Customer Reviews

Listening Prayer: Learning to Hear God's Voice and Keep a Prayer Journal

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This book was one of the most nurturing I have found on the subject of prayer. Leanne Payne, unlike many other authors coming coming from a Charismatic background, emphasizes the fact that prayer and a relationship with Christ is simple persistence, and work. While other authors say this with their words, I saw this "persistence and work" theme emphasized over, and over. Her book erased any thought of a "quick and easy" relationship; her emphasis centers on Christ, and Christ alone.

My only criticism is my desire, even need, to have more examples. I appreciated her narrative, and her use of Scriptural authority. However, real life examples, woven into the text, would have been helpful. She gave some examples (especially in her chapter in Chapter 12 on "How God Speaks to His Children"), but more would have been helpful to place her discussion into a context. Also, she was extremely circumspect in detailing one of her own experiences; after reading it, I did not know what she was trying to express, or what, precisely, occurred.

This criticism is the only reason for my four-star rating. If I could, I would give a "4.5" or a "4.6." This book is one to be read several times, and I highly recommend it.

I have been using a prayer journal based on Payne's model for nearly a year and have seen her ideas move me towards greater intimacy with Christ. Other volumes she's written are more complex, but this is quite readable. Her emphasis is always to look straight to Christ, not to a method.

Leanne Payne could easily have saved me about 200 pages of usless information and turned this book into a two page pamphlet explaining that how it works is that you get a three ring binder some paper with holes punched in it, seven dividers, and some pens. I reccomend you follow that advice, and grab a good study bible. A bible has a lot more usefull and practical instruction on the subject of prayer than this book has. Once you have a bible, read a bit, pray about it, and then write down your prayers, how they were answered, words, the spirit leads you to write etc. DO that and you aved yourself some money, and 200 some odd pages of junk.

The book tells you what you should title each section, but beyond that the book is silent. The rest of the book is full of phillosophy, psychology, and a pinch of theology discussing the benefits and dangers of listening prayer without actually describing any methods to help one focus on God. It uses the Lord's prayer as a vague outline of how to arrange the sections of the journal (not a bad idea) but the headings only barely connect to the parts of that famous prayer she claims inspired each section title.

She quotes a good many people, C.S. Lewis being one of them. Of course, whereas Payne clearly belives in the idea that everyone has repressed memories, and that pschology can be used to understand prayer, Lewis does not. Much of what she discuses seems to share some of the ideas found in theophostic prayer which is more psychologically than biblically based. The originator of theophostic prayer, Ed Smith based it firmly upon the notion that pain is caused by some lie burried deep within our subconscious. This lie must be searched out and exposed to the light in order to be healed. These concepts are not biblically based and are instead rooted in Recovered Memory Therapy. While this may be used effectively to help victems of tremendously traumatic expiriences, it is unwise to assume that everyone has repressed memories. According to wikipedia RMT, "does not refer to a specific, recognized treatment method, but rather a combination of several controversial and/or unproven interviewing techniques, such as hypnosis and the use of sedative-hypnotic drugs. The term is not listed in DSM-IV or used by any mainstream formal psychotherapy ."

Payne warns time and again that certain attitudes twoard prayer are gnostic or neognostic, yet at one point as she heads off on a tangent about how God can communicate with us in dreams and visions, she insists that people need some sort of formal training in Judeo-Christian symbology in order to understand them. Thats right, she insists that to understand God's message to you, you need some kind of special gnosis to understand it. Apparently, God is not powerful enough to send you the message contextuallized into your own particular language and use images familliar to you. Lets just forget about the part of the bible where Pontious Pilot's wife has a preminition warning her that Jesus (a man pilot had condemned to death) was innocent.

In short I found the book as pretentious as it was impractical. If she had approached the bible unencumbered by modern psychobable and strived toward appealing to more than the fairer sex in her annecdotes and examples, I might have been a bit more generous. A committment to objectivity would help a great deal. Instead, she injects her own biases into the book at every turn, quotes authors that disagree with her methods, and beyond the first few pages does nothing to tell you about how you are to pray.

I enjoy the two themes that Payne sets out to write about in her book LISTENING PRAYER. For one, I am an avid journal keeper. I don't keep a diary but a spiritual journal (much like Jim Elliott's journal or that of John Wesley) and then I enjoy prayer. Payne has written this book to help believers enjoy prayer and then keeping a journal to help them see the hand of God in their lives. For this she is to be commended.

The positives of Payne's book are three fold. First, I appreciated Payne's desire to see the church seeking God in prayer. As the hymn says, "Oh what peace we often forfeit; oh what needless pains we bare all because we do not carry everything to God in prayer." Scripture teaches us to pray without ceasing (1 Thess. 5:17), to pray and not give up (Luke 18:1) and "in everything by prayer" (Philippians 4:6). James 5:16 reminds us that "the effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much." Secondly, I appreciated Payne's desire to see believers responding to God's unseen hand in their lives by keeping a journal. Too often we pray but fail to see the providential hand of God in our lives. Thirdly, I enjoyed Payne's honesty and her heart to be a woman of prayer. And fourthly, I appreciated how Payne tried to keep the reader focused on being a person of balance (prayer and obedience).

The negatives of this book are two fold. First, I felt that Payne placed a bit too much emphasis on "hearing God's voice" without showing us how to do so. I believe that we need to heed God's voice in Scripture (Hebrews 1:1-3). I believe (as does Payne) that the Bible is God's final Word (2 Timothy 3:16-17). If Christians would only seek God's voice in Scripture then we wouldn't have every denomination, movement, and prophetic utterances running around trying to be God's voice. The canon of Scripture is closed (Rev. 22:18-19) and we need not seek God's voice outside of the Bible. Too many charismatics have brought harm either to themselves or the church by claiming to speak for God.

Secondly, the mystical side of the book also brought me problems. I understand that Ms. Payne is a charismatic but other charismatics have brought balance to their books on prayer (see Jim Cymbala's FRESH WIND, FRESH FIRE). In this work, Payne seemed to go too far in her mystical pursuit of God. No where in the Bible are told to seek God's presence. What is God's presence is also a good question? Feeelings, goose bumps, speaking in tongues? No-one knows. We are told to seek God (Isaish 55:6). Getting alone with God is biblical (Matthew 6:5-9) but seeking a mystical union with Him is not.

In conclusion, I thought this book was decent. Despite some problems I had with the book, I would encourage others to read it and make your own biblical opinions. That is why I urge you through my title to balance out Payne's work and all others with the Word of God.

In Listening Prayer, as in all of Leanne Payne's books, there is a central theme -- that as believers we need to practice the presence of God. Leanne continually points the reader to the cross and the necessity to rely more on Him and less on ourselves. One cannot read a book by Leanne and not have their life changed.

Leanne Payne is able, as perhaps no other person today, to bring across to her readers the nature of God's (Jehovah) relationship with His redeemed people. Providing valuable practical advice concerning prayer habits the author reveals a depth of godly wisdom and insight which to my mind remains unparalled in this day. This book is well written yet it is no easy reading.

I found Listening Prayer especially helpful in two ways.

My former attempts to keep a prayer journal have all come to naught -- perhaps because as an ordinary layman I seldom have enough time to really listen. Payne has given me a new way to organize my journaling and my prayer times as sections in a looseleaf binder. One section covers listening through Scripture, another praise, another confession, and so on. Contents of each section vary over time. Payne suggests sample materials to set the tone for each.

The second half of the book, a practical guide to listening to God in general, springs from Payne's own experiences, both from her initial involvement in the charismatic revival and from her extensive healing prayer ministry. Chapter 12 includes unusually detailed descriptions -- feelings, sights, sounds -- of how God communicates guidance, wisdom, or encouragement to us today (as distinct from the completed "special revelation" of the Scriptures). Since we are often mistaken in thinking we're hearing from God, Payne emphasizes the importance of having frank partners in accountability and the danger of focusing on our own feelings -- which she refers to in The Healing Presence: Curing the Soul Through Union with Christ as "the disease of introspection."

While Payne is sometimes called "cerebral," this volume is practically oriented.

This is the first book of Leanne Payne's that I read. I have since been reading everything I can find written by her. I do believe my discovery of her books is a direct answer to my prayer: "Teach me to hear Your voice."

This is an excellent resource for Christian's who want to practice listening prayer and keep a journal.

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