Living Ministries

A truly fulfilling marriage involves two people focusing on each other's needs rather than their own. Lysa TerKeurst, president of The Proverbs 31 Ministry, has written a practical guide for all spouses that will open their eyes to the needs, desires, and longings of the others. She offers eight essential criteria for capturing the heart of your spouse, with creative tips on how to accomplish them.

All emotion - whether positive or negative - can give us a glimpse of the true nature of God. We want to control our negative emotions and dark desires. God wants us to recognize them as the cry of our soul to be made right with Him. Beginning with the Psalms, Cry of the Soul explores what Scripture says about our darker emotions and points us to ways of honoring God as we faithfully embrace the full range of our emotional life.

History tells of women whose love for the Bible shaped its earliest and most prominent teachers. It tells of women who were great theologians in their own right, yet whose only students were their own children. It tells, time and time again, of Christian men who owe so much to their godly mothers. Raising children to honor and glorify the Lord is the goal of every Christian mother, but how can you do that? Who can teach you? One of the best ways to learn is to read or listen to examples of women who have succeeded at the very task you are attempting. Come and listen to some of them.

The Egyptians in Exodus 1 were intent on enslaving the Israelites, wearing them down so that God's chosen people would become disillusioned and not live up to their destiny. Of the original two million Israelites who received God's invitation to enter the Promised Land, only two actually entered it! Similarly, modern day Christians often hear and understand the promises of God each Sunday morning at church but then rarely choose to experience them in everyday life. In One in a Million, Bible teacher Priscilla Shirer invites us to change that pattern for good.

Enjoy the magnificent panorama of Scripture like never before! Pastor Skip Heitzig shares a "flight" plan for all 66 books of the Bible to help you better understand the context and significance of each.

For centuries, people have been fascinated by stories of angel sightings, yet many contemporary beliefs about them are based on misconception and myth rather than solid, biblical truth. Responding to our modern cultural interest in angels, popular Bible teacher Dr. David Jeremiah provides an in-depth, biblical look at these agents of heaven and their role in our world and our lives.

Becoming more like Christ is a lifelong endeavor that may seem overwhelming - especially to those who don't know the next steps. Whether you lead a group of people who have just begun their walk with Christ or those who want to go deeper, the Freedom in Christ curriculum will give you the simple, practical guidance to help others weave faith into every aspect of their lives.

In this book of pastoral reflections, N. T. Wright explores how the Lord's Prayer sums up what Jesus was all about in his first-century setting. Wright locates the Lord's Prayer, clause by clause, within the historical life and work of Jesus and allows the prayer's devotional application to grow out of its historical context. The result is a fresh understanding of Christian spirituality and the life of prayer. This deeply devotional book will refresh and stimulate the heart and mind of any listener.

Many of us do not trust our own thoughts, feelings, and desires when it comes to discerning God's will. Instead we look outside ourselves to determine what God wants from and for us. In God's Voice Within, spiritual director Mark E. Thibodeaux, SJ, shows us how to use Ignatian discernment to access our own spiritual intuition and understand that the most trustworthy wisdom of all comes not from outside sources, but from God working through us.

Two premier renewal leaders help inspire and equip believers to receive and minister healing, stressing that God's miraculous healing is part of the Good News.

In This Beautiful Truth, Sarah Clarkson shares her own encounters with beauty in the midst of her decade-long struggle with mental illness, depression, and doubt. In a voice both vulnerable and reflective, she paints a compelling picture of the God who reaches out to us in a real and powerful way through the "taste and see" goodness of what he has made and what he continues to create amid our darkness. "To recognize and trust God's gift in pain," she writes, "empowers us to create and love as powerful witnesses to God's healing love in a hopeless world."

Christianity has tended to focus on right beliefs and right choices as the keys for personal growth. But biblical evidence and modern brain science show that our character is shaped more by whom we love than what we believe. Through conversations he had with Dallas Willard at the Heart and Soul Conference shortly before Dallas' death, Jim Wilder shows how we can train our brains to relate to God based on joyful, mutual attachment - which leads to emotional and spiritual maturity as our identity and character are formed by our relationship with God.

Our world constantly tells us to "do what feels good", especially when it comes to issues related to sexuality. Sadly, this mind-set always leads to guilt, pain, and heartache. And yet, in the gospel, there is good news for the sexually broken. Pointing listeners to the grace of Jesus Christ, longtime counselor and teacher David Powlison offers hope for both the sexually immoral and the sexually victimized: all brokenness will one day be transformed.

What happens when we replace courage with compromise? What happens when we replace honesty with likability? What happens when we replace conviction with cliches? What happens when we replace discipleship to Christ with a devotion to nice? We live in a culture that prizes niceness as one of its highest virtues. Niceness keeps the peace, wins friends, gains influence, and serves our reputations well, but it also takes the teeth out of our witness and the power out of our faith.

When Jesus needed help, he went to the Helper. Where do you go? If Jesus needed help, we all do. Spirit-Filled Jesus explores the role of the Holy Spirit in and through the life of Jesus, revealing aspects of his life that have not been examined before and helping you see how this applies to you. Everyone knows the Holy Spirit as the Helper but may not realize he helped Jesus. Jesus resisted temptation, endured suffering, and overcame Satan, all by the power of the Spirit. You can do the same.

Mary Magdalene is one of the most influential symbols in the history of Christianity - yet, if you look in the Bible, you'll find only a handful of verses that speak of her. How did she become such a compelling saint in the face of such paltry evidence? In her effort to answer that question, Cynthia Bourgeault examines the Bible, church tradition, art, legend, and newly discovered texts to see what's there.

There are only two places where the powerful and great in this world lose their courage, tremble in the depths of their souls, and become truly afraid. These are the manger and the cross of Jesus Christ. No priest, no theologian stood at the cradle of Bethlehem. And yet, all Christian theology finds its beginnings in the miracle of miracles, that God became human. These stirring words are among forty devotions that guide and inspire readers as they move thematically through the weeks of Advent and Christmas....

With honesty, humor, and keen biblical insight, best-selling authors Bill and Beni Johnson help you discover the keys to successful parenting in God's kingdom. With this guide, you will gain the wisdom, kingdom concepts, and practical tools you need to help raise your children to their best. You'll discover how to parent to their uniqueness, gifts, and strengths, as well as how you can demonstrate and reveal who God is to your kids.

Sexual abuse knows no religious or social boundaries. The Wounded Heart is an intensely personal and specific look at this form of abuse. Dr. Allender explores the secret lament of the soul damaged by sexual abuse and lays hold of the hope buried there by the one whose unstained image we all bear. Includes information about false memory issues.

Best-selling author, cultural commentator, and popular theologian Christopher West is one of the world's most recognized teachers of John Paul II's Theology of the Body. He specializes in making this teaching accessible to all Christians, with particular attention to evangelicals. As West explains, from beginning to end the Bible tells a story of marriage. It begins with the marriage of man and woman in an earthly paradise and ends with the marriage of Christ and the church in an eternal paradise.