Dangerous Prayers: Because Following Jesus Was Never Meant to Be Safe
Craig Groeschel - 2020
He wants more for us than a tepid faith and half-hearted routines at the dinner table. He's called you to a life of courage, not comfort.This book will show you how to pray the prayers that search your soul, break your habits, and send you to pursue the calling God has for you. But be warned: if you're fine with settling for what's easy, or you're OK with staying on the sidelines, this book isn't for you. You'll be challenged. You'll be tested. You'll be moved to take a long, hard look at your heart.But you'll be inspired, too.You'll be inspired to pray boldly. To pray powerfully. To pray with fire. You'll see how you can trade ineffective prayers and lukewarm faith for raw, daring prayers that will push you to new levels of passion and fulfillment. You'll discover the secret to overcome fears of loss, rejection, failure, and the unknown and welcome the blessings God has for you on the other side.You'll gain the courage it takes to pray dangerous prayers.
Year with God: Living Out the Spiritual Disciplines
Richard J. Foster - 2009
This beautiful daily companion is comprised of 365 selections of scripture, commentary, meditations, and daily exercises to help readers see how they can bring their entire life into a life with Immanuel - a God who is with his people.In Richard Foster′s best-selling book, Celebration of Discipline, he explored the "classic disciplines," or central spiritual practices of the Christian faith. Foster showed that it is only by and through these practices that the true path to spiritual growth can be found. In A Year with God, the spiritual disciplines are presented in such a way that does not destroy the soul but enables the reader to enter into a transforming life with God.Through daily spiritual exercises and meditations, A Year with God explores eighteen spiritual disciplines. The inward disciplines of meditation, prayer, fasting, and study offer avenues of personal examination and change. The outward disciplines of simplicity, solitude, submission, and service help prepare one to make the world a better place. The corporate disciplines of confession, worship, guidance, and celebration bring one nearer to others and to God. Each discipline will be given twenty days of readings, beginning with scripture and followed by commentary, a meditation, and a spiritual exercise. Practicing these spiritual disciplines will help readers live intentionally, contributing to a more balanced spiritual life and a reformation of the inner self.
Give Up Worry for Lent!: 40 Days to Finding Peace in Christ
Gary Zimak - 2019
He shows you how to let go of the anxiety-producing areas of life in order to find the lasting peace that comes from trusting God.
During the season of Lent, Catholics and other Christians frequently give up something they enjoy as a measure of penance or self-discipline—and often fall back into old habits at the first “Alleluia!” In Give Up Worry for Lent!, Zimak offers fellow worriers practical, scripture-centered advice on how to relinquish the need to control the uncontrollable—not just for Lent but for good—and how to find peace in Christ.
From Ash Wednesday to Easter Sunday, Zimak guides you to ponder a scripture passage and to apply it to your own life by following four simple steps:
read
reflect
respond
pray
As you continue to meditate on scripture and practice the simple action steps at the end of each reflection, you will find it easier to replace old worries with new messages of hope and to change your life forever.
His Word in My Heart: Memorizing Scripture for a Closer Walk with God
Janet Pope - 2002
In His Word in My Heart, she enthusiastically shares with readers why memorizing Scripture is so important to the walk of the believer.
HeavenWord Daily
David A. Servant - 2010
HeavenWord Daily is not a fluff devotional, but rather a "motivational do-votional," full of insight and inspiration.
The Women's Devotional Guide to Bible: A One-Year Plan for Studying, Praying, and Responding to God's Word
Jean E. Syswerda - 2000
Syswerda provides you with a comprehensive overview of Scripture in this fifty-two week devotional. The Women's Devotional Guide to the Bible gives you tools for in-depth study, reflection, and prayer. It also offers you a practical approach to the complexities of the Bible, by employing a method you can effectively and easily use as part of your busy daily schedule.
The Questions Christians Hope No One Will Ask: (With Answers)
Mark Mittelberg - 2010
. . Why do you believe God exists at all? . . . Why would God allow evil and suffering? . . . Why trust the Bible when it's full of mistakes? . . . How could a loving God send people to hell? . . . What makes you think Jesus was more than just a good teacher? . . . Why are Christians so judgmental?"Some questions can stop a conversation. Today, more than ever, people are raising difficult, penetrating questions about faith, God, and the Bible. Based on an exclusive new Barna survey of 1,000 Christians, The Questions Christians Hope No One Will Ask presents compelling, easy-to-grasp answers to ten of the most troubling questions facing Christians today. These include everything from the existence of heaven to the issues of abortion and homosexuality, as well as the question of whether evolution eliminates our need for a God.
Pastors Are People Too: What They Won't Tell You but You Need to Know (PastorServe Series)
Jimmy Dodd - 2016
Is it any wonder pastors are overwhelmed and underappreciated? They’re expected to know every member by name, preach a “home run sermon” every Sunday, condemn sin without hurting anyone’s feelings, and be available to serve others 24/7 while not neglecting their own family. The intensity of these expectations and lack of appreciation can and does bring the majority of pastors to a place of despair and ultimately departure from pastoral ministry. This practical field guide offers tangible ways to better understand and care for the pastor who cares so deeply about you.
You Are Free: Be Who You Already Are
Rebekah Lyons - 2017
We measure our worth by what others think of us. We compare and strive, existing mostly for the approval of others. Pressure rises, anxiety creeps in and we hustle to keep up.Jesus whispers, I gave my life to set you free. I gave you purpose. I called you to live in freedom in that purpose. Yet we still hobble through life, afraid to confess all the ways we push against this truth, because we can’t even believe it. We continue to grasp for the approval of anyone that will offer it: whether strangers, friends, or community.Christ doesn’t say you can be or may be or will be free. He says you are free. Dare you believe it?In You Are Free, Rebekah invites you to:• Overcome the exhaustion of trying to meet the expectations of others and rest in the joy God’s freedom brings.• Release stress, anxiety and worry, to uncover the peace that comes from abiding in His presence.• Find permission to grieve past experiences, confess areas of brokenness, and receive strength in your journey towards healing.• Throw off self-condemnation, burn superficial masks and step boldly into what our good God has for you.• Discover the courage to begin again and use your newfound freedom to set others free.Freedom is for everyone who wants it—the lost, the wounded, and those weary from all of the striving. It’s for those who gave up trying years ago. It’s for those angry and hurt, brilliant and burnt by the Christian song and dance. You are the church, the people of God. You were meant to be free.
Anything: The Prayer That Unlocked My God and My Soul
Jennie Allen - 2011
Comfortable. Happy. Words we all love. Feelings we want. Even crave. We may love God, but being that he's invisible, words like comfortable seem to feel better faster. We are all chasing something. Our hearts were made to run hard and fast after things that move us. But as a generation we are all beginning to stir and wake up, identifying that these words don't satisfy for long, especially when compared to God. If God is real, and we are going to live with Him forever, shouldn't He be everything? Caught in this familiar haze of worldly happiness and empty pursuits, Jennie Allen and her husband Zac prayed a courageous prayer of abandonment that took them on an adventure God had written for them. "God, we will do anything. Anything Anythingis a prayer of surrender that will spark something. A prayer that will move us to stop chasing things that just make us feel happy and start living a life that matters. A life that is... Surrendered. Reckless. Courageous. If we truly know a God worth giving anything for, everything changes.
Becoming Fearless: My Ongoing Journey of Learning to Trust God
Michelle Aguilar - 2011
They will discover they have a lot to lose as well—whether it’s fear, weight, or insecurities that keep them from living a full life.Becoming Fearless is a story of reconciliation between a mother and a daughter, a testament to the power of forgiveness, and a reminder that the journey is even more important than the destination. It is an encouragement to “feel the fear” in any situation without being paralyzed by it. Will you have faith in God when you’ve lost faith in yourself?
The Renewing of the Mind Project: Going to God for Help with Your Habits, Goals, and Emotions
Barb Raveling - 2015
Or you’re stuck in the grip of a negative emotion such as worry, insecurity, or anger. Or you’ve been trying to start a habit or pursue a goal, but it’s not happening. You feel like you’ll never change. But here’s the truth: God is powerful and He wants to help you. This book is all about going to God for help with transformation. Paul tells us in Romans 12:2 that we’re transformed by the renewing of the mind. In The Renewing of the Mind Project you’ll choose a project—something you’d really like to change—and apply Romans 12:2 to that project. Here are a few of the things you’ll be learning while you work on your project: How to renew your mind on a practical, day-by-day basis. How to pray Scripture, using the 250+ verses in this book. How to visit with God about your project, using the 48 sets of questions in this book. How to truth journal. As you work with God on your project, you’ll not only gain victory in that area of your life, you’ll also grow closer to God and more dependent on Him. And what could be better than that?
Simply Jesus: A New Vision of Who He Was, What He Did, and Why He Matters
N.T. Wright - 2011
Wright summarizes 200 years of modern Biblical scholarship and models how Christians can best retell the story of Jesus today. In a style similar to C.S. Lewis’s popular works, Wright breaks down the barriers that prevent Christians from fully engaging with the story of Jesus. For believers confronting the challenge of connecting with their faith today, and for readers of Timothy Keller’s The Reason for God, Wright’s Simply Jesus offers a provocative new picture of how to understand who Jesus was and how Christians should relate to him today.
40 Days of Decrease: A Different Kind of Hunger. A Different Kind of Fast.
Alicia Britt Chole - 2016
Dr. Alicia Britt Chole guides you through a study of Jesus’ uncommon and uncomfortable call to abandon the world’s illusions, embrace His kingdom’s realities, and journey cross-ward and beyond.Containing readings, refection questions, daily fasts, ancient quotes, and more, each day offers a meaningful consideration of Jesus’ journey and then invites you into a daily fast of heart-clutter—the stuff that sticks to your soul and weighs you down. You can begin your forty-day journey any time of the year, but you may find it especially meaningful as a Lenten preparation to live in awe of Jesus’ resurrection.Each daily, 1000-word entry includes a:Devotion based on Jesus’ lifeReflection question to guide journaling or group discussionHeart fast to inspire a tangible responseThought-provoking Lenten quoteOptional sidebar into the historical development of LentSuggested reading that takes you from John 12 to John 21Journaling space for reflectionIn the same way self cannot satisfy self no matter how long it feasts, self cannot starve self no matter how long it fasts. Decrease—like increase—is only holy when its destination is love. Dare to live awed by Christ’s resurrection!
No More Christian Nice Girl: When Just Being Nice--Instead of Good--Hurts You, Your Family, and Your Friends
Paul Coughlin - 2010
Paul Coughlin and Jennifer Degler give women the empowering message that they have options far beyond simply acting nice or being mean--if they will emulate the real Jesus Christ and face their fears of conflict, rejection, and criticism. Brimming with enlightening information, thought-provoking questionnaires, real-life stories, and biblically based teaching from both the male author of the pioneering No More Christian Nice Guy and a female clinical psychologist, this book will motivate women to allow God to transform them into authentic, powerful women of loving faith.