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Book Reviews

Surrendering to God: Living the Covenant Prayer

By Keith Beasley-Topliffe
(Orleans, Mass.: Paraclete Press, 2001; 140 pages; $13.95)

Reviews by Craig M. Kibler
August 2002
Prayer, as many of us know, can be a frustrating experience that too often devolves into simple recitation seemingly devoid of joy in a trustful communion with God.

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Keith Beasley-Topliffe is well aware of this and, in Surrendering To God, he reminds us – through a detailed study of the 1663 Covenant Prayer – that prayer in which we completely surrender ourselves opens the door to a deeper, joyful relationship with God.

Starting from the opening line “I am no longer my own, but thine,” Beasley-Topliffe guides us through a daily spiritual practice in which we throw away our egos and, instead, grow to trust God’s design for – and through – our lives.

The prayer, he writes, “always reminds me of my deepest desire: to give up clinging to the illusion that I am my own and become, by God’s grace, fully God’s.” That illusion gradually fades away – in discussions about such issues as pride, emptiness, status, surrender, acceptance and others.

In the process, the Covenant Prayer emphasizes a beginning toward conveying what our heart desires to the Creator – a simple approach to enriching our lives in ways only God can fathom.
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