Listening prayer is not condemned in Scripture but formulizing the Holy Spirit's work is dangerous and can produce fabrications.

Winger finds no explicit scriptural mandate for listening prayer as a practice, but has no inherent objection to pausing and asking God to show you something. His concern is when teachers create step-by-step formulas for hearing God's voice. He draws an analogy to Bethel's prophecy and healing formulas — which he believes produce fake results as easily as real ones. His general principle: the Holy Spirit's work does not need or benefit from a formula.