Book Reviews

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Restoring Your Spiritual Passion

Gordon MacDonald, author of the book "Ordering Your Private World" is already a familiar name to many readers. Those who enjoyed his first book will not be disappointed with "Restoring Your Spiritual Passion. MacDonald's relaxed style and his frequent use of anecdotes as parables or metaphors press the reader into the subject, and the subject into the reader.

From the very beginning of the book, MacDonald is impressing upon us the truth that we don't have to go around with our spiritual gas-tanks at or near the empty mark. When I was a little girl, my Daddy used to tell me, "It costs just as much to drive around with a full gas tank as it does an empty one." We can learn to identify the factors that threaten to deplete us spiritually, the ones that if ignored long enough, will cause us to become wearied and spiritually depleted. And we can learn what it is in our lives that helps build our spiritual passion.

"We have over-complicated our God and His ways of coming to us. We have organized Him, strategized Him, and compartmentalized Him. We have reduced His ways of working with us to cute little formulas, and we have stood off in our own corners, critical of others who seek His face in ways that differ from our own temperaments or styles of perception. But it is clear that God longs to restore a spiritual passion within us.

For the man or woman at the edge of a Jordan, wearied by too many choices and burdened with too many obligations, there is a simple formula: safe places, still times, and special friends. " p.218

A safe place is anywhere where we can come apart with the Lord, if only for a few moments, and hear him whisper secrets. A still time is one in which we are quiet within and attuned to hear God's voice. Special friends are those who help us grow with their vision and passion, with their encouragement and affirmation, with their partnership, and with their loving rebuke. Just as we must take time to build relationship with these special friends, so we must take the time to find safe places and still times in which to build an intimate relationship with our Heavenly Father.

Cedar River Daydreams #1 - New Girl In Town

Lexi has moved from Grover City where she's lived for sixteen years. There she had a lot of friends and everyone knew and understood her lovable brother Ben, who has Down's Syndrome.

In Cedar River she has to begin explaining about her brother again and often she finds her new friends get scared off.

A group called the Hi-Five which many girls in town would love to join, walk out of the summer musical when Mrs. Waverly, the producer, decides to add an extra two weeks of practice. Jennifer, Lexi's friend who has just become a new member of the Hi-Fives is upset, but she's too scared not to leave. So, Lexi is reassigned to do a duet with Todd Winston. She is afraid to introduce Ben to Todd because one boy she dated had already got scared off because of Ben. Also, Minda Hannaford calls Ben names.

Will things work out?

Cedar River Daydreams are written somewhat like Happy Valley books but with a Christian outlook. A really good book! I recommend this for 12-15 year-olds.

Review by Gretchen Isom, age 14.

The Weapons Of Our Warfare

Far more than just another book on spiritual warfare. The familiar themes are helpfully covered then the author launches into several excellent chapters on less familiar but equally vital ' weapons' in God's armoury. There is a very good treatment of 'praying in the spirit', followed by sections on the Name of the Lord, the Sword of the Spirit, Proclamation and Praise, Forgiveness, Mercy and Love, Blessing, Repentance and Confession, Remembrance, Thanksgiving, and much more. Binding and Loosing is covered in a simple and helpful way, as indeed are all the topics.

This is a book that will instruct and make plain, inspire and give confidence to all who read it, whether novice or seasoned warrior. The final chapter on Gideon is the icing on the cake, and will send you on your way nerved and readied for the fray - in God's strength, not your own. Highly recommended.

This review is taken from the CLC Floodtide (UK Edition) March - April 1996.

Bruised but not Broken

'From Violence to Peace' is the subtitle of this biography of Eddie Murison, a Scotsman from Aberdeen. Eddie's life was transformed from one of violence to one of peace as he came to know Jesus.

Eddie was rejected by his stepfather at a very early age and this had a profound effect on the rest of his life. At the age of nine he was already in trouble with the police for breaking into his school and setting fire to the books.

After many years in remand homes, borstals and prisons for different crimes, Eddie committed his life to God. Still in prison , he witnessed to other prisoners and spent many hours reading the bible.

Even after becoming a Christian, life was not easy for Eddie. By God's grace, and with the help of other Christians, he was able to work through the problems he had.

The book is a good testimony of God's power to turn lives around.