Action in Africa to Active Listening

I finished Red Letters: Living a Faith that Bleeds by Tom Davis with little difficulty within the day of beginning. I did not want to respond quickly, since I wanted to respond with some meditation and thought, rather than on impulse. First, I would like to say that I am mildly disappointed. Through the title, and the introduction, I was anticipating a voice in the Christian world calling and demonstrating how we can be incarnational with the multitude of issues that are facing us today, both socially and globally. What I discovered, however, is that this book could have been better named Action in Africa: How Christians Should Respond to AIDS. This is inevitably a necessary issue to confront and Mr. Davis makes some remarkable points that readers should note, but, in the end, if you are expecting a paradigm for practical application, it will not come through reading this book, except perhaps if you answer Davis’ call and spend time working to confront AIDS in Africa.

Moving from Red Letters, I began reading The Art of Listening Prayer by Seth Barnes, Executive Director and Founder of Adventures in Missions. While this book is intended as a discipleship resource and workbook of a kind to be used over a month-long period, my reading through it in this case was purely out of a desire to understand Barnes’ heart and intent. In response, I have one word: WOW. Mr. Barnes, I think, begins to get at the heart of what is lacking in evangelical theology of prayer: namely, listening to what God has to say as we pray. Barnes provides the reader with resources and a helpful process to work this discipline of hearing the voice of God through His Word, His Spirit, through other believers, and the convictions of our souls by His grace. This is definitely a resource that I would commend to your care, to integrate into your discipleship and pursuit of the cross.