Spiritual Growth Bible

"God has a plan for our lives", but what does that mean in practical terms? How do we know God's will for important life decisions, like who to marry, what job to take, what church to join? How can we be free if God has a perfect plan for us? Does suffering mean we are off track? How exactly does God speak? Author Jerry Sittser explores these questions and offers a biblically based approach that is truly liberating.

We aspire to freedom but often resign ourselves to an existence trapped in uneasiness and dread. Is there any way to shed such heaviness and reignite hope for deliverance? In Traveling Light, Eugene H. Peterson urges us to listen to an expert on freedom, Paul, whose letter to the Galatians reminds us of the realities of life in Christ, freely given to all.

We all have questions about the Bible—whether we have read it or not. Join the more than half a million people who have looked to The Complete Bible Answer Book for answers about the Bible, Christian beliefs, life problems, and what God's Word says about current issues. In this comprehensive guide you will find answers to more than 210 of the top questions people have asked Bible teacher and theologian Hank Hanegraaff, aka the Bible Answer Man, over the last 40 years.

Very rarely in the Bible does God command someone to "stay". He opens a door, and then he invites us to walk through it—into the unknown. And how we choose to respond will ultimately determine the lives we will lead and the people we will become. In fact, to fail to embrace the open door is to miss the work God has made for us to do. In All the Places to Go...How Will You Know?, best-selling author John Ortberg opens our eyes to the countless doors God places before us every day.

When it comes to prophecy, how can we discern if the words being spoken are true, false, or wrong? God is calling his people to press into a higher realm of revelation, so that the words they share come from Heaven, not from their flesh, soul, or other sources. Hank Kunneman is a trusted father and mentor in the prophetic community. In this landmark book, he teaches you to speak prophetic words that carry thunder from Heaven’s Throne Room! Learn to communicate messages from God with precision and accuracy - carrying the father’s heart as you carry his secrets.

Share God’s faithfulness and love with your child through Max Lucado’s new children’s book, God Always Keeps His Promises. Max Lucado, beloved pastor and best-selling author, is a revered authority on biblical teaching. Yet his gentle, loving approach makes it possible for even the youngest children to understand God’s tenderness toward them. Through compelling stories, Max will guide your family through God’s unfailing goodness and faithfulness through the promises He made, and how He kept those promises in Bible times and how He still keeps them today.

In Hearing God through Biblical Meditation, Dr. Mark Virkler helps you rediscover the simplicity of hearing from heaven and reminds you that the ultimate source of divine revelation, supernatural peace, and spiritual direction is sitting on your shelf - the Bible. Learn the secret that brings scripture to life and positions you to hear God's voice with clarity and consistency like never before.

In Inspired Imperfection, Gregory A. Boyd adds another counterintuitive and provocative thesis to his corpus. While conservative scholars and pastors have struggled for years to show that the Bible is without errors, Boyd considers this a fool's errand. Instead, he says, we should embrace the mistakes and contradictions in Scripture, for they show that God chose to use fallible humans to communicate timeless truths.

In our everyday lives, friends are the people whom we spend the most time with, go through struggles with at times, and who know us best. Each of Jesus' friends - Peter, John, Matthew, Judas, Mary Magdalene, and Lazarus - traveled with Jesus and were part of his daily ministry, and each has a compelling story to tell. There were some who would question or doubt him, and one would even betray him. Kingsbury brings these fascinating personalities to life in ways that will not only help bring you closer to the truths found in scripture, but also to Christ.

Our culture is self-obsessed - in our schedules, in our relationships, and especially online. (Can you say selfie?) But in this near-narcissism, people are less content than in decades past. Why? Because we forgot the joy that comes from putting others first. Doing so requires us to live alert, listening for "heart drops", hints from those in our lives who need a helping hand or a generous dose of encouragement. Living alert lifts our own spirits, showing us that blessing others blesses us even more.

Look around you. You've noticed it, right? The Christian community seems to be looking more and more like the world around us: Grief, chronic illness, mental health challenges, broken marriages, addiction - aren't these supposed to be the things Jesus sets us free from? And yet, it doesn't seem to be working anymore, does it? Has the Gospel of Jesus somehow lost its' power? Through their personal work and work with hundreds of clients worldwide, the McKean's created the Metanoia Method® to help people understand God's intended connection between the brain, body, and Bible.

Find security and hope in a broken world through the unshakable promises of God. Join best-selling author and beloved pastor Max Lucado as he leads you through 30 life-changing promises from God in Praying the Promises. You’ll experience a more intimate and effective prayer life and a deeper faith in the God who keeps every promise.

Paul's letter to the people at Philippi serves as a reminder that if we search for joy in possessions, places, or people, we will always come up short. True, lasting joy comes only through faith in Jesus Christ, living in harmony with his followers, and serving others in the name of Christ. The life lived by the Philippians is still attainable today. In her comprehensive approach, Joyce Meyer takes a deep dive into well-known and beloved verses, identifying key truths and incorporating room for personal reflection.

Through these stories, Shannon explains the intimate connection between faith and family—and how God’s unexpected agenda can redefine the way we think about family. Not all of these mothers and daughters in the Bible were paragons of virtue. Like us, they were human beings who faltered and struggled to do their best. While some heard God’s voice, others chose their own paths. Through the lens of their imperfections, we can see how God used their stories to bring about His divine plans. He’s still doing the same work in our lives today.

Freshly translated from the original German into todays English, this book contains a treasury of devotionals taken from Luthers writings and sermons (1513 to 1546), conveniently divided into daily readings to point readers to the Bible and a deeper understanding of faith.

With so many responsibilities and distractions vying for our attention, too many of us have built unhealthy cycles of rest. As a result, we burn ourselves out, striving and straining against God's intent for our lives. We can only sustain a life of purpose if we learn to truly rest. In Soul Rest, Curtis "CZ" Zackery reveals how our misaligned view of rest has its roots in an identity that is out of rhythm with God. This thoughtful reflection on rest calls us to the hard work of self-examination, helping us move towards a purposeful and sustainable life with Jesus.

The Psalms are like a marked trail through life, showing that others have walked ahead and faced many of the challenges, temptations, heartaches, and perplexities that men will encounter on their journeys. Farrar shows that when a man begins to understand that the strong and caring hand of God is sovereign over everything in his life - including his trials and heartaches - his confidence, hope, and joy will increase dramatically in the God who created him and desires to use him.

Though most well-known for his fairy tales and poetry, George MacDonald was among religious thinkers of his century. Despite his relatively short career in ministry, his works profoundly influenced a later generation of Christian thinkers, including G. K. Chesterton and C. S. Lewis, who considered MacDonald to be his spiritual father. In The Hope of the Gospel, MacDonald explores the essential heart of the gospel that is so often overlooked, both in his day and ours.

From the beginning, God declared that we need to have a faith-based confidence in him, where we can understand our decision to accept Jesus as our Savior, and devotedly follow the Gospel of Jesus Christ. In order to do this, we must believe in the inerrant Word of God telling us who Jesus is, how we are to live, and understand the need for and way to salvation.

Dr. Charles Stanley provides practical insight into God’s word by walking you through the highlights of his own personal Bible study. He states how you don’t have to go through life wondering if the next storm will be the one that washes your life out to sea. God tells us that if we seek Him, we will find Him and when we uncover His truth, we gain clear direction for our lives and circumstances. Those who begin this journey into understanding the Bible quickly realize his word is a doorway to divine principles and life’s greatest blessings.