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Review - Prayer and the Voice of God
- 03/21/07
- 18
I was going to post this review on the weekend, but then John Piper messed everything up. He posted an article at the Desiring God web site that fit very well with it, so I thought I'd link to his article and then post the review. This is, without a doubt, one of the best things I've ever read from the pen of Dr. Piper (and I've read a lot). Read that and then, if you care to, read this review.
If I had to guess, I'd say that I probably have more books on prayer than on any other single topic. I do not tend to buy these books, and yet they continue to show up in the mail. The shelves of Christian bookstores are bowing under the weight of such books. My bookshelves are beginning to do the same. This tells me a few things. First, Christians are eager to learn about prayer. They know they need to pray and yet are frustrated by their attempts to do so. Second, Christians do not understand prayer as they would like to. Third, many of the books provided to questions are not providing the answers people are looking for. Though I do not read many of the books on prayer that are made available to me, because of my respect for its authors, I was still eager to read Prayer and the Voice of God.
Prayer and the Voice of God is written by Matthias Media's Phillip Jensen and Tony Payne who earlier collaborated on Guidance and the Voice of God (my review) and Pure Sex and each of whom have written books individually. Matthias Media is a ministry based in Australia, but one that is beginning to have an impact on this side of the world (and a ministry that will, in fact, be collaborating with 9Marks to hold their first American conference later this year). I have enjoyed this ministry's books in the past and was eager to read this new title that was published only last year. I was intrigued by the book's title as evangelicals are prone to equate prayer and the voice of God, believing that God speaks to us as we pray. Yet these authors believe, as do I, that we do not listen to God's voice in prayer, but listen to God's voice in Scripture so we might learn about prayer.
The book follows a consistent and easy-to-grasp format where each of a chapter's main points are numbered 1, 2, 3 and each of the sub-points is labeled a, b, c. This makes the flow of the book very simple to understand and allows the reader to follow along easily.
The book begins exactly where a book on prayer should--with the character of God. The authors describe five important aspects of God that stand as the foundation of Christian prayer. They are: the able God, the fatherly God, the speaking and listening God, the holy God and the merciful God. From here they answer the simple question of "Why pray?" They answer that we should pray because God allows us to, because we must, because we are commanded to and because of God's promise that He will hear and answer them. The next chapter looks at reasons we do not pray, despite God's commands and promises. The fifth chapter tells us how to pray, and the authors ensure the reader understands that prayer is not, as many evangelicals believe, a time to hear God's voice, but a time to respond to His voice. They speak to the essence of prayer and do not present a step-by-step technique, emphasizing the importance of both novelty and regularity in this task. They say rightly that prayer is not a matter of technique but of relationship.
Two chapters discuss what we are to pray for and the authors identify two broad categories: the desires of God and the anxieties of life. Final chapters answer "What happens when we pray?," discuss the fellowship of prayer and answer frequently asked questions. The book concludes with two appendices, one of which provides a summary of the book's 1, 2, 3 a, b, c structure and the second includes a study guide for each of the chapters.
I enjoyed reading this book and learned from it. The structure was very compatible with the way my mind works and I found it a joy to read. While this book really teaches nothing knew, this is exactly its greatest strength. Rather than presenting some new or great technique for prayer, or rather than turning to strange mystical practices from deep in the church's past, this book turns to Scripture and allows the reader to hear God's voice there so that he might then respond to this voice with his own. Having turned to the true authority for prayer, the authors are properly able to guide the reader to the relationship and principles that will foster a strong and vibrant life of prayer. There is no trick to it. We simply need to think rightly about God, about how He communicates with us and how we communicate with Him, so that we might then act in a way that pleases and glorifies Him.
This is a good little book and one that I think would prove very useful for personal reading or for group study for the format and study guide would lend themselves well to discussion in a group setting. I am pleased to recommend it for either purpose and trust others will benefit from it as I have.
If interested, you can order the book here (click "search" and search for the book's title).
I am a follower of Jesus Christ, a husband to Aileen and a father to three young children. I write books and blogs for fun while doing web design and consulting for a living. I worship and serve at 
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Comments (18)
"The next chapter looks at reasons we do not pray, despite God's commands and promises."
I'd be most interested in this particular chapter. I can think of tons, from lack of faith to just plain laziness.
Of course, our own self-reliance is a big part of the problem that we won't humble ourselves in prayer (1 Pet 5:6-7).
Thanks for the review. I've loved Mathias Media's stuff for years when I first encountered them in England. I'm happy to see it gaining in popularity over here and the first I saw of that infiltration was at the Desiring God pastors conference in 2006.
Thanks!
thanks for the review. I've recently been looking for a good book on prayer and this looks like it might be it.
vapor
...these authors believe, as do I, that we do not listen to God's voice in prayer, but listen to God's voice in Scripture so we might learn about prayer.
When I argued that same point over at Pyro, it caused quite a ruckus.
URL didn't come through, for some reason. Second (and last) try:
http://teampyro.blogspot.com/2006/09/what-prayer-is-and-isnt.html
Hi TimI don't know if I have commented here before, but I wanted to share some of my own experiences in hearing God's Word. In the recent past there have been two episodes where I have heard God's Word in the way John Piper describes in the article you linked to. The first time was when I was angry about something my husband was offending me about. I was thinking about his sins against me or some such regular list I would mentally drag out against him. I think I was then asking God about it or telling Him my list of grievances - not sure - but I was thinking in this vein in any case. The next words I heard were: 'Christ died for you'. I think God was saying to me that basically whatever sins I was holding against my husband at that time, well, Jesus died for mine too. He was asking me to show the same mercy to my spouse that He gives to my husband and that I had also received. So, message received. I moved on after that.The next time I heard his Word was when I was at the kitchen sink doing some dishes and feeling some regular anguish about what a failure I was as a person, mom, etc. I was just getting ready to go through a usual mental flogging against myself, and I started with something like 'I am such a failure..' I think I didn't get any further than that when the very next words I heard in my head were: 'As far as the East is from the West..' I immediately understood and didn't even need to hear the rest of the verse. It was God just stopping me in mid-thought and answering me with the truth. I remember being very moved (teary eyed) and comforted that He would stop me and interrupt me with the truth at the kitchen sink that basically set me free in that moment. Anyway, sorry for this being so long. For those who have read Tim's article on this and the link to John Piper's article, these two stories will make sense in reference to those two writings.
Jackie in NC
OK - I read Tim's review, John Piper's post on hearing the voice of God and the article he references by the anonymous author in Christianity Today...I also read Dan Phillips' post on the subject over at Pyro, and I have a couple of questions:
If God was not prompting the individual in the CT article to do as he did (the book royalties, etc.), then who was behind it all? Was it merely this man's imagination? Was his flesh demanding that he part with his money for the sake of the young man's education?
Doesn't Romans 8:26 tell us that we do not know how to pray as we ought, so the Spirit himself makes intercession for us with groanings too deep for words? When the Spirit, who dwells in the believer, intercedes, isn't he doing so from within the believer as opposed to interceding in some external sense? Jesus, our great high priest, intercedes for us before the Father, but the Spirit is right here, within us. Surely there is more to the prayer of the Spirit than mere words?
Years ago I was deep in prayer for a young woman with whom I had been interacting for some time. She was pregnant, unmarried and about to have an abortion. Due to the fact that she had been taking birth control pills, among other things, drinking, etc. she and her doctor felt there was a high probability the baby would be born with birth defects, so she decided to abort. I had counseled her in the other direction but her mind was made up. But I continued to pray - as she drove to the clinic, went in, signed her name on the paperwork and sat down to await her turn - and as I did something came over me that I cannot describe. It was more than a mere feeling, it was an absolute assurance, if you will, that the baby was going to be perfectly fine. I KNEW that God had settled this matter - I felt no uncertainty within me at ALL; in fact, rarely have I "known" anything as completely either before or since. And indeed he had, for while sitting at the clinic this woman also had an intense "feeling" as she described it, come over her, and she got up, went to a phone, called me, crying, and walked out, deciding instead to have her baby. And seven months later, her daughter was born, perfectly formed, completely healthy, in total defiance of the doctor's dire prognostications. That baby's birth confirmed the assurance God had given me - in prayer! And the glory belongs to him!
I can relate other stories of miraculous answers to prayer in my life - many, in fact, that do not fit neatly into the category of one-sided communication. I can also say that these times were indeed special and not the norm - and usually in response to a critical situation or extreme need. I wish I could relate them all, for God certainly receives the glory for the outcome! I love to tell others of his faithful, merciful and sometimes miraculous intervention.
And finally - with all due respect to Reformed theology and the good I believe that has come out of it for the most part - I don't see HOW we can dismiss the mystical aspects of this walk of faith out of hand. I certainly find the foolishness that takes place in some circles as distasteful as the next person, but consider this: Jesus was born of a VIRGIN, was crucified, died and ROSE from the grave and ASCENDED to the right hand of the Father, after which time the Holy Spirit descended and enabled the apostles to speak in languages, proclaim boldly the truth of the Gospel, endure suffering, experience the miraculous. The Holy Spirit indwells believers to this day - what an awe-inspiring thought - that the King of the Universe would take up residence in man! Is ANY of this, for want of a better way to put it - rational? All of it is mysterious, mystical, even, in a sense. And we accept it! We accept that we were once dead in our sins, yet are now made alive with Christ, we accept the virgin birth and the resurrection and the fact that God condescends to live in the believer, but deny that God might also condescend to communicate with us to meet a particular need or give direction in a critical moment. Why?
Tim,
Would you agree that your statement is rooted in your cessationist beliefs rather than it necessarily being a well-written article? I have great respect for Piper, but it appears (without him here to explain himself) that he was uncharitable in his evaluation of the CT article and the story it was trying to tell.
For what I believe is a more Scripturally balanced perspective, I would recommend your interview with Wayne Grudem: /archives/001518.php
Regards,
Michael
Tim,
I read that Piper article yesterday and I agree with you, I think it is one of the most amazing things I've ever read of his! A great blessing.
Wonkyhead and Michael James, Dr. Piper said this:
"What makes me sad about the article is not that it isn’t true or didn’t happen. What’s sad is that it really does give the impression that extra-biblical communication with God is surpassingly wonderful and faith-deepening. All the while, the supremely-glorious communication of the living God which personally and powerfully and transformingly explodes in the receptive heart through the Bible everyday is passed over in silence."
That's the crux of his article. Too many evangelical Christians believe that extra- Biblical communication with God is the most personal way of hearing God's voice, but that's not true. There is a reason that the Bible is called the Word of God...through it He speaks most marvelously to us.
Jeri,
Absolutely the Word of God is life-changing, if the Holy Spirit makes it so in the heart, mind and life of the hearer/reader. The Bible is also not a magical book that has its own power apart from the power breathed into the words by the Spirit...would you agree?
My questons still stand. I don't know why everything is so either-or in Christian circles. I know the Scriptures are to be searched for the personal revelation of God to his people - I know we find the expressed will of God there and I would never maintain otherwise. I also believe that as Creator and King he is able to do as he sees fit in matters of communication and may choose as he pleases. This but one more aspect of his absolute sovereignty, and I don't agree with Piper (who I like and respect) that it is somehow "sad" (or it makes him sad) when people experience this and are awed or impressed by it.
Nothing God chooses to do is sad!
I also want to point out that when I have had these "experiences" in prayer (I know y'all have the hairy eyeball trained on that word "experience"), I wan't seeking an experience per se, but God himself. And yet what happened, happened. It was not my flesh, for I cannot know such things, and it wasn't the Enemy, whose only purpose is to destroy. I hold these moments, and more like them, as treasures in my heart and while I certainly do not regard them as being on a par with Scripture, they do not contradict ANYTHING found in the Word; it was God's will that that baby live; he intervened, communicated to me that the release had come, and allowed me to know it and rejoice in his mercy. Nothing about that is sad. It is, on the contrary, wonderful.
Blessings,
H
Wonkyhead,
Dr. Piper said that what made him sad about it wasn't that it was not true or didn't happen, but that it gave a certain false impression.
Reading the article, I felt sad too when the professor said, "Does God still speak? I grew up hearing testimonies about it, but until October 2005, I couldn't say it had ever happened to me."
"Does God still speak today? I know he does." (Meaning extra-biblically.)
"Now I know, more than intellectually, that God still speaks."
The professor apparently had never heard God speak to him through the Scripture as John Piper was describing, or I don't think he'd have said that. He could, though. Any born again believer can and should hear God speaking to him as he reads the Bible, often, and sometimes it should make him feel as awed and overcome as the professor described himself as feeling.
That's the point of the Piper article, I think. (I like the word "experience' and of all people Christians should have the deeepest, the most truly emotionally satisfying best ones! )
Wayne Mack writes in his book Humility: the forgotten virtue, “An eighth way in which Humility is manifested before God is by continually seeking God in prayer. Hardly anything is more an evidence of pride than prayerlessness. In Psalm 10:4, the Scripture describes unsaved and proud people: “The wicked, in the haughtiness of his countenance, does not seek Him. All his thoughts are, ‘There is no God.’” Proud people do not pray, but the Word of God clearly connects humility with prayer” (Philipsburg, PA: P&R Publishing, 2005. p 48).
I do not like the reality, but I must confess that I am often too proud to pray.
As I thought about what I wrote, I realized I’d narrowed in on the last 25% of Piper’s article to the detriment of the larger message he was trying to communicate. I think it would be appropriate to provide greater balance to my previous comments with what I think about the first 3/4 of Piper's article. In other words, it was amazing, and certainly Piper at his best. It stirred in me a love for God and His Holy Scriptures and in that I can wholeheartedly agree with your evaluation, Tim (and others).
Wonkyhead: What you experienced was the gift of [special] faith that is identified in 1 Corinthians 12. It is the same thing that Paul experienced on the ship where he told the captain that he had prayed and that he "knew" that no lives would be lost. Usually the gift of faith operates that way - in a passive fashion - the work is done and you are aware of a supreme confidence that it is done. Perfectly consistent with the Word.
For me, I think that Pipers article has a lot to say to those of us on both sides of the cessationist fence. To the charismatic he is saying "Listen, God really does speak thru the Bible - you better make sure your experiences of Him are rooted in His Word and that you find Him through His word the Bible" To the cessationist he is saying "Listen, God really can speak personally to you in a way you can experience - you better make sure you allow His Word to really affect you".
We have all done God a disservice in our thinking by attempting to divorce His Spirit from His Word. We were always meant to experience God in powerful ways through His Word. God’s Spirit takes the word He inspired and makes it living, active and personal to us as individuals today in the 21st Century.
I fear that the average intellectual student of the bible will have found Pipers experience to be totally alien. In fact I fear that even many of us that claim to be charismatic do not regularly - if ever - have the level of genuine experience of God speaking to us that Piper here describes as routine for him. It is no wonder Piper preaches like he does when he has regularly encountered the person of God in this way. This article is not really about the charismatic issue, although when he is reading aloud for his mp3 available on his site, he adds the following words which I have bolded below:-
"What makes me sad about the article is not that it isn’t true or didn’t happen. Don't put me in that category What’s sad is that it really does give the impression that extra-biblical communication with God is surpassingly wonderful and faith-deepening. All the while, the supremely-glorious communication of the living God which personally and powerfully and transformingly explodes in the receptive heart through the Bible everyday is passed over in silence." - John Piper
There is also discussion about this taking place over on my blog
I only got half way through John Piper's article... here's why:
http://togetheroneservant.blogspot.com/2007/03/rebel-just-because-and-why-i-write-this.html
I am so glad someone wrote about Piper's article. At first I was nervous reading it, thinking he had suddenly changed course and was announcing his belief in extra-biblical revelation...BUT then I was in awe of his experience with the word of God. I have had these experiences as well and I have to credit at least two or three people for leading me to this discovery - John Piper, George Mueller and Denise Glenn. John Piper introduced me to George Mueller who stressed that prayer naturally flows out of meditating on the Word. Denise Glenn, who is the founder of Motherwise ministries, impressed upon me the need of praying the Scriptures back to God and waiting on Him for guidance and direction.
When you fill your mind and heart with the Word and then use it to communicate with God, He in turn communicates with you in the same way. This is how we can pray without ceasing.
Immersion in and dependence on the word has revolutionized my prayer life and brought me so much closer to God.
I, like many of you, was blessed by John Piper's recent article. I treasure the truth that we can experience "the supremely-glorious communication of the living God which personally and powerfully and transformingly explodes in the receptive heart through the Bible everyday...." I pray with Piper, "O God, don’t let us be so deaf to your word and so unaffected with its ineffable, evidential excellency that we celebrate lesser things as more thrilling...."
But Piper's article does not deny that God can (and sometimes does) communicate to his people in other ways. It seems he is simply expressing his sadness that we do not value this primary and glorious form whereby God communicates to us by his written Word.
Methinks many of the commentors here would do well to read the four sermons linked to on the Desiring God blog where the following question is addressed: "Does God Speak Outside the Bible?" Based on my reading of these sermons, it seems clear that John Piper would actually say yes, though we should not expect or demand it. We should expect to hear God in his written Word.
You may disagree with Piper's position that prophecy exists today, but don't misrepresent him as though he has said that it does not.
Hope
P.S. For the sake of convenience, here are links to the four Piper's sermons that more fully represent his position:
Using Our Gifts in Proportion to Our Faith, Part 1: The Gift of ProphecyWhen Will Prophecy Cease?The Authority and Nature of the Gift of ProphecyWhy the Gift of Prophecy Is Not the Usual Way of Knowing God's Will
I especially appreciated this last one.
Hope.
I especially appreciate your coming to the defense of Dr. Piper. I, for one, am most concerned for unity in our House...not for propagating nitpicking controversies. I love Dr. Piper and his ministry. Even the greatest speakers and leaders tend to lean toward their own prejudices without even being aware they are doing it. Below is an example from the last study you quoted."So we are alerted not to carry our enthusiasm for prophecy beyond limits. It is not supposed to become the usual way we make the hundreds of decisions that we must make each day.
Why do you think this might be? I think the basic reason is this: if you live your life not on the basis of spiritual wisdom but on the basis of external revelations, you are not compelled to deal so deeply with the corruption of your own heart and mind."
My question is, why do the two have to be mutually exclusive. I am aware of the extremes that Dr. Piper is alluding to. In it's proper role, modern prophesy is always an exception. But it too, is to be guided by scripture & spiritual wisdom. It too, strongly deals with the corruption of our hearts and minds.
My own experience that amazingly coincided with Dr. P's "Voice of God" experience served the very purpose that John implies prophecy would not do well. The problem is that what many call prophecy is not prophecy at all. True prophecy at it's most useful (and historically, best served) is a sin exposer, confronter, and guide back to the Word. It's the gift, that if properly understood, no one would aspire to. Those "blessed" with the prophetic gift tend to have to stand at a distance for perspective and to, well, be tolerated.
We should all embrace, even if at that distance, those who are spiritually equipped to "tell it like it is". Even loving challenges can hurt at first. But as the dust of pride clears, it will be obvious that the "word" was in harmony with THE WORD.
What I saw, and still do see, is the need to Hear Gods Voice every time, every where, in every way. First, foremost, and authoritatively in Scripture. But there is no need to lampoon those who also hear Him more extemporaneously in the daily working out of the WORD in their lives.
As my post disclosed, the prophet him/herself gets creamed first.