books

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

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

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!