Customer Reviews

Restoring the Christian Soul: Overcoming Barriers to Completion in Christ through Healing Prayer

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I first read this book several years ago, but the concepts and ideas have so pervaided my life that they continue to guide me. In fact, I have re-read this book several times over the past few years.

While other reviewers have remarked that the author seems prideful or her ideas too simplistic, I found her to be direct - cutting the concepts to their basic "black and white" cores.

LeAnne Payne reminds the readers that we too often focus of what we shouldn't do as Christians leaving too little time to focus on what we should do. For me, that was a stepping stone into evaluating the actions and activies of my life and my mindset.

Her suggestions on how to release negative thoughts to Christ was incredibly helpful... and her discussion of negative thoughts and how the enemy actually uses them against us... well, I'd never read anything like it.

If you're looking for a book which will lead you into deeper introspection - and you're willing to take your time to apply the concepts - I would highly recommend this book.

Many Evangelical Christians today have lost the understanding of the richness and depth of the human soul. Payne seeks to expose the richness that can be there and the steps towards healing and the restoration of a hollow people. I highly recommend this book as a biblically sound and spiritually anointed resource for anyone seeking to know their own soul in the light of God's truth.

I really enjoyed this book by Leanne Payne. I especially identified with and enjoyed the chapter on emotional repression, long-term healing of memories and abandonment. The way she gives case-studies makes it easy to find someone out of all of her books to identify with and say to myself: "Yeah, this is me." I identified with the woman in the chapter on abandonment and it has helped me in my procovery work to be able to describe for my counselor where I'm coming from so they know how to treat me. I will even ask my counselor to read that chapter! Leanne has a very deep, wide, broad, high and long understanding of the spirit and psyche. It is altogether one of the best christian books on healing I've ever read!This is a keeper and I will probably reread it. A must-read for any christian earnestly seeking for help in their healing process!

This is the sequel to Healing Presence, and gives all the insights and tools needed to put into practise the incredible truths in her writings. She gives detailed instruction and testimony of outcomes that truly inspire and fill one with faith and confidence. Her constant abiding in His Presence gives her the cutting edge for today's society. She doesn't waver from the absolutes, and applies them brilliantly as a shining light for our times. There are three authors who have changed my life: Agnes Sanford, C.S. Lewis, and then I discovered Leanne Payne and also the connection between all three. Seeing intangible truth is as important as tangible, and Leanne knows that and applies it.

LeAnne Payne targets the roots for so many of the oppressive mental and emotional negative states that so many in our culture experience. She identifies the self-hatred, isolation, damaging lies we believe, and sinful habits that plague even the most earnest Christians.

I think the most significant work of this book brings readers from self-hatred to self-acceptance as beloved of God. This leads to practicing the presence of God and hearing his loving words over and against the critical words of this world and our sinful natures. Payne addresses receiving forgiveness and experiencing God in our memories as they affect us in the present. This brings healing to the depths of our souls. Payne narrows down to showing examples of people receiving healing for mother or father issues that have prevented them from living fully as God's children.

Payne concludes the book with a section on spiritual warfare. She expounds on the battle we face as Christians against demonic forces. The topic is good and important. I found Payne's writing here confusing sometimes as she writes about the need to do spiritual warfare but then criticizes some who do too much of it and seem to actually aid the enemy through their "spiritual warfare" prayers. I think this section could have been more clear and instructive. For better understanding of it, I recommend Charles Kraft's I Give You Authority. I Give You Authority

Overall, the topics and counsel of this book are much needed in the church today. The writing is deep and heavy but also profound and significant to warrant reflection and time.

This is a MUST READ for anyone who is serious about growing in God and in inner healing! Forgiveness, self-acceptance, and the essential beginning Christian foundational graces/teachings are addressed.

The purpose of this book is to describe how to receive emotional healing from Christ. Primarily, it focuses on the three main barriers that people have in this regard. For the most part, the book is pretty effective. However, at times it becomes a bit too simplistic and kum-ba-yah. For instance, Ms. Payne chirps, "[Christians] alone have reason never to despair. Faith and hope are ours, and they shine like beacons in the darkest circumstances." Somehow, you doubt she'd be saying that if she lost both legs in an accident, or if one of her grandchildren were brutally murdered.

In a section on affirmation, Ms. Payne's account of her Aunt Rhoda goes a little over the top, and isn't in the best of taste. Although no doubt Aunt Rhoda was a fine woman, Ms. Payne basically portrays her idealistically as without fault. Naturally, this account lacks some believability.

It does seem ironic that while Ms. Payne focuses on the sin of pride to an almost extreme degree in the book, she seems to show no lack of it herself. For example, when referring to some misguided intercessors, Ms. Payne remarks, "Thinking themselves to be intercessors *extraordinaire*..." This statement, among others, smacks of the very kind of pridefulness and condescension that Ms. Payne speaks out so loudly against.

It is also ironic that Ms. Payne seems to contradict her own teaching at one point. Continually she stresses that discernment of spirits be used before determining whether a demonic entity is present. However, when relating a story about a seminarian friend, Ms. Payne states, "[My friend] became very ill and phoned me. As I listened, I realized his physical condition was directly related to demonic warfare..." Even though she does mention that afterward she spent several days praying about the matter, her assertion that demonic warfare was directly involved in her friend's condition (a conclusion reached simply from listening to him over the phone) goes against her own teaching. This might not be such a big deal if she didn't continually reiterate her teaching as much as she does.

One notable omission from the book is any mention of the condition "love addiction," or whatever one wants to call it. Since this seems to be one of the most common conditions that people seek help for, it's rather puzzling that Ms. Payne doesn't even touch on the subject. Also, while Ms. Payne frequently emphasizes that feelings of inferiority to other people--like feelings of superiority--are rooted in pride, she never explains exactly why this is the case. Such an explanation would be very helpful.

Finally, while Ms. Payne rightly warns Christians about focusing too much on demons, she seems to have no similar qualms about focusing too much on sin. Her statement concerning the dangers of focusing on demons ("In many cases, persons become fearful of others, even paranoid, and the grievous sins of slander and pharisaical pride result, all the evil fruit of fastening one's eyes on darkness rather than on God") can be just as easily applied to focusing too much on sin. Don't get me wrong--sin is serious and needs to be addressed adequately, but at times Ms. Payne seems to derive an almost unhealthy enjoyment from the topic of sin.

The issues above aside, the book contains helpful information about how to pray for emotional healing. It also has an insightful concluding section on spiritual warfare. Overall, the book is a pretty good read; one just needs to take things it says with a grain of salt every now and then.