"The Prayer that Turns the World Upside Down" by R. Albert Mohler, Jr. A Review

 


It sounds passé, or maybe blasé, but prayer is essential, vital for Christians. So, in our church, I will soon begin a short evening series on prayer and was excited to dive into "The Prayer that Turns the Word Upside Down: The Lord's Prayer as a Manifesto for Revolution". It was published in 2018 by R. Albert Mohler, Jr., president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and host of "The Briefing" and "Thinking in Public". This small, 224-page hardback is handy (even handbook sized), hardy, and heightening.


Simply put, Mohler covers the biblical reasons for using the Lord's Prayer as both a prayer (Luke 11:1-4) and as a structure for our prayers (Matthew 6:7-13). He covers what prayer, in general is, and what it is not. He also develops each petition in the Lord's Prayer, delving deeply into redemption, relationships, resistance, and right-reasoning. From one end of the book to the other, the author reminds his readers that this "prayer is a gospel prayer" (123).


If I have a "beef" with the book (and I do) it's how Mohler views the old "Serenity Prayer". He devalues it by describing it "as nothing more than a generic prayer for a people with generic religious convictions" (73). This seems to me an unnecessarily uncharitable evaluation. The prayer is no more generic than the prayer of the tax collector in the temple, beating his breast while looking down, and praying "God, be merciful to me, a sinner" (Luke 18:13). But that was really the only bone I had to pick with the volume.


"The Prayer that Turns the World Upside Down" was a quick read, thought-provoking, and encouraging. It seems to me that Mohler hits many of the right nails on their proper heads, and hammers down the essential aspects of the Lord's Prayer. It will lift readers' hearts and draw them into praying. And for those who have hit flat times in their devotional motivations, it will add some fuel and possibly reignite their motor. I highly recommend the work.

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