Book Rec Series: 4-6

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This is the second in a series of book recommendations (because I couldn’t just give you a few). If you’re interested, you can check out books 1-3 here. But those books aren’t any better than these ones. These are all books I absolutely love and want everyone to read too! In fact, if you’ve ready any of these, send me a message or leave a comment telling me why you loved it (or them) – there’s nothing better than discussing a good book! Anyways, let’s get to it:

4 – Ultimate Exodus by Danielle Strickland

• For Who: Anyone seeking freedom or a unique (and beautiful) look at the book of Exodus.
• Group Study: There isn’t currently one made. However, I have read through this book with a group of other people. It’s a fairly short read so pretty doable for an 8 week study.
• Reading Difficulty: Definitely an easy read, but that does NOT mean it is lacking in substance! Full of incredible visuals and a number of gut punches when needed, this easy read will impact just about anyone…as long as you let it!
• Why I Recommend It: Honestly, Danielle Strickland is a favorite of mine. I have heard her speak on multiple occasions and every time I have walked away better. She challenges you and helps you see things differently. So, really, I recommend this book because it introduces you to quite an am
• Four of My Favorite Quotes (yes, I bumped it to four instead of 3, it was just way too hard…)
  • “When we read the story of Exodus…What if we aren’t the Israelites? What if are the Egyptians? How would we interpret this story if we weren’t the underdogs crying out to God, but we were the arrogant oppressors confronted with the God of the oppressed?”
  • “…it took about a year to get Israel out of Egypt but forty years to get Egypt out of Israel. They wasted a whole generation resisting the process of ’emptying’…The process of emptying is how we get to our own place of nothing ness out of which the Spirit can create something new in us…Embracing the desert places is a sure way to move deeper into the things of God’s Kingdom come.” emphasis added
  • “Freaking out seems to be the basic response to God’s invitation into supernatural living, so if you are prone to freak out, take comfort.”
  • “I heard recently that all of us are living in either faith or fear. I didn’t like it when I heard it. It struck a nerve, I think. But if you think of faith at one end of a continuum and fear at the other, you have to walk in one direction or the other. There is no way to walk in them both.”

5 – Draw the Circle by Mark Batterson

• For Who: Anyone looking to take their prayer life to the next level (especially if your prayer life doesn’t really exist). This book, no matter what your time talking to Jesus looks like, will grow and stretch you further (“further up and further in” to borrow a phrase from C.S. Lewis…).
• Group Study: There is actually a 5-week video study available here. However, given the right scenario, I have gone through this book, not once, but twice, one week at a time with different groups. Yes, you heard that right, 40 weeks. Now, I hear you, “What small group would actually meet for 40 weeks?!?” First, there are definitely some groups out there that could do this. But also, it works great as a “Sunday School” study as people can jump in at any time. And, if you work with a faith-based staff – it’s a great way to bring everyone together once a week to grow together.
• Reading Difficulty: Mr. Batterson does use some bigger words on occasion. However, I would still put this toward the more easy side. Essentially, though I haven’t read it, Draw the Circle takes Batterson’s The Circle Maker and breaks it into more easily digestible pieces, bite size snippets if you will.
• Why I Recommend It: It will challenge you. I mean, after all, the subtitle is: The 40 Day Prayer Challange, so I guess that makes sense. Honestly, I have read this book over and over again and it always teaches me something new. I refer to it often in discipling opportunities and sometimes in general conversation. In general, it’s just a great tool to have at your disposal.
• Four of My Favorite Quotes
  • “Why do we mistakenly think that God is offended by our prayers for the impossible? The truth is that God is offended by anything less! God is offended when we ask Him to do things we can do ourselves. It’s the impossible prayers that honor God because they reveal our faith and allow God to reveal His glory.”
  • “We certainly practice sound financial management, count the cost of every vision, and steward every penny in a way that honors God, but we refuse to let our budget determine our vision. That would be poor stewardship because it’s based on our limited resources rather than on God’s unlimited supply.”
  • “There comes a moment when praying becomes a form of spiritual procrastination. It’s time to stop praying and start acting. Quit praying about the program and fill out an application. Quit praying for the friend you hurt and make a phone call. Don’t just complain to God about your coworker; circle them in prayer. Don’t just pray for missionaries; write a check.”
  • “It’s those who spend the most time in God’s presence that God can use the most because they are the people He can trust the most.”
• BONUS: There is also a Circle Maker book specifically targeting parents: Praying Circles Around Your Children. Again, I haven’t read this one yet but it is very patiently sitting on my “to be read” shelf!

6 – God is Stranger by Krish Kandiah

• For Who: Everyone who has ever questioned a story in the Bible, anyone who has ever struggled with doubt or confusion in their faith… If something, somewhere in Scripture just didn’t add up for you – you need to get this book. Krish Kandiah takes the strangest parts of Scripture and explores how those are the places we truly experience God, making the stranger stories relevant to our modern lives today.
• Group Study: There is not currently one available and I have not personally done this as a study. However, I am dying to discuss it with someone! Because it it amazing!
• Reading Difficulty: Of all the books I have recommended, this one may lean toward the more difficult. Krish Kandiah is very intellectual and that shows in his book. However, that doesn’t mean you won’t be able to understand what he has to say. He takes complicated and messy stories in the Bible and helps to make sense of them. God is stranger than we ever expected, but that’s okay.
• Why I Recommend It: This book will take what you think you know and turn it upside down. It will challenge you, and help you, and make you rethink a lot of things. God is Stranger will confront things in you that you didn’t realize you needed to address, and it will leave you changed.
• Four Five of My Favorite Quotes: (It was incredibly difficult to narrow down my favorite quotes for this book – which makes it all the more recommendable – go read it!)
  • “There are plenty of us who believe that so long as we have good theology, it doesn’t matter what we do in our home or workplace or community or nation or world. There are plenty of us who believe that as long as we attend church, it doesn’t really matter what happens in and around our bank account, how we treat our spouse or colleagues, or which Internet sites we visit. There are plenty of us who pray and tithe and even fast, but who do practically nothing for those who are suffering around us.”
  • “If we want to know the God who is a stranger, we have to start looking in all the wrong places. To do that we may have to start being in all the wrong places. If it wasn’t beneath God himself to turn up in the lowly villages of Israel or the refugee camps of Egypt, it cannot be beneath us. Where will our hospitality be most costly, most effective, and most appreciated?”
  • “Fear of the stranger, otherwise known as xenophobia, is so ingrained into our psyche that it is hard to break the cycle of mistrust, suspicion, and hostility. It affects the way we relate to God, as we have seen through this book. It affects the way we relate to our neighbors. It affects the way we relate to everybody.”
  • “The Lebanese Christians I met had been caring for [Muslim] refugees day in, day out, for four years. They were not just donating some old clothes that they were going to throw out anyway and call it generosity. They were not just liking a Facebook post, changing their profile picture, or retweeting an update on Twitter. They were not just wearing a ribbon, writing a check, or sacrificing a blanket. Although all these things can be helpful, we kid ourselves if we think that by doing any of them we have fulfilled our responsibility to live justly in the world. Too often all we do is only conscience alleviation.”
  • “We are prone to offer people salvation without service, rescue without recruitment, a Messiah yet not mission, and cleansing without a calling. But we cannot separate becoming a Christian and living for God.”