Title: Couples Who Pray: The Most Intimate Act Between and Man and a Woman
Authors: Squire Rushnell and Louise DuArt
Official book summary:
In this entertaining, highly readable book, couples learn that a fabulous marriage can be the outcome of learning to pray together, causing a 20 to 30 percent increase in romance, conversation and happiness.
Best-selling author Squire Rushnell and his wife, entertainer and talk show host Louise DuArt, take readers step by step through The 40 Day Prayer Challenge™ in which couples commit to praying together five minutes a day for forty days. Backed by compelling research from Baylor University and Gallup Poll, the true-life experiences of 24 test couples, including Denzel and Pauletta Washington, Kathie Lee and Frank Gifford, Donna Summer and Bruce Sudano, Scott and Tracie Hamilton, reveal that daily prayer is a "life changing experience" in which most couples report positive outcomes in less than two weeks.
Couples Who Pray includes an easy questionnaire prepared by Baylor University to help couples to chart their own progress during The 40 Day Prayer Challenge™.
My Review: 1 star (or less)
Let me start by saying that I am completely on board with the fact that praying with your spouse can be a marriage changing experience. It just makes sense to me. If a couple truly desires God to be central in their relationship, praying together should be a no brainer. Easier said than done. That’s why I was pretty excited to review this book.
The official book promo states “takes readers step by step through the 40 day prayer challenge”. Um, no, actually, it doesn’t. The book takes the reader through 150 plus pages of celebrity stories ... and that’s about it. While some of the stories were inspiring, it just got, well, old. No where does it actually talk about anything step by step, although there is a brief “commercial” to visit their website to sign up for support (for a cost). The end of the book has an appendix with questionnaires for husbands and wives to help them, I guess, get started. I don’t know because no where does it outline what to do with the questionnaires.
Except for another appendix in the back of the book, the text has little to no scriptural support. Indeed I think I was about 1/3 of the way through the book before I found a scripture reference. The book also rarely focused on the ONE who answers prayer and just on the prayer itself. Less mature readers will probably walk away with a “if I just do like these famous people do God will give us exactly what we want.” God often does give us our wants. More often, however, He gives us what we need and very often that’s in the answer of “NO” to a specific prayer.
It seems to be just another example of “famous” people touting their expertise just because they are famous. To be sure, several of the stories were touching and inspiring, but this book could have been a lot shorter and much more effective for couples really wanting to develop a habit of praying together.
I agree with another reviewer on Amazon... forget this book. Just pray with your spouse.