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

Rating:
Summary: Balanced and helpful
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: A must for any believer desiring a deeper walk with Jesus
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: A Book Addressing the Realities of Listening Prayer
Review: 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.