Sunday, February 26, 2017

Fun Children's Book

When God Made You, by Matthew Paul Turner, illustrated by David Catrow, was a fun and interesting children's book to read.  The book is filled with great imagination and lots of rhyming throughout the book.  The book has a great statement to make which cannot be impressed enough from the start - - God created you, each person, with a very specific purpose in mind.  The message of our uniqueness is woven throughout the book.

The book is possibly a little long for a child, or to be read for a child, but the message is excellent.  The illustrations are powerful and bold, which add to the story.

This book is filled with encouragement and hope.  It will be one a child will want read to them over and over.  What better message to hear, than you were specifically chosen by God to be uniquely you.

I recommend this book.

I received this book from bloggingforbooks.com in exchange for an honest review.

Blog? Want free books? Let's chat.

Wednesday, February 22, 2017

Learning about the Flood (Children's Book)

A Patch on the Peak of Ararat, by Gary Bower is part of the Children's Books in the A Faith that God Built Series.  It is wonderfully illustrated by Barbara Chottiner.  I found the book entertaining as one to read to younger children.  There are rhymes on every page which makes it a little more fun.

As in any children's book, there will be ad-libbing to fill in the blanks in the story.  At times it seemed that some of the words were a little advanced for younger children, and some explanation may need to occur, but overall, this is a fun book, which any child will enjoy, especially looking at the great pictures and gaining a small understanding of the story of the flood. 

I didn't expect this to be a complete theology or explanation of the flood, simply a story that opens the eyes of a child to what happened in one story in the Bible. 

I received this book from Tyndale Press in exchange for an honest review.

Living the Great Life

Jason Mitchell’s book, No Easy Jesus: How the Toughest Choices Lead to the Greatest Life, was a very easy to read and very good book.  He begins by asking some very simple rhetorical questions.  The same questions apply to you and I.  Do we believe in eating right and exercising?  Most of us would say yes.  The same holds true for the question - - about our belief in Jesus.  We know faith is more than simply believing with head knowledge.  We are called to follow Jesus.

Mitchell has broken the book down into 10 chapters - which are calls in our lives to let go of the “good life” and follow Jesus, so we can experience the “great life.”  At times this book hit home because we have all bought into the idea of living the comfortable life.  But Mitchell wants us to move beyond the comfortable . . . and those become the very difficult life choices which create life change.  Living the easy life, the so-called satisfied life is not necessarily the best life.  In fact, it usually is not the best life.

Jesus has promised us we can live the abundant life, but we choose the life of less than, and we become depressed and disappointed life has not turned out better for us.  He uses personal examples and stories to help the reader better identify with him.  He uses additional illustrations and stories to help make his points.

Overall, this is an easy to read book which may help someone move off their comfortable chair, and become invested in life.

I received this book from Tyndale in exchange for an honest review.

Experiencing the Spirit

What do we do when we want and hope to experience the power of the Holy Spirit, yet, find ourselves and churches void of the Spirit of God?  That’s part of the purpose of this book by Sam Storms, Practicing the Power: Welcoming the Gifts of the Holy Spirit in your Life.  I was taken back by the book because I was expecting it to be about all of the Spiritual Gifts, not a focus on the charismatic gifts alone.

Yet, I was not disappointed in the book.  Storms admits the book is geared to those who are theologically sophisticated, yet are yearning and hungry to experience the power of the Holy Spirit.  The book focuses on healing and prophecy more than most other charismatic gifts.  There is a theological and philosophical side to the book, yet, there is practical help for the reader. 

Many people want to experience the power of the Spirit more for their glory, than the glory of Christ, and Storms touches on that in the book, as he explains, sometimes God tells us to be grateful for the gifts you do have, and stop asking for what you do not have.  It is implicit throughout the book that Storms believes it is still possible to receive these spiritual gifts.

He explains the greatest way to experience these gifts is through prayer and fasting, yet again, the reminder if you are not receiving what you have prayed and fasted for, then God has given you an answer and humbly be thankful for the gifts you have received.

Overall, this is a very good book for those who are interested in learning more about the charismatic spiritual gifts.

I received this book from booklookbloggers in exchange for an honest review.

Sunday, February 12, 2017

Angels are Real!

I really appreciated Scot McKnight's book, The Hum of Angels: Listening for the Messengers of God Around us.  This is a grat resource book, which will be used often by me.  There is such a fascination with angels, and most people do not know if angels are real or not, and McKnight answers this question on biblical grounds, saying, "Yes, they are real!"

The book is in four parts, with 23 chapters in the book, each averaging about 8 pages each.  So, it's an easy to read book, which I believe can be used as a devotion as well. 

The 4 parts are as follows ~
1.  In Defense of Angels
2.  God's Loving Presence In Angels
3.  God's Loving Advocacy From Angels, and
4.  God's Loving Transformation Through Angels

My greatest appreciation is that McKnight moves through scripture to prove the reality of angels.  At one point he explained if we don't believe in angels, they how can we believe in the Bible, since the Bible declares angels are real.


He used a great deal of scripture which was very helpful and helped his argument.  Overall, this was an easy to read and excellent book.

I received this book from www.bloggingforbooks.com in exchange for an honest review.

Blog? Want free books? Let's chat.

Power Through Weakness!

In their new book, The Way of the Dragon or The Way of the Lamb, Jamin Goggin and Kyle Strobel have written an excellent and timely book.  The purpose of this book is a call to the church to return to the type and methodology of acquiring power. 

Jesus' way of power is the counter-intuitive way.  By becoming weak, becoming human, He gained power.  It's a call to Christians to turn to God's style of power, not the power of the world. 

The authors question power and authority as they see it in our world, especially in the celebrity pastor culture.  In order to address their questions and concerns, they turned to many leading Christian authors . . . asking about power.

They sought wisdom from the likes of J.I. Packer, Dallas Willard, Marva Dawn, John Perkins, Jean Vanier, James Houston and Eugene Peterson.  They seek to dispel the quick fixes too many people seek in order to acquire power.

They speak about their own struggles, those of colleagues and are refreshing in their approach, without being preachy.  It always comes back as a reminder that we must follow the ways of Jesus, not the ways of the world. 

This was a very informative and at times difficult book to read, but worth the read!

I received this book from www.booklookbloggers.com in exchange for an honest review.

Fun Kids Devotional

God Gave Us the Bible: 45 Favorite Stories for Little Ones is a very well done, hardcover introductory Bible for parents to read with thei...