Join Gary Inrig at the feet of Jesus and experience His parables as though for the first time. In The Parables, you'll feel as though you can smell the odors of Jewish villages, feel the dust of Galilean roads, and hear the voice of the Savior putting you into His stories.  You’ll be encouraged by what you learn about yourself and God.

    Other people seem to have it all together, to be finding success, to be having more fun. But we weren't meant for a life characterized by dissatisfaction. In this entertaining and relatable book, Alexandra Kuykendall chronicles her nine-month experiment to rekindle her love of her ordinary "actual" life. After wiping her calendar as clean as a mother of four can, Kuykendall focuses on one aspect of her life each month, searching for ways to more fully enjoy her current season. By intentionally adding one thing each month that will make her jump for joy, she provides a practical challenge women can easily replicate. With humor, poignancy, and plenty of personal stories, Kuykendall weaves together spiritual themes and practical application into a holy self-awareness, showing women how a few small changes in their routines can improve their enjoyment of this crazy-busy life.

    Since his death in 1987, countless readers have been challenged to encounter DeMellos message.

    Now Ted Dekker brings a modern twist to this beloved song of hope, acceptance, and joy. This modern fable takes place in a large city where Christmas has been banned and replaced by a holiday that celebrates prosperity. All Christmas songs arealso banned.

    Saint Francis of Assisi is quite possibly the most popular of all Christian saints. Perhaps it is his adoration for all living things or his unrelenting generosity that has made so many people open their hearts to him. Perhaps it is the deep conviction and piety expressed not only by the saint himself, but in his name, in the Franciscan orders throughout the centuries.Whatever the reason, in a world that is quickly developing in a direction diametrically opposite to the saint's own simple asceticism, Saint Francis of Assisi still stirs strong emotions and compassion. How close he found God, in the very nature around him, is inspiring.All books in The Life and Prayers series come complete with a Touch-or-Click Table of Contents, divided by each section. Enjoy.

    Like Eve in the Garden, she craved the fruit that she thought would lead her to freedom. But the whispers of temptation led her instead down a devastating path toward isolation, dissatisfaction, and life-altering choices. In her most broken moment, Amber met God waiting for her in the fallout, freely offering her grace and life.This is a story of the God who makes himself known in broken places. In prose that is at once lyrical and utterly honest, a brave new voice takes readers on a windswept journey down the path of brokenness to healing, satisfaction, and true intimacy with God. Amber calls readers to dispense with the pretty bows we use to dress up our stories and instead trust God to take our untidy, unfinished lives and make them free, authentic, and whole. Anyone who struggles with doubt or holds secrets, anyone who feels marginalized or like she is missing something, will find in Amber a sister and an inviting voice back home, into the heart of God.

    We all long for beauty, greatness, fascination, and intimacy-we all long to be enjoyed, to be wholehearted, to make a lasting impact. When we realize that these longings are godly and that God wants to fulfill them, we begin to find new freedom and joy. We are not to repent of these longings, but to repent of seeking to satisfy them outside of our relationshipwith Jesus. To encounter God in these areas is to be fully alive.

    As the midnight of the Christian year, the season of Advent is rife with dark, gritty realities. In this book, with her trademark wit and wisdom, Rutledge explores Advent as a time of rich paradoxes, a season celebrating at once Christ’s incarnation and his second coming, and she masterfully unfolds the ethical and future-oriented significance of Advent for the church.

    This covenant has the power to release angels to assist you and forges a protective covenant around yourself and your family. It is important to discover how angels are involved in the lives of people on a personal and practical level. We will see biblical and current examples of angelic protection and will discover the steps to engaging in a covenant relationship with God that engages the help of His angels. Learn the kinds of assignments given to the angels, and discover five things that can offend angels and hinder their protection to man. We can be assured that God has commissioned His heavenly messengers to defend, keep, and protect His people.

    In this honest Advent devotional, best-selling progressive Christian author John Pavlovitz reminds us that God came to meet us in the low places of our lives — and that Jesus continues to come low this Advent season. When we plant our feet firmly in the dirt of everyday life, we see Jesus meeting us in the low places: when we live humbly, when we seek forgiveness, in our grief and suffering, when we act on behalf of someone else, when we pray. As we walk the road of Advent, Jesus reminds us the invitation is not to escape this world to an elevated Heaven somewhere else, but to bring Heaven down. “God with us” is Jesus, getting low. Each devotional includes a scripture and Advent reflection on Jesus meeting us on the ground.

    True Stories of Messages From Beyond tells 14 different personal stories of the bond we all share with those we love a bond never broken, not even by death. Each story was written by an ordinary person living an ordinary life, who was touched, changed, comforted, and even transformed by their own unique extraordinary encounters with those they love on the other side. Each encounter, whether a smell, a touch, a message in a song or another form of communication are touching, emotional and give hope to those who read them. Dennis passed away in a hospital bed in the bedroom we shared. I was with him, holding his hand, when he peacefully passed. My best friend was the first person to arrive at my house and she made all of the necessary calls for me. I remained in the room with Dennis, not able to leave his side. My friend had stepped outside for a few minutes and then the excitement began. Suddenly, everyone was calling for me to come outside. I replied that I didn't want to leave Dennis. The hospice nurse then came into the room and told me that I would forever regret not going outside. When I got outside, many of my neighbors were lining my street to see this amazing thing happening.The day of the visitation was here. It was the day I dreaded the most. Today I would have to see my daughter in a casket. I asked God to help me get through this day. He did. The funeral director gently opened the lid and we stepped forward. The next twenty minutes were a total blur. There was my girl. She looked beautiful. Only a small bruise on the bridge of her nose gave a clue to the trauma her body had undergone. It was as though time stood still. I began to cry as I have never cried before. It was a deep guttural cry that came from deep within my soul.I finally got out of bed about 6:30 a.m. and started getting ready to go to the airport. I did everything I possibly could to keep back the tears. Packing my suitcase was so hard. I walked down the stairs and my mom was sitting on the couch looking just as disappointed as I was. I cried hugging her and holding her, telling her I would be back in a few weeks: I promise Mom! I kept telling her, Don t worry I ll be back! I loaded the car, and pulled out of the driveway knowing that was the last time I would see my mom standing in the door waving goodbye to me. She was crying too. We both knew, this was it; if I made it back in a few weeks, everything would be different. I never cried so hard in my life. I believe that leaving that morning was the hardest thing I have ever had to do in my life. I had to go, with my mom standing there alive, still able to communicate, and I wouldn't ever get to see her like that again.Often the most influential evidence of life after death comes in the form of messages from loved ones who have passed on. Sometimes these messages are relayed by very convincing messages images or visuals, while other times they come as voices, slight touches and even written notes. Messages from the other side, are most often thoughts of comfort and tranquility, and often evidence that someone is still watching over us. In some of the most amazing cases, loved ones who have passed on communicate messages that are highly personal, often very important, and at times even life saving. If you have ever experienced an amazing message from a loved one after they have passed on, you don't want to miss this book! It is filled with true stories from normal people who shared their love, laughter, pain and experience through their story. After you are finished reading these amazing stories, you will feel an enormous amount of contentment with spiritual existence after death. Make sure you get your copy today! These stories are very personal, and touch on the life and death of the writers loved one.

     For most Pagans of any denomination, Yule is a high holy season. The ancient festival was a 12 daylong celebration beginning on the eve of the Winter Solstice (known to most Pagans as Yule) and ending at the new calendar year. This celebration was so important in ancient times that it was converted by the Christians to the 12 Days of Christmas. Many Pagans, especially those devoted to the Norse and Anglo Saxon Gods and Goddesses try to find some way to keep these 12 days, yet many are unsure exactly how to celebrate. Social media blows up in the weeks leading up to the Solstice with questions like: How do you celebrate? What do you do exactly? What activities, what rituals, what prayers and celebrations? For the past several years I have been working on this guide in an attempt to answer some of those questions for my own family and for others. This guide is a result of creating family traditions for this special and most sacred (not to mention FUN!) time of year. I put it all together into one little, handy and easy to follow guide, so that you and your family can celebrate the 12 Days of Yule together, with a little inspiration from what our family has been doing. Please enjoy!

    Start being a Christian.Is your faith for real? How about your walk?If everyone who claimed to love Jesus actually did, this world would be pretty close to paradise. Yet we live in a time when being a poser is not only easy, it's rewarded--especially where Jesus is concerned.But claiming to love Jesus without following him is bogus, fraudulent, and--frankly--it's not you. God has called you to be set apart, to live authentically, to walk a genuine Jesus Swagger. He wants followers, not pretenders.From Christian blogger Jarrid Wilson, Jesus Swagger is about calling out the phony, showing the pretender the door, and letting Jesus in instead. If you are suspicious of your own motivations, your own talk, or even your own Christianity, it's time to be honest, come clean, and get real. It's time to take the Jesus Swagger litmus test and start walking the walk.

    Maybe you’d like to see your faith become more active and life-changing in the world around you. Pastor Kerry and Chris Shook felt that way. Even though their calling involved preaching and teaching, they became weary of sermons and words. They felt a gap between what they were saying and the needs of people around them.  They decided to do something about it.  Be the Message is their story of waking up to the gospel—not just a gospel of words and sermons, but the gospel of intention and action and people. They discovered a profound secret:  You Are the Gospel As they explored the deeper truths of scripture, the verse “the word of God lives in you” came alive. Digging deeper, they discovered that the gospel message is really about life message—your life lived out. God’s call to you is simple: Be the Message Be the Message opens up a new world of understanding about what God calls you to. As the Shooks learned, the gospel is not about what you say. It’s about who you are and what you do—and how you can be God’s hands and feet in the world.  What would happen if we talked about God less and walked with God more? Be the Message reminds us that Christianity was meant to be a faith of action, not a faith of words. Yet often we sacrifice doing something for the sake of talking about it. When we actually act out on our faith, we find our faith grows even more.  You can do more than nothing.  People’s lives are changed when you allow your life to be the gospel to the world. Living out the gospel in the world today is both simple and costly.  The Shooks explore that paradox through biblical stories and their own experience of making a decision to live out the gospel in practical ways.  Choosing to be the gospel changed their family, church and personal relationships with God. How can it change your life?

    But too often he is viewed as an Americanized shepherd boy on a Sunday school felt board or a New Testament saint alongside the Virgin Mary. Not only does this neglect one of the Bible’s most complex stories of sin and redemption; it also bypasses the gritty life lessons inherent in the amazing true story of David.  Mark Rutland shreds the felt-board character, breaks down the sculpted marble statue, and unearths the real David of the Bible. Both noble and wretched, neither a saint nor a monster, at times victorious and other times a failure, David was through it all a man after God’s own heart.