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Movie War Room tied to Gothard? & Prayer question


Katy
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Several friends have posted something about the movie War Room on FB in the past few days.  We tried to go, but it was sold out.  I watched a couple videos about the movie on YouTube & was checking out the related book The Battle Plan for Prayer because I'm looking for some new studies on prayer for my small group at church.

 

From the table of contents on Amazon there's a fair amount of character focus that reminds me of Gothard - Repentance vs Pride, Unity vs division, Faith vs doubt, secret vs show, obedience vs rebellion, persistence vs impatience...  Frankly that scares me and I don't want to help people in my small group be more comfortable with Gothard...

 

Anyone have a favorite small group resource about prayer?

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I enjoyed reading Too Busy Not to Pray for myself, but I haven't done it in a group.

 

A few years ago, I was in a study group that worked through the Lord's prayer - the leader used a book as a basis to structure the study, and I think it *may* have been On Earth as it is In Heaven, by Warren Wiersbe. The leader did the reading, and then converted it to a study - had everyone lookup the corresponding verses, discuss the application etc. It was excellent.

 

And edited to add: actually, I think she used the book "when you pray", by Phillip Riken. http://www.amazon.com/When-You-Pray-Making-Prayer/dp/1596380527/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1441236416&sr=8-1&keywords=when+you+pray

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C. S. Lewis:  "Letters to Malcolm, Chiefly on Prayer" is an excellent resource.

 

https://www.cph.org/p-21948-a-simple-way-to-pray.aspx I have this, and it's great.  Short and very deep but accessible.

 

If you mostly want to have devotions that include prayer, Scripture, readings from the church fathers, etc. this is the best adult devotion book I have ever used:  https://www.cph.org/p-11350-treasury-of-daily-prayer-regular-edition.aspx

 

None of these are 'out there'.  They are solid, broad, deep, and pretty mainstream without being over modernistic.

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Yes, the flags are up for me as well. I see some theological problems just in the little that I've read about it.

 

Unless I'm asked, I'm not saying much. DH and I tend to be apart from the evangelical mainstream as it is.

 

The terminology "prayer warrior" has always troubled me. Of course "our struggle is not against flesh and blood" (Ephesians 6:12), but ultimately we are not at the forefront. I tend to lean on "Be not afraid, not dismayed by reason of this great multitude; for the battle is not yours, but God's" (II Chronicles 20:15). In some of these movies and books IMHO there is too much emphasis on the human side and human formulas and not on God Himself. It is not about us and how we pray, although we can always learn about prayer. It is about Him.

 

My FIL used to say that if we truly grasped who God is and the meaning of what Jesus did, we wouldn't need books written by people and movies to tell us what to do. He and his father wrote quite a bit and much of it is still in print, but he always felt like the weight should be on what God said secondary to what he wrote.

 

I would liken it to the Frank Peretti craze in the late 1980's and early 1990's. I felt like his writing added too many details beyond what scripture tells us and made formulas for prayer that are also not explicitly taught.

 

I'm fond of O. Palmer Roberton's revision of Mathew Henry's work called A Way to Pray, but the approach and format is more personal and devotional than something a group would study.

 

I'm sure that there are other classics that folks here can recommend. Not always, but I tend to like books that have stood the test of time.

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Several friends have posted something about the movie War Room on FB in the past few days.  We tried to go, but it was sold out.  I watched a couple videos about the movie on YouTube & was checking out the related book The Battle Plan for Prayer because I'm looking for some new studies on prayer for my small group at church.

 

From the table of contents on Amazon there's a fair amount of character focus that reminds me of Gothard - Repentance vs Pride, Unity vs division, Faith vs doubt, secret vs show, obedience vs rebellion, persistence vs impatience...  Frankly that scares me and I don't want to help people in my small group be more comfortable with Gothard...

 

Anyone have a favorite small group resource about prayer?

 

Just saying that all those things mentioned in bold are not bad but if taken to a legalistic extreme, just about anything can be harmful and turn unbiblical.

ETA: I have no knowledge of the movie.

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Here's a review that is worth considering though. He's stronger than I would be, but there you go: http://influxmagazine.com/war-room-review/.

 

 

 

 

From the review:  "This film is so bad and contemptible that it would make Jesus himself take his father's name in vain."  LOL.   Hilarious.

 

It doesn't sound evangelical, it sounds Pentecostal.    I might like it better than I thought, for a throwback to when I went to Assembly of God, if nothing else.

 

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Richard Pratt's Pray With Your Eyes Open and Richard Foster's Prayer: Finding the Heart's True Home are two of my favorites.

Different approaches that balance one another well.

Pratt is Reformed and begins with God. Very theological and rich. 

Foster is Quaker and much more emotive and reflective. 

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It's a movie from Provident films.

 

ie: also responsible for the unmitigated disaster that was "Mom's Night Out" and in the same vein as Courageous, Fireproof and Unstoppable.

 

http://www.providentfilms.org/

I know nothing about War Room but Courageous, Fireproof, and Unstoppable were sortof disasters- BUT Mom's Night Out is my favorite movie! I don't care what anyone else thinks, I thought it was hilarious. (And the acting way waaaaay better than in those other movies)

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I know nothing about War Room but Courageous, Fireproof, and Unstoppable were sortof disasters- BUT Mom's Night Out is my favorite movie! I don't care what anyone else thinks, I thought it was hilarious. (And the acting way waaaaay better than in those other movies)

 

I didn't like the idea that the dads were bumbling idiots unable to take care of their own darn kids for the night.  I had no idea what I getting into when I got it from Netflix.  I will agree the acting was better than Fireproof (I have never seen the others).   But the script.  Ugh.  

 

We can agree to hate Fireproof though and just ignore our differences about MNO.   :lol:

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I can agree with that! Fireproof was bad!

I HATED THAT MOVIE!

 

Really.

 

Porn addictions are not cured this way. Really. Good gravy! If only it were that easy!!!!

 

And given the pain and suffering a woman endures when her husband has this problem, to think that him bringing her Benadryl for her allergies, and selling his boat for her parents somehow magically fixes the years of betrayal is just :banghead:  :banghead: :banghead: . 

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