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Review Summary: Neil Anderson is awesome! |
Date: 2008-06-23 |
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Details: This little book gives tried and true scriptural evidence in praying in the Spirit. Neil Anderson is brillant and proves scripturally how we can walk in the fullness of God when we live in His light. "The Bondage Breaker" is a must have as well for all Christians. |
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Review Summary: "Watchman, how far gone is the night?" |
Date: 2007-06-16 |
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Details: "One keeps calling to me from Seir, 'Watchman, how far gone is the night? Watchman, how far gone is the night?' The watchman says, 'Morning comes but also night'." --Isaiah 21:11-12, NAS (Included on pp. 84-85 of Praying by the Power of the Spirit (The Bondage Breaker Series)).
This is a good book with a misleading title, the latter being the primary reason I am not giving this book a very high rating (only three stars, a first for me, and I would have given it one star if I believed the author had deliberately misled). I think many, if not most people would expect a book like this to deal with supernatural manifestations of God's power and presence: it does not. Having said that, if the book had a different title, one that described better what the book is about (such as PREPARING TO PRAY BY THE POWER OF THE SPIRIT), I might be giving it five stars instead of three, the LORD has blessed me that much through it. In fact, I had at least two Spirit-led experiences in writing this review itself, as described hereinafter.
God is leading me to be a more effective prayer, especially as an intercessor, and I believe He led me to read this book and that it has made a meaningful contribution to my growth, all glory to God!
LIKE CORNELIUS AND HIS FAMILY
While writing this review I felt moved to add this author to my prayer journal (I am currently using Prayers of My Heart) and (following his own advice) burdened to pray that God will send him a messenger to show him what he needs to know to further his own walk with God, to show him what he is (apparently) missing. While I do not know much about this author, I do know our LORD, and trust Him to come through in a powerful way for this man, who comes across as "devout and God-fearing" like Cornelius and His family (Acts 10:2).
In the first of two Spirit-led experiences mentioned before: now that I think about it, this little book (only 126 pages) should have been an easy evening read for me, but has taken me days and days to get through as I have dealt with distraction after distraction. I now see that God has delayed my finishing the book (and writing this review) to coincide with my daily Bible readings from yesterday and today about Cornelius (I am following the One Year Bible NIV). This author definitely has a divine appointment to keep!
COMMANDING GOD REGARDING THE WORK OF HIS HANDS
We must always pray the will of God, and within the access He allows to knowing His will, His mind, we also have the ability to "command the hand of God" as Juanita Bynum talks about in her book The Threshing Floor: How to Know Without a Doubt that God Hears Your Every Prayer (p. 148).
In the second of two Spirit-led experiences mentioned before: I was trying in vain to locate the notes I had made regarding the page where Bynum talked about commanding the hand of God. Finally, God asked me to just trust Him. So I asked Him to guide me to that section of the book if He wanted me to include this information in this review. I opened the book, and it fell open immediately to pages 148 and 149, the former of which includes, "According to Isaiah 45:11 (KJV), when you go before God to solicit in intercession on someone else's behalf, you can 'command' Him regarding the work of His hands." This was a good lesson for me about how important it is to prepare these reviews prayerfully. God is waiting to do something WONDERFUL through each of us if we will but yield to Him, trust Him, which is all He required for all His manifest blessings...
Anderson does not really talk about such things as commanding the works of God's hand, and on the whole he shies away from writing about any truly supernatural manifestations of the power of the Holy Spirit. In both of the personal examples he gives of God's breakthroughs in his life, he is careful to note that he did not experience "voices or visions," and I wondered what he would have thought about it if he had. While he talks about being filled with the Holy Spirit, I do not find his referring to baptism of the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in tongues or anything powerfully and unmistakably supernatural (although God HAS moved unmistakably powerfully in his life).
FOR WHOM WE SHOULD NOT PRAY
I did learn (or was timely reminded of) some things that I have not found elsewhere in my recent reading on prayer. For example, Anderson writes about the ones for whom we should NOT pray. This is on pages 51-52, where he quotes John 5:12-17, and clarifies that when John speaks of "sin leading to death," it is similar to blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. Only once have I had the Lord to tell me to stop praying for someone. I do not know for sure whether it was for the aforesaid reason -- that they have committed a sin unto death or blasphemy of the Holy Spirit -- or some other reason: that's God's business, and this book helped to settle that for me once and for all. My business is to trust and obey, including praying for those God tells me I should pray for, whether through His written word (e.g. praying for those in authority) or through burdening my heart, giving me a charge to keep regarding someone, including commanding God's hand regarding that one and God's divinely revealed will regarding that one. Drawing that distinction was liberating for me, for I had really been suffering for some months. Recently I prayed according to what I know of God's nature, saying that I know He is not the author of confusion, yet I was confused about my obligations regarding praying for this person (and other of their clones, clingers-on) so I asked God to clarify the matter for me, and as prior indicated, He used this book to do so, freeing me to leave them to Him and focus on interceding for the one He has inescapably laid on my heart. The confusion, of course, was a deceptive distraction from Satan. This author addresses such quite effectively throughout this book.
KNOWING THE NATURE OF GOD AND HIS WAYS SHAPES OUR PRAYERS
I appreciate that the author includes, "Worship is always an integral part of Spirit-directed prayer because worshiping God is ascribing to Him the divine attributes that He alone possesses. Knowing the nature of God and His ways shapes our prayers." (p. 35). He also notes, "Praising God is ascribing to Him His divine attributes." (p. 34).
In regard to both praising God and knowing God: I praise God that He sent me a domata (Leslie Hale, "The Irish Preacher," Tarpon Springs, Florida) who is thoroughly grounding my family and me in knowing who God is, name by name, which he is currently doing through Psalm 139 and related scriptures. The Bible says, "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge..." (Hosea 4:6) and such knowledge as Leslie is imparting is helping me to rise from the ashes of a most evil, Satan-directed attempt to destroy me, and to better understand what demands I can and should make upon God. Do complement your own interest in prayer by seeking to know God, Himself, including studying His names, His attributes, if you have not already done so, as this is key. He will never disappoint you; it's not in His nature! He is certainly making sure that mine and I are being fed exactly as we need to be fed at this time.
PREPARING TO PRAY IN THE POWER OF THE SPIRIT: REPENTANCE
The author teaches repentance very well, and the prayer on divorce made me cry, HARD! I have long since resolved all that with the Lord, but the prayer reminded me of how unbalanced the church is in regard to some of its teachings on marriage and divorce (and through the prayer I once again repudiated those deceptions) and also reminded me of how awesome is our God and what He has revealed He is going to do in that area of my life, things HE started, and therefore is obligated to finish them! God frames Himself in the lives of those who exalt Him over all in what A.W. Tozer calls a "...theater where He can display His exceeding kindness toward us in Christ Jesus..." The Pursuit of God: The Human Thirst for the Divine, pp. 100-101. Enduring to the end of our tests allows God to turn them into testimonies for His honor and glory.
RECOMMENDATION
With some reservations, including as delineated above, I do recommend this book for the spiritually mature believer. I am impressed enough with the author's writing that I have placed another of his books The Bondage Breaker® on reserve at our local library. |
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out of 2 Reviews
