But sometimes I wonder if He is really kind— really deeply always kind. Is He? Christians love to talk about how God is in control, but that’s harder to grasp when things aren’t going like you thought they would, when your life looks quite different than you imagined. For centuries, God’s people have been building altars to Him—to remind themselves and the people around them of His work. His goodness. His kindness. Stacks of stones. Altars. Temples. Cathedrals. Why? Because they believed God and wanted to remember Him. In the back of my mind, God reminds me that He is the same trustworthy God—the One who always finishes the stories he starts. And this is my story—of wrestling with our God who gives a limp and a blessing. A God who is always kind even when my circumstances feel the opposite. God is who He says He is. He is kinder than you imagine. In a world where it is easy to forget who He is, we will not. We will remember God.

    Yet the struggles they each faced rang with eerie similarity. These courageous women from across the globe-Pakistan, India, Romania, Former Soviet Union, China, Vietnam, Nepal, Indonesia-shared similar experiences of hardship, subjugation, and persecution, all because of their faith in Christ. Yet all of these women have emerged from adversity as leaders and heroines.The eight modern-day pilgrims featured in "Hearts of Fire" are the hidden jewels in the church universal. They are worthy role models of faith and passion, and women of every age will gain new strength and hope for their own times of crisis and trial as they read these inspiring stories. Each story concludes with thoughtful self-reflection questions for the reader.

    That's what a million people have already found in this clear and reasonable response to the tough challenges to Christianity. This edition, revised by Marie Little in consultation with experts in science and archaeology, provides twenty-first-century information and offers solid ground for those who are willing to search for the truth.

    EVERY MOMENT HOLY is a book of liturgies for the ordinary events of daily life--liturgies such as "A Liturgy for Feasting with Friends" or "A Liturgy for Laundering" or "A Liturgy for the First Hearthfire of the Season." These are ways of reminding us that our lives are shot through with sacred purpose even when, especially when, we are too busy or too caught up in our busyness to notice.

    Created by a diverse team of 95 leading Bible scholars and teachers--from 9 countries, nearly 20 denominations, and 50 seminaries, colleges, and universities--the ESV Study Bible features a wide array of study tools, making it a valuable resource for serious readers, students, and teachers of God's Word.Features:Size: 6.5- x 9.25- 9-point Lexicon type (single-column Bible text); 7-point Frutiger type (double-column study notes) 2,752 pages Black letter text Concordance Extensive articles 240 full-color maps and illustrations Smyth-sewn binding Lifetime guarantee Packaging: J-card (HC), clamshell box (TruTone and leather), permanent slipcase (cloth over board)

    Knowing and Doing the Will of GodA study of the Bible encouraging us to see God at work and join Him as He reveals

    So now is the time to make each moment of your ordinary, everyday, beautiful existence count. It’s time to own your life.Sally Clarkson’s Own Your Life is a breath of fresh air into the life and soul of a busy woman. Like a faithful friend, Sally journeys with you to explore what it means to live meaningfully, follow God truly, and bring much-needed order to your chaos. Each page offers deeply personal, authentic, and practical guidance to help you build an intentional life. Discover what it means to own your life, and dare to trust God’s hands as He richly shapes your character, family, work, and soul.

    It hides in the shadows of the most successful, confident and high-achieving woman who struggles with balancing her work and children, as well as in the heart of the broken, abused and downtrodden woman who has been told that she will never amount to anything. Shame hides in plain sight and can hold us back in ways we do not realize. But Christine Caine wants readers to know something: we can all be free.“I know. I’ve been there,” writes Christine. “I was schooled in shame. It has been my constant companion from my very earliest memories. I see shame everywhere I look in the world, including in the church. It creeps from heart to heart, growing in shadowy places, feeding on itself so that those struggling with it are too shamed to seek help from shame itself.”In Unashamed, Christine reveals the often-hidden consequences of shame—in her own life and the lives of so many Christian women—and invites you to join her in moving from a shame-filled to a shame-free life.In her passionate and candid style, Christine leads you into God’s Word where you will see for yourself how to believe that God is bigger than your mistakes, your inadequacies, your past, and your limitations. He is not only more powerful than anything you’ve done but also stronger than anything ever done to you. You can deal with your yesterday today, so that you can move on to what God has in store for you tomorrow—a powerful purpose and destiny he wants you to fulfill.Join the journey. Lay ahold of the power of Jesus Christ today and step into the future—his future for you—a beautiful, full, life-giving future, where you can even become a shame-lifter to others. Live unashamed!

    Throughout history God has mobilised such movements and moments of 24/7 prayer - from the Upper Room of Pentecost to Azusa Street in Los Angeles, through ancient Celtic saints and extraordinary characters like Alexander the Sleepless. This is the story of a movement of the Spirit in our time, a move as ancient as it is modern. As young people desert the church and AIDS orphans Africa, a new generation is learning to pray and obey like never before. From Communist China to Washington DC and from the ranks of the Salvation Army to anarchic German punks, the 24-7 Prayer movement has been interceding continually, night and day, since 1999 in more than fifty countries. This is their extraordinary story; an honest account of pain and perseverance alongside pioneering mission and miraculous answers to prayer.

    Yet, even so, most people are hard-pressed to define what God's holiness precisely is. Many preachers today avoid the topic altogether because people today don't quite know what to do with words like "awe" or "fear." R. C. Sproul, in this classic work, puts the holiness of God in its proper and central place in the Christian life. He paints an awe-inspiring vision of God that encourages Christian to become holy just as God is holy. Once you encounter the holiness of God, your life will never be the same.

    However, many don't realize the Bible teaches that God is preparing an even better world for his people in the future new creation. In this book, experienced Bible teacher Nancy Guthrie traces 9 themes--the tree of life, garden and wilderness, the image of God, clothing, Sabbath rest, marriage, the seed of the Serpent, the temple, and the city of Jerusalem--throughout the Bible, revealing how God's plan for the new heaven and the new earth is far better than anything we can possibly imagine. What's more, she shows how this better world is already having an impact in the world today. Combining theological depth with warmth and accessibility aimed at addressing today's needs, this book will help individuals or small groups understand the story of God's plan for the future of his people.

    The light of the Christian faith is flickering out all over the West, and only the willfully blind refuse to see it. From the outside, American churches are beset by challenges to religious liberty in a rapidly secularizing culture. From the inside, they are being hollowed out by the departure of young people and a watered-down pseudo-spirituality. Political solutions have failed, as the triumph of gay marriage and the self-destruction of the Republican Party indicate, and the future of religious freedom has never been in greater doubt. The center is not holding. The West, cut off from its Christian roots, is falling into a new Dark Age. The bad news is that the roots of religious decline run deeper than most Americans realize. The good news is that the blueprint for a time-tested Christian response to this decline is older still. In The Benedict Option, Dreher calls on traditional Christians to learn from the example of St. Benedict of Nursia, a sixth-century monk who turned from the chaos and decadence of the collapsing Roman Empire, and found a new way to live out the faith in community. For five difficult centuries, Benedict's monks kept the faith alive through the Dark Ages, and prepared the way for the rebirth of civilization. What do ordinary 21st century Christians -- Catholic, Protestant, and Orthodox -- have to learn from the teaching and example of this great spiritual father? That they must read the signs of the times, abandon hope for a political solution to our civilization's problems, and turn their attention to creating resilient spiritual centers that can survive the coming storm. Whatever their Christian tradition, they must draw on the secrets of Benedictine wisdom to build up the local church, create countercultural schools based on the classical tradition, rebuild family life, thicken communal bonds, and develop survival strategies for doctors, teachers, and others on the front lines of persecution. Now is a time of testing, when believers will learn the difference between shallow optimism and Christian hope. However dark the shadow falling over the West, the light of Christianity need not flicker out. It will not be easy, but Christians who are brave enough to face the religious decline, reject trendy solutions, and return to ancient traditions will find the strength not only to survive, but to thrive joyfully in the post-Christian West. The Benedict Option shows believers how to build the resistance and resilience to face a hostile modern world with the confidence and fervor of the early church. Christians face a time of choosing, with the fate of Christianity in Western civilization hanging in the balance. In this powerful challenge to the complacency of contemporary Christianity, Dreher shows why those in all churches who fail to take the Benedict Option aren't going to make it.

    Despite huge differences in Christian thinking and practice both today and in past centuries, he says, these four basic elements have remained constant and indispensable for the majority of those who call themselves Christians.In accessible, pastoral terms Williams discusses the meaning and practice of baptism, the Bible, the Eucharist, and prayer, inviting readers to really think through the Christian faith and how to live it out. Questions for reflection and discussion at the end of each chapter help readers to dig deeper and apply Williams's insights to their own lives.

    The most troublesome question of all, however, came from a Hindu friend. “If this conversion is truly supernatural,” he asked, “why is it not more evident in the lives of so many Christians that I know?” Beyond Opinion is Dr. Zacharias’s response.In addition to his own contributions, Ravi Zacharias brings together the global team of Ravi Zacharias International Ministries, including Alister McGrath and John Lennox, to suggest a new vision for Christian apologetics in this century. Their aim is an apologetic governed by human relationship and committed to winning people rather than arguments.Speaking from their experiences and expertise, the contributors offer guidance on a broad range of topics, including:Postmodern Challenges and the BibleChallenges from AtheismChallenges from IslamConversational ApologeticsExistential Challenges of Evil and SufferingMore than a book of apologetics, Beyond Opinion will equip you intellectually, spiritually, and relationally “to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.”

    Kaitlyn Schiess grew up in this landscape, and understands it from the inside.Spiritual formation, and particularly a focus on formative practices, are experiencing a renaissance in Christian thinking―but these ideas are not often applied to the political sphere. In The Liturgy of Politics, Schiess shows that the church's politics are shaped by its habits and practices even when it's unaware of them. Schiess insists that the way out of our political morass is first to recognize the formative power of the political forces all around us, and then to recover historic Christian practices that shape us according to the truth of the gospel.