{"id":21170,"date":"2026-10-31T20:05:36","date_gmt":"2026-11-01T01:05:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/?p=21170"},"modified":"2026-10-31T20:05:37","modified_gmt":"2026-11-01T01:05:37","slug":"book-review-lead-with-prayer-the-spiritual-habits-of-world-changing-leaders","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/?p=21170","title":{"rendered":"BOOK REVIEW | Lead with Prayer: The Spiritual Habits of World-Changing Leaders"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i.thriftbooks.com\/api\/imagehandler\/15CA8BC7D286DC7D952862FF940144E617558B2E.jpeg\" alt=\"\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I&#8217;ve enjoyed reading Peter Greer&#8217;s work in a variety of formats lately.  He spoke at the CESA Symposium in early October and we were gifted a copy of <em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Lead-Prayer-Spiritual-World-Changing-Leaders-ebook\/dp\/B0C3ZR4HR5\/ref=sr_1_2?crid=1OTSJV5HKOGV9&amp;dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.IFfgHQHPrnZpwxmAmZaNfvtRREwCQtX_AYZ8bCG9wr3sQVy0pwVlqHjjPVn6AX8OIeWpIG_WERsabdvZnig_W8z9UwcCyxvu-2wCCOy_UJGjsfWLXsZymOMXoKsCPYB3JWVqp3lCxBSrXqwRiRlbX91GcnR8XCOBdSPHBiIQIUwHgKXb5bxpolMgov9KD1BouC9casmjr65y60hcbBD2-BvSEL7cdlu09XFBQhyENpU.bixdjbjHE8uUqEqGNi6faIPvebIxIPUxHEWmcp3i3P0&amp;dib_tag=se&amp;keywords=peter+greer+prayer&amp;qid=1793494780&amp;s=books&amp;sprefix=peter+greer+prayer%2Cstripbooks%2C155&amp;sr=1-2\">Lead with Prayer: The Spiritual Habits of World-Changing Leaders<\/a><\/em>.  What&#8217;s funny is that the original plan was for us to be gifted another of his books and these were sent by mistake.  I&#8217;m so grateful it was!  This semester at school we have been studying prayer and what it looks like to align our hearts with the heart of God.  We have been in a series and season at church on prayer.  It&#8217;s almost as if the Lord is sending me a message of some sort!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This book was a great read and powerful reminder of this truth:<br><em>&#8220;It&#8217;s hard to be arrogant on our knees, where our hearts are reminded that we are first followers, not leaders.&#8221;<\/em> So many leaders today have let other things take the place of first things and that&#8217;s one of the main reasons our culture has become what it has.  Ever since Genesis 3, we&#8217;ve been pursuing our own way and it continues to lead us into a ditch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The greatest value of this book is the Scripture throughout that challenges us to ABIDE.  This book would be a great one for a Bible study group or a discipleship type of relationship.  I highlighted several things while reading and have posted those notes below.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Personally and anecdotally we know that Christian leaders often lead out of our own strength, dedicating significant time to research, strategy, and discussion before rounding out our efforts with a quick prayer for God to bless our plans. p. xvi.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>When leadership scholar J. Robert Clinton studied biblical leaders, he found that only 30 percent &#8220;finished well.&#8221; He believes even fewer are finishing well today, and the connection to prayer is causal and clear: &#8220;In latter ministry, the tendency is to rely on complacency, one&#8217;s ability to do things, rather than primarily on God.&#8221; p. xvii<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>An intentional prayer life is the nonnegotiable constant of lasting, fruitful Christian life and leadership. p. xxi<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>C.S. Lewis&#8217;s spiritual mentor, Father Walter Adams, instilled in Lewis on simple, life-altering concept: &#8220;Look after the roots, and the fruits will look after themselves.&#8221; p. xxv<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>&#8220;The first great and primary business to which I ought to attend every day was, to have my soul happy in the Lord.&#8221; &#8211; George Muller p. 3<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Christ modeled friendship not only with His followers but also with His Father.\u00a0 He often talked about His close connection with the Father through prayer.\u00a0 Statements like &#8220;Father, I thank you that you have heard me,&#8221; &#8220;Whatever the Father does the Son also does&#8221; and &#8220;I pray that they will all be one, just as you and I are one&#8221; are rooted in deep friendship and trust (John 11:41, 5:19, 17:21). p. 12<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Friendship with God\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>David &#8220;a man after God&#8217;s own heart&#8221; 1 Samuel 13:14<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Moses &#8220;as one speaks to a friend&#8221; Exodus 33:11<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Abraham &#8220;God&#8217;s friend&#8221; James 2:23 p. 13<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>I got on my knees on my bed and told the Lord I just wanted to talk to Him without any agenda.\u00a0 I eventually asked Him, &#8220;Jesus, what is on Your heart? What can I pray for?&#8221; &#8211; Francis Chan, p. 15<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>&#8220;A rule of life is a pattern of spiritual disciplines that provides structure and direction for growth in holiness.&#8221; Stated simply, it&#8217;s a training plan to grow closer to Christ. p. 22<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>&#8220;The first and most basic thing we can and must do is to keep God before our minds.&#8221; -Dallas Willard, p. 38<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Once sentence prayers drawn from a deeply rooted relationship with God carry the power and grace of heaven. p. 49<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>It&#8217;s hard to be arrogant on our knees, where our hearts are reminded that we are first followers, not leaders. p. 57<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Staying enchanted with Jesus carries us through darkness, stress, and pressure with otherworldly joy. p. 77<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>To make our prayer life more like Jesus&#8217; prayer life, we need to be immersed in Scripture and let its words shape us. p. 85<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>&#8220;Praying the Scriptures is so important in the Christian life,&#8221; says John Piper, founder of Desiring God. &#8220;If we don&#8217;t form the habit of praying the Scriptures, our prayers will almost certainly degenerate into vain repetitions that eventually revolve entirely around our immediate private concerns rather than God&#8217;s larger purposes.&#8221; p. 87<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I&#8217;ve enjoyed reading Peter Greer&#8217;s work in a variety of formats lately. He spoke at the CESA Symposium in early October and we were gifted a copy of Lead with Prayer: The Spiritual Habits of World-Changing Leaders. What&#8217;s funny is that the original plan was for us to be gifted another of his books and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":21171,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,14,16,23,28,17,34],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21170","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bible-study","category-book-review","category-family","category-generosity","category-integrity","category-leadership","category-truth"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Screenshot-2026-10-31-at-8.58.07-PM.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21170","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=21170"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21170\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21172,"href":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21170\/revisions\/21172"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/21171"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=21170"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=21170"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meganstrange.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=21170"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}