2011 - Books I Read This Year

I have over 50 book titles on my Kindle Fire right now but I start a book and then move on to another one before I finish it - gleaning what I need to and then moving on to another provocative title. I've really tried to change my ways and finish ever book that I start but...I just keep reading 50 books at once. My Kindle makes that such an easy habit to cultivate. {sigh} I created the list below first and now I am adding this introduction because actually I was afraid I wouldn't be able to make a very long list because of my habit of reading so many books at once. I'm happy with this short list and it has inspired me to reach new goals in 2012. I'd love to hear about the books that inspired you this year and what you'll be reading next year. On some of the descriptions below I borrowed the words from the publisher because it described the details of the book better than I wanted to take the time to do on my own. However, where I talk about how the the message of book made me feel or how I grew because of the content...that's all me baby.

1. The Healing Code: 6 Minutes to Heal the Source of Your Health, Success, or Relationship Issue
   By Alex Loyd, Phd, ND, Ben Johnson, MD, NO, NMD / Grand Central, Life & Style
   
   This book really changed my thinking about a lot of things related to the health of my soul - mind, will and emotions - and how my thoughts, emotions and imaginations are blocking the health and wholeness of my body and success in life. I would buy this book for everyone I know if I think they might read it.
   


2. Rite of Passage Parenting: Four Essential Experiences to Equip Your Kids for Life
   By Walker Moore / Thomas Nelson
   
   I was really amazed at this authors claim that our society invented the term "adolescence" to delay the time when our children took on adult responsibilities. There is no clear cut "rite of passage" in our American culture that transfers our children to responsible adults. The author, Walker Moore, gave insight on how this affects our children now and in generations to come. He shares practical ideas on how to bring your own children through a rite of passage that prepares them to move into responsible  adulthood as caring and productive individuals in our homes, communities and culture. I read this book because of a college class I was in this last year on child development. I wanted a Christian perspective on the transition from childhood to adulthood. I was very pleased when I found this book. Read it in an afternoon. I have 3 teenagers...very relevant information for my life right now.


3. The Bondage Breaker, New Edition
   By Neil T. Anderson / Harvest House Publishers
   I've read through this book once before but went through it again with a wonderful young woman in my churches youth group. The refresher was really good. Sometimes I just loose track of the things that once had me in such bondage and the enemy tries to slip those chains on again. That is why the scripture says in Hebrews 2:1 (Amp), " Since all this is true, we ought to pay much closer attention than ever to the truths that we have heard, lest in any way we drift past [them] and slip away."


4. Becoming a Man of Unwavering Faith
   By John Osteen / FaithWords
   
   A powerful guidebook from a man who spent a lifetime testing the limits of faith! Drawn from Osteen's sermons, this collection offers practical advice for the moments of struggle and temptation every man faces.This book was rich with principles of faith that can be put in practice by anyone that desires to "walk by faith". It's a very easy read but also very powerful as a faith builder.
   
   I love the Osteen family. When I was 14 years old we were traveling the country and my step-dad was preaching in various churches. We stopped at John Osteen's church and stayed on his property with our travel trailer. I even had lunch with Joel, who was home from college. We were having lunch in the churches cafeteria and my friend, Linda, got us a seat with Joel. We talked about the book of Isaiah.
   


5. So Long, Insecurity: You've Been a Bad Friend to Us, Hardcover
   By Beth Moore / Tyndale House
   
   Beth' s passion to see God free women from their insecurities and fears evolved into an online survey of more than 950 women and 150 men that ultimately resulted in the publication of this book, So Long, Insecurity. Partly autobiographical in nature, Beth Moore uses stories, prayers, and practical ideas to nudge women out of insecurity and into knowledge of their God-given dignity. No matter your age or status, you can learn to battle insecurity with God's truth.
   
   I really loved this book. Beth Moore is so authentic that the message of this book feel like she's been reading my mind. I am still reaping fruit in growth from the reading of this book. In fact, my dearest, bestest friend bought it for me on cd so that I could listen to it.
   
   
6. Bought with Blood: The Divine Exchange at the Cross
   By Derek Prince / Chosen
   
   This book was powerful for me. Derek Prince brought greater insight on what Jesus Christ paid to be mine by born again inheritance. Our Christian culture lives like we're orphans when we have access to the greatest inheritance - it's like making the sacrifice of God's son of no effect in our lives. What a waste when it cost him so much. In gratitude I want to experience all that Christ paid for on Calvary.
   
   At the cross Christ endured all the evil due you and in turn made available to you all the good due Him. In this provocative, Scripture-rich book, acclaimed author Prince explores the nine "divine exchanges" of the atonement. In place of punishment, wounding, death, poverty, shame and rejection, Christ freely offers forgiveness, healing, life, abundance, glory and acceptance. In addition, Prince gives biblical grounding for five areas of deliverance that Jesus makes available through the cross: deliverance from this present evil age, from the law, from self, from the flesh and from the world.
   
   Because it is not enough simply to know about the atonement, Prince presents the means by which you can make it true in your personal experience: repentance, faith and a relationship with the Holy Spirit. This new edition of a life-changing book includes a mini-study course at the end of each chapter, perfect for individual or small group study.
   

I started many other but for whatever reason haven't finished them. I am committed to getting through more books in 2012. My life was enriched and I reclaimed more territory that was once tied up in bondage.

"I will keep him in perfect peace
whose mind is stayed on me"
Isaiah 26:3

My other love is listening to some audio version of ministry while I multi-task. I'll create another list of the ministry that I listen to this last year. There are some speakers that I can listen to their messages over and over hundreds of times. I know that sounds crazy but I catch something new every time I listen. Managing my  thoughts and re-engineering my life through what I watch, and listen to has become a way of life that suits me well - very well. God has done much to preserve me and heal me through some painful times.

For many of the struggles I am "on the other side" experiencing victory that I never would have thought possible. In fact I can see that my careful management of my thoughts and thought habits were the key to my victory. I am so glad I chose the thoughts that God gave me rather than those natural to the pain that I was in  at the time.

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Here's a great suggestion for next years reading...

Life, in Spite of Me: Extraordinary Hope After a Fatal Choice By Kristen Jane Anderson / Multnomah Kristen Anderson wanted to die---but God had other plans. Recounting her miraculous survival of a suicide attempt in which a train severed her legs, Kristen shares how her newfound faith in God helped her overcome severe depression and shame, as well as the challenges of permanent physical disability. Discover how she found fulfillment serving God!

Bold and unashamed for the gospel of Jesus Christ because we KNOW who we have believed.

SOMEONE LOVES YOU. UNCONDITIONALLY. UNSHAKABLE, UNFAILINGLY.
That Someone is God Himself. But how can that be possible? Why would God love you so? Because He has fashioned an unbreakable covenant between Himself and you. And He always keeps His promises. “Everything God does,” says Kay Arthur, “is based on His covenant.” And when you understand how thoroughly the dynamic concept of covenant permeates everything God says in His Word, and everything He does in our lives, you’ll come to experience one of the most stabilizing, most freeing truths you’ll ever know. Kay Arthur, Our Covenant God: Living in the Security of His Unfailing Love.

Our Covenant God: Living in the Security of His Unfailing Love - eBook By Kay Arthur / WaterBrook Press

 My very first Precept Upon Precept Bible Study was the study of Covenant. I fell in love with God all over again. As a grown woman who has been "saved" for more than 30 years - there were things that I had never even heard of or knew about God's Covenant with me. Through this study His Love captured my heart anew. That was 10 years ago. My heart is still filled with fresh love for my God, my redeemer, the Lover of My Soul.

Today is the last day of 2011. I am strongly impressed that THIS is the year I am called to act on the mandate that God has given to me. Now is the time to step out in Faith and know Him deeper and proclaim His Goodness. This new year is the year that I stop putting off God's call in my life until "someday."

God's Mandate - To know Him and make Him known.
God is calling me, calling us to a deeper, richer, more fulfilling "knowing" of Himself. He has done much to demonstrate His boundless love towards us. God shares the intimacy of His many powerful names as descriptions of His character and identity. Through this insights into himself, He makes Himself available as Healer, Provider, Almighty, and Ever-Present Help in time of need.

In September of 2010, the associate pastor's wife at Conrad Mission Church, introduced the women to a study by Beth Moore called "Believing God". This was another pivotal and life changing Bible Study for me.

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Believing God By Beth Moore / B & H Publishing Group If God is who he says he is and can indeed do what he says he can do, why are so many Christians living mediocre lives? Beth Moore thinks that there is a simple answer to this question: unbelief. Therefore, in Believing God she challenges us to take God at his word, believe his promises and, as a result, live fuller lives. Don't be afraid to set aside your unbelief and experience the great blessings of God's promises.

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In this study, Beth Moore builds the lessons on this 5 part statement of Faith:

1. God is who He says He is.
2. God can do what He says He can do.
3. I am who God says I am.
4. I can do all things through Christ.
5. God's Word is alive and Active in me.

Every day since that study I have had the call of God in my heart to really know each of those 5 statements with clarity and practical use in my every day life. It's is time to take this message from my heart to my world - to ignite a fire in the hearts of other believers to know and understand the God we believe in.

Paul states in the II Timothy 1:12, "For this reason I also suffer these things, but I am not ashamed; for I know whom I have believed and I am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him until that day." Bold and unashamed for the gospel of Jesus Christ because we KNOW who we have believed.

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Believing God: Leader Kit DVD By Lifeway Based on Isaiah 43:10, Believing God: Experiencing a Fresh Explosion of Faith explores what it means to believe God. Through studying the lives of Abraham, Moses, and others from Hebrews 11 as examples of persons who believed in God, Beth encourages women to deepen their own trust in God and receive a fresh word from Him. Join Beth for 10 life-changing weeks and learn to believe God! This Leader Kit includes ten video sessions on six DVDs, a Leader Guide, and one Member book.

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"You is kind. You is smart. You is important." The Help

How precious is this scene from "The Help",  where the maid, Aibileen, says to Mae Mobley, the little daughter of her employer, "You is kind. You is smart. You is important."

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The #1 New York Times bestseller by Kathryn Stockett comes to vivid life through the powerful performances of a phenomenal ensemble cast. "The Help" is an inspirational, courageous and empowering story about very different, extraordinary women in the 1960's South who build an unlikely friendship around a secret writing project — one that breaks society’s rules and puts them all at risk. Filled with poignancy, humor and hope — and complete with compelling, never-before-seen bonus features — "The Help" is a timeless, universal and triumphant story about the ability to create change.

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Ever since I watched the movie this scene has played over and over in my mind. What an amazing seed of truth to be planted in the mind of a young child every morning by this caring woman. As I was thinking on this I felt the Holy Spirit speak into my thoughts.

"My child that is what I would say to you if you would just listen."

Really?! This is what the Holy Spirit would say over ME if I would just listen? "Are you sure Lord, this is what you think about ME? Wouldn't you be telling me of just how I have fallen short of your Glory and how I am a hopeless mess with out you?"

The Holy Spirit gently went through an explanation of each of these statements with me:

You is kind.

In Galations 5:25 the Lord says to His own people, "If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit." Just above that verse, the Lord tells us that the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. When the Holy Spirit takes up residence inside us "we is kind."

You is smart.

I Corinthians 2:16 tells me that I have the mind of Christ. Philippians 2:5 tells me to "let this same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus." And then there is I Corinthians 1:30 that tells me that "by His doing, I am in Christ Jesus who was made to be my wisdom." Of course I is smart!

You is important.

Psalms 17:8 reminds me that He guards me as the apple of His eye. I know that my Lord rejoices over me with singing because he tells me in Zephaniah 3:17. In Psalms 91, verse 14, just because I love him (which is only my response to the fact that he first loved me! I John 4:19) he will deliver me and honor me.

The Holy Spirit continued to speak into my heart - "For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you hope in your final outcome." Jeremiah 29:11

"For if anyone only listens to the Word without obeying it and being a doer of it, he is like a man who looks carefully at his [own] natural face in a mirror;

For he thoughtfully observes himself, and then goes off and promptly forgets what he was like.

But he who looks carefully into the faultless law, the [law] of liberty, and is faithful to it and perseveres in looking into it, being not a heedless listener who forgets but an active doer [who obeys], he shall be blessed in his doing (his life of obedience)." James 1:23-25

We, as humans, are all bombarded with messages of our own imperfections, unrealistic standards of "Photoshoped" heroes - we fight a constant battle of negativity and fragile pride - a distorted image of our true selves created in the image of God is lost. Looking into the mirror of the faultless law of liberty is not only to reveal to us the wickedness of our carnal nature, but also to give us a vision of who we are in Christ.

We forget so easily who we are as Children of the Light. We must be reminded daily that -

We is kind. We is smart. We is important.

Selah - Pause and think of this...

‎"Begin to worship God for who He is. Resist the urge to draw Him into your circumstances. Instead, let Him draw you into a place of majesty." ~ Graham Cook

God Ambiguous or God Almighty?

Do you know the God you love, serve and follow?

am·big·u·ous    [am-big-yoo-uhs] adjective

1. open to or having several possible meanings or interpretations; equivocal: an ambiguous answer.
2. Linguistics . (of an expression) exhibiting constructional homonymity; having two or more structural descriptions, as the sequence Flying planes can be dangerous.
3. of doubtful or uncertain nature; difficult to comprehend,distinguish, or classify: a rock of ambiguous character. 
4. lacking clearness or definiteness; obscure; indistinct: anambiguous shape; an ambiguous future.

al·might·y   [awl-mahy-tee] adjective

1. having unlimited power; omnipotent, as God.
2. having very great power, influence, etc.

Identity Crisis?

God is who He says He is.

Thank you Agape House Fellowship

In my original post here at the Faith Project Blog I described the foundational statements for the Faith Project:

• God is who He says He is
• God can do what He says He can do
• I am who God says I am
• I can do all things through Christ
• The Word of God is alive & active in me

There is a stirring in me that this is important. I believe the Holy Spirit is saying that the deeper discovery of each of the above statements is critically important.

It seems that the culture of the Christian Church and it's members are suffering from a very serious identity crisis. I say this carefully and not with self-righteous criticism. At this point I include myself in this crisis. Let's define this thing that I am calling an identity crisis.

Identity is whatever makes an entity definable and recognizable, in terms of possessing a set of qualities or characteristics that distinguish it from other entities (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: Identity, First published Wed Dec 15, 2004; substantive revision Sun Oct 1, 2006).

Crisis is defined as a crucial or decisive point or situation; a turning point; a stage in a sequence of events at which the trend of all future events, especially for better or for worse, is determined. Further crisis is defined as a condition of instability or danger, as in social, economic,political, or international affairs, leading to a decisive change. In the life of an individual, crisis defines a dramatic emotional or circumstantial upheaval in a person's life. In health, the point in the course of a serious disease at which a decisive change occurs, leading either to recovery or to death (Dictionary.com).

Looking at these two definitions as it relates to the statement, "God is who He says He is" brings me to tears. 

The crisis, the turning point that we face which the trend of all future events, for better or worse, will be determined is understanding the definable and recognizable set of qualities and characteristics that distinguishes our God, our Jehovah from all other entities.

Our knowledge and comprehension of the Almighty God, for most of us, so shallow it's not enough to build our own identity on. When we know who He is we understand who we are. You and I are created in the the image of God.

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. Genesis 1:27 KJV

The understanding of God by the Christian Culture as a whole is at best ambiguous. If our understanding of God is ambiguous it is no wonder we struggle to define ourselves or we define ourselves inappropriately. Outside of an identity in Christ the identity we represent ourselves to be in this world is a facade and impossible to stand the test of time and eternity.

On understanding the concept of identity, the German philosopher, Georg Hegel is quoted,

"Identity is the identity of identity and non-identity." 

When we come to understand the identity of God we also must come to the understanding of who He is not. Grasping this important concept is the crisis point - all future events - individually and collectively are defined by this and this alone.

Okay, let me make this street level. I'll make it personal. Because I don't know, really know and spend time focusing on the attributes of God I believe him to be at best uninvolved and detached  from me and my world. My vision and expectation of God are solely based on what I know about him - or don't know about him. Since I am created in the image of God I am, by nature, the "same as" or similar to God my creator. when my understanding of that which I am "the same as or similar to" is vague, I am unclearly defined. But, by nature I am created with an identity that must be realized.

The temptation that Eve gave in to when she ate of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil was to "be like God." Did she not understand that she was made in His image and already "like God"? The one bite that she took was the first step to seeking her identity outside of God. Humanity continues to do this everyday.

Because I don't know really know and understand the identity of God I seek my identity outside of God, facing life in a false sense of identity which is like the foolish man who built his house on sand.

But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash. Matthew 7:26-27

The key to a solid powerful identity is in getting to know and understand God and who He is. God reveals himself to me, and you, in His Name. The Name of the Lord is not just a label. The Name of the Lord is an identifier, revealing the definable and recognizable set of qualities and characteristics that distinguish our God, our Jehovah from all other entities.

Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. Matthew 7:24-25

Join me in discovering who God says that He is.

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Lord, I Want To Know You, Kay Arthur Series By Random House, Inc When the car won't start we call a mechanic. Likewise, when the bathroom overflows we call a plumber. Yet, when we are in the midst of a spiritual struggle we often fail to call upon God's provision, comfort and strength. In this insightful study of God's names, Kay will teach you how to call upon the names of God so that you can connect with your: Protector in times of vulnerability, Healer in times of illness, and Provider in times of financial drought. Learn how to call upon specific names of the Lord who can provide for your every need. Seventeen chapters