Customer Reviews

Seeing Is Believing: Experience Jesus through Imaginative Prayer

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

"Seeing is Believing: Experience Jesus through Imaginative Prayer" may be a misleading title for Boyd's book on using our imaginations as receptors for commmunicating with God. Many people that have posted reviews seemed to have bought the book hoping for a biblical analysis on prayer. Had that been Boyd's intention in writing this book he would have failed miserably. Thankfully, however, that is not Boyd's aim and he makes that clear throughout.

Boyd is not primarily teaching in this book how to pray; rather, he is endorsing an ancient Christiant tradition that works supplementary to prayer. He calls this "resting in Christ" and it is essentially a time of devotion with God in which you enter into an experience with Him instead of simply going through a list of religious observances.

Though Boyd does not quote great amounts of Scripture in order to back up the practice of resting in Christ, he does use a great deal of Scripture to show how people in the Bible experienced God through visions, dreams, and true encounters. So the questions becomes: why do we not tend to experience God this way in 21st century American society? Boyd believes the problem isn't with the way God communicates, but with the way Christians have become obsessed with the importance of the physical and have essentially determined that anything that can't be touched, smelled, etc. is merely imaginary.

Boyd conludes by showing how to "rest in Christ," a practice that will allow us to open ourselves up to the Holy Spirit in order to experience Jesus rather than just have intellectual knowledge about Jesus. He shows us a devotion that Christians have been practicing for hundreds of years, from Ignatius to A.W. Tozer. This book is not for everyone, but if given a chance it has the ability to help you become more passionate about worship, more devout about prayer, and more experiential in your faith through encounters with Jesus Christ.

Seeing Is Believing is an inspiring book on prayer. It is one that encourages believers to rest in Christ. In an age where busyness, the pressures of life, materialism, and countless other distractions demand our attention, Dr. Boyd recommends spending time in prayer, and allowing the Holy Spirit to inspire our prayer life. And inspire He does! I am more excited about prayer now than ever. Prayer makes a difference in the life of a believer, and in the lives of those we are wanting to reach with Jesus' love.

The book explains how God can inspire God given imagination - to bring our prayer life alive. It is exciting, and inspirational reading. Dr Boyd tells us that there is not one formula, but shares his own experience of transforming prayer with us in a vulnerable, and moving account of the Holy Spirit healing a wounding memory.

It is difficult to read the book, without being inspired to pray. I highly recommend it, especially for those who have struggled with praying. It is wonderful, though, for the life of every believer, and will fan into flame even a tiny spark of prayer.

In my own experience, nothing is as transforming, or healing, than time spent with the Lord, and this book advocates that, above all else.

I found this book to be solidly scriptural, and refreshing in its approach to prayer.

Transformation and prayer go hand in hand, in the life of the believer.

Greg Boyd has come through with great insight into the shortcomings of the try harder method of transformation.It just doesn't produce genuine or lasting results.His answer, "imaginative prayer" introduces the reader to the way of intimacy with God that many of the true friends of Jesus throughout the history of the church have taken and found to be the path to real transformation. There is nothing "New Age" about this. Yes it is different from what we are used to, but a fair evaluation using both wisdom and revelation will reveal that Greg Boyd is only after connecting believers with the real Jesus. Get this book and read it. Then read it again and begin to implement what you read. It is truly transforming.Jesus is real and yes he is with us, literally, in every aspect of our lives.

I admit it. I bought the book for someone else - someone who was going through a very difficult time and was looking for answers and inner healing. But I decided I had better read it all the way through before giving it to him. I was only a few chapters into it when I found myself sobbing, and pouring my own heart out to the Lord. Praise God for Dr. Boyd's insights on prayer and on the importance of opening our hearts, our minds, and our experiences (past and present) to Jesus so He can lovingly heal each one. What was especially touching to me were the examples Dr. Boyd shared from his own life and how, through his own times of intimate prayer, Jesus healed even the most painful of memories. I recommend the book to anyone who desires to experience the loving touch of God and His healing presence in their own lives.

Dr. Boyd has been blessed with one of the keenest minds in American theological circles today. Seldom will you find such a combination of honesty, careful scholarship and passion in one "package" as you do here.

Seeing Is Believing is just the prescription for those Christians who know they should pray but find no satisfaction in their praying. Boyd opens up the reality of genuine communion with the God who longs for our fellowship like few writers on the scene today.

While there will always be those who react in knee-jerk fashion to any thought that is new to them, honest hearts who long for intimate communion with Jesus will appreciate this wonderful and Biblical book which validates the experience of thousands of hungry seekers throughout spiritual history who have found that God is more than just a concept or a theological tenet--He is a Person who wants to be experienced by His creatures.

Since I became a Christian, I've often wondered why God gave me an imagination. Dr. Boyd's answer is that God gave us all imaginations to experience Him with. This book is so helpful because it exposes the myth that the solution to emotional problems, sin patterns, and even mental illnesses is to try harder. Rather, it is to rest in Christ. This book reminds me of others by Neil T. Anderson with the exception that it goes beyond the "repeat Bible verses until you get who you are in Christ" approach. Dr. Boyd teaches you how to actually rest in Christ, to let Him supply your identity, and to experience transformation out of that experience.

Another really helpful aspect of the book is that Dr. Boyd shows clearly the Biblical basis of imaginative prayer and experience of God as well as it's historic roots in the church, both ancient and more modern.

The only reason I give the book only 4 stars is because I feel like there are two or three books that should have been written rather than this one volume. The whole aspect of grace and experiencing grace could have been explored more fully, as could the area of emotional healing, and finally, the area of sanctification. All in all though, this is a powerful and exciting read.

Imaginative prayer is a time-tested and true method of experiencing the Lord as never before. As Mr. Boyd points out, imaginative prayer is nothing new, it was used for centuries as one of the main methods of relationship building with our Lord, however its use had dwindled as a more materialistic view of reality began to be favored. Mr. Boyd has done us a great service by reviving this method, and by giving us a solid, comprehensive, and clear explanation of the "how's" and "why's" of imaginative prayer. I devoured the book and began immediately to put what I read into practice, and the results have been exhilarating! I'm recommending it to everyone.

Greg Boyd does an outstanding job of bringing into focus the spiritual world, or the unseen world that Paul talks about. By asking the Holy Spirit to guide our minds throught thoughts and imagination, we are able to experience Jesus as He intended for us to. Greg Boyd cautions those who engage in imaginative prayer that scripture MUST be the sculpture of how we experience Jesus, what Jesus is telling us, what He wants us to see ect. Powerful book that I believed the Holy Spirit used to help me grow in my knowledge of Jesus and His attitude toward me.

Thank You Greg Boyd for sharing!!

Boyd really hits the mark in his chapter about "resting in Christ" vs. "trying harder!"

The role of our imaginations inspired by the Holy Spirit in everything from prayer to bible reading to meditations is a powerful concept. It has vitalized my prayer life.

This is an excellent book by a careful writer. Boyd lays out a very precise and exact argument for the practice of resting in Christ. He gives detailed attention to an argument to win over those who are skeptical of using their imagination for anything useful. He also describes the best understanding and definition of "the flesh" that I have ever read anywhere. He gives excellent insights about how to battle this thoroughly defeated but tenacious enemy.

I've noticed some harsh criticism of this book. Couldn't it be said that those who scoff at using their imagination for anything useful rarely use their imagination for anything useful? What are they doing reading books then? You should trust this author and you should read this book. A closer walk with Jesus is the result. If you don't want that, you should look elsewhere.