Living Religions

Susie Larson's newest devotional, Prevail, guides us through the arc of the Scriptures while encouraging us to feel and trust in his presence in our everyday lives. Using practical Scripture passages, thought-provoking questions, and her very own Bible-margin notes, Susie offers 365 days' worth of opportunities for us to strengthen our walk in faith while finding a new level of freedom and redemption.

In Living in a Mindful Universe, the New York Times bestselling author of Proof of Heaven and The Map of Heaven shares his insights into the true nature of consciousness. Embracing his radically new worldview, he began a committed program of personal exploration into non-local consciousness. Along the way, he met Karen Newell, who had spent most of her lifetime living the worldview he had only just discovered was possible. Her personal knowledge came from testing various techniques and theories as part of her daily routine.

In Prayer, renowned pastor Timothy Keller delves into the many facets of this everyday act.

With his trademark insights and energy, Keller offers brilliant and inspirational biblical guidance, as well as specific prayers for certain situations, such as dealing with grief, loss, love, and forgiveness. He discusses ways to make prayers more personal and powerful, and how to establish a practice of prayer that works for each listener.

Do you ever get a glimpse of yourself that is exactly who you want to be, but always seems just out of reach? The happier, kinder, less stressed, more courageous you? The ideal version of you isn't imaginary at all. It's actually the authentic you trying to break through. And it’s not a future version of yourself you have to chase. The true you may be new to you, but it’s not new to God. It's the you he knew all along.

This is not an audiobook about Saint Augustine. In a way, it's an audiobook Augustine has written about each of us. Popular speaker and award-winning author James K. A. Smith has spent time on the road with Augustine, and he invites us to take this journey, too, for this ancient African thinker knows far more about us than we might expect. Following Smith's successful You Are What You Love, this audiobook shows how Augustine can be a pilgrim guide to a spirituality that meets the complicated world we live in.

Kind, encouraging, and humorous, Karen Ehman helps us learn the essential practice of using our words more effectively - alleviating heartache and regret, reducing relational tension and conflict, lessening our stress levels, and growing our relationship with God. From Bible times to modern times women have struggled with their words. What to say and how to say it. What not to say. When it is best to remain silent. And what to do when you’ve said something you wish you could now take back.

The average person spends twenty-six years of life sleeping. That time was created not only to enjoy the physical benefits of rest but to engage in the presence of God and access His guidance for our days. Through fascinating real-life stories, Pastor Stephanie Ike Okafor reveals how dreams have equipped her and many others throughout history, and she shows how you, too, can receive revelation from God through your dreams.

Recovering nice guy Paul Coughlin points the way for all men who yearn to live lives of boldness and conviction - like Jesus. Using anecdotes from his own life, powerful and poignant stories, and vivid examples from our culture, Coughlin shows how men can say no to the "nice guy" syndrome and yes to lives of purpose, passion, and vitality.

Life often looks so very different than we hoped or expected. Some events may simply catch us off guard for a season, but others shatter us completely. We feel disappointed and disillusioned at best and overwhelmed and hopeless at worst. We quietly start to wonder about the reality of God’s goodness and why he allows us to suffer and experience grief and loss. Lysa TerKeurst understands this deeply. But after many tears, godly counseling, and prayerful seeking, she's also discovered that our disappointments can be the divine appointments our souls need to radically encounter God.

Beginning with her own experiences of breakthrough, Jennifer Eivaz offers much-needed direction and the biblical context for prayer that does make a difference - explaining the intervention of angels and demons, prophetic manifestations, and much more. She helps believers take hold of their authority and spiritual giftings and use them in the battle for victory. The Kingdom principles will help every believer navigate the spiritual realm of prayer by using the tools that make it truly effective.

Based on a groundbreaking in-depth survey of 22,000 Christian women, The Great Sex Rescue unlocks the secrets to what makes some marriages red hot while others fizzle out. Generations of women have grown up with messages about sex that make them feel dirty, used, or invisible, while men have been sold such a cheapened version of sex, they don't know what they're missing. The Great Sex Rescue hopes to turn all of that around, developing a truly biblical view of sex where mutuality, intimacy, and passion reign.

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."

Now in his mid-80s, Packer mediates on the truths of Scripture with pastoral warmth and exegetical care, drawing on lessons learned from the experience of growing older and coming face-to-face with his own mortality. Overflowing with wisdom gleaned from a life of obedience to Christ and dependence on his Word, this encouraging audiobook ultimately directs listeners to the God who promises to be ever-present and all-sufficient.

Carrying only basic camping equipment and a collection of the world's great spiritual writings, Belden C. Lane embarks on solitary spiritual treks through the Ozarks and across the American Southwest. For companions, he has only such teachers as Rumi, John of the Cross, Hildegard of Bingen, Dag Hammarskjöld, and Thomas Merton, and as he walks, he engages their writings with the natural wonders he encounters, demonstrating how being alone in the wild opens a rare view onto one's interior landscape, and how the saints' writings reveal the divine in nature.

We live in a culture that more and more questions authority, truth claims, and traditional beliefs. So what are we to believe about the authority and trustworthiness of a book that is thousands of years old? Is God's word truly inerrant? How is it different from other religious texts? Why should we trust its claims?

The whole Bible teaches truth and awakens emotions, but the Psalms are in a category of their own. They do not just awaken the heart; they put it in the foreground. They do not merely invite our emotions to respond to God's truth; they put our emotions on display. The Psalms are more than commanding-they are contagious. We are not just listening to profound ideas and feelings. We are living among them in their overflow.

Boasting more than one million copies of his works sold, conservative radio personality Dr. James C. Dobson squarely addresses the problem of troubled marriages. He targets infidelity, alcoholism, spousal abuse, and emotional distance as the primary causes of divorce. Dobson also chooses to denounce homosexuality as an abomination. With his groundbreaking theory of "loving toughness", he offers a path toward solving marital problems, building family values, and rekindling lost romance.

The Christian life is built on three seemingly unremarkable practices: reading the Bible, prayer, and fellowship with other believers. However, according to David Mathis, such "habits of grace" are the God-designed channels through which his glorious grace flows - making them life-giving practices for all Christians.

There are many blessings that come with age: retirement, grandchildren, travel, and life experience. Today's culture, however, marginalizes old age, often portraying it as burdensome and hopeless. Many older women can feel like an encumbrance rather than a blessing to their friends and family members. In response to these struggles, Sharon Betters and Susan Hunt encourage women to find hope through both real-life and biblical accounts of women who rediscovered gospel-rooted joy later in life.

Jan Chozen Bays, MD - physician and Zen teacher - has developed a series of simple practices to help us cultivate mindfulness as we go about our ordinary, daily lives. Exercises include: taking three deep breaths before answering the phone, noticing and adjusting your posture throughout the day, eating mindfully, and leaving no trace of yourself after using the kitchen or bathroom. Each exercise is presented with tips on how to remind yourself and a short life lesson connected with it.