An Ocean of Grace

This collection of prayers from the past is a gift that stands out in a world of quick and casual words. Tim Chester has provided a profoundly beautiful way to help lead the church in prayer during the Lenten season. The prayers of these men and women are not only saturated with biblical truth; they are also shaped with imagination that awakens us and love for Jesus that pierces our hearts. | Lent is a great time to slow down and take time to think again about the events of the first Easter. This book helps us to do just that. After a typically clear and thoughtful introduction by Tim Chester, each day there is a treasure from a great Christian writer of the past. Each of these prayers, poems and mediations makes us slow down and take time as we get to grips with the richness of the language and the depth of thought, and allow these writers of old to bring us fresh insights into the wonders of the gospel. | We live in an age of superficiality and ‘chronological snobbery’, which tends to treat the past with disdain. This series of Lent readings is a wonderful antidote to the spirit of our age. From Gregory of Nazianzus to Catherine Parr and from George Herbert to Charles Spurgeon, we meet a galaxy of men and women whose lives were moulded by Scripture and lived out in fervent devotion to Christ. As you listen to these voices, your heart will blaze as each witness shows you Jesus. This book is highly recommended. | When I read books like this, my desire is to learn more about Christ and to grow in my worship of him. This collection of prayers and writings from brothers and sisters that have gone before us does both. Each contribution serves as a wonderful daily devotion to lift your eyes to Christ. I thoroughly recommend this book. | 'All our yesterdays,’ according to Shakespeare’s Macbeth, ‘have lighted fools the way to dusty death’. Not so, writes Tim Chester—instead we hear the voices of the past telling of the mighty works of God and helping us to fix our eyes on Jesus. Every page of this book is an opportunity to sit and learn at the feet of saints of old as Chester brilliantly guides us from the foot of the cross to the empty tomb. In An Ocean of Grace we discover one blessing after another. | This book by Tim Chester is no ordinary book of prayers - it'll warm our hearts to Christ's love for us, but it'll also teach us how to pray! Yes, it is a collection of prayers mostly from the Puritans and other saints in the past, but every prayer will draw our hearts closer to Jesus. My heart was drawn to the heart of Christ as I meditated on these Christ-centered prayers. | I found the perspective Christian saints throughout the church’s 2000 years of existence helpful in my own walk with Christ. With quotes from Luther, Calvin, Spurgeon, John Owen, Ambrose, and more, it is bound to stir your affections. Every generation has its own emphasis and blind spots. | I would definitely encourage readers to not limit this book’s use to Easter. Even though Chester designed it for the season of Lent, this collection of daily readings can encourage and help a Christian at any time for the year. | Tim Chester is Lecturer in historical theology and spiritual formation for Crosslands Training and has written over 40 books. He has a PhD in theology and PgDip in history along with 25 years' experience of pastoral ministry. He is married with two grown-up daughters and lives in rural Derbyshire, where he is part of a church plant.