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Every praying believer reaches a point where they long for more, more depth, more consistency, more confidence that God is listening. The good news is that some of the most seasoned voices in the global church have written down what they learned in the secret place. These books won’t replace your time with God, but they will fan it into flame.
We chose the thirteen below for one reason: they have helped real people pray. They span the classics, the modern teachers, and the great voices of the worldwide church, from Korea to Ghana to America. Start with whichever one meets you where you are.
The timeless classics
1. With Christ in the School of Prayer, Andrew Murray
More than a century old and still unmatched. Murray walks you, lesson by lesson, through how Jesus Himself taught His disciples to pray. If you read only one prayer classic this year, make it this one.
2. Power Through Prayer, E. M. Bounds
A short, searching book that argues God’s power flows not through methods or programs but through praying people. It will convict you and pull you back to your knees in the best way.
Praying with boldness and persistence
3. The Circle Maker, Mark Batterson
Batterson reframes prayer as drawing bold, specific circles around your God-given dreams and praying until heaven answers. Practical, story-rich, and faith-building for anyone tempted to pray small.
4. Secrets of the Secret Place, Bob Sorge
Sixty short, rich chapters on cultivating a hidden, daily life of prayer with God. Perfect for reading one chapter at a time before you pray.
Prayer and fasting
5. Fasting, Jentezen Franklin
The book that introduced a generation to fasting as the secret to breakthrough. Clear, biblical, and intensely practical, including the how, not just the why.
6. Shaping History Through Prayer and Fasting, Derek Prince
Prince makes the staggering case that believers on their knees have changed the course of nations. A call to intercede with eternity in view.
Voices from the global church
7. Prayer: Key to Revival, David Yonggi Cho
The Korean pastor who built the world’s largest church on prayer shares the disciplines behind it. A first-hand witness that prayer still moves God today.
8. Understanding the Purpose and Power of Prayer, Myles Munroe
Munroe teaches prayer as the God-given authority of every believer to partner with heaven on earth. Foundational and empowering, especially if prayer has felt like a mystery.
9. Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire, Jim Cymbala
The true story of a struggling Brooklyn church that put prayer at its center, and what God did. If you long for your prayer life (or your church’s) to come alive, start here.
Praying Scripture and praying strategically
10. Fervent, Priscilla Shirer
A practical, specific battle plan for prayer, built around the real areas the enemy attacks. Hands-on, with room to write your own prayer strategies.
11. Praying God’s Word, Beth Moore
Moore teaches you to dismantle strongholds by praying Scripture itself back to God. A powerful approach when you don’t know what to pray.
12. The Power of a Praying Woman, Stormie Omartian
A gentle, Scripture-soaked guide to praying over every area of your life. One of the best-selling prayer books of all time for good reason.
13. Prayer Is Invading the Impossible, Jack Hayford
Hayford’s classic on praying with bold faith into the situations that look hopeless. Short, fiery, and faith-stretching.
Go deeper with E. M. Bounds
No voice in church history is more bound up with prayer than E. M. Bounds (1835–1913), the Methodist pastor and Civil War chaplain who rose at 4 a.m. to pray and spent the last seventeen years of his life writing about it. Power Through Prayer (number 2 above) is his best-known work, but he wrote eight books on prayer in all: short, blazing, and convicting. If one of them stirred you, the rest will too, Purpose in Prayer, The Necessity of Prayer, The Essentials of Prayer, The Possibilities of Prayer, The Reality of Prayer, The Weapon of Prayer, and Prayer and Praying Men.
The easiest way in is the single-volume collection that gathers all eight in one place:
Find The Complete Works of E. M. Bounds on Prayer on Amazon →
Where to start
If you want a classic, begin with Andrew Murray or E. M. Bounds. If you need breakthrough, reach for Jentezen Franklin or Mark Batterson. If you simply want to pray more consistently, Bob Sorge’s short daily chapters are hard to beat.
For our full, regularly-updated library of prayer books, devotionals, and Bible-study tools, visit our Resources page, and if you’d like a fresh, scripture-fused prayer in your inbox every morning, join us at PrayerPrompt.
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