In his book The Secrets of Intercessory Prayer: Unleashing God’s Power in the Lives of Those You Love, Pastor Jack Hayford taps into the unfulfilled longing many of us have to see our unsaved family members and friends come to faith.

Built on the foundational ideas that God loves our loved ones more than we do, and that there are principles of partnership with God discoverable, he tackles the subject of how to pray for them from many angles. In twelve short but loaded chapters he discusses subjects like what prayer accomplishes in God’s scheme of things, praying as husband and wife, praying for children, praying comfort for each other, even how to pray for those we’d rather not pray for!

His teachings are grounded in Scripture. Sometimes he takes a Bible character and extracts principles about prayer from their story. At other times he roams the Bible, collecting texts from the Old and New Testaments for us. Of course he also shares stories from his life and ministry—incidents which add color and show what the principles he’s talking about look like when transposed into everyday living.

I found his teaching on prayer insightful and encouraging. Especially encouraging was the chapter “Doing Your Part and Letting God Do His.” In it he reminds us that there is only so much we can do to reach our loved ones, the final results are in God’s hands, but will be affected in a big way by our prayers for them.

The Secrets of Intercessory Prayer will help you pray for loved ones with sharpened focus and strengthened faith. It would make a valuable addition to the prayer section of any home or church library.

(I received a copy of this book as a gift from the publisher with the purpose of writing a review.)
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NCLA Review - Apparently Jack Hayford is his own cottage industry. He is the founder of a church, a college and seminary, and the president of The International Church of the Foursquare Gospel. This book shows the imprint of these influences, especially Foursquare Gospel and Pentecostalism. However, it is also ecumenical and winsome. The book teaches the reader how to effectively pray for the faith and conversion of fellow family members. It especially laments divisions in the home, where only one member of the home is a believer, and seeks to redress this through biblically informed methods for loving and caring. If you can answer the following question in the affirmative, then this book is designed for you, "Would you feel profited to discover principles of partnership with God, whereby your prayers for your loved one's well-being—especially if they are either indifferent, distant, or even opposed to a relationship with God—would become focused with spiritual clarity and faith in God's Word, thereby becoming more than guesswork?" Rating: 2 —CS ( )