book review by Anne Song

How to Pray After You’ve kicked the Dog is a practical and insightful look on personal prayer. With honesty, humour, compassion, and simplicity, Terry Teykl is able to seize some of the common misconceptions about prayer and replace them with biblical truths. Misconceptions cause us to fear prayer:

"However, it is not actually the myths that keep us from enjoying a rich prayer life, but rather the feelings and attitudes that develop in us as a result of our misguided thinking. These misconceptions all produce in us a toxin, fear which in turn produces a behaviour—we sit slumped over the steering wheel holding the back of our heads. We feel like we have ‘kicked the dog’, or maybe even killed the critter, so we rule ourselves out, thinking that surely God will not hear our prayers. And even if, by chance, He happened to hear, He certainly would not respond.

If we approach God at all, it is with our tails tucked and our fingers crossed. Or we pray with a ‘lottery attitude’-maybe we will win but probably not. The odds are not in our favour. We reason that prayer only works for really ‘holy’ people. We feel unworthy, unqualified and undeserving. ‘Prayer? Maybe for some, but not for me.’ Our feelings of guilt and inadequacy leave us spiritually paralysed, robbing us of the most precious privilege we have as Christians-communicating with God. Ultimately, we do not pray, or we pray tiny little prayers with great hesitation, because we are afraid." (p.13)

The writer identifies the fears that hamper our prayer lives and the myths on which they feed. Some of the common myths are (pp. 14-15):

1. God will not answer my prayers if there is sin in my life.
2. Prayer is like an international phone call-distance is extreme, the connection is shaky, the rate is high and the number is hard to remember.
3. Some prayers are better than others.
4. Prayer is crisis-motivated.
5. The main goal of prayer is to get God’s attention.
6. In order for my prayer life to be legitimate, it should look like someone else’s.
7. Prayer is a gift-some people have it, and some people don’t.

"The purpose of this book is to replace the myths with truths, and the fear with confidence and joy" (p.13). Terry Teykl provides biblical truths to overcome the hindrances that keep us from praying. Practical suggestions are provided to help the reader pray and hear from God, personally. Often times we fall into a "comparison trap", which results in us feeling inadequate. However, God created us as unique individuals whom He has created with a special purpose in mind.

I had the privilege of hearing Terry Teykl at a prayer conference. He is a wonderful speaker and is passionate about the necessity of prayer. During the conference, Terry Teykl had me laughing (because of his humour) and crying (because of his compassion for the lost and how prayer is essential for us as Christians), which led me to a personal conviction to make prayer a priority in my life. How to Pray After You’ve Kicked the Dog is very much like listening to Terry Teykl. The book contains many touching and funny stories. At times I caught myself giggling out loud. He even refers to Satan as "smutface"!

Finally, what is clear about prayer is that "if you can replace myth with truth, then you can dismantle fear and approach God with confidence, knowing that He will hear and answer. It does not matter who you are, what colour your skin is, what is in your past, whether or not you go to church or how many hymns you know! God wants to hear from you and speak to you. He is your Father, and He loves you whether your life is all together or in a million pieces" (p.17).