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(More customer reviews)Without a doubt, one of the most misunderstood aspects of the Christian life is what we mean when we say that we "heard from the Lord", "received a prompting from God", or otherwise received specific divine direction. The Power of a Whisper: Hearing God. Having the Guts to Respond. is a decent, basic, easily readable explanation of what it means to hear God's voice, but I felt that it lacked depth. I should point out that I received an advance reading copy of the book, so perhaps some of my problems with the book will be corrected in the final publication copy. Chapter 4, "How to Know When You're Hearing from God," is probably the most important chapter in a book like this. Hybels shared 5 filters that he uses to "test every whisper" he hears - to make sure they are from God. But, here I was a little confused, because the first filter was "Is the Prompting Truly from God?". I think his point here was simply to emphasize that not every "prompting" or "whisper" is from God - but that was the point of the whole chapter anyway. The other four filters he listed were: "Is it Scriptural?", "Is it wise?", "Is it in tune with your own character?" (another one I had a problem with) and "What do the people you most trust think about it?" Hybels referred to the "Is it in tune with your own character?" test as the "wiring test," and while I understand his point that God typically does not ask us to do something that is out of character with the way he wired us - that is not always necessarily the case. The Scriptures are full of examples of the most unlikely people being asked to do things that could be considered completely out of character for them. The Lord sometimes uses such unlikely assignments to shape and mold our character to be more like His. The Power of a Whisper isn't a bad book. Hybels gives a number of inspiring examples of the benefits of listening to God's whispers, and a few examples of the consequences of our inattention. But there are much better books on the subject in my opinion. Consider Dallas Willard's Hearing God: Developing a Conversational Relationship with God, or Henry and Richard Blackaby's Hearing God's Voice, or a resource specifically geared to discerning God's will for your life such as M. Blaine Smith's classic Knowing God's Will: Finding Guidance for Specific Decisions. I like to read Hybels on leadership, but just think that others have done a better job with this important topic.
Greg Wilson
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'Without a hint of exaggeration,' says pastor and author Bill Hybels in his new book, The Power of a Whisper: Hearing God, Having the Guts to Respond, 'the ability to discern divine direction has saved me from a life of sure boredom and self-destruction. God's well-timed words have redirected my path, rescued me from temptation and re-energized me during some of my deepest moments of despair.' In The Power of a Whisper, vision is cast for what life can look like when God's followers choose to hear from heaven as they navigate life on earth. Whispers that arbitrate key decisions, nudges that rescue from dark nights of the soul, promptings that spur on growth, urgings that come by way of another person, inspiration that opens once-glazed-over eyes to the terrible plight people face in this world---through firsthand accounts spanning fifty-seven years of life, more than thirty of which have been spent in the trenches of ministry, Hybels promotes passion in Christ-followers' hearts for being wide open to hearing from God, and for getting gutsier about doing exactly what he says to do. For more information go to: www.thewhisperwall.com.
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