God Is Up To Something Great by Tony Evans

One of the most moving things about becoming a Child of God is hope! To possess the promise that God is up to something great through my life for His glory is what I call "self-shattering". Taking my eyes off myself and putting them on Christ is where I find hope! "Hope is not passive; it's the most active force in the world because it is derived from the most powerful Being of all: Hope comes from God". God takes "the good, the bad and the ugly" things in our lives and does something great with it. Just like God told the Israelites (Jeremiah 29) during their time of captivity, when things looked their worst, we are to get on with our lives when times are tough. When we don't see God working or understand what He is up to, we are to continue following Him, trusting Him and learning about Him. We have an opportunity in these times to become a blessing to others. In Jeremiah 29:12-14 there is a promise of hope that overwhelms me!!! The promise is, though we may not understand what we are going through, when we look for God......Guess what? There He will be!! We won't get all the answers and we may not understand everything but when we search for Him with all our heart, we will find Him!!! My desire in this Faith Walk is: that I will hold onto the One that says "I know the plans I have for you...plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future". Jeremiah 29:11 Woohoo!!! Praise God!! That's who I'm holding to!!

Hard To Believe by John MacArthur

We have created in this day a people who are looking, first and foremost, to have their needs met.  This is what the bible calls "being lovers of self."  The church has fallen into the market mentality and is striving to give the consumer what they want. The sad part is, what many churches are giving people is not the gospel at all. They water down the gospel, robbing God of His glory.  These strategies take the gospel and attempt to form it into a self-fulfillment, self-help program. The problem is this,  "the true gospel is a call to self-denial. It is not a call to self-fulfillment.".  The gospel was never intended to be a soft, feel-good gospel.  The cross was shameful to people of that day and the message was foolish to the wise. God's word to His people was "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise."  God's plan was to take the things that are not to shame the things that are.  He took a group of nobodies who could not have any glory through themself and chose to glorify Himself.  Whether you reject the message or  you change it to make it more comfortable to it's listeners, it still leads to hell.  The gospel must be presented in a way that followers will understand the commands of deny self, take up the cross and follow Christ. And at whatever cost is necessary, even if it means death!  There are too many "Christians" of this day that have been ushered down the "broad way" and will one day find that it lead them straight to hell. For many in that day will say "Lord, Lord" and Christ will say, "I never knew you". Do you know the gospel that's "Hard To Believe"?  It is this truth that we are called to proclaim.  

If you want to know the gospel that's hard to believe, read this book! Bibline in his writing, Macarthur has dedicated his ministry to speaking truths that are hard but those that lead to salvation.       

So Long, Insecurity (you've been a bad friend to us) by Beth Moore

As a people, we desire to be loved and to be noticed. It is these desires that "send us on a search for our Creator". But often times, our weaknesses, feelings and fears become distorted and override our faith. When this happens, the deep roots of insecurity plunge into our lives and we learn to cope instead of heal. God does not take our hurt and pain lightly. He desires to bring us "strength and dignity". He desires for us to live steadfast and to be ready to "discern between the truth and a lie". He desires to show us that "to find yourself, your true, secure self, you must lose yourself in something larger". God wants to be our security, to be our "strength in weakness"!! The Holy Spirit dwells in us. Therefore, we possess "all-surpassing power" in "jars of clay".

In this book, Moore strives to surface or unravel those events or circumstances that breed insecurity in us and bring us to the point where we have had enough and healing can begin. When we learn to recognize what triggers insecurity, "we have the power to chose whether or not it gets to assault our security. When we decide to be strong willed about what God strongly wills, that beloved, is the epitome of empowerment".

As the reader is lead on a petition to God over their insecurities and need for restoration, the soul is overwhelmed with the working of the Holy Spirit. We must chose to wage war on the battlefield of the mind. Only in focusing on the truths of who God declares we are, can we difuse the enemies control over us.

The Lord is your security. he will keep your foot from being caught in
a trap. Proverbs 3:26

He is your constant source of stability. Isaiah 33:6

Born After Midnight by A. W. Tozer

True Revivals Are Born After Midnight - Spititual Renewal Comes To Those Who Want It Badly Enough

This book brought me to one of those times where you find yourself prone upon your face, and broken before a Sovereign God…. To be suspended in an “Oh!” moment, where no words can express the Holy Spirit's light upon the soul…. “The sacred gift of seeing, the ability to peer beyond the veil and gaze with astonished wonder upon the beauties and mysteries of things holy and eternal”….. The brokenness that allows you to see the sin that has been refined instead of removed… A realization of the wretchedness that continues to reside in the flesh…. To feel the groanings of the Holy Spirit on your behalf…. The overwhelming realization of a Holy God……. Then, the overflowing mercy of a redeeming Savior….that urges me to “press on to perfection” and to allow God to “sanctify the ordinary in my life” that I may live it for His sake.
Tozer describes the times in which we live as being a state of emergency or crisis. Christianity or religion has been so distorted, softened and compromised so as “to play down the difficulties and play up the peace of mind and worldly success enjoyed by those who accept Christ”. The error in the approach of modern day evangelicals, is “it begins with man and his needs and then looks around for God”. As a result of the erotic nature of the world, “Christ is courted with a familiarity that reveals a total ignorance of who He is. It is not the reverent intimacy of the adoring saint but the impudent familiarity of the carnal lover”.
Christ’s work in redemption “is to restore men to the position from which they fell and bring them around again to be admirers and lovers of the Triune God. God saves men to make them worshippers”. The theological approach, to which the sanctification process is related, takes the believer from a state of independent salvation to one of a corporate fellowship of faith. The Holy Spirit continues to sanctify us in the “fellowship of the brethren”. “Next to God Himself we need each other most. We are His sheep and it is our nature to live with the flock….it might be well to remember that should we for a moment lose sight of the Shepherd we only have to go where His flock is to find Him again. The Shepherd always stays with His flock”.

The Blessings of Brokenness by Charles Stanley

Throughout my life, I have desired blessings and avoided brokenness. My drive to have things my own way, required that my will be "saddle-busted"!

For God to deal with the areas in our life that keep us from wholeness in Him, He must bring us to the area of submission to His will. He desires to bring us to a point of total dependance on Him. "Nothing short of complete dependance will suffice". Often times, the areas that we see as strengths in are lives, are where God chooses to bring brokenness. But the purpose in brokenness is always wholeness. The wholeness that God desires for us is that we might bear MUCH fruit. In brokenness, when we "abide in the vine", he grows in us the fruit and character to make us like Christ. In bringing us to the point of spiritual maturity, He empowers us for supernatural ministry. When we allow the "wild shoots" to be pruned away from our lives, the Holy Spirit flourishes into "much fruit". Brokenness is His way to blessing.

"Praise God.....He loves us so much that he never gives up on us, never loses interest in us, and never rejects us. His desire is to live in spiritual intimacy with us forever. He asks only that we trust him to be our God, so that we might be his people and bring him glory."

Does Grace Grow Best In Winter? by Ligon Duncan

The title of this book poses the question, "Does Grace Grow Best In Winter?". To fast-forward to the conclusion is this, Yes, Grace Grows Best in Winter! Suffering is not a pleasant topic, or one that we often want to think about unless we are in the middle of it. Even then, when in the midst of it, as we read we are searching for the answer "Why?" or "Why me?". Suffering seems to always take us by surprise even though we are told in scripture that we would suffer. Even as I read this book, I questioned if I was really ready for more information on this topic. But as Christians we are instructed to expect it and be prepared for it, so when it does come, we can magnify God through it. When God becomes great in our eyes in the midst of suffering and great in the eyes of those who are watching, then He has been magnified. Each time of suffering provides an opportunity to grow in love for HIm and to prize Him more and more. What an impact on the world we have when we are "sorrowful, yet always rejoicing". Suffering also works in us corporately as fellow believers watch God's grace working in our suffering soul. "Because one of God's purposes in suffering is the maturity of the whole church." During these times, Christ works in us to show His power in our weakness. God will use suffering to produce a work of Grace in you. He has great compassion for us and desires to develop compassion in us through suffering. This book flows with overwhelming scripture on suffering and exclaims.......GRACE DOES GROW BEST IN WINTER! As the strongest flower even begins to bud and burst forth from beneath the melting snow, so does grace grow in winter.

What's So Spiritual About Your Gifts? by Henry & Mel Blackaby

God has been in the work of using people who have had no ability of their own, from Gideon to Amos to Peter to Moses to many other characters throughout the Bible. Just as God showed Himself powerful in these people, He desires to show Himself powerful in Christians of this age. Too often, "we are seeking the gifts of the Holy Spirit and not the Holy Spirit Himself." The Spirit is sent to accomplish the Father's will through us. Two things that often squelch the Spirit's power in us, is either natural talents and abilities or no natural talents at all. Many Christians use the excuse of not having any natural talents for not doing anything for God. But these people are the ones that God uses to reveal Himself to a watching world. "If you don't have a lot of natural talent, you can thank God that you're the perfect vessel for Him to show Himself powerful in you." Yet in another sense, if those with natural talents operate according to their abilities, then they get the glory and not God. "Too often, we are content to serve God by giving our own greatest effort." "Once a persons talents become a substitute for the work of the Holy Spirit, that person is of no use to God." As Christians we shy away from doing what the Spirit is leading because we don't feel we are equipped for the calling. But, "the enabling of the Holy Spirit follows the assignment, it never precedes it."

This book poses the question, "Why watch the activity of God from a distance when you can experience the thrill of being involved in the Spirit's active work?" Wow! How awesome, that we are called and chosen to be involved in the work of the Holy Spirit! "What does the world need to see, what we can do or what God can do? Do we want to give the world our best or let the world experience God's best?"

The working of God through the Holy Spirit in our lives, can be summed up best in the following passage:

Thus says the LORD who made it, the LORD who formed it to establish it (the
LORD is His name): Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and
mighty things, which you do not know. Jeremiah 33:2-3

So chances are, God will ask you to do something that you are not able to do and it is then that He will show Himself most powerful! God does not need us to show His power, but He allows us to take part in it! Now that's GRACE!!

The Bookends of The Christian Life by Jerry Bridges

This comparison of a Christian Life as a bookshelf was a perfect picture of "progressive sanctification". It describes the support of our spiritual and temporal books being encased between two bookends. The first being the Righteousness of Christ and the second being the Power of the Holy Spirit. "Our gratitude for the love that provided the first bookend encourages us to depend on the second for strength". It's descriptions of the Gospel Enemies: self-righteousness, persistent guilt and self-reliance, reveal the purposes in each bookend. The bookends are the God-given, God-centered graces that are available to us and show how our dependence on God draws us to be transformed to His likeness, being transformed from glory to glory!!

Trusting God: Even When Life Hurts by Jerry Bridges

Understanding how to trust God can only be done effectively after learning about His sovereignty, wisdom and love. Adversity in our lives are used to bring us more into the likeness of Christ. Even the seemingly evil things that occur in our lives are the working together of good to those He has called. But even in our pain and suffering God shows us compassion and He cares for us. Even with our mistakes and poor decisions, we can not frustrate God's plan for our lives. You can believe in a God like that! The question of "Can you trust God?", though difficult, has only one answer. Yes! "God knows exactly what He intends we become and He know exactly what cirsumstances, both good and bad, are necessary to produce that result in our lives."

Respectable Sins: Confronting The Sins We Tolerate by Jerry Bridges

Very descriptive in his look at "respectable" or "acceptable" sins. A very clear picture of those subtle sins we as Christians tolerate on a daily basis while looking at the "larger" or most scandulous sins. The truth is that even these "respectable" sins are despising God and his laws. A must read for the Christian pursuing a closer more affection relationship with God and sanctification.

Worldliness:Resisting The Seduction of a Fallen World by C.J. Mahaney

Do not love the world or anything in the world. 1 John 2:15 God wants us to delight in Him, the Creator, more than things, the creation. May I not "snip" away and choose to follow scripture that appeals to me but look at it's entirety. I strive to not be seduced by this world!

Seeing With New Eyes By David Powlison

Revealing! Helping us see as God sees is a process of identifying the heart issues and root sins.

The Prodigal God: Recovering The Heart Of The Christian Faith by Timothy Keller

I have known myself to be in alienation from God as both the Elder brother and the Younger brother. This book shows the heart of both and reveals the gospel and grace that God extends to save us from either!

Ten Questions To Diagnose Your Spiritual Health

As Christians, we should be continuously evaluating our spiritual health and growth. The Bible says, you should "make your call and election sure"(2 peter 1:10). This book looks at these ten questions:
Do you thirst for God?
Are you governed increasingly by God's Word?
Are you more loving?
Are you more sensitive to God's presence?
Do you have a growing concern for the spiritual
and temporal needs of others?
Do you delight in the Bride of Christ?
Are the spiritual disciplines increasingly important to you?
Do you still grieve over sin?
Are you a quicker forgiver?
Do you yearn for heaven and to be with Jesus?
A growing Christian should be able to answer yes to all these questions. As image bearers, our character should reflect Christ's character. Can you describe your life as yearning after holiness? Can you see yourself being conformed to His likeness? An indepth look at all these questions and the scripture that supports them will be as a mirror that allows you to see your condition. So how as Christians are we able to answer yes to all these questions?......Grace!

What Is A Healthy Church by Mark Dever

In a world where it seems so many are looking for "something special" in a church whether it be the music, the programs, the activities, the type of people, the style of preaching, etc., this books clearly lays out what we should be to the church. A very sobering statement in the introduction says that we as Christians or members are "responsible before God for what your church becomes, not your pastors or other leaders- you". Anyone looking for a soft sermon, a feel good message or self-help pep talk would be more satisfied tuning in to Oprah at 4 than to visit the church described in this book. The two greatest commandments to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul and mind and love your neighbor as yourself should be lived out first and foremost within the church!! Within the body! Don't you love this analogy?!? We are ONE BODY! A Christian joins a local church "because it's the expression of what Christ has made him - a member of the body of Christ." "If you have no interest in actually committing yourself to an actual group of gospel-believing, Bible-teaching Christians, you might question whether you belong to the body of Christ at all." We have the opportunity in the body of Christ to display the Gospel to the world, when we are committed to a people that is unlovable and we love them anyway. As we grow in the faith, young and old alike, we must realize our responsibilities to each other to serve, encourage, confront and teach. "A healthy church is a congregation that increasingly reflects God's character as his character has been revealed in his Word." One of the most moving phrases is, when you join a church you are saying, "I am now your responsibility, and you are my responsibility." More often in today's church, Christians refuse to get involved in the lives of others. May all Christians grow in the body to reflect the glory of God. We are the body of Christ, the Bride of Christ, His love, His passion! We therefore, should make Christ our love and our passion!!!

God Can Not Be Trusted (and Five Other Lies of Satan) by Tony Evans

Full review:
The Father of Lies works diligently to keep us from accepting the truths of God. When he fails to keep us from salvation, his next tactic is to make us weak ineffectual Christians. He delights in twisting God's truths or blatantly creating lies. This book clearly descri...bes some of the lies Satan whispers to us. The battle is not with flesh and blood but "against the spiritual forces of evil". This rotten snake in the grass even "disguises himself as an angel of light"!! Our only defense is the armor of God and our only offense is the Sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God!!
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The Gospel Blimp and Other Modern Parables by Joseph Bayly

On first glance this book seemed ordinary and a little unusual at best! By the time I finished up the book, I was questioning my method of evaluation. To read stories in the parable format (modern parables at that!), made it a little difficult at times and awkward at ...others. But this book describes parables this way, "it is a story on target, set to shatter any listener", "unpredictable, except to one who knows a man's secrets" and "can say something different to a variety of listeners". "Jesus...told parables to those who were not chosen to know the mysteries of God's Kingdom, that seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not understand". Do I at times want my sermons, bible studies, books, etc. to come in small neat little packages that doesn't require much from me? Is my "response to truth mere intellectual assent"? "The one who is interested in pursuing the subject, or in seeking something beyond, wants the open-ended, the incomplete, the germ of an idea, the sort of situation that requires participation in depth". With this I see that scripture in it's entirety holds something far beyond the small "packages" that we receive from Pastors, teachers and leaders, etc. Failure to study it in depth, is the reason we often miss how high, high wide and how deep His love is for us and how Great and Sovereign our God is!! Reading these stories again, drove me to disect words and phrases to become enlightened to treasures of understanding, thereby, revealing truths that were not initially evident. With God's word we are to "Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth" (2 Timothy 2:15). As in these parables, our detriment would also be to: Trade convictions for comfort, Trade the extrordinary to be ordinary To be caught up in good things while missing the best, and To Choose towalk when we know how to fly!!