PRAY TO WIN (God Wants You To Succeed)

Greetings O Ye Winners.

Before we begin...let me just say that I realize that there are people who think that Christians are and should be poor losers. Their spirituality is linked to their poverty which they equate with their humility...and anyone who implies that God wants you to WIN and SUCCEED is tantamount to the anti-Christ...and they have their guns loaded with scriptural ammunition to shoot down this heresy.

Of course compared to 3rd world countries...they ARE winning and succeeding...and as of yet...have not sold everything they have and given it to the poor. They like to complain from the comfort of their American dream home and type things out on their computers...as they sip a cool iced tea in their climate controlled rooms...and consider this the spartan lifestyle.

NOTE: I realize there are extreme abuses of money...and overlooking of the poor...but this book is not about the attitude of the abusers...who ascribe to the root of all evil (which is not money...but the love of money). This book is about PRAYER. With that said...here is a RECOMMENDED RUMINATOR READING. In 2011...there is a lot of talk about WINNING (good and negative). The most recent negative is the actor Charlie Sheen...who was released from his T.V. show Two and A Half Men...due to his destructive lifestyle and strange tirades against the creator/producer of that show. The spotlight was on Charlie...as he released twitters with many..."sheenisms." These "sheenisms" became fodder for the media...and he would usually end with a defiant statment about his progress...by saying "WINNING." This is not the "winning" that Pat Boone is talking about...it is more about winning...by...losing.

Pat Boone is one of my favorite singers, movie star, and author. As a singer he has sold 45 million albums and recorded 38 top 40 hits...along with being an early rock pioneer in the since (for good or bad) homoginized black music (Ain't That A Shame, Tutti Frutti, etc.) He made this type of music accessible to the world. He was a musical contemporary to Elvis Presley (they were friends). As a movie star he was in 12 movies (along with having his own T.V. show in the 50's/60's). As an author...he has written over 25 published books. In the early 70's... Pat funded Randy Stonehill and Larry Norman's first albums (without Pat Boone...no Jesus Music)and then founded Lamb and Lion Records for contemporary Christian artists...including himself. Pretty good for a local boy from Donelson Tennessee...a direct descendent of Daniel Boone and cousin to Richard Boone and Randy Boone.

Pat's singing and writing were influential in my spiritual walk as I was encouraged by his Christian albums (Songs From The Inner Court is one of Pat's best)...and his books (A New Song, Dr. Baalam's Talking Mule, A Miracle A Day Keeps The devil Away, etc.) Today's review is on one of those overlooked jewels...PRAY TO WIN (God Wants You To SUCCEED).

On the surface it looks like this is another one of those motivational, positive thinking, get rich quick books...BUT...it is not. Oh it is motivational...it is positive...and encourages you to not think negatively...but it is a book about SUPERNATURAL COMMUNICATION with the Creator of the universe.

As a Speech-Language Pathologist (who is writing my own book about Speaking and Hearing The Words of God from the perspective of a Speech-Language Pathologist)...I was intriqued and delighted to read the first chapter of PRAY TO WIN...entitled LANGUAGE WITHOUT LIMITS: An Introduction to Prayer Probes. This is in Part I called...HOW TO START A SUPERNATURAL CONVERSATION.

The book jacket describes the contents of the book:

--The nine prerequisites for effective prayer
--How to distinguish His true answers from false messages
--The key to meaningful reading of the Scriptures
--How to discover His will for you
--The power of group prayer
--His two special communication codes
--How to become an effective participant in His answer to your prayer

I love Pat's style of writing...because it draws you in...and you feel as if he is talking to you. It is very down to earth...not overly theologized...but nitty gritty. It is filled with humor and stories of first hand accounts of answered prayer...and reported accounts of answered prayer from people know personally to Pat...some famous...some infamous...some not so famous.

When you finish reading PRAY TO WIN...I believe you will be motivated to PRAY.

"Commit to the Lord whatever you do...and your plans will succeed." (Pro-Verbs 16:3)

"The Lord delights in the way of the man whose steps He has made firm...though he stumble, he will not fall. For the Lord upholds him with His hand. I was young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or their children begging bread. They're always generous and lend freely, thier children will be blessed." (Psalm 37:23-26)

" But seek first His Kingdom and His Righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well." (Matthew 6:33)

These are the three verses that ends PRAY TO WIN (God Wants You To Succeed). I would like to add one more about prosperity and success.

"This book of the Law (the Word) shall not depart from your mouth (where you are speaking) but you shall meditate (ruminate/chew on it) day and night (all the time)...for then (cause and effect of speaking and meditating on the Word) you will make (as you do what you meditate) your way prosperous (overflow) and then you will have good success (accomplishement)." (Joshua 1:8)

True Biblical prosperity and success to me means (1) prosperity=enough to meet your needs and an overflow to help meet the needs of others (2) success=accomplishing the purposes of God in your life. Of course we have to learn "the secret" found in Philippians 4:10-19 as God supplies all your needs and strengthens you.

If you combine PRAY TO WIN...with Ed Coles book NEVER QUIT (see the Recommended Ruminator Reading review on Ed's book)...you have a one-two punch to knock the devil out.

I give this book five hooves up...along with a big Moooooooooooooooo.

Love and Winning Kisses
Rodney "Succeeding" Boyd

A NEW SONG by PAT BOONE

Greetings and Saluatations O Ye Book Worms...welcome to the 2nd Recommended Ruminator Reading post. Of course the first one was about the Book of All Books...that contained 66 Books...The Bible.

This time...we will be reviewing a book by a guy named Charles Eugene Boone...aka Pat Boone.

NOTE: The Ruminatin' Rod's Record Review will be a Pat Boone record also...called Songs From The Inner Court.

Charles...I mean Pat...has been a long time favorite of mine. I love his music...I love his movies...I love his books. Pat was a two time winner of the Ted Mack Amateur Hour... was on the Arthur Godfrey Show...has sold more than 30,000,000 million records....had his own TV show successful movies. He graduated magna cum laude from Columbia University...and was a Church of Christ minister.

His book... A NEW SONG...chronicles how all of his success, money, fame, fortune, religion...did NOT bring him true happiness. He had married Red Foley's daughter Shirley, had four beautiful girls...lived in Hollywood mansions...but this boy from Donelson Tennesee, son to Margaret and Archie Boone...was smiling on the outside but crying on the inside. According to the jacket notes on his book..."His marriage was on the rocks, financial ruin was near, and his career almost shipwrecked--then he discovered A NEW SONG."

NOTE: I have had a couple of encounters with Mr. Boone...(1) I use to see him at a hospital I worked at...and had a couple of times to express to him my appreciation...not only for his singing and movies...but for the impact that his book A NEW SONG had on my life. I was also able to talk with his mother and father, Margaret and Archie Boone also (at the hospital and at various Full Gospel Business Men's Fellowship International (FGBMFI) meetings. (2) I got to see him in a concert at the Centennial Park Bandshell with big band and get his autograph afterwards. I yelled out a request for the song July You're A Woman...and he had responded back...Oh...you're the one who bought a copy.

NOTE: These next two pictures of Randy Stonehill (Born Twice) and Larry Norman (Street Level) are album covers that they recorded...during what was know as the Jesus movement. They were funded by a gift from Pat Boone who gave them $2500.o0. Pat was always on the cutting edge when it came to "Jesus People." As a matter of fact...on Pat's album...PAT BOONE SINGS THE SONGS OF THE JESUS PEOPLE...you hear Pat singing at a concert...making the statement about people asking about the Jesus Movement...that it was simply..."Jesus...moving among people."

Pat also founded Lamb and Lion Records for an outlet for young artist to record their music for Jesus...including himself, Dogwood, DeGarmo and Key, and many more. BUT... this is a book review so back to A NEW SONG.

The first chapter of A NEW SONG was HIGH ADVENTURE..and opens up with Pat and Harald Bredesen..."a black shirted and white collered" minister friend...as they go up in coldwater Canyon area. They began to jog...and pray. As the walked, talked, and prayed...Pat began to sense something that he had never experienced in his life. "Never before had I sensed the earness of God as I did now. Never before had I prayed as I was now praying." Pat was experiencing an encounter with the Holy Spirit...and encounter that would change his life, his wife's life (she had already had the experience), his children's life, many of his fan's lives...and FOR MY LIFE.

Pat's parents...and Pat and his family were in a church that preached against the things that Pat had been experiencing because (1) gifts of the Spirit were only for the establishment of the church (2) these things past away with the last apostle passing away (3) these things past away because the Bible was in it's "final form" and no need for God to speak or move since we have his thought already. Pat was excommunicated from his church for his beliefs...and his mother and father...searched the Bible through so that they could show him in the Scriptures how he was wrong about the Holy Spirit, the gifts of the Spirit, miracles, healings, speaking in tongues...BUT...could not find their "proof text"...and ended up having the same experiences...and also were excommunicated.

Well....this book was released in August of 1970... about the same time the Lord was speaking to me about my relationship...or lack of relationship with Him. Brenda led me to the Lord in the Fall of 1970 by January of 1970 I was in Bible School in Chattanooga and by 1972 I had dropped out of Bible School and back in Murfreesboro...about to get married in July of 1972. I still loved the Lord... but something seemed to be missing. I had the salvation part...I was reading and hungry for his word....but I was not happy....I was getting more discouraged and miserable.

Two things happened that lead me to an overflowing experience with the Holy Spirit. (1) I found a copy of the book in the Bible School bookstore... THE CROSS AND THE SWITCHBLADE by David Wilkerson (Pat played David later in the movie by the same name). What was odd...this particular school did not believe in what was being written about in the book. Chapter 28 in that book started out with the question...
"What is the baptism in the Holy Spirit?"I went to my roommate an ex-marine drill Sergeant and asked him about this book, and his response was..."Well...Nicky Cruz, David Wilkerson and his work with the gangs in New York was good...but you better watch out for those tongues." The book was about how God was changing drug addicts, prostitutes, gang members and delivering them and keeping them free for years...by the power of the Holy Spirit.

NOTE: I had experienced a taste of this experience in the prayer tower next to my dorm in Chattanooga...as I was praying for peoples needs and this overwhelming presence engulfed me and I initially prayed with utterings and groanings I could not understand. I immediately stopped it...because of my conversation with Monk.

(2) When I went home in Murfreesboro....the Jesus Movement was in full force...people were getting saved...revivals in churches were going on for weeks at a time...people who were considered unsaveable were getting saved. At the same time...I was working at a factory...and ran into a man named Vance Akin III who introduced me to the teachings of Derek Prince, FGBMFI, and the baptism of the Holy Spirit. I went into a local Christian bookstore, ran by the same denominational beliefs that Pat was excommunicate from...and where I grew up all my life...and I was looking around...and in their bargain bin of discarded books was a copy of A NEW SONG BY PAT BOONE...for fifty cents.

It was like the perfect storm for me...and as a result...I soon had experienced the same encounter (but individually different) as Pat Boone, David Wilkerson, Nicky Cruz, Derek Prince, Vance Akin...and many many more were experience. Rivers of Living water were flowing from my innermost being...the Word became alive to me even more that it had been, and I began praying differently and expecting different results from my prayers.

Well..I guess this is a book review...as much as a testimony...but I would recommend anyone who is seeking more in their walk with the Lord to read this book. It will point you to many Scriptures...so read it with your Bible next to you...and see what God has for you.

I give this book 5 moo-moos.

NOTE: Be sure to go read Ruminatin' Rod's Record Review of Pat's SONGS FROM THE INNER COURT.

Love and April Love Kisses
Rodney "Yes Lord" Boyd