Book picks similar to
The Lazarus Life: Spiritual Transformation for Ordinary People by Stephen W. Smith
christian
nonfiction
non-fiction
discipleship
Jesus, the One and Only
Beth Moore - 2002
In Jesus, the One and Only, Beth introduces them to an intimate Savior as they get a close-up and personal portrait of the life of Jesus the Messiah.But this is far more than just a work on the life of Christ. As He has done in the past, God uses Beth’s words to woo the reader into a romance with the One and Only. The reader comes to know Christ personally, watching and listening as He breaks up a funeral by raising the dead, confronts conniving religious leaders of His day, teaches on a Galilean hillside, or walks on the waves and calms the storm.
The Circle Maker: Praying Circles Around Your Biggest Dreams and Greatest Fears
Mark Batterson - 2011
Sharing inspiring stories from his own experiences as a prayer circle maker, Batterson will help readers uncover their heart's deepest desires and God-given dreams and unleash them through the kind of audacious prayer that God delights to answer.
Gentle and Lowly: The Heart of Christ for Sinners and Sufferers
Dane C. Ortlund - 2020
As a result, they focus a lot on what Jesus has done to appease God's wrath for sin. But how does Jesus Christ actually feel about his people amid all their sins and failures? This book draws us to Matthew 11, where Jesus describes himself as "gentle and lowly in heart," longing for his people to find rest in him. The gospel is primarily about God's heart drawn to his people, a heart of tender love for the sinful and suffering. These chapters take readers into the depths of Christ's very heart for sinners, diving deep into Bible passages that speak of who Christ is and encouraging readers with the affections of Christ for his people. His longing heart for sinners will comfort and sustain readers in their up-and-down lives.
Jesus > Religion: Why He Is So Much Better Than Trying Harder, Doing More, and Being Good Enough
Jefferson Bethke - 2013
The message blew up on social-media, triggering an avalanche of responses running the gamut from encouraged to enraged.In Jesus > Religion, Bethke unpacks similar contrasts that he drew in the poem—highlighting the difference between teeth gritting and grace, law and love, performance and peace, despair and hope. With refreshing candor he delves into the motivation behind his message, beginning with the unvarnished tale of his own plunge from the pinnacle of a works-based, fake-smile existence that sapped his strength and led him down a path of destructive behavior.Bethke is quick to acknowledge that he’s not a pastor or theologian, but simply a regular, twenty-something who cried out for a life greater than the one for which he had settled. Along his journey, Bethke discovered the real Jesus, who beckoned him beyond the props of false religion.
The Pursuit of God: The Human Thirst for the Divine
A.W. Tozer - 1948
Tozer, is not for a select few, but should be the experience of every follower of Christ. Here is a masterly study of the inner life by a heart thirsting after God. Here is a book for every child of God, pastor, missionary, and Christian. It deals with the deep things of God and the riches of His grace. In The Pursuit of God, Tozer sheds light on the path to a closer walk with God.
Praying the Bible
Donald S. Whitney - 2015
Offering readers hope, encouragement, and the practical advice they’re looking for, this concise book by professor Donald Whitney outlines a simple, time-tested method that can help transform our prayer lives: praying the words of the Bible. Praying the Bible shows readers how to pray through portions of Scripture one line at a time, helping us stay focused by allowing God’s Word itself to direct our thoughts and words. Simple yet profound, this resource will prove invaluable to all Christians as they seek to commune with their heavenly Father in prayer each and every day.
Unoffendable: How Just One Change Can Make All of Life Better
Brant Hansen - 2015
The idea of our own “righteous anger” is a myth. It is the number one problem in our societies today and, as Dallas Willard says, Christians have not been taught out of it. But what if Christians were the most unoffendable people on the planet?In Unoffendable you will find concrete, practical ways to live life with less stress, including: Adjusting your expectations to fit human natureReplacing perpetual anger with refreshing humility and gratitudeEmbracing forgiveness and beginning to love others in unexpected waysIn a humorous and conversational style, Unoffendable seeks to lift religious burdens from our backs and allow us to experience the joy of gratitude, perhaps for the first time, every single day of our lives—flourishing the way God intended.
Shelter in God: Your Refuge in Times of Trouble
David Jeremiah - 2020
David Jeremiah shares how the book of Psalms can aid those struggling to find meaning during the 2020 coronavirus pandemic. Shelter-in-place orders around the world have people questioning, “Does God see us? Can he help us through this nerve-racking time? Dr. David Jeremiah shares through psalms that God is always walking beside us. Now is the time to Shelter in God.Renowned pastor and teacher Dr. David Jeremiah believes comfort can be found in the Psalms, both now during the coronavirus pandemic and during all of life's greatest challenges. This newly collected volume will show how finding refuge in God is always our safest place. Shelter in God offers hope in a time of uncertainty and relief to people who are experiencing real troubles and fear.find ways to worship in times of trouble,experience prayer in pressure,show grace you are at your wits’ end, andwith God’s help, triumph over trouble. Shelter in God is an invaluable source of help and encouragement for people facing major obstacles during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond. Portions of Shelter in God were previously included in Dr. Jeremiah’s classic When Your World Falls Apart.
Habits of Grace: Enjoying Jesus through the Spiritual Disciplines
David Mathis - 2016
Have his ear. Belong to his body.Three seemingly unremarkable principles shape and strengthen the Christian life: listening to God's voice, speaking to him in prayer, and joining together with his people as the church. Though often viewed as normal and routine, the everyday "habits of grace" we cultivate give us access to these God-designed channels through which his love and power flow--including the greatest joy of all: knowing and enjoying Jesus.A study guide for individual and group study is also available.
Sun Stand Still: What Happens When You Dare to Ask God for the Impossible
Steven Furtick - 2010
The words on these pages will not go down like Ambien. I’m not writing to calm or coddle you. With God’s help, I intend to incite a riot in your mind. Trip your breakers and turn out the lights in your favorite hiding places of insecurity and fear. Then flip the switch back on so that God’s truth can illuminate the divine destiny that may have been lying dormant inside you for years. In short, I’m out to activate your audacious faith. To inspire you to ask God for the impossible. And in the process, to reconnect you with your God-sized purpose and potential.—STEVEN FURTICK, from Sun Stand Still“Steven Furtick challenges all of us—from the missionary in the third world to the family in the suburbs—to believe God for the impossible and begin living a life of faith beyond the ordinary.”
—ANDY STANLEY, senior pastor, North Point Community Church
“I don’t know anyone better positioned to challenge you to rise above mundane living and embrace faith-filled audacity than Steven Furtick.”—CRAIG GROESCHEL, senior pastor, LifeChurch.tv“For too long Christians have embraced a miniscule vision of faith.… Steven Furtick reminds us that the God who accomplished the impossible through the great heroes of faith still desires to do the same through us today.”
—JENTEZEN FRANKLIN, senior pastor, Free Chapel
“This book will show you that your hopes and expectations are truly just the beginning of what God can do.” —ED YOUNG, senior pastor, Fellowship ChurchFrom the Trade Paperback edition.
Soul Detox: Clean Living in a Contaminated World
Craig Groeschel - 2012
Without even knowing it, people willingly inhale second-hand toxins poisoning their relationship with God and stunting their spiritual growth.Soul Detox examines the toxins that assault us daily including: toxic influences, toxic emotions, and toxic behaviors.By examining the toxins that assault us daily, this book offers the ultimate spiritual intervention with ways to remain clean, pure, and focused on the standard of God s holiness."
Glorious Mess: Encountering God's Relentless Grace for Imperfect People
Mike Howerton - 2012
Like Jonah, however, we eventually discover we've made a mess of things; we're rowing against the storms God is using to pull us back on course.In Glorious Mess, Mike Howerton shows how God's relentless grace extends into all the messes we make in our lives, that God clearly reveals his love for imperfect people no matter how far we've strayed. He shows readers how to hear God's voice, how to embrace God's calling on their lives, how to get out of their messes, and how to see God working. The result is not just forgiveness and direction for life, but also encouragement and inspiration to be our best selves before God and others.Includes discussion questions for group or personal use.
Praying the Names of Jesus: A Daily Guide
Ann Spangler - 2006
Praying the Names of Jesus will lead readers into a richer and more rewarding relationship with Christ by helping them to understand and to pray his names on a daily basis. By understanding the biblical context in which these names and titles were revealed, readers will gain a more intimate knowledge of Jesus and of his plan for their lives. They will also begin to see how each of his names holds within it a promise: to be our Teacher, Healer, Friend, and Lord—to be God with Us no matter the circumstances. Prince of Peace, Lamb of God, Bread of Life, Yeshua... through his names and titles, we come to understand more fully how Jesus reveals God’s heart to us. "Praying the Names of Jesus" focuses on twenty-six of his most prominent names and titles to provide six-months worth of devotions. Each week provides a unique devotional program designed for personal prayer and study or for use in small groups. "Praying the Names of Jesus" is the companion volume to the bestselling "Praying the Names of God." In ways both surprising and profound it reveals a rich portrait of Jesus that will move readers toward a deeper experience of his love and mercy.
The Ragamuffin Gospel: Good News for the Bedraggled, Beat-Up, and Burnt Out
Brennan Manning - 1990
We beat ourselves up over our failures and, in the process, pull away from God because we subconsciously believe He tallies our defects and hangs His head in disappointment. In this newly repackaged edition--now with full appendix, study questions, and the author's own epilogue, ""Ragamuffin" Ten Years Later," Brennan Manning reminds us that nothing could be further from the truth. The Father beckons us to Himself with a "furious love" that burns brightly and constantly. Only when we truly embrace God's grace can we bask in the joy of a gospel that enfolds the most needy of His flock--the "ragamuffins."Are you bedraggled, beat-up, burnt-out?Most of us believe in God's grace--in theory. But somehow we can't seem to apply it in our daily lives. We continue to see Him as a small-minded bookkeeper, tallying our failures and successes on a score sheet.Yet God gives us His grace, willingly, no matter what we've done. We come to Him as ragamuffins--dirty, bedraggled, and beat-up. And when we sit at His feet, He smiles upon us, the chosen objects of His "furious love."Brennan Manning 's now-classic meditation on grace and what it takes to access it--simple honesty--has changed thousands of lives. Now with a Ragamuffin's thirty-day spiritual journey guide, it will change yours, too.
The Ministry of Ordinary Places: Waking Up to God's Goodness Around You
Shannan Martin - 2018
Where do we even begin?Shannan Martin offers a surprisingly simple answer: uncover the hidden corners of our cities and neighborhoods and invest deeply in the lives of people around us. She walks us through her own discoveries about the vital importance of paying attention, as well as the hard but rewarding truth about showing up and committing for the long haul, despite the inevitable encounters with brokenness and uncertainty. With transparency, humor, heart-tugging storytelling, and more than a little personal confession, Martin shows us that no matter where we live or how much we have, as we learn what it is to be with people as Jesus was, we'll find our very lives. The details will look quiet and ordinary, and the call will both exhaust and exhilarate us. But it will be the most worth-it adventure we will ever take.