Friday, October 31, 2014

Book Review: Hearing His Voice Devotional by Chris Tiegreen

Eh.  That monosyllabic expression pretty much sums up my feeling about this devotional Hearing His Voice:  365 Days of Intimate Communication with God by Chris Tiegreen.  It's not bad.  It's not great.  Just sort of...eh.

Some may judge that as harsh, but let me explain my background a bit.  Just in the past year, I've realized I have the spiritual gift of prophecy.  I don't tell the future or anything...it's like it is shown in the Bible...God talks to me clearly and gives me insight and messages that need to be delivered to people.  I know some Christians will balk at that, but it's something that has been confirmed over and over.  So, in order to steward this sometimes bewildering gift well, I've been reading many books on prophecy and how to hear God better and how to navigate this sometimes trying gift.  I was hoping that this book would be another helpful book as I learn about this particular gift.

Not really.  There seem to be two kinds of devotions in this book.  One is the mini-sermons that are the hallmark of devotional books.  They are okay, a little shallow for my tastes, but others may really enjoy them.  The other kind of devotions in this book are Sarah Young style messages from God, where the author, I presume, is sharing with us things that God has said to them in their private time.  While I'm not at all going to say these aren't the actual words of God, I'm not sure that they are meant to be for everyone.  It's kind of like a friend giving you advice on the phone, you writing it down and then passing it out to everyone that has that problem.  Yes, it may apply here and there, but there will also be things that your friend just specifically told you.  That's how these "heard from God" devotions read to me.  God does talk to me like that, but I know that not everything He says to me is meant to be applied to all.

So, overall, between the shallow sermonettes and questionable messages from God, I can't really recommend or not recommend this book.  I would say for people looking for info on prophecy or developing their prophetic gift, I would definitely say no.  But for just the average Christian looking for a devotional, it's just kind of average.

I was given this book free of charge by Tyndale Momentum in return for my honest review.

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