The Radical Jesus Prayer

"Jesus constantly and consistently challenged the cultural mindset of both the religious leaders and His disciples. Time and time again He did not match up with either their religious norms or their cultural norms. At one point many disciples turned to leave Him after such a confrontation. His question, "Are you also going to leave?" must have stung in the ears of the Twelve. Impetuous Peter was the first to speak up, "Lord, to whom would we go?" Today Jesus challenges the North American culture and Western Mindset of His followers. Nowhere is this more explicit than His response when the first disciples asked, "Lord teach us to pray." As usual familiarity has caused this important pattern for our petitions and lifestyle to become one of many things we think we understand because . . . well it's so simple. But you will soon learn that Jesus challenges most of the cultural norms of both America and the American church. The question is, "Are you also going to leave?" Maybe you will continue to ignore these keys to the Kingdom. Maybe you will just "Keep on Keep'in on" as if everything will work out fine in the end. One reason these patterns for our petitions rock our religious norms is because of an insipid reality that permeates the Western church. Many have called it, "Easy Believism." As you read through The Radical Jesus Prayer, you will hear Warren speak of it from time to time. Thus we have added to this edition the small but powerful book, Dealing with Easy Believism. This book is focused on an alternative approach to ministering to a person who wants to have a right relationship with God. Warren sees this as moving people away from the "Just pray this prayer" introduction to one that produces discipleship and authentic community. Here is an excerpt from the Preface of The Radical Jesus Prayer: I believe with all my being that Father is calling His people into a far more radical lifestyle than what we could ever imagine. That radical lifestyle starts with intimacy with Father and ends in intimacy with Father. The one thing I have discovered about spiritual development is that it takes two key things. These just happen to be community and communion with the Trinity and community and communion with people from Father's household. It is my prayer, this book will not scare you away. Some of the things I write about could, under most circumstances, do just that However, I pray Father will use this book to open your eyes to a very different way of living than you have ever experienced. Yet I ask only one thing. Please do not throw this book across the room. You may laugh at that now but I promise at some point early on you will want to give it a good heave-ho But please hang in there. One thing I point out is that Father never takes away the weeds without giving us the highest quality hay. Another way He has spoken this to me is that He never takes away the weeds without leading us to rich green pastures. When we learn the things Father calls us to lay aside are basically locoweed*, we will be ready for the rich green pastures. So hang in there with me. Let's walk through this topic of the radical patterns the radical Jesus gave us to pray and live, producing the radical life Father calls us to walk with Him."