Teaching and training are, and always had been, important keys to revival. However, these important aspects are often overlooked or given a back seat to the charismatic sermon or new program. Why? Because teaching and training are difficult and time-consuming. It takes hours of hard work and dedication; not to mention patience.

“Disciples [deep people] are not manufactured wholesale. They are produced on by one, because someone has taken the pains to discipline, to instruct, and enlighten, to nurture and train one that is younger.” – Oswald Chambers

When we look at the ministry of Jesus Christ on this earth, we see that Jesus method was teaching and training. For many months, the Lords’s disciples watched Him, listened to Him, and tried to emulate Him. It took time and effort and a handful of failures, but eventually the Word, the Gospel, the message of Jesus, and the power of the Holy Spirit finally reached the core of their souls, and were changed to change the world.

In Going Deep, Gordon MacDonald explores how the Church might go about developing deep people today. This book is a follow-up to his story of a New England congregation struggling with unity, Who Stole My Church. In this sequel, the author picks the story back up, focusing this time on cultivation: how to develop new generations of deepening people who will rise to positions of influence in and beyond their congregation and do it in ways that fit the changing realities of our time.

In his celebrated style, Gordon transports the reader to a fictional setting, telling a story that is full of lessons in leadership. He identifies modern challenges to developing people of depth and offers timeless insight on how to cultivate spiritual maturity and exhibit life-altering faith.

I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in fulfilling 2 Timothy 2:2. “And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also.”

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.combook review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

During the tour of the castle, our tour guide mentioned in passing the three ways a person became a slave:

1. Crimes committed
2. Debt that could not be paid
3. Born into it

We fit all three conditions of slavery to sin.

1. We have committed crimes. “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23)
2. We all have a debt that we cannot pay. “For the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23).
3. We were all born into sin. “Behold, I was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me” (Psalm 51:5).

We are all slaves to sin and unrighteousness. But this was not God’s plan for us. He desires for us to enjoy the pleasure of freedom. He will set us free by taking us captive in His mercy.

We have committed crimes. But He cleared our record.

“Blotting out the handwriting of the ordinances that was against us… and took it our of the way, nailing it to His cross” (Col. 2:14).

We all have a debt that we cannot pay. But He paid it for us.

“Ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold…but with the precious blood of Christ” (1 Peter 1:18-19).

We were all born into sin. But we can be born again.

“Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God” (John 3:5).

Once I was “free” in shackles of sin:
Free to be tempted, bound to give in;
Free to be captive to any desire;
Free to eternally burn in hell fire.
But Jesus bought me, now I’m a “slave,”
Bound by commands, free to obey;
Captive by beauty, free to adore,
Sentenced to sit at His feet evermore!
-Unknown 

“Know ye not that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are….whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness” (Romans 6:16).

In order to understand the truth about freedom we first must understand this truth of captivity. We must see clearly that we are either a captive of Christ (captive by His will, captive by His laws, captive by His love) or a captive of sin (captive by the lusts of our flesh, captive by the ways of this world). Every man has a master!

Once we understand this, we can understand the Truth about Freedom. Every man is both free and captive at the same time.

“Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness” (Romans 6:18).

“For when ye were servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness” (Romans 6:20).

You are either free from sin and captive by Christ or you are free from Christ and captive by sin. The only difference is what your end will be: death or eternal life?

“For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 6:23).

He hath made every thing beautiful in his time:(Ecclesiastes 3:11).

It’s not always easy to give up the pen and allow Him to write. I think I know what’s best for me. I need to know the plan. I don’t have time to wait. And I have found that when He is writing, I often don’t see much more than the next step of faith. When He is writing, there are often unexpected plot twists and turns in the road that leave me overwhelmed and saying, “I didn’t see that coming.” When He is writing, I’m not in control, I’m under His control. And I have to constantly fight the urge to take the pen from His hand and write in characters and scenes where I think they should be.

So I fight every fleshly urge to know the future, to be in control, to speed up the story, and I allow Him to write.

Because when He is writing and unfolding His masterpiece I find true peace. When He is writing I realize that I have every thing that I need. When He is writing I face and overcome all of my fears. When He is writing, everything in me that I am ashamed of rises to the surface and He takes it out. When He is writing, I become the man He wants me to be.

I am just learning to allow Him to write the story. And over the last few months He has written exciting adventures that I could have never planned and He has penned in beautiful people who have changed my world forever. He has filled my story with a love that exceeds every expectation that I ever had for human love and companionship. In doing so, He has answered prayer requests that I have prayed for years and given me my greatest earthly blessing.

And I can truly say, it was worth waiting for the story to unfold. I wouldn’t change a thing. And I am full of anticipation for the chapters ahead.

Delight thyself also in the LORD; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart (Psalm 37:4).

Uncertainty remains. I’m not sure exactly how or when everything is going to unfold in these last days. Men who have given much more time to the study of these things often disagree. I don’t rejoice when I hear of earthquakes and famines. My mind still explores the fearful possibilities when I hear of wars and rumors of wars. Yet despite all of these things, the trouble is gone.

“And ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. All these are the beginning of sorrows” (Matthew 24:6-8).

It is not God’s will for you to be fearful and troubled as the end draws near. In fact, His Word teaches us to comfort each other by talking about His return (1 Thessalonians 4:16-18). We should be confident concerning the appearing of Jesus Christ, not fearful and ashamed (1 John 2:28, 4:17,18). It may be that the fear you are feeling is evidence of your need to make your heart right in repentance and trust the Lord for salvation.

Jesus gave the ultimate reason for us to banish trouble from our hearts:

“Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also” (John 14:1-3).

In Living Close to God, Edwards writes of his personal struggle with feeling like a failure at personal devotions and the solution he found. Hint: it wasn’t to try harder to pray and read the Bible. If you have struggled to have a consistent time with the Lord or found that your mind is constantly wandering during prayer and Bible reading, you will benefit from the insights in this book.

Edwards points out the complexity we often bring into our relationship with God when it is really much more simple. He reminds us that, “From the day Jesus was baptized until today, the majority of believers have been illiterate. They could not read. So the solution must be simple.” He asks, “Does a Christian with a college degree stand a better chance of having a meaningful spiritual life than the Christian who cannot read?”

Jesus’ audience was 98 percent illiterate, and He gave no indication that He was planning on a future church filled with an intellectual, spiritually elite group of followers. Jesus’ teachings were consistently simple no matter who was in the audience.

The one thing about this book that I struggled with was Edwards’ view on the spiritual disciplines of prayer and Bible study. It seems to me that (on some level) Edwards has dismissed these disciplines as unimportant in the Christian life. I disagree. While I do believe that it is important that we are mindful of the Lord throughout the day, as Edwards encourages, I also believe in the need for dedicated times of focused prayer and Bible study.

I received “Living Close To God: When You’re Not Good At It” by Gene Edwards from Blogging for Books / WaterBrookMultnomah Press in exchange for my review, of which there was no pressure one way or the other regarding how I reviewed it.

“I’m starving! Give me some of that red stew.”

“Sure,” Jacob replied, “but first you will have to trade me your rights as the firstborn son.”

Caught up in the heat of the moment, seeking only to satisfy the immediate needs of his flesh, Esau concedes. “I’m dying of starvation! What good is my birthright now?”

Esau swore an oath, thereby selling all his rights as the firstborn to his brother, Jacob. Jacob gave Esau some bread and lentil stew. Esau ate the meal, then got up and left. He showed contempt for his rights as the firstborn.

I know what you are thinking. That is stupid. You would never do something like that, not for a meal. After all, how can you compare a bowl of soup to life’s pleasures, trials, and cares that people currently take in place of salvation. Certainly Esau’s trade is MUCH sillier than anything people trade today.

As long as we are making comparisons, I ask you to consider: How can you compare an earthly inheritance with a heavenly inheritance? An earthly inheritance, as great as it could be, is still just a bowl of soup compared to all that the Lord has for His children!

Anything you could take in place of your inheritance is like a bowl of beans in comparison!

Don’t make Esau’s trade. Treasure your inheritance.

In January 1548, Hugh Latimer confronted preachers who were more engaged in business and pleasure than in preaching. He preached a famous sermon at St. Paul’s Cathedral in which he named the most diligent preacher in England:

And now I would ask a strange question: who is the most diligent bishop and prelate in all England, that passes all the rest in doing his office? I can tell, for I know him who it is; I know him well. But now I think I see you listening and hearkening that I should name him. There is one that passes all the other, and is the most diligent prelate and preacher in all England. And will ye know who it is? I will tell you: it is the devil.

He is the most diligent preacher of all other; he is never out of his diocese; he is never from his cure; ye shall never find him unoccupied; he is ever in his parish; he keeps residence at all times; ye shall never find him out of the way, call for him when you will he is ever at home; the most diligent preacher in all the realm; he is ever at his plough: no lording nor loitering can hinder him; he is ever applying his business, ye shall never find him idle, I warrant you…

Oh that our prelates would be as diligent to sow the corn of good doctrine…

Therefore, ye unpreaching prelates, learn of the devil: to be diligent in doing of your office, learn of the devil: and if you will not learn of God, nor good men; for shame learn of the devil.

We all have a thing or two to learn from the devil when it comes to the matter of diligence. He works tirelessly to the damnation of souls. Let us work tirelessly to the saving of souls.

Pray diligently.
Fast diligently.
Worship diligently.
Watch diligently.
Witness diligently.
Preach diligently.
Teach diligently.

Souls depend upon it. Souls that the devil seeks to destroy. He is working diligently. Are you?

A power of attorney (POA) or letter of attorney is a written authorization to represent or act on another’s behalf in private affairs, business, or some other legal matter. -Wikipedia

Due to the length of my stay in Ghana, I thought that it would be wise to give my father access to my personal bank accounts and check signing authority should a need arise during my absence. By establishing a POA, I could give him full access to all of my resources, meager though they may be. At any time he could legally write a check or withdraw money from my accounts, just as if he was me. I gave him the power of my name.

The Gospel of John is our spiritual POA document.

• “And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do [it]“ (John 14:13-14).
• “Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and [that] your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you” (John 15:16).
• “And in that day ye shall ask me nothing. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give [it] you. Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full” (John 16:23-24).

He has given us the power of His name. We are agents of all of His resources. Whatever we ask in His name, if we ask according to His will and not according to our own desires (James 4:3), He will do it.

Peter proclaimed his right to act as an agent of Christ’s resources when he was brought before the high priest, rulers, elders and scribes in Acts 4. They wanted to know how the lame man at the gate Beautiful had been healed. “By what power, or by what name, have ye done this” (Acts 4:7)? Peter made his answer very clear.

“Be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him doth this man stand here before you whole…Neither is that salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved” (Acts 4:10,12).

Stan Gleason tweeted on the day I wrote this, “A book is only as good as where you ‘are’ when you read it.” That has proven to be true so many times for me. I have reread books that didn’t make much of an impact five years ago that spoke deeply to my present situation. That being said, these may not be the best books I read, but they all affected me deeply because I read them when I needed to read them.

In no particular order: