My name is Landon. I’m a pastor. And I struggle
with prayer.”
That’s how a man who grew up in Amarillo starts his book
on the topic that he calls “by far the hardest spiritual discipline.”
People have short attention spans. They don’t find time
to pray. And then there’s the theological issue that God already knows everything,
and we are small and know almost nothing, so why spend time talking to him when
he’s going to do what he wants anyway?
Those and other prayer problems are addressed in “Pray
Better: Learn to Pray Biblically,” by Landon Coleman, teaching pastor of
Immanuel Baptist Church in Odessa. Coleman, son of Bill and Karen Coleman, is a
product of Belmar, Crockett and Amarillo High schools who grew up attending
Trinity Baptist Church, and he doesn’t blame any prayer deficiency on his
upbringing.
He just knows from leading churches in Frankfort,
Kentucky; Kingfisher, Oklahoma; and Odessa that Christians could use some
guidance in their conversations with God. Instead of coming up with his own
self-help suggestions, he went to the source.
“Pray Better,” available at rainerpublishing.com and
amazon.com, analyzes prayers from the Old and New Testaments to show what our
creator intends. Twenty short chapters cover prayers by the big names, such as
Abraham, Moses, Paul and John, and by other biblical men and women such as Ezra,
Asaph and Hannah.
Since his AHS graduation in 2000 and West Texas A&M
degree in 2004, Coleman has earned master’s and doctoral degrees from Southern Baptist
Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky. The book reflects his deep understanding
of scripture.
Coleman points out that whether Abraham’s prayers to
Yahweh (God) in Genesis were answered as he wished or not, the pleas were
offered up not from a stranger asking for favors, but “in the context of
relationship, faith and obedience.”
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| Landon Coleman |
The book also brings prayer into modern-day focus with
snippets from the author’s pastoral experience. He recalls Oklahomans Tom and
Karen, whose only child, Sam, was deployed three times to combat in the Middle
East.
Ten years later, Tom struggled with guilt because his prayers
had been answered – his son had returned unscathed – while the prayers of other
parents didn’t seem to work. He had a friend, Bill, whose son didn’t return
from Afghanistan.
By the end of “Pray Better,” we may not completely “get
it” when confronted with seemingly unanswered prayer, but we will have a better
grasp of the overall picture of God’s relationship with his people.
After all, Jesus himself found in Gethsemane that his
human pleas didn’t keep him from pain when they weren’t aligned with his
Father’s will. Coleman examines that prayer of Christ as well as Jesus’ model
prayer, which we know as the Lord’s Prayer.
Read this book with a copy of the Bible handy, and you
will pray better.
* * *
Speaking of outstanding books by Amarillo authors, “The
Key Place,” by fellow AGN columnist Gene Shelburne, is 191 pages of brilliant
writing that was published this summer. It takes the reader to the home place
of Shelburne’s grandparents, where he and his siblings played as children, and
offers, along with nostalgic stories, a wealth of spiritual insights.
Go to YouTube and search for Gene Shelburne to see a
2-minute video of the author talking about the book. “The Key Place” is
available at leafwoodpublishers.com and amazon.com or by calling 806-352-8769.
* * *
Many remember Dean Jones for “The Love Bug” and other
Disney movies, but not everyone knows that the actor who died Sept. 1 at age 84
committed the latter part of his life to glorifying God.
By the 1960s, Jones was a movie and TV star and lived the
out-of-control life often associated with Hollywood. But he returned to the
faith of his youth and promoted the Christian message by playing White House
lawyer Chuck Colson in “Born Again” in 1978 and the apostle John in “St. John
in Exile” in 1986, among other faith-based projects. In 2009 he appeared in the
Christian story for children, “Mandie and the Secret Tunnel.”
