You can't always judge a book by its title

When I received the book Ten Prayers God Always Says Yes To: Divine Answers to Life’s Most Difficult Problems by Anthony Destefano I can’t say I was very enthused to read it. The title for me was pretty offsetting and I had a totally different idea of the contents of the book then the actual contents of the book. The title invoked for me the idea of the "Name it and claim it" theology bandied about by some Protestants, especially some on TV. Anthony Destefano is also the author of A Travel Guide to Heaven a book I have never read it.

The actual book though is quite different from what I expected. The author actually disparages "Name it and claim it" theology and has produced a very worthwhile book. The ten chapters in the book address each of the prayers that author says God will answer starting from "God, show me that you exist. The book is filled with realistic and practical ways to address God in prayer by outlining why these ten petition to God will work.

Prayer is not candy-coated in anyway and Anthony Destefano does not offer cheap grace. Instead whether he is talking about knowing the existence of God, dealing with suffering, forgiveness, generosity, etc he is able to relate it in terms easily understood. He also does not make the mistake of making prayer merely a method and that the point of prayer is that we are talking to someone and that someone is God as a person.

Throughout the book he uses examples form St. Thomas Aquinas, C.S. Lewis, Fr. Corapi and many others to drive home the points he is making. I learned reading the book that he is also a Catholic (in fact Fr. Frank Pavone was once his parish priest). The book at times does make some specifically Catholic points when he is talking about the ten prayers, but for the most part he is obviously writing to a general audience so this is a book for pretty much anybody.

His writing style is quite enjoyable and I found myself reading large chunks of the book before putting it down. Better thought is that the book is practical on a day-to-day level and you can immediately start thinking along the lines of taking his suggestions. Sometimes you can read some fact over and over and then one person can take that knowledge you already had and make it usable. This is exactly what Anthony Destefano has done.

I hope this book is as successful as his first book and that it will receive a wide audience, it is certainly a book that deserves that and I think it will be extremely helpful to many persons whether they might be fallen-away Christians or others already well along the journey of faith.

Dawn Eden, who is a friend of Anthony DeStefano, is also impressed by the book and writes a nice review of it.