PRAYER: THE TIMELESS SECRET OF HIGH-IMPACT LEADERS BY DAVE EARLEY
A READING REFLECTION
A PAPER SUBMITTED TO DR. TERRY FAULKENBURY
IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR
THE COURSE EVAN 670
Fannie M. Thomas
January 27, 2013
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INTRODUCTION
Prayer for some Christian is something that normally occurs when a drastic event
happens in their lives or the lives of a love one, friend or close relative. As Christians mature in
Christ, they realize how important it is to have an active prayer life; prayer will become a part of
the believer’s daily lives. Their focus is more on the things of God and the direction in which He
would have they to take. The length and time of prayer becomes longer and at a consistent time
as their relationship with Christ deepen. The Scripture “man should always prayer,’ become a
reality.
In Dave Earley book Prayer: The Timeless Secret of High-Impact Leaders, he reveals that
prayer is the common factor of all spiritual leaders. Prayer is not a second thought, but the
instrument that the used to make an impact upon their lives, ministry and the lives of others.
Earley demonstrates through stories, how prayer made the difference and change the lives of
many men and women. He explains nine practical and applicable prayers discipline principles
the every spiritual leader can and have implemented in their prayer life. He states that his goal
for the book is “to motivate Christian leaders to pray more fervently, more frequently, more
effectively, and more contagiously than ever before.”1
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Dave Earley is the chairman of the Department of Pastoral Leadership and Director of the
Center for Pastoral leadership at Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary. He is also the director of
the Lovett Center for Ministry Training and Liberty Center for Church Planting. He has written
numerous books on prayer and small group leadership.
1 Dave Earley. Prayer: The Timeless Secret of High-Impact Leaders. Chattanooga: Living Ink Books Publishers,
2008, xii
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In 1985, he began a church in the basement of his home with only 12 people in
attendance. Now, it has successfully grown into a church with over 2,000 in attendance and with
125 small groups. His church is New Life Church of Columbus, Ohio.
SUMMARY
Earley’s book is composed of nine prayers discipline principle for high-impact leaders.
These principles are Biblical based and supports them with stories of well-known and extremely
influential leaders from the past and present. The book has ten chapters filled with information
on the value of the power of prayer, making time for prayer, praying for those we serve, training
others to pray for you, turning your problems into prayer, fasting and praying, possessing a bold
faith; building on the basics, adopting the best practices, and putting it all together. Additionally,
it contains a section that list of the spiritual leaders the he studied for the book.
The first chapter, Value the Power of Prayer, sets the atmosphere for the entire book. This
chapter present statically data on the average time spent in prayer by North American pastors. It
revealed that these pastors only spend seven minutes a day in prayer, which is not nearly enough
to an effective spiritual leader. Earley states that a strong and consistent prayer life is the most
important task that an effective spiritual leader can have; additionally prayer is the most
influential activity. He highlights numerous leaders who were able to change the course of their
ministries and the world through their prayer life. Earley pointed out that many Christian leaders
believe that they cannot fit prayer into their busy schedules. However, he explains how prayer is
a time saver, because God can provide them the answers in a short period. Additionally, to prayer
being a time saver, it is omnipresent; prayer transient time and space. Prayer is the determining
factor to how God moves in different situations, he provide Biblical example of spiritual leaders
prayer on behalf the people. Through prayer, God is able to provide insight into situation in order
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for the believer to make the proper decisions. He goes on to discuss that prayer is the spiritual
leader’s greatest spiritual weapon and as spiritual leader prayer must not stop, because prayer can
defeat spirits in the spiritual realm because the can manifest on the earth.
Chapter two, Make Time to Pray, Earley discusses how important it is for Christians leaders
spend time in prayer and they follow Jesus’ example of prayer. This chapter discusses the
importance of establishing daily prayer time, the amount of time spent in prayer, and the
establishment of a regular place for prayer. Again, Earley used the support of well know spiritual
leaders and biblical reference.
Chapter three, Pray for Those you Serve, encourages the Christian leaders to redirect the
focus of prayer toward their congregation and other they may serve. Earley emphasizes the
importance of intercession for those the God has placed then over. He mentions that effective
spiritual leaders elevate their followers over themselves through prayer. Leaders such as Moses,
he interceded for the children of Israel and Jesus the greatest of all intercessors. Within this
chapter, he provides valuable information on interceding effectively and guidelines for praying
for prodigal loved ones, non-believers, backsliders, and the church.
Chapter four, Train Others to Pray for You, lays the foundation for the importance of have
a prayer partners and how to select the proper person who will cover leader in prayer, as they
accomplishment the mission of sharing the gospel. Earley continues to utilize the stories of great
spiritual leaders to emphases his points. He shares how the prayers of others covered these great
men of God, which enable them meet any challenge and achiever even great results than anyone
could ever imagine. “The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective (James5:16, NIV).”
Chapter five, Turn Your Problems into Prayer, Earley tells the reader through prayer they
should turn every situation in their life over to God. It does not matter whether the prayer is long
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or short the Christian can petition heaven for help. Philippians 4:6 says, “Do not be anxious
about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your
requests to God.” When the problem is turn over to God, he or she is no longer victims, but they
are victorious in God. Early show that throughout Scriptures, there are prayers from mighty men
and women of God seek help from God. He quotes 1 Peter 5:7, “Cast all your anxiety on him
because he cares for you.” God is waiting anxiously for His people to bring the problem to Him,
because He has the answer for every situation.
Chapter six, Fast and Pray, Earley reminds the believer that fasting plays an important
part in every spiritual life. He gives a biblical definition for fasting, meaning “not to eat or self-
denial.”2 He provides the reader with twenty significant blessings that can be gained through
fasting.3 In addition to the blessing, he provides the reader with practical application on how to
fast to receive optimal results. Even though the believer is prayer fervently, Mark 9:29 tell us
"This kind can come out only by prayer." There will be time in ministry that some situations will
require the leader to fast and prayer to bring about a change.
Chapter seven, Possess a Bold Faith, Earley explains to the reader the importance of
having boldness in his or her prayer life. He mentions that the believer must boldly claim all the
promise of God and be specific when he or she prays. He again provides examples of great men
that achieved results by using precise petitions in their prayer life. Jesus taught His disciple this
principle.
Chapter eight, Build on the Basics, now that know the concept of prayer, Earley explains
on how to expand the believer’s prayer life. He explains the A.C.T.S. model of prayer, adoration,
2 Ibid, 94.
3 Ibid, 95-98.
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confession, thanksgiving, and supplication.4 Additionally, he provides practical application for
each step of the A.C.T.S. model.
Chapter nine, Adopt Best Practices, Earley suggest that the reader adopt the best practices
of prayer from some of the great spiritual leaders that best suit his or her life. In this chapter, he
reviews some of the best practice he discussed previously in the book, pray without ceasing,
persevering petitions, prayer retreats, or praying the Scriptures, additional he provides practical
application for each practice.
The final chapter, Putting it all Together, Earley mentions that this chapter is the most
important chapter. It will assist the readers to apply these principles to their life. “Inspiration and
information without application leads to frustration.”5 This chapter provides the reader with a
prayer life inventory, assessment, and application tools to assist them to bring all the lessons
learned in to prospective in order to make the proper changes in their prayer life. The very last
task that the reader should do is set goals to improve his or her prayer life.
EVALUATION AND CRITIQUE
Dave Earley, Prayer: The Timeless Secret of High-Impact Leaders truly unlocks the
secret to prayer. His focus on the importance of prayer for spiritual leaders in the preparation of
influencing the nation is life changing. The book is not like most theological literature, dry and
boring filled with material that only the writer understands. However, Earley accomplishes his
goal to motivate Christian leaders to prayer by reminding them of their greatest weapons,
PRAYER.
Earley effectively utilize stories of his personal experiences and the life experiences of
other well-known spiritual leaders to convey his point and to support his principles. Additionally,
4 Ibid, 129.
5 Ibid, 173.
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he provides Scripture support to justify his point and principles. His combination of his personal
experience, well-known spiritual leader’s experience, and Scriptures usage make the book an
easy read and afford practical life application. The principles that Earley provide enables the
reader to reflect on the statistical data and evaluate their prayer life. Upon this reflection, the
reader can develop a plan to make the necessary changes to become a more effective spiritual
leader through adapting principle that Earley has put forward.
The strength of the book lies within the practical examples that Earley uses to make the
concept of prayer more relatable. The use of well-known spiritual leaders brought the reality of
the importance of prayer to the forefront. Earley stressed that prayer is a Christian leader or
Christian greatest spiritual weapon. Prayer must be the first task they should do in the morning
and the last task they should do at night. As for as any weaknesses in the book, I fail to find any.
This is an excellent book for anyone who desires to focus or guidance in improving his or her
prayer life. Earley successfully achieved his goal of motivating Christian to more consistent,
bold, and persistent in his or her prayer.
PERSONAL APPLICATION
This book has compelled to me to examine my prayer life and to make the necessary
changes to become more effective. There are few books, other than the Bible that convicts me to
action, but this book has caused me to reevaluate my prayer life. All of these principles can and
will be applied my prayer time for improvement. The book not only convicted me, but also it
gave me a strong desire to be more effective in my prayers. Reading about how spiritual giants
such as; John Wesley, Martin Luther, Billy Graham and many more became the great men of
God because of their prayer life has inspire me to prayer more. This reveals to me that add a little
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more prayer time and dedication to praying I can achieve that same greatest if I apply they
principle to my prayer life.
Applying the A.C.T.S. prayer model and understanding the importance of adoration,
confession, thanksgiving and supplication during my prayer time will increase the effective of
my prayers. Earley has revived my prayer life to want to prayer more and raise the standard of
my prayers. Just praying is no longer good enough; my desire is to prayer effectively in order to
manifest God blessings. I will apply setting a consistent time to prayer, stop being too busy to
pray, so I can save time, and train or ask other to pray for me. I am reminded that prayer is my
greatest weapon. I now have the proper instructions and information to prayer effectively to
bring about optimal results.
CONCLUSION
Earley’s Prayer: The Timeless Secret of High-Impact Leaders will make an impact on
whoever has dedicated their life to the ministry. They will realize that in order to achieve greatest
in God he or she will have to spent valuable time in prayer. This is the secret some many
believers fail to use effectively. The power of prayer has the ability to change any situation that a
Christian may encounter. It is impossible to measure the change wrought by prayer. Prayer has
the power to transform the lives, the hearts, and the minds of the non-believer. Prayer has the
power to give victory and insight into problems. Prayer will give the believer the able to tap into
the heart of God, which will enable them to accomplish their mission with ease. Earley use of
personal experiences and experiences of great spiritual leader provide the reader with evidence
that prayer is the key that will unlock the mysteries of God.
The book will challenge the reader to examine their prayer life and make the necessary
changes to be more effective. Dave Earley has given practical examples that can be applied to the
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believer’s life. He points out the importance of prayer and great leader used prayer to effectively
accomplish the mission of God. This book is an excellent tool for anyone in the ministry,
whether he or she are just beginning in ministry or whether they need to be reminded that they
have an awesome weapon of power. PRAYER.
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BIBLIOGRAPHY
Earley, Dave. Prayer: The Timeless Secret of High-Impact Leaders. Chattanooga: Living Ink
Books Publishers, 2008.
