Against Nothingness

Andrew Murray.  Power in Prayer: Classic Devotions to Inspire and Deepen Your Prayer Life . Bethany House, 2011. 167 pgs.  A second good devotional book in the same month? What are the odds? Then again, when one of them is by Andrew Murray, those odds go up significantly.  What we have here is an edited, and updated, collection of over 150 select devotions on prayer from the vast array of such entries Andrew Murray has left for those interested. They are updated in that the language has been made modern, and selected seemingly with the intention of being the best of what is available (which is all pretty good stuff in my opinion).  Andrew Murray has long been a go to author for me. His devotional thoughts are not made up of theological genius, nor stunning literary style. They are simple and many of them seem like common sense after you read them. And yet, they are powerful. They are poignant. Spiritually speaking, they usually hit uncomfortably cl...

John I. Snyder,  Your 100 Day Prayer: The Transforming Power of Actively Waiting on God . Thomas Nelson, 2011. 240 pgs. This books is supposed to be a 100 day journey which guides one through intentional prayer and biblical truths which will "transform their spiritual lives and reveal God's provision for their needs." It takes much the form you would expect: A prayer, a guide, an introduction and then straight into 100 days of devotionals each of which end with a prayer and a space journal about 'today's progress.' In reality, the only way this book will transform your prayer life is if it pushes you to pray regularly for 100 days in a row. If you haven't done that, you should. If, as you do so, you seek the Lord, you will be transformed. As for this book... well, there is nothing wrong with it. It is a fairly well written, fairly standard devotional. But it is not a book about actively waiting on God. If anything, the focus is really on freedom in...

Dr. Emerson Eggerichs.  The Love & Respect Experience: A Husband-Friendly Devotional That Wives Truly Love . Thomas Nelson, 2011. 320 pgs. Reviewing a book such as this can be difficult. Devotionals and prayer books are designed to be ready slowly, one day at a time, over weeks, months, or even years. As a reviewer I am rarely given the time to take such an approach to a book. Add to that the fact that this devotional in particular is designed to be done as a couple and the difficulty doubles. The result is that I often feel obliged to begin my review with a caveat about how I did not read the book as intended and that this may have skewed my review. In this case, however, I am able to review with confidence despite these difficulties. You may have heard of Dr. Emerson Eggerichs. He is the author of  the book  this devotional is based on, as well as a companion  workbook  , both of which have done very well. One of the pastors at my church rece...

Scotty Smith.  Everyday Prayers: 365 Days to a Gospel-Centered Faith . Baker Books, 2011. 380 pgs.  On the surface, this is a devotional prayer book which has one prayer for each day of the year. However, you do not have to read very far to find out that Scotty Smith intends to communicate far more than this. Through these prayers, Smith desired to find Jesus in every part of the bible, bring the gospel to bear on every part of his life, and help the reader to do these same things. He seeks to engage Jesus as prophet, priest, and king (a popular reformed rubric these days, and certainly not a bad one), as well as to continually return to basics of the gospel within the grand metanarrative of scripture.  As you read these prayers you will find that they truly are everyday prayers. They range from poetic to personal in style, grand to minute in scope, and topically they are all over the place. This is, in my opinion, a good reflection of everyday life....

Carl McColman, The Lion, the Mouse and the Dawn Treader: Spiritual Lessons from C.S. Lewis's Narnia. Paraclete Press, 2011.  144 pages.  Provided for review.   #SpeakEasyNarnia  Special thanks for providing this in electronic format; so much easier that way.  Sometimes the title, and subtitle, just says it all.  You don't even need to read the back of this book to know what it is about.  It is a book outlining some of the spiritual lessons we can learn form Narnia and, more specifically, from The Voyage of the Dawn Treader .  After all, C.S. Lewis himself wrote that The Voyage  was about the spiritual life and journey of the Christian (though, it is not an allegory, a fact both Lewis and McColman are very clear about).  With this beginning, McColman explores just what lessons we can learn from this book, including such things as: the choice to walk with God is not always our own, mysticism does not make saints, everyone is at risk o...

R.P., Nettelhorst, A Year with God: Daily Readings and Reflections on God's Own Words. Thomas Nelson, 2010. 399 pages.  Disclaimer: This book was provided by Thomas Nelson for review.   As I am sure you can guess from the title, this is a book of daily devotionals.  It is organized topically with antonymous pairs as "Hope and Fear" and "Love and Hate."  Within each topic, the reader will find several dozen entries which move from the beginning of the Old Testament to the end, roughly speaking.  There is no attempt to hit every verse, or chapter, or story, just that each days reading, within each topic, move sequentially through the OT.   I began this book thinking that, for a daily devotional, it seemed fairly good.  However, by the end I was thoroughly disappointed.  It quickly became clear that while the title of each days entries were chosen to be provocative, the content was rather poorly thought out.  About half way throug...

Christopher A. Cunningham, Jungle Warfare: A Basic Field Manual for Christians in Sales . Thomas Nelson, 2010. 207 pgs.  Jungle Warfare is a 22 day devotional specifically designed for Christians in sales.  Each day Cunningham quotes his Grandfather's "Manual on Jungle Warfare ", some bible verses, and a reflection that connects these things together with being a Christian in sales.  He also adds a prayer and some questions with space for brief journal reflections.  Frequently throughout the 22 days, Cunningham challenges the reader to make commitments and decisions both practical and spiritual.  Finally, at the end of the book, there is a "Jungle Warfare Field Support" section which is Cunningham's answers to several common questions.   I was greatly impressed by this book.  I have to admit that the title and description made me wary.  A book designed specifically for Christians in sales? With jungle warfare? However, Cunningham skil...