When God Says, "No": Reshaping Prayer and Learning to Listen

by Thomas R. Hauff

Does it feel like God has stopped listening to your prayers? Do you approach prayer with confidence or with confusion? Perhaps you have given up organized prayer entirely, resorting to monotonous, habitual, shallow repetitions--day after day after day. This work will address these and other questions we all have about communicating with God. In these pages you will find straight talk about substantial pitfalls along the road to authentic prayer. Dr. Tom Hauff provides an in-depth investigation into the ways we pray, the goals prayer should accomplish, and how we respond to God's answers. You will find that God has not stopped listening and that prayer does not have to be confusing. It can be vibrant and life-giving, productive and encouraging, but there is a key to such a prayer life. In this book, in an easily accessible way, Dr. Hauff unfolds this foundational We genuinely communicate in prayer only when we learn to listen honestly to God.

332 pages, Paperback

First published December 28, 2010

Reviews

[Kari McDowell · Rating 2 out of 5]

To be very honest, I struggled with this one. I will have to keep considering these ideas, but I am not sure I 100% agree with Dr. Hauff. It’s important to remember God’s great love and patience and intercession when we approach prayer. I feel strongly that the Lord would prefer a subpar prayer to no prayer!

[Daniel Hochhalter · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love insightful books on the mystery of prayer. Based on Thomas Hauff's title, I was actually cheering this book as I started to read it. The title of the book implies that God had already said no to one's prayer, thus beginning the journey of "what now?". But the book doesn't quite do that. Hauff goes into a lengthy discussion rightly deconstructing many of the formulaic prayers in Christianity--although at times he tears down the formulas so completely that I can't help but to wonder if the relationship aspect of prayer was thrown onto the heap as well.

He then devotes a lot of space arguing that God says "no" to our prayer. A lot of space, a lot of reasoned theology (even at one point heading off onto a rabbit trail to discuss the concept of praying for salvation for the lost--a topic near and dear to his heart). It might be more accurate to say that this is in fact the book's true nature: Hauff wants to present a concise theology arguing that God in his sovereign nature can and will answer a prayer with no.

While I don't necessarily disagree with his overall theology, it wasn't quite what I was looking for within the covers of a book titled, "When God Says 'No'." I was hoping more for a "what now?" contemplation, a more personal guidance of the Christian journey through the "no's" of prayer.

[Milan Homola · Rating 2 out of 5]

Had a rough time with this book. It feels as though "prayer" is narrowed in its definition to a mechanical process in which an inferior being asks a superior being for favors. The premise is that we aren't able to adjust or respond properly when we get "no" for an answer....but the process of interpreting a "no" is not developed...it seems as though interpreting "no" can be fairly subjective. The only framework given for interpreting "no" is time and not getting the desired result. The author suggests that we have to know God well enough to "anticipate" His answers so that we ask the right prayers. What if prayer is a relational process that is more about transforming my desires to be shaped more and more like Christ, which is dynamic and mysterious at the same time...I'm not a prayer expert by any means...just wondering.