Review: Sons of Encouragement by Francine Rivers

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Review: Sons of Encouragement by Francine Rivers

This book.  This book.  Wow.  This book.  Okay, so my girl Francine Rivers has challenged my knowledge of God’s Word once again.  Francine writes a beautifully anointed book in exploring every avenue of scripture.  She doesn’t just focus on the text, but the historical, physical and sociological climate of our scriptures.

This book explores the lives of five men in scripture: The Priest (Aaron), The Warrior (Caleb), The Prince (Jonathon), The Prophet (Amos) & The Scribe (Silas).

These men each faced extraordinary days in walking with the Unseen God of the Hebrews.  These men were placed in positions that no one else had ever faced and were forced to choose- follow Him faithfully & fearlessly OR disobey and walk away from the only peace and truth they’d ever known.

Not only does Francine challenge us with her sanctified imagination of scripture, but she follows up each section with a dive straight into the Living Word of God.  It is always important to decipher between what we actually know from scripture and what is sanctified imagination, but Francine paints crucial pictures for all believers everywhere to study out further.

This book has challenged me in ways I never could’ve dreamed.  It has also taught me how to view each person in our Holy Scriptures: real, sinful people born of the same dust as me.  These people were not super heroes.  These people were common.  These people only accomplished what they did for the Kingdom because the Spirit of the Living God was upon them.  Lord, may I be one who is known as a girl with the Spirit….

 

sons of enc

Presents for the King

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birthday bookLast night as I was reading to Georgia before bed, the Lord spoke.  We were reading an awesome book about birthdays, not because I am some great mom theologian teaching about Jesus on Christmas Eve… but she picked it out because it is one of her favorite books.  Throughout the book it speaks of hanging the decorations, sending the invitations, opening the birthday presents & the birthday cards and then at the very end it speaks of how thankful the little girl was for spending time with her at her birthday party.  And that is when it hit.

Has Jesus ever told me “thank you” for spending time with Him on His Birthday?

This year, Christmas has been completely different for me.   This year, I forced myself to be less busy and to truly focus… and it has changed my Christmas.

When I was a kid, and even many years into my adulthood (honestly, until last year), Christmas was really only about the presents.  I would get so excited about what I would open and what I would get to take home with me.  But this year, after spending more time with Him in His Word than ever before, this Christmas is truly about so much more.  Even when you look at your grandparents and how they celebrate Christmas.  They literally only want to be around you and family.  They want your presence, not your presents.  Maturity equals a switch in focus.  Time with Him changes your viewpoint on life and then on Christmas.  Jesus wants our time.  Jesus wants our presence.

This December has been the best December in my entire life.

If I were to give Jesus a birthday present, something that He has never had before… what would it be?  Today, in this early morning moment on Christmas morning, while my house is still and quiet and the only thing on is my Christmas tree lights and my coffee pot.  Today, I want to give Jesus the one thing that he really wants… my time.  The first hour of every day, may it always be devoted to Him.  Happy Birthday, Jesus!  Happy Birthday.

P.S.  Thanks Georgia for choosing the absolutely perfect book to read on Christmas Eve!

Teaching Jesus in a Santa Claus world

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Teaching Jesus in a Santa Claus world….
“The God of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers”
Our second biggest celebration has been hijacked… And we’ve allowed it. Not by Santa & his elves, not by our families nor by the shopping phenomena or the decorations. Our celebration, our joy has been taken because we are distraction from what it is all about…. The birth of the One Who is the Living Word of God, Who brings salvation to all mankind. 
Christmas is not exhaustion. Christmas is not debt. Christmas is not stress. Christmas is not overworking, overdoing. Christmas is not productions and busyness. Christmas is not Santa Claus. 
Christmas is Jesus Christ, His birth and His redemptive power. 
I love Santa and who the original Santa was and what he stood for and did for children in need. I love the Spirit of Santa, but our children (my child) cannot be more excited about a man who brings them gifts instead of the One that created the gifts.  

 

In order to defeat the enemy, we must first identify him. 

We all have one enemy. 

He is referenced as the father of lies. 

Our Lord told us that the enemy comes to steal, kill and destroy. That same enemy accomplishes his work through unbelievers who give themselves over to him. While it is easy to sit and say that the Muslim religion is our enemy, let’s remember that they can be brought to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. 

Does that mean that we roll over and look the other way so that we don’t offend someone? No. It means we take this battle, the fight, this war, to the only place where it can actually we won…. On our knees. 

Our enemy must be defeated in the spiritual realm. Our enemy is Satan himself and the evil he brings into the world. When a nation stops praying, stops believing in the One True God, YHWH, then evil has the upper hand. And we are seeing that very thing unfold before us… Evil taking over our country, one city at a time. 

In order to defeat the enemy, we must first identify him. 

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Guest Review: I Will Carry You: The Sacred Dance of Grief & Joy by Angie Smith  (Review by Madison Wright)

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There is only one person I know that reads as much, maybe more than me…. Miss Madison Wright.  She is one of my very best friends. She is iron to me. She suffers when I suffer and rejoices when I rejoice. She is weird and willing to walk in the actual places on this earth that Jesus walked. She knows pain and she knows real life. Please welcome my friend’s book review…. This might actually be her very first blog ever!!!!  Without further delay, Miss Madison Wright. 

  As a 23 year old who had just graduated college with no plans of marriage or children in sight, I had no idea why I felt so compelled to read a book about a mom’s journey of losing her child. But they do say that hindsight is 20/20 and 2 years later, I know exactly why. I have never read a book that directly helped me navigate a time in my life more than this one. To date, of all the books I’ve read, it’s molded me the most and began this transformational journey in me of seeing Jesus more intimately. Plus, I may or may not currently be reading it for the fourth time. It’s fine. I know you are probably thinking,”Hello Girl. You are not a mom. You have not lost a child. You cannot relate”… but the wonderful thing about Jesus is that when an obedient, grieving mother writes her story of how Jesus was there and saved her, He can also use that story to save a 23 year old fresh, college graduate that doesn’t yet know of the griefs that her future will inevitably hold. He is the constant that interweaves all of His children’s stories with his redemptive mercies.
Angie (we are on first name basis in my world) does an amazing job speaking Truth into anger and grief. You know, all those things that we try to hide and say that we’ve never felt towards God since it wouldn’t be Godly to admit that we are mad at Him and don’t really want to talk to Him because of what He has allowed to happen (are you picking up the sarcasm I’m laying down). Jesus is not threatened by our doubts or grief. He wants us to share it with Him. Seasons of doubt can only be overcome when we bring them to Jesus’ feet and trust Him with them.

If you only read one book for the rest of your life, make it this one (dramatic, yes, but I love it this much). The lessons learned while reading it are for all of us, no matter what kind of grief you’re walking through.

Review: Angels Walking by Karen Kingsbury

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Spiritual warfare is real.  There is a spiritual world that is going on all around us, every moment of every day.  This book is a beautiful fictitious depiction of how angels are involved in the spiritual warimagefare all around us.

Have you ever been curious about why God’s perfect plans for our lives are so important and how they effect those around us?  God knows what is best for us, He knows what His perfect plan for us is, He wants us to surrender our will to His perfect Will.  This book shows how normal people, living normal lives make decisions that effect the course of their lives forever.  Karen Kingsbury creates an inner monologue within the reader that forces them to view every day activity with a new set of eyes, spiritual eyes.

If you want to look at life from a different vantage point, this series is the one for you this cold, winter season!  It is a MUST READ!  The second book in the series, Chasing Sunsets, is also ADDICTIVE and may actually be better than the first.

This series also shows you the major importance of prayer and the power that it has on the course of life.  And never forget how much power is found in the Name of Jesus.

 

REVIEW: Prayers that Avail Much by Germaine Copeland

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About three months ago, I was told about a book that could radically change my prayer life.  I had always heard about how important it is to pray God’s Word back to Him, but I had never truly grasped or understood exactly what that meant. I’ve desired a strong prayer life for as long as I can remember, but then again I never really wanted to do anything to get there.  You know, the desire to look like a swimsuit model but keep eating donuts mentality… that was me.  And the word was needs to be used loosely because I definitely still fall into that mentality from time to time.

So, I went and picked up the book.  Now, my first thought in picking up a book like this is to remind myself that it is not God’s Word…. but with this one, I had to slow down on that, because it literally is God’s Word put together to direct our prayers.

The goal is to “allow the Holy Spirit to make the Word a reality in your heart.”  When you are in God’s Word, you can never get enough.  When you pray God’s Word, He aligns your heart to His, your prayers to His, your will to His.

When desiring to grow your prayer life, I would add this book to your toolkit!

prayers that avail much

Hidden behind the cross….

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So, on June 4, 2015, I decided to obey and create my prayer closet.  I did.  It was a beautiful display of actually doing what Matthew 6:6 says in going to your secret place.  I just always thought that was a figurative thing, until I made my secret place. That is my safe place.  It is my altar.  It is my hiding place.  When I cannot handle life and this world any longer, I go there.  There is no one there… well, One is there.  And that One is waiting for me every day.  Do I go in there on my knees every day?  No, I am afraid not.  Should I go in there on my knees every day?  Absolutely.

The past few weeks I have been struggling with life.  I know what I ought to be doing, but I just don’t…. ever been there?  Finally, when I was tired of trying to do things on my own, I went to the secret place.  My safe place.  My altar, to hide.

When I arrived, the Lord had already gone before me through the hands of my sweet baby girl.  Recently, we had purchased a little figurine that has a little girl praying.  We told her the figurine is hers, but we want to keep it in the secret place so that it stays safe.  As I crawled into my secret place, this is the first thing I saw.  She had strategically placed it between the cross and the nativity.  The back side of the girl figurine was propped up by the nativity and looked as though it was bowing to the cross.  This image brought me to my knees.

prayer room_behind the cross

No longer was this a picture of my precious daughter.  Now, it was a picture of me.  Nestled beautifully between my Saviour in His birth and my Saviour in His death.

Then it hit me.  That is where we all should be.  Hidden behind the cross.  We should all find ourselves placed strategically behind the cross.  The cross covers us.  The cross restores us.  The cross repairs us.  The cross represents us.  The cross protects us.  The cross forgives us and the cross helps us forgive others.  It is all based upon the cross.  All of our weakness, all of our strength is defined by the cross.  Our identity is in the cross.  Our fulfillment and life’s purpose is in the cross.  The cross is our everything.  Our very life line.  His blood that was shed on that cross covers a multitude of sins- ours and everyone else’s.  

Today, let the cross be enough.  In fact, today, let the cross be all there is.

Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.  For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death.  For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, GOD DID: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and acting as an offering for sin….  Romans 8:1-3

reading. reading. reading.

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So, I had a friend ask me if I remembered what book she was reading when she went to the beach.  I did not go to the beach with her.  How in the world should I know?!  In her defense, we speak of what we are reading to each other all of the time, but her beach trip was a long time ago… months at least.  We quote books to each other or call each other by names of characters that we either want to be or we want to meet.  She was trying to calculate how many books she had read this year…. I think her total was 15!  FIFTEEN BOOKS!  It is only October.  The middle of October at that.  But her conversation got me thinking…. I have read a lot of books this year too.  I have read a lot of personal Christian growth books and a lot of Christian fiction books.  And even the occasional, non Christian fiction…. please don’t condemn me to Hell yet…. But why do I do that?  What’s the big deal with reading… shouldn’t reading the Bible be enough.  Why the extra, what’s the point?

The Lord had shown me many years ago through a great Christian friend and through a book called Spiritual Leadership by Henry Blackaby, that spiritual leaders read.  Why do spiritual leaders read?  And who are spiritual leaders…. pastors?teachers?  Or does scripture say more than that?  Titus 2 says older women lead younger women and the same for men.  So all older women and men are spiritual leaders?  Or does that mean older men and women in the faith?  If that is the case, would I not be a spiritual leader to my 2 year old daughter?  Or the new believer that just joined the family of faith?  I think it is safe to say YES!  I am!  But if I am, so are you!

So my journey has led me to a lot of different books that I received powerful messages from God.  Insert clause here: If you are not reading and studying God’s Word as a daily practice, then you do not need any of these books.  The Word of God must take ultimate authority over your life and your time.  If it doesn’t, focus on that first.  Okay, off of soap box.  Now, if you are spending time in God’s Word and you just can’t get enough and you want more and more and more…. THEN READ!  Over the next few weeks (well, until the Lord tells me to do something different), I am going to be highlighting different books that I have read lately OR over my Christian journey that have impacted my life for the Kingdom.

I will be sharing my thoughts and the messages that the Lord printed on my heart through the works of my brothers and sisters in the Kingdom.  So stay tuned for the multitudes of books about to invade your blog world!!  It’s going to be a fun ride!

Drowning

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This was written by my precious husband many years ago, and I thought it was a powerful read. I hope you enjoy!

When life seems to be trying to drown you and throw everything in your face all at once, you feel as though you cannot keep your head above water.  As you take in the water it slowly fills your lungs making it harder for you to scream.
      
      

From out of nowhere a Hand reaches down into the water and tries to lift you out, but where you have never seen this Hand before, you refuse it and fight it.  As you become weaker and start to sink, the Hand still reaches for you.  You then come to the realization that the reason why you are sinking is because you won’t let go of the things in your life weighing you down.  
      
      

You see the veins and muscles start to come out in the Hand from where it is straining so hard to save you.  A Voice comes stern but soft, and beckons you deeply to reach for Life.  You start to sink faster as your lungs quickly fill.
      
      

As you push all those things away from you that seem to hold you down, the Hand slowly pulls you back up out of the water.  You take your first real breath of fresh air, and it’s the best thing you have ever tasted.  You cannot help but want more of this free air that has been given to you.
      
      

The Hand graciously offered you Life and you took it.  We have to die, before we can Truly Live.

By: Clifton J. Haley

Original Post on August 26, 2005 1:26 AM