The Secret to Developing an Extraordinary Faith
Have you ever wanted a stronger faith--the kind that spills out and changes the world around you? A faith that stands strong under any trial or pressure? This kind of faith isn't just for superstar Christians--it's for all of us. The secret is to fully engage our minds, not just our hearts.
Dynamic faith means knowing why you believe what you do about all matters of faith, especially the Bible, God, Jesus, and Salvation. In this woman-to-woman book, Patty uses real-life stories and examples, including her own experience coming to Christ after a ten-year search for truth. She reveals how beliefs play an active role in behavior, in relationships, and in families, and she demonstrates how you can share and defend your faith to those you love in a compassionate, relational way.
Loving God with your heart and mind is the next step to the faith you've always wanted. Let this book show you how to get there.
Have you ever wanted a stronger faith--the kind that spills out and changes the world around you? A faith that stands strong under any trial or pressure? This kind of faith isn't just for superstar Christians--it's for all of us. The secret is to fully engage our minds, not just our hearts.
Dynamic faith means knowing why you believe what you do about all matters of faith, especially the Bible, God, Jesus, and Salvation. In this woman-to-woman book, Patty uses real-life stories and examples, including her own experience coming to Christ after a ten-year search for truth. She reveals how beliefs play an active role in behavior, in relationships, and in families, and she demonstrates how you can share and defend your faith to those you love in a compassionate, relational way.
Loving God with your heart and mind is the next step to the faith you've always wanted. Let this book show you how to get there.
Published
September 15th 2015
by Bethany House Publishers
ISBN: 0764217089
3 Stars
Patty Houser has written a book/guide to find out what you really believe. This book is approximately 198 pages of written thoughts, but in the back included is a glossary of terms and an appendix which brings the total pages up to 224.
The author writes that to have an extraordinary faith that one must engage the mind as well. Dynamic faith requires engaging both your heart and mind. She quotes Matt. 22:37 and says that Jesus told the people to love God with their hearts and soul, but then he also told them to love God with their minds. She points out that most people know what they believe, but is is enough to keep us securely grounded in our faith when challenged?
Chapter one is entitled "Yikes-What is this?" In this chapter she talks about fearing the beast, identifying the beast, the beast is biblical and embracing the beast. She explains that she is an Aplogetic, which is a rational argumentation to defend the claims God makes in the Bible about himself and the world to those who don't believe they are true. Apologists help them to see that they are true. She explains that it's the art of taking all the evidence and organizing it in a coherent line of reasoning to demonstrate to ourselves and to others why it is more rational or reasonable to believe that Christianity's central beliefs are true than to disbelieve them.
In the first section the author says that if we want to a woman who love's God will our hears and minds we need to make examining our beliefs a priority. She further delves into what exactly are our beliefs, how they are formed and do they effect our behavior. She explains that beliefs should be based on truth. The Bible is clear: Truth exsits. God gave us His Word so we could know the truth. Then she asks about false beliefs, rationality and where knowledge fits in. She says we must take responsibility for what we think, even if it makes us unpopular. She explains how to begin examining your own Christian beliefs.
This was a difficult read for me and also difficult to write a review on. As I was reading this book the one thing that kept popping in my mind was the movie God's Not Dead. In this movie a young, college student takes a philosophy class where the professor tells the students he will give them an A if they write on paper that god's not dead and turn it in to him. The young student stood by his faith and refused. The professor then told him to prove God's not dead. This book reminds me of this movie so much, because the author is tell me that in order to believe you must have knowledgeable proof.
Faith is a strong or unshakable belief in something, especially without proof or evidence. I do not need proof to believe that God loves me or that he he is real. I believe in John 3:16-17
For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish, but have ever lasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might have everlasting life.
I believe that your faith strengthens as your your relationship with God strengthens through reading the Bible which contains our guide to live by and through prayer.
With that being said, I agree with a lot of what the author discusses. I do understand that it's important to know what you believe and why. This book was just too intense for me. Some people need proof to believe and some just want to have lots of facts in case they are in an argument about faith, so this would be a perfect book for them.
*I received this book free from the publisher for a book review through their blogger 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.
by Bethany House Publishers
ISBN: 0764217089
3 Stars
Patty Houser has written a book/guide to find out what you really believe. This book is approximately 198 pages of written thoughts, but in the back included is a glossary of terms and an appendix which brings the total pages up to 224.
The author writes that to have an extraordinary faith that one must engage the mind as well. Dynamic faith requires engaging both your heart and mind. She quotes Matt. 22:37 and says that Jesus told the people to love God with their hearts and soul, but then he also told them to love God with their minds. She points out that most people know what they believe, but is is enough to keep us securely grounded in our faith when challenged?
Chapter one is entitled "Yikes-What is this?" In this chapter she talks about fearing the beast, identifying the beast, the beast is biblical and embracing the beast. She explains that she is an Aplogetic, which is a rational argumentation to defend the claims God makes in the Bible about himself and the world to those who don't believe they are true. Apologists help them to see that they are true. She explains that it's the art of taking all the evidence and organizing it in a coherent line of reasoning to demonstrate to ourselves and to others why it is more rational or reasonable to believe that Christianity's central beliefs are true than to disbelieve them.
In the first section the author says that if we want to a woman who love's God will our hears and minds we need to make examining our beliefs a priority. She further delves into what exactly are our beliefs, how they are formed and do they effect our behavior. She explains that beliefs should be based on truth. The Bible is clear: Truth exsits. God gave us His Word so we could know the truth. Then she asks about false beliefs, rationality and where knowledge fits in. She says we must take responsibility for what we think, even if it makes us unpopular. She explains how to begin examining your own Christian beliefs.
This was a difficult read for me and also difficult to write a review on. As I was reading this book the one thing that kept popping in my mind was the movie God's Not Dead. In this movie a young, college student takes a philosophy class where the professor tells the students he will give them an A if they write on paper that god's not dead and turn it in to him. The young student stood by his faith and refused. The professor then told him to prove God's not dead. This book reminds me of this movie so much, because the author is tell me that in order to believe you must have knowledgeable proof.
Faith is a strong or unshakable belief in something, especially without proof or evidence. I do not need proof to believe that God loves me or that he he is real. I believe in John 3:16-17
For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish, but have ever lasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might have everlasting life.
I believe that your faith strengthens as your your relationship with God strengthens through reading the Bible which contains our guide to live by and through prayer.
With that being said, I agree with a lot of what the author discusses. I do understand that it's important to know what you believe and why. This book was just too intense for me. Some people need proof to believe and some just want to have lots of facts in case they are in an argument about faith, so this would be a perfect book for them.
*I received this book free from the publisher for a book review through their blogger 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.
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