Review by Brain Blair
The Republic


The cries of an agonizing woman’s prayer thousands of years ago still echo through the ages with a message for those willing to listen — and those willing to learn the secret to answered petitions.

Columbus author Kenn Gividen believes such of Hannah, a childless woman pleading to God for a baby in 1 Samuel 1. Her request, though passionate and spoken through tears, is hardly selfish.

“The basic thesis of Hannah’s prayer is for the Lord to give her a son so she can then give him back to the Lord (for ministry),” says Gividen.

Therein lies the thesis of Gividen’s book, “The Prayer of Hannah: Eight Dynamics of Effective Christianity” (Just Folks Publishing, $12.99). The work, scheduled for national distribution next month, originally was a series of Gividen’s Sunday school lessons at Grace Baptist Church.

The book is something of a follow-up on Bruce Wilkinson’s top-selling, “The Prayer of Jabez,” outlining the heaven-inspired request of another Old Testament figure.

Blessings from the prayer

That work’s success, in fact, inspired Gividen, a marketing executive, to write about Hannah and how God eventually blessed her with Samuel, one of Israel’s greatest prophets, who altered the nation’s moral course.

Gividen says he has seen firsthand that Hannah’s framework for prayer works on far more than childbirth. It also ushers the birth of dreams, plans and more.

“We prayed the prayer of Hannah at (Grace Baptist) church,” says the Rev. Mike Myers, pastor. “We saw the blessings happen. We heard the neat testimonies.”

The book examines eight of Hannah’s character traits. The author lists these characteristics as humility, brokenness, meekness, mercy, purity, desire, peace and endurance.

Columbus’ Doug Gilliland, who read an early draft says the link shows Gividen’s insight and creativity as a teacher.

A Louisiana publisher saw that and decided to publish the then-unfinished book at one point. The firm even mailed Gividen a check as an advance that motivated him to complete the project.

Willing to risk

Ultimately, though, he peacefully parted ways with the publisher over various differences. The relationship originally surfaced for a reason, to the author says.

“If the Lord had never sent me a publisher to begin with,” he says, “I probably never would have finished the book.”

Myers is among those happy to see Gividen complete the look at Hannah.

“What’s exciting to me is to see Kenn jump out on his own on this and be willing to take a risk,” says the pastor.

Gividen wrote primarily with a Christian audience in mind. Spiritual seekers, though, will note the work avoids phrases of faith that read like incomprehensible jargon.

“I wanted to write so mainstream readers could understand it.”

He knows that, once Wilkinson’s “Jabez” leaped from Christian bookstores to mainstream department stores, it attracted an audience generally unaccustomed to buying religious titles.

Today, Gividen calls that book “one of the closest examples to a national revival I’ve seen. And it shows that people have a spiritual appetite for prayer.”

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