The Atmosphere to Enter the Throne Room of God - Book Report/Review Example

Book Review on a Sacred Scripture Introduction Governmental Prayer: The Warfare Expression of the Apostolic was written by Dr Noel Woodroffe. As the name implies the subject of the book is prayer, not just any ordinary prayer but prayer that consistently breaks through the atmosphere to enter the throne room of God. Dr Woodroffe is an internationally renowned apostle who travels around the world declaring the word of God as expounded in the Bible. He is also the leader of an organization with its base in the West Indies but its membership embodies nations throughout the world. He was formerly a lecturer at the University of the West Indies. Thus, as an intellect, he writes with a level of abstractness that is extremely difficult for the layman to understand. The main purpose of the book, as stated by the author is that “all nations will bow to the acknowledgement that Jesus is Lord.”1 Therefore the book claims that its audience should include all English speaking individuals in the nations. However, it is not intended for those who are satisfied with a casual relationship with God but rather for those who desire to go beyond the ordinary and plummet into a new spiritual reality. Interestingly, the author’s style of writing makes it difficult for his intended audience to understand. The author writes with a level of nonfigurative language used mainly by intellectuals that the layman without a university degree may find it challenging to decipher. Nonetheless, the book has value for those who are able to decode its contents and implement some of the quality strategies in prayer that the author imparts. Summary of content Primarily, Governmental Prayer: The Warfare Expression of the Apostolic is both religious and spiritual. It utilizes the concepts of prayer which is highly religious yet it allows one to gain insight into the spirit realm that is not available to the merely religious person who is aware of God but unacquainted with His power, His presence and His ability to communicate on a personal level with His people. In this book the author was able to take a quite familiar yet complex subject and itemize principles with which the reader could adopt. It spans concepts of when God hears to the character of governmental prayer to principles of prevailing in the church, the nations and the end of the age. Its subject matter certainly is a wake up call for all those who contend that they believe in Jesus Christ as the Lord. Amazingly, Woodroffe devoted an entire portion of the book to grapple with the issue of angels. Notably, he describes the responses of the angels as prayers are uttered. Woodroffe proposes that the angels “will hear intelligently and obey in powerful action when the word in the mind of God is uttered forth ALOUD through human lips in the earth.”2 He also highlights their nearness to those who pray by giving the example of Daniel in Daniel 10 where an angel appeared to convey to Daniel the majestic release in the atmosphere initiated by his utterances. Woodroffe concludes his book with the instructions from God to communicate with Him and tell others about His goodness. What is more, he encourages his readers to experience God’s presence through governmental prayer and to be concerned about the state of the church in fulfilling God’s mandate in this earth. Governmental Prayer: The Warfare Expression of the Apostolic is set in a holy arena in which God’s children sit to glean from His appointed elders on how to pray with a sense of authority and surety that their prayers will be answered. One is basically encouraged to listen and to do what is suggested by the author in order to achieve the stated outcome. The writer continually reminds his audience of the desires of God and offers effective means to communicate with Him and for Him. Analysis of Text Woodroffe has a rather logical yet technical style. He is able to layout his material in a systematic form, to the point where it is obvious to the reader that a tremendous amount of research was done for the preparation of this book. At the same time his vocabulary is of such a technical nature that essentially only individuals who are to some extent familiar with the Bible would be able to adequately glean from the themes presented in the book. In spite of the author’s excessive use of technical jargon, his use of analogies is rather intriguing. Throughout the book he uses the analogy of penetrating, breaking, fight in prayer, “mentality positions that have characterized the area are being blasted by present truth light”3 to denote physical warfare which is analogous to spiritual warfare, the end result of praying governmentally. Further, his use of “Gethsemane” as a place of prayer “which represents the ordered corporate life of the church”4 is quite thought-provoking. Like the Bible, Woodroffe frequently uses a specific physical reality to relate to the spiritual and mental dimension of the reader. One example of this analogy as cited by Woodroffe is the Bible’s use of a physical armor to represent spiritual activities. Specifically, this armor comprised the breastplate which was made of righteousness, the helmet which was made of salvation, the shield made of faith and the various other physical pieces of armor were made of spiritual substance. Woodroffe even used the analogy of a “security force”5 to indicate one of the functions of the angels. The author argues that these majestic warring beings were strong and obedient to the word of God. He makes a further case for the angels not only maintaining the momentum in battle for us but also acting as a “security force in the spirit realm” to protect us from the attacks of the enemy. Yet another illustration of the author’s dramatic use of analogies was observed in his identification of Daniel’s prayer room as small and hence the reader’s physical locality was also considered small but the smallness of the physical area did not prevent the far reaching effect of this “small” entity. Woodroffe asserts that his readers should understand that as they pray, they “must be filled with a clear awareness that from the small spot in which we pray, great momentous movements take place on a much wider scale than we can imagine.”6 Remarkably, the author writes with a voice of authority. He impresses upon the reader that a tremendous amount of quality time was spent not only in researching but also in experiencing what he has meticulously put into writing. From this authoritative standpoint, one of the outstanding features of his work is the fact that the chapters are very succinct. The author, possibly understanding that his intellectual style of writing may not reach his intended audience, made each chapter short enough so that his readers would not necessarily have to bite out a larger chunk of subject matter than they could manage. In addition to the writer’s seemingly sensitivity to his audience, this book reviewer was particularly impressed with the manner in which the author was able to incorporate the church and the state. He reminds his audience of God’s mandate to prayer for the state whilst at the same time declaring that it is the utterances of the “upright” that has “power of political influence in the spirit realm.”7 The author uses Solomon in Chronicles 6 as an example of the impact of the praying church on the state. He specifies that God communicates with Solomon of the status of the nation and the special conditions which would apply in regards to the fact that there was now a house for the presence of God in the midst of the nation. In contrast to his sensitivity towards the reader’s inability to grasp large chunks of his material at once, Woodroffe’s level of intellectualism used throughout the book was a bit unnerving. The expert nature of a large volume of the language made it challenging to read the entire book without mulling over some of the key principles in the book. The average reader needed to read the chapters more than once in order to internalize the concepts. Nonetheless, the reader would have no problem understanding its contents providing that a manageable portion is taken, one chapter at a time. The foundation for the writing of Governmental Prayer: The Warfare Expression of the Apostolic is based in the Bible, which is believed by some to be the highest standard of defense. Thus, the author made the most of strong evidence for the support of his themes found in the Bible. One powerful evidence of the unifying thread of warfare found all through the book is demonstrated in the model of David in Psalm 35 instructing the angels to annihilate his enemies. The author uses this evidence to highlight the reader’s capability of advancing victoriously in warfare. “Like David we proclaim against our spiritual enemies: “Let their way be dark and slippery and let the angel of the Lord pursue them.”8 Generally, the writer uses a persuasive tone in his writing. The authoritative voice with which the writer states his opinion impresses upon his audience the urgency of the book’s content matter. The audience is persuaded to believe and to attempt to put into practice the substance of the book. In discussing the impact of prophetic governmental prayer, Woodroffe encourages the reader to become empowered because their governmental prayers would produce “instant, aggressive and direct heavenly response.”9 Although Woodroffe was rather thorough in his analysis of prayer, he failed to mention one of the prayer stalwart of ancient times, namely, Nehemiah. Nehemiah demonstrated some incredible principles of prayer which the author neglected. For example, Nehemiah was one of the men of God who itemized the steps in overcoming an enemy’s strategies to stop the work of God. In addition, the chief character of Governmental Prayer: The Warfare Expression of the Apostolic, Jesus’ main example of prayer was not used as a pattern for governmental prayer. It appears that the author overlooked the major role that Jesus, Himself, put in what is considered to be the Our Father 10 prayer. This reviewer is concerned that Woodroffe missed a great occasion to show his readers how to utilize the prayer given by Jesus to his disciples, to do warfare in the kingdom. Evaluation of the text The major weaknesses of this book include the level of intellectualism as well as the wordiness of some of the writing. Nevertheless these drawbacks are all overshadowed by the sheer weightiness of the contents of this book. This analyst concludes that even though Woodroffe was limited by the technical vocabulary used in his work, he was mainly successful in achieving what he set out to do, that is to impart the knowledge and techniques of governmental prayer to a wide variety of people. Although he was able to reach a diversity of audiences, he perhaps was unable to input the quality and quantity of information he set out to impart. Certainly, a revisiting of his vocabulary and a slight extension of the chapters to simplify the material may afford him the opportunity to reach a wider audience who can understand his message. To reiterate those who were able to read and understand would have gathered essential techniques for penetrating the atmosphere and taking a leap of faith into the spiritual realm. Governmental Prayer: The Warfare Expression of the Apostolic can be used both as a personal prayer tool and as a corporate instructor in how to pray. The strategies put forward are rather powerful in terms of their ability to convince the reader that perhaps this method would indeed cause them to become empowered and effective in spiritual warfare. On a corporate level, the church body could utilize one chapter at a time to train individuals in a particular concept and the individual reader could take his time to manage small portions, that is one chapter at a time before moving on to another chapter or concept. Governmental Prayer: The Warfare Expression of the Apostolic is indeed a book that would motivate all those who desire to move out of mediocrity and propel themselves into the sphere of excellence in touching the heart of God. Therefore, for those who have ears to hear, hear, understand and embrace the principles of this book as a way of life. References Woodroffe, Noel. 1997. Governmental Prayer: The Warfare Expression of the Apostolic. West Indies: EMI Publishing. Read More