God and Prayer: Merging Scripture and Reality by Ric Keaster

When a tornado spares one house and flattens the next, was that God—or just weather? God and Prayer takes the questions believers quietly wrestle with and tests every answer against what the New Testament actually says.

God and Prayer: Merging Scripture and Reality is Ric Keaster's frank examination of the gap between what we say God does and what we actually see in life. Does God still intervene physically in the world? Will He heal the sick if enough people pray and persist? Why do some God-fearing Christians prosper while others suffer? Keaster gathers ten questions most Christians have quietly wondered about and walks each one carefully back through Scripture.

The book's central argument is, by the author's own admission, controversial: that the miracles and ongoing revelation recorded in Scripture served a purpose now complete, and that God works today through His confirmed Word rather than by interrupting nature. Whether you finish convinced or ready to refute it, Keaster asks only that you open your Bible alongside his and reach your own conclusion—weighing every claim by both the logic of everyday experience and the text of Scripture.

What's Inside

The book unfolds in two parts across nineteen chapters. Part 1: God traces how God has communicated with mankind across the ages and takes up the purpose and cessation of miracles, the meaning of "providence," the will of God, and the tension between fate, destiny, and free will. Part 2: Prayer turns to the practical heart of the believer's life—why and how we pray, the New Testament pattern, how and when God responds, what belongs in our prayers, and what it means to test or tempt God.

Among the questions it takes head-on:

• Intervention — Does God act physically in our lives today, or are the things that happen to us simply life?
• Persistent prayer — If enough people pray and keep praying, will God heal the sick?
• Suffering — Why do some God-fearing Christians prosper while others have it so rough?
• Answered prayer — Does "answered prayer" always mean yes, or can the answer be no?
• Acting vs. allowing — Is there a difference between God making something happen and allowing it to happen?
• Rescue — Does God literally save us from car wrecks, tornadoes, and other catastrophes?

Format & Features

A 227-page paperback written as a straight-through, readable argument rather than a fill-in-the-blank workbook. Keaster writes in a conversational, example-driven voice—opening with the everyday things people say at funerals and near-tragedies—then anchors each discussion in careful biblical context: who said it, to whom, why, and how the first hearers would have understood it. Scripture is quoted throughout, and each chapter builds toward the book's summary and conclusions.

Who It's For

Bible class teachers, preachers, and any thoughtful believer who has ever felt the friction between what they hear about how God works and what they see in the world. It's written for readers willing to weigh a challenging argument with an open mind and an open Bible—whether they end up embracing it, refining it, or setting out to refute it.

About the Author

Dr. Ric Keaster has spent a lifetime teaching, preaching, and writing—first as a schoolteacher and administrator, then, after earning his doctorate in Educational Leadership, as a professor and ultimately Professor Emeritus. He continues to serve the Rome Church of Christ in Proctorville, Ohio, and is also the author of In Our Own Language – Personality Types and the Gospel Writers and Types in the Bible – Shadows of the True.

About the Publisher

God and Prayer is published by Spiritbuilding Publishers, serving Christians with resources for deeper study, stronger faith, and everyday discipleship.