These are a few of the books I have kept over the years because, God brought them into my life to help me grow spiritually.
Why These Books?
Comparative Study Bible (1999), The Zondervan Corporation, Grand Rapids Michigan, 49530. www.zondervan.com.
I really enjoy my Comparative Study Bible, because it has the King James Version, the Amplified Bible, the New American Standard Bible and the New International Version right next to each other. I can easily compare all four versions when I feel the need.
Dobson, Theodore E. (1982), How To Pray For Spiritual Growth, A Practical Handbook of Inner Healing, Paulist Press, 545 Island Road, Ramsey, N.J. 07446. ISBN: 0-8091-2419-x. www.paulistpress.com.
My sister, Marilyn started an on-line Book Study group with some ladies from her Church this February and used Dobson’s book as her first book. Our mother had just died a few days before Christmas, and she sent me a copy to help me as we grieved over the loss of our last remaining parent. Thankfully, she allowed my daughter and I to join her book club, because I was blessed by the fellowship and the blessings God brought as I worked though Dobson’s book.
Marilyn purchased numerous copies of Theodore E. Dobson’s book, How To Pray For Spiritual Growth, A Practical Handbook of Inner Healing, as her first book, because she had used it 25 years ago and still found many of its principals still sustaining her after 25 years. I had used a number of Inner Healing and Spiritual Growth books over the years that were very good, however this book changed my life in two ways: It first helped me realize that I was usually leading Jesus instead of letting Him lead me. Then it helped me really FORGIVE for the very first time in my life. It was a very freeing and a joyful moment. I could see for the first time in 70 years of living, that unforgiveness has made me an emotional prisoner.
I have a tendency to want to follow most rules and Dobson encouraged his readers to follow Jesus instead. Dobson referred numerous times to his prayers as Sample Prayers and encourages his readers to allow Jesus to lead them through the prayers, using his prayer as a guideline. I was very familiar with using all your senses and doing visual or meditative prayers. However, Dobson’s approach opened my eyes to how important it is to trust Jesus and not ignore my feelings, when something is “off” in our relationship, pray about it. To make a long story short, the name of my electronic Journal is “GrandmaCanLearn”, because God used this book to awaken me from my winter slumber and started teaching me to draw even closer to Him. It is a learning experience, and I am so happy that this old Grandma, can still learn.
Geisler, Norman and Ron Brooks (1990), When Skeptics Ask, Baker Books a division of Baker Publishing Group, P.O. Box 6287, Grand Rapids, MI 495166287, www.bakerbooks.com.
I really enjoyed reading and referring back to Norman Geisler and Ron Brooks book, When Skeptics Ask, because I was a skeptic growing up. I knew God was real without any doubts, but I did not think Christianity worked for most people, because they were not perfect, and I thought they were supposed to be perfect. I tried to be perfect when I was a teenager for a whole week and failed miserably. So, I rejected God, because I knew I could not be any more perfect than most Christians. I only knew a few Christians in my life that looked like real Christians. I decided I did not want to be like “those people that failed to be perfect Christians”. Bottom line, this book was comforting for me, because it actual answered many of the unanswered questions I had as a skeptic. I did become a Christian in my 30s, but not through the traditional Church ways, like my siblings and other family members did.
Lucado, Max (2004), It’s Not About Me, Integrity Publishers, a division on Integrity Media, Inc, 5250 Virgina Way, Suite 110, Brentwood TN 37027.
At the time I purchased and read Max Lucado book, It’s Not About Me, I was still in the early stages of learning to grow as a Christian. I can still hear people tell me that it’s all about God and not about me. I can even remember my little sister Marilyn, trying to lovingly help me understand and explained to me at one point, “it’s not all about you.” God had me read this book twice! Now, I better understand why after working through Dobson’s book. I had a lot of condemnation in my conscious and subconscious mind to deal with as an early Christian. The first time I read Lucado’s book, I clearly saw it was all about God, I was a little depressed. I did not realize I had read it through the eyes of self-condemnation.
God persisted and had me read it again. I did not want to turn around and read it again, but reluctantly I did. The second time the Holy Spirit helped me read it from God’s perspective and I was richly blessed! I did not experience any condemnation reading through the book when I was being led by the Holy Spirit, I felt so loved! Now I feel God calling me to read it again after going through Dobson’s book and learning I need to go to God and work on my self-condemnation. I know it will be a different read from the first two times I read it. I suspect that Jesus will use this book to help point out any areas where I still need to come to Him in prayer for healing. It is a process, for me that is so cool! It is like God has me in class. He had already started teaching me years ago that His perspective is different from mine, and there is no condemnation in Christ. I feel like the “self-condemnation” lesson is about to take an interesting turn during the healing process.
Shishkoff, Eitan (2013), What About Us?, Burkhart Books, Bedford Texas, ISBN: 978-0-9859908-6-2, www.burkhartbooks.com.
The author is a Messianic Rabbi who lives in Israel. I am in the process of reading this book.
Stapleton, Ruth Carter (1976), The Gift of Inner Healing, Word, Incorporated, 4800 West Waco Drive, Waco Texas, 76703, ISBN: 0-553-10291-5.
This book for me was an enjoyable quick read. Ruth Carter Stapleton’s book, The Gift of Inner Healing, mainly explains with examples, on how beneficial using your mind’s eye is to Inner Healing, when you allow the Holy Spirit to lead you in prayer. She did have an example of using a staircase to walk with Jesus, to pinpoint life events and get inner healing for specific times in our lives. I found it a very healing prayer. I found it useful to see all of the losses in my life had continued to add up. I needed a prayer where I could see myself giving all of my grief to Jesus. On page 85, she did an excellent job comparing our conscious and subconscious mind to a computer, “garbage in, garbage out.”
Warren, Rick (2002), The Purpose Driven Life, Zondervan, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49530, ISBN: 0-310-20571-9, www.zondervan.com.
I found Rick Warren’s book, The Purpose Driven Life, to be a blessing. Even the dedication blessed my heart. This is another book that God had me read twice. Looking back after some healing of self-condemnation and my drive to earn worthiness from God I can better understand why. I was a major task driven person. Especially, in a working environment. Warren’s book made me look at all relationships differently. I read this book in 2005 and even jokingly, put a note in my book to add relationship building as a task for the office.
Wertheim, Janie-sue and Shapiro, Kathy (1998), Walk with Y’shua Through the New Year, Purple Pomegranate Productions, ISBN: 1-881022-40-4
I do not know if I can tell you about this children’s book, without at least telling you a little part of my conversion story from skeptic to Christian. I became a Christian when I went to a Messianic Convention in Atlanta, Georgia in 1987. I bought this book through the www.jewsforjesus.org website. I loved the idea of seeing what Holidays Yeshua, Jesus followed as a boy, growing up Jewish. Plus, I think it is cool the way the Messianic Jews follow the Hebrew Calendar. Their Passover is the story of two lambs, one in (Exodus 12) when Moses lead God’s people out of Egypt and Yeshua, Jesus the Lamb of God for our sins (Mark 14:22-25). After the Passover Holiday there is a Jewish Holiday called The Feast of First Fruits, that just so happens to be the day Yeshua, Jesus rose from the grave. They now celebrate Yeshua, Jesus’ Resurrection Day as Him being the first to conquer death. So even though it is a children’s book, I still sometimes refer to the children’s book, Janie-sue Wertheim and Kathy Shapiro’s book, Walk with Y’shua Through the New Year, because I don’t know their calendar very well.
Whitney, Donald S. (1991), Spiritual Disciplines For The Christian Life, NavPress, P.O. Box 35001, Colorado Springs, CO 80935, ISBN: 1-57683-027-6, www.navpress.com.
Whitney also has a study guide for the book: Whitney, Donald S. (1994), Spiritual Disciplines For The Christian Life, A Study Guide Based On The Book, NavPress, P.O. Box 35001, Colorado Springs, CO 80935, ISBN: 08910-97597, www.navpress.com.
As a new Christian, God told me to “get Discipline”. I had no idea what that meant, so I asked a young Minister, Betsy. She set me up with my very first Bible Study Group. God has been blessing me from that point onward. I have had several books on the Christian Disciplines through the years and I have always found all of them to be a blessing. I have managed to hold onto Donald S. Whitney’s book, Spiritual Disciplines For The Christian Life, and its study guide. It explains Christian Disciplines such as: Bible Intake, Prayer, Worship, Evangelism, Serving, Stewardship, Fasting, Silence and Solitude, Journaling and the importance of purpose and perseverance in seeking God through the disciplines.