Listening Prayer (11)
There is a world of difference between praying and laboring for a renewed mind that discerns how to apply God's Word, on the one hand, and the habit of asking God to give you new revelation of what to do, on the other hand. Divination does not require transformation. God's aim is a new mind, a new way of thinking and judging, not just new information. 
John Piper
Sermon Notes (August 22, 2004) we read in Acts viii.29: "And the Spirit said unto Philip, GO near, and join thyself to this chariot." It does not say that this thought arose in him, but that a speaking took placePrinciples of Sacred Theology, 442
This, then, is a danger in Lectio Divina, that it may teach us to approach the text subjectively rather than objectively, and that in this way it leads to unstable, unsupportable conclusions. Though it appears to elevate piety, it may just train us to preach badly.http://www.challies.com/articles/the-danger-of-lectio-divina
The Bible does not tell you which person to marry, or which car to drive, or whether to own a home, where you take your vacation, what cell-phone plan to buy, or which brand of orange juice to drink. Or a thousand other choices you must make.
What is necessary is that we have a renewed mind, that is so shaped and so governed by the revealed will of God in the Bible, that we see and assess all relevant factors with the mind of Christ, and discern what God is calling us to do. This is very different from constantly trying to hear God's voice saying do this and do that. People who try to lead their lives by hearing voices are not in sync with Romans 12:2.http://www.desiringgod.org/resource-library/sermons/what-is-the-will-of-god-and-how-do-we-know-it
[The Bible] frees us to develop our own thoughts and feelings, since we don't have to look for God within our hearts-which is where we are most vulnerable to self-deception and technologies of manipulation. Good News for Anxious Christians (14)
When a young person has to label the voices in her heart "God" in order to believe they're worth listening to, she doesn't really believe it's OK for her to be perceptive about her situation, that it's OK to realize her boyfriend is bad for her and do something about it. In short, she doesn't realize she has a right to be a morally responsible adult. This new theology has undermined her sense of responsibility and self-knowledge-not to mention her faith in God as a real person who exists outside her own thoughts. Relevant Magazine Article: Is This God's Voice or Mine?
By trying to identify which voice in our hearts is God's we not only misidentify God, we fail to know ourselves for who we really are. Good News for Anxious Christians (8)
a non-cognitive closeness to God in which the mind is emptied of all personal thoughts about him, and indeed of all thoughts whatsoever, [is Eastern] mysticism in Western dress.Praying: Finding Our Way through Duty to Delight (65)
Davis concludes that, though they are not without their merits, the methods of "Centering Prayer" and "the Jesus Prayer" are not entirely appropriate for those who understand prayer as a response to God's verbal revelation in the Bible and as a gift given to those secure in God's grace. Centering Prayer is based, like the fourteenth-century work The Cloud of Unknowing, on the idea of God as pure spirit within us and beyond all thoughts, concepts, and images.Prayer, 53
The practice of listening for God's voice in your heart is a very new development and it's deeply flawed. It has only recently displaced Scripture as the most important way, in the view of many Christians, that God reveals Himself to us, thanks in no small part to widespread promotion of the idea by otherwise evangelical churches and youth groups. Relevant Magazine Article: Is This God's Voice or Mine?
many young people who couldn't recite all Ten Commandments if their life depended on it get up in the morning and "listen" for God to tell them what to do that day. For them, the revealed will of God has been replaced by the thoughts of their own hearts. Good News for Anxious Christians (64)
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