This image sums it up!
Mark Batterson, a well known author and Pastor of a Washington, DC mega church, has a new book launching, October 24th. His approach is how to hear the Voice of God, and it's a needed perspective in a world consumed with social media, family, events, busyness, etc....
I've read Praying Circles around your Children, a long while back, and enjoyed Mr. Batterson's perspective and practical strategies on how to pray for your children. It's a short sweet book, an easy read, but challenge to take and apply, but simple little book. This book, is a longer, very developed book. It took time to read, as Mr. Batterson shares facts, stories, and his own experiences, mixed with scripture and his explanation of how it all works together. But it is very relatable, and readable, just a lot to think about and pause, and contemplate how it looks in my life. He is a visionary and shares a full perspective of 7 ways to hear the voice of God.
He is a man who reads, and it shows in this book. His research is in depth and sharing from a wealth of different content areas- he has historical connections, science facts and discoveries, and experiences from history, as well as his own personal life testimonies, all that share how the reader can hear God's voice. So it was more intimidating to jump into this longer, detailed book. But he keeps it very approachable and easy for any reader, by sharing seven themes (on a bookmark) that are the keys to hearing the voice of God in your life.
I would recommend this book to a friend. It's another layer in my life of how to stop and develop a relationship with God on an intimate, personal level. Mr. Batterson engages the reader in his vision, and empowers you to look at the Word of God as a lens, and the first tool, but then to expand your methods for hearing God. The challenge comes in learning how to listen to God for your dreams, passions, questions, and fears.
Some quotes:
- "Nothing has the potential to change your life like the whisper of God. Nothing will determine your destiny more than your ability to hear His still small voice. That's how you discern the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God."
- "Quit hiding from God. Hide yourself in Him."
- "The goal isn't getting through the Bible: the goal is getting the Bible through us."
- "Tell me how much you enjoy God, and I'll tell you how spiritually mature you are. The last thing God wants is for His Word to feel like a chore. Do you read it for enjoyment?"
- "Faith is taking the first step, before God reveals the second one."
- "Most of us read the Bible the wrong way, with low expectations. I read it with this core conviction: if we do what they did in the Bible, God will do what He did."
- talking about relationships with people..."But when they are full of grace and truth, our relationships ring true. Then and only then will we hear the voice of God through others. "
- "We have to turn up the volume on the still small voice of God and make sure He's the loudest voice in our lives."
- "My prayer for you isn't that you'd be pain-free; it's that you'd learn to discern God's loving voice in the midst of the pain."
- ....God wants us to hear His heart. So He whispers softer and softer so that we have to get closer and closer."
If you want to learn strategies to hear God's whispers in your life, to grasp how these quotes fit your day to day life, this book is for you.
Blessed by Multnomah/Waterbrook to get to read a pre-release book, but the thoughts and recommendation are my own opinion. That's all I'm asked to share, is what I think.
Want to read some stirring excerpts? Check out these blog posts from yesterday written by Mr. Batterson.
Ann Voskamp invites him to the farm.... Does God really speak and how to really hear Him...
Proverbs 31 women shared this beautiful devotional. The Sound of Silence.
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