Book Review: Seeing The Voice of God

   

                                     

     I am not a seer; I can count on one finger the amount of times I have seen a vision. On a occasion I have dreamed dreams I believe are from God but I usually do not remember my dreams. I've been saved for about 4 years and the past two years I have been in a quiet season with the Lord where I have not heard his voice audibly through my thoughts as I once did.  Thus, I was excited to review "Seeing the Voice of God" by Laura Harris Smith. Its a book of 11 chapters dedicated to helping believers tune into the voice of God via dreams and visions. I found the book very well written and informative. Laura classifies the various kinds of dreams one can have and even provides a mini-dream interpretation dictionary. Moreover, she dedicates a couple of chapters to visions and provides classification of them based upon the original Hebrew and Greek meaning. In addition, the book is highly practical and Laura helps her readers dream, not only by providing spiritual advice but also showing them the natural process behind it. 

"Sleep is the mattress of dreams", she says and thus provides a well researched chapter on the sleep cycle and helpful tips on how to improve sleep and dream recall. I really enjoyed this chapter because it was a wonderful blend of scientific and biblical truth. Too often science is presented only from a secular point of view but I love reading scientific and academic information from a Christian perspective. God is the source of all truth and should be recognized for it.

 The last third of the book centered on hearing God's voice clearly, discerning what we have heard or seen, and Laura's struggle with epilepsy and "the deaf and dumb spirit". The section on "20/20 hearing" and discernment felt a bit too condensed and I wished it had been longer but I really enjoyed reading her testimony. Spiritual Warfare is real and I loved getting insight into this spirit that I know little about but am beginning to recognize at work in parts of my own and family's life. After reading this chapter I feel better equipped to war in general and against this spirit.
    
    Overall this was a good introduction into dreams, visions and the supernatural. I liked how invested Laura seemed in her readers and the shepherdess in her comes through in her tone and thorough explanations. If one is new to the charismatic or is not very comfortable with it, this is a very safe book to explore the supernatural workings of God. Laura wants to move the reader away from the "mystical" i.e impractical and overly mysterious, into the practical, i.e the knowable and experience-able gifts of God. This book has encouraged me to continue seeking spiritual sight from God, and I believe he will use this book to help me do so in the future. I highly recommend it.

*** I received a free copy of this book from Chosen a division of Baker Publishing Group in exchange for my honest review.

Book Review: The Pleasure of His Company

  Dutch Sheet’s “The Pleasure of His Company: A Journey to Intimate Friendship with God” was truly a pleasure to read.  God lead me to this book right when I needed to be reminded of his love for me as a Father. This book definitely did the trick. It’s 30 chapters long and can be used as a month long devotional. Each chapter was fresh and insightful, had beautiful prayers at the end and shared the theme of the importance of spending quality time with God. The chapters also started with personal anecdotes,some were very interesting, others were unfortunately not. Aside from that small flaw, the book was very engaging. 

Sheet’s does a great job of showing God is not stoic, distant or waiting with scowl on his face to punish us for our sins. In our own human desire to be righteous and holy it is easy to slip into these “religious” ideas about him. However, Sheet’s presents the Lord as “passionate, caring, a lover of people, and a seeker of companionship.” He is a God that rejoices when his prodigals return and dances joyfully over them (Like 15:11-32, Zephaniah 3:17).   

    Another aspect of the book I enjoyed was the word studies. Often Sheets would analyze a passage of scriptures based on the meanings of the Hebrew or Greek words used. My favorite was his study of Martha and Mary in Luke 10: 38-42. (It is obviously his favorite as well, as he devotes three chapters to it).  One interesting insight was that the word akouo used to describe Mary’s listening, carries the meaning “to understand, hear with the ear of the mind; to hear effectively as to perform what is spoken” (58). In addition the Greek word logos was used to describe the words Mary was listening to, rather than the usual term rhema. Logos has the connotation of “connecting” or “linking” words in order to communicate thoughts and messages. It embodies “the logic” or content of the words. Sheets says “the Lord’s words were connecting in Mary, building a foundation for her life” as she listened. Thus he infers that when Jesus rebukes Martha for her distractions and tells her “only one thing is necessary” he means “Martha, if you will truly connect to me everything else will fall into place. Order will be established; relationships will make sense; I’ll guide your steps into purpose and destiny; I’ll teach you to prosper—everything will work well if you’ll simply listen to me.” (76) That is just one glimpse of the insights his word studies offer.Overall, I highly recommend the book, whether you are in need of experiencing God as Father for the first time, need to be refreshed, or simply want to grow in intimacy with him. 

**I received a free copy of this book from Bethany House Publishers  in exchange for my honest review. 

Book Review of The Prayer Project

 One of the purposes for my blog is to provide Christians with tools to strengthen their relationship with God.  An important way to get to know God is by spending time with him. This is essentially prayer. The Prayer Project by Becka Goings is a great resource for learning how to pray and ultimately how to grow closer to God.

The purpose of this book is to encourage believers to make their lives a prayer project--to continue to grow in their prayer lives.  The book teaches the basics of prayer and is aimed at those who don't pray, but even if you have a strong prayer life , you can glean many fresh insights from it. It is concise, clocking in around 175 pages, but touching on almost every aspect of prayer you can think of. There are even prayers for the reader's spiritual and prayer growth at the end of each chapter. The strength of this book is its demonstration on why it is important to pray in the first place. According to the author, prayer is "conversation with God" . It is intimate communion with him. Thus, a person cannot merely pray at dinner, during church service, or with other Christians and expect to know God intimately.God wants alone time with us and our full and undivided attention. The Prayer Project aptly describes the reason why he desires such alone time with us:

" If you spend no personal time with God, you cannot say you know Him personally. We have friends, but there’s always that one friend we tell our secrets to.  The one we confide in; the one we’re real with. God longs to be this Friend." (19-20)

Thus, getting to know God personally requires personal,  private time with him.

  Another plus of this book is that the author gives examples of why God may delay an answer to prayer or even reject a prayer. Sometimes he requires we wait for a season so that he may test our faith or force us to seek him more deeply.  Other times he simply says no because we do not pray according to his will, or have the wrong motivation for asking (James 4:2-3). The flip side to this principle reveals the surest way to get an answer to prayer. Pray God's will.  Pray Scripture.  Because Scripture is God's word it is his will. The author emphasizes if believers pray Scripture, they will have power in their prayers and see tremendous growth in their lives.

  Overall, this was a wonderful book to read, well written and  filled with spiritual wisdom.  I highly recommend it. Make your life a prayer project.