No Easy Road , livre ebook

NO EASY
ROAD
Discover the Extraordinary Power
of Personal Prayer
Dick Eastman
© 1971, 2003 by Dick Eastman
Published by Chosen Books a division of Baker Publishing Group P.O. Box 6287, Grand Rapids, MI 49516-6287 www.chosenbooks.com
An earlier version of this book was published by Baker Books
Ebook edition created 2011
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means for example, electronic, photocopy, recording without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.
ISBN 978-1-4412-3188-8
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file at the Library of Congress, Washington, DC.
Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture is taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.
Scripture marked KJV is taken from the King James Version of the Bible.
Scripture marked NIV is taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com
Scripture marked NKJV is taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
The internet addresses, email addresses, and phone numbers in this book are accurate at the time of publication. They are provided as a resource. Baker Publishing Group does not endorse them or vouch for their content or permanence.
Contents Cover Title Copyright Page Dedication Page Foreword Thoughts for the Journey
1.

No Easy Road 2. The Peak of Unbelief 3. The Mountain of Sin 4. An Avalanche of Excuses 5. The Peak of Habit 6. The Plateau of Intercession 7. The Cove of Holiness 8. The Mountain of Self-Will 9. The Bridge of Balance 10. The Mountain of Persistence 11. Burden’s Outlook 12. Trail’s End: The Mountain of God’s Power
Appendix: Practical Praying Back Ads Back Cover
No Easy Road
The Christian’s Journey on the Road of Prayer
Oh, ye who sigh and languish And mourn your lack of power,
Hear ye this gentle whisper: “Could ye not watch one hour?”
For fruitfulness and blessing
There is no royal road;
The power for holy service Is intercourse with God.
Foreword
Vonette and I first became familiar with Dick Eastman and his heart for prayer through No Easy Road when it was first published in the early 1970s. We were impressed by the powerful thoughts Dick put forth, and invited him to take part with us in a prayer gathering in Washington, D.C., in 1972 (which Vonette chaired). Out of that meeting was born the National Prayer Committee, which continues to this day and of which Dick is currently president. His ideas for prayer sparked others to get on their knees, and anything that gets people to pray is something to get excited about!
Dick went on from those early years to become the international president of Every Home for Christ, a ministry that has planted more than two billion Gospel messages, home by home, in more than 190 countries. It was while at Every Home for Christ that Dick developed The Change the World School of Prayer , which some leaders have said may have had as much impact on the global prayer movement in the past 25 years as any other prayer training activity. More than two million Christians have been impacted by this training in more than 100 countries.
No Easy Road is now considered by some as one of the classic books on the power of prayer written in the last half-century. Having touched more than three-quarters of a million lives globally in many languages, No Easy Road has been called a Pilgrim’s Progress of prayer, taking the reader on a unique journey, first conquering the Peak of Unbelief and then removing the Mountain of Sin. He guides the reader on through an Avalanche of Excuses, The Peak of Habit and across The Plateau of Intercession. There are other unique chapters dealing with such themes as The Cove of Holiness, The Mountain of Self-Will, The Bridge of Balance, and The Mountain of Persistence. Finally, the reader is brought to Trail’s End: The Mountain of God’s Power.
When we heard Dick was revising No Easy Road for a new generation of praying Christians, we again experienced that old feeling of excitement. Campus Crusade for Christ was born in prayer in 1951. Our first action was to divide each hour into 15-minute periods and recruit others to join us in prayer. Our enthusiasm for prayer has only grown in the past 50 years. We have dedicated ourselves to fasting and praying for our nation and the world, especially in the past ten years, and to promoting those potent disciplines throughout the Christian community. Prayer is not just another Christian activity it is our incredible, God-given opportunity to relate to Him personally, bringing our praise, thanksgiving, cares, woes, and requests directly to His throne of Grace. It is a privilege that can be experienced nowhere else. And not only does He wish for us to experience this intimacy with Him, His Word tells us He commands it.
God has led us to fast and pray for 40 days each year since 1994, for national and world revival and the fulfillment of the Great Commission. Dick Eastman and No Easy Road are a real answer to our fasting and prayer.
We encourage you to read this faith-building book expectantly. Christians need to master the discipline of prayer, and now you have the opportunity to learn at the feet of a true prayer warrior. We trust you will be blessed and challenged!
Dr. Bill Bright Founder and Chairman Campus Crusade for Christ
Thoughts for the Journey
It happened almost overnight. It was as if I had swallowed sandpaper while asleep and the irritation had finally awakened me. Little could I have known as I tried to clear my throat that humid August morning in 1969 that I was embarking on a lifelong spiritual journey toward the very heart of God. It was a pilgrimage that began with a difficult trek through some rather rugged territory of suffering and uncertainty.
Within a few days of that “sandpaper sensation,” I knew something was terribly wrong with my throat. It became increasingly painful for me to swallow, and I was slowly losing my voice. Doctors (several of them) couldn’t explain why.
Since I was a 25-year-old youth minister with a passion for preaching, my fear was understandable, especially when a throat specialist told me I might never get better. Within six weeks, I was out of the pulpit entirely. My ministry suffered. Even soft conversation in counseling situations caused severe pain.
Testing and Trusting
A series of tests revealed that one of my vocal chords appeared to have something pushing against it. A doctor explained that there were two possibilities: first, my condition might be congenital something that had existed since birth; or second, a foreign object might be pushing against one of my vocal chords. My doctor’s response when I asked what he meant by a “foreign object” was not encouraging.
“It could be a tumor, perhaps cancerous,” he advised.
More tests had to be done. Soon I was sitting in the lobby of a leading California clinic, waiting for what my primary doctor said would be a definitive test. Anxiously I clutched my small leather-bound copy of the New Testament and Psalms.
“God,” I said softly, “I need a word of encouragement from Scripture. Speak to me specifically, even now.”
I held the small Testament in one hand, closed my eyes and let it fall open. With my eyes still closed, I placed my other hand on the open pages and placed two fingers randomly on one page.
“Whatever verse I’m pointing to, God,” I prayed, “I’ll take as directly from you.”
I opened my eyes and gazed intently at the randomly selected verse. It was Psalm 55:22. Tears filled my eyes as I read.
“Cast thy burden upon the L ORD , and he shall sustain thee: he shall never suffer the righteous to be moved” ( KJV ).
Although the verse was understandably encouraging, almost instantly my anxiety returned. My mind was racing. What if that verse was merely a coincidence and not really prompted by the Lord?
“God,” I prayed a second time, “I don’t want to doubt, but could you give me another good verse, something to confirm what I just read?”
Again I held the small Testament in my hand. I squeezed it tightly, closed my eyes and let it fall open a second time. Again, with eyes still closed, I touched the pages randomly. When I opened my eyes and saw the selected Scripture, I started to laugh. My fingers were touching the exact same verse I had read just moments earlier. In that instant I recognized again the gentle whisper of God’s voice: “What I gave you the first time is all you need. Just trust me!”
I was soon to learn the relation between testing and trusting.
A Song in the Night
It was more than a week before those test results came back. In the meantime there were several more tearful, anxious nights.
Already, weeks earlier, I had begun a habit that occurred often during those difficult days. After retiring for the night with my wife, Dee, I would deliberately wait until I knew she was asleep. Then I would quietly slip from the covers and head for our living room to pray.
With only the glow of a distant streetlight that found its way through our living room window, I would tiptoe softly to our old FM stereo and record player. I would sit on the floor directly in front of one of the built-in speakers and slowly lift the lid. A slight twist of the volume knob would turn the system on, and a light would glow across the FM tuning dial. It would cast just enough light to see across the top of the stereo, including the turntable.
I would then select a favorite long-play record from the stack beside the stereo and place it on the turntable. Then I would switch on the turntable and gently l