Listening to God in Times of Choice

Author: Gordon T. Smith
Publisher: InterVarsity Press
ISBN: 9780830876198
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 158

Book Description
All Christians yearn to live at the center of God's will. But how to discern his will is an art that eludes many of us. And the advice we get often conflicts. Some tell us to look for a divine "blueprint"-the one perfect plan for our lives that we need to find. We are encouraged to search the Scriptures and hunt for signs, trying to uncover the map of our lives that God has drawn. Others have rejected the blueprint school of guidance for the "wisdom school." With minds renewed by the teaching of Scripture, we are to develop the wisdom necessary to make wise choices. We are told not to expect that there is just one answer to God's will for every decision we face. Several may be possible. The difficulty with both approaches, writes Gordon Smith, is that they minimize the presence and voice of God in times of choice. Instead, he argues for a third way. He suggests that we develop discernment as a spiritual discipline. By stressing the personal aspects of growing in our relationship with God, we can understand his will, not just in times of crisis but throughout our daily lives. This book provides no magic formulas, no recipes for guaranteed success-just a lot of insight, gleaned from centuries of lived Christian experience, that will guide and encourage you in the art of discerning God's will.

Discerning God's Will Together

Author: Danny E. Morris
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 156699506X
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 158

Book Description
Bible study, research, and fieldwork merge in this book of practical principles for decision making by spiritual discernment. The step-by-step approach can be used to help any size group learn a new way to make decisions--a way that is interactive, spiritual, and rooted in faith practices and community. Small groups, committees, church boards, church leaders at all levels, and seminary professors will find this book valuable. This is a revised and updated version of the book, originally published in 1997. This new version inclused revised and updated material, as well as a new introduction by Charles Olsen.

Hearing with the Heart

Author: Debra K. Farrington
Publisher: Fortress Press
ISBN: 1506454704
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 272

Book Description
Only through learning to hear with our hearts tuned closely to God can we discern how we should find our way through the crowded and confusing thickets of our lives. In Hearing with the Heart, popular writer and retreat leader Debra K. Farrington leads you through a gentle process for discovering how to invite God's presence into every aspect of your daily life. Her story-filled discussions of key practices such as prayer, meditation, reading and reflection, and attentiveness to your body, your studies, and your relationships with your friends and family, help you discover how to be open to discerning God's will. Filled with a wealth of exercises, guidelines, and tools, Hearing with the Heart gives you the practical help you need to bring you closer to God. As you put these suggestions into practice you will find yourself opening more and more to God's infinite possibilities for you.

Hearing God in Conversation

Author: Sam Williamson
Publisher: Kregel Publications
ISBN: 0825444241
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 216

Book Description
"I picked it up out of curiosity and I couldn’t put it down."--Eugene Peterson Christians are comfortable saying that Christianity is about a relationship with God. Yet many might also say that they sense little meaningful relationship with God in their own lives. After all, the foundation of good relationship is communication—-but conversation with God often seems to go only one way. We may sing of walking and talking with God in the garden, His voice falling on our ears, but few have heard that beloved voice themselves. Sam Williamson acknowledges the fundamental human longing to hear God’s voice and offers a hopeful supposition: God is always speaking—-we’ve just never been taught how to recognize His voice. Williamson handles this potentially heady topic with his characteristic straightforwardness and leavening humor. This book deftly bridges the gap between solid biblical theology and practical application, addressing topics such as how to truly pray without ceasing, how to brainstorm with God, how to navigate our emotions, how to answer God’s questions, and how to hear God’s voice for others. Hearing God in Conversation offers simple, step-by-step lessons on how to hear God. Williamson begins with Scripture meditation. He then expands the practice of listening for that voice everywhere—in the checkout line, on the job, in a movie theater, and even in silence. From there, he demonstrates how to hear God’s guidance when making any decision. By the end, readers’ eyes and ears will be opened to the limitless methods through which God speaks.

Discerning the Will of God

Author: Timothy M. Gallagher
Publisher: Crossroad Publishing
ISBN: 9780824524890
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Book Description
Drawing from the timeless methods of Saint Ignatius of Loyola, this thoughtful meditation is enriched with examples and stories that offer practical and profound wisdom for aligning personal desires and goals with God's will.

In Search of God’s Will

Author: Trevor Hudson
Publisher: NavPress
ISBN: 1641587652
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 110

Book Description
Have You Ever Asked, “What Is God’s Will for My Life?” A trusted voice of the Christian faith in spiritual formation and discipleship, deeply shaped by the wisdom of Dallas Willard and St. Ignatius, Trevor Hudson has crafted a “users guide” to discern God’s personal will for our lives. After serving the local congregation as a Methodist pastor in South Africa for almost fifty years, Trevor now lectures, teaches, and offers spiritual retreats both locally and internationally. Over the years this question about discerning God’s will is one that he has heard again and again. In Search of God’s Will creates a biblical imagination around the concept of discernment and provides practical ways to discern God’s personal will for your life, ultimately helping you to become the unique person God wants you to be. You’ll be equipped and encouraged in your faith on how to: align your heart with the heart of God, attune yourself to your calling, listen to God in Scripture, pray the Scriptures, pay attention to the movements of the Spirit in your heart, uncover and exercise your God-given giftedness, notice God’s presence and activity in daily life, engage in sacred conversations with trusted companions, make faithful decisions, take the initiative when God seems silent, and more. Each concept includes a ‘discernment exercise’ so that you can experience what you are learning. If you have ever wondered about God’s personal will for your life, how your desires and God’s desires intersect, and how God is present and active around you, In Search of God’s Will can help you catch glimpses of what it means to become the person that from eternity you were destined to be.

Sacred Pace

Author: Terry Looper
Publisher: HarperChristian + ORM
ISBN: 078522338X
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 234

Book Description
How do we hear from God and discern His will when it’s time to make big decisions? Terry Looper shares a four-step process for doing just that - a process he has learned and refined over thirty years as a Christian entrepreneur and founder of a multi-billion dollar company. At just thirty-six years old, Terry Looper was a successful Christian businessman who thought he had it all—until managing all he had led to a devastating burnout. Wealthy beyond his wildest dreams but miserable beyond belief, Terry experienced a radical transformation when he discovered how to align himself with God’s will in the years following his crash and burn. Sacred Pace is a four-step process that helps Christians in all walks of life learn how to slow down their decision-making under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, sift through their surface desires and sinful patterns in order to receive clear, peace-filled answers from the Lord, gain the confident assurance that God’s answers are His way of fulfilling the true desires he has placed in their hearts, and grow closer to the One who loves them most and knows them best. Sacred Pace is not another example of name-it-and-claim-it materialism in disguise. Instead, it walks Christians through the sometimes-painful process of “dying to self” in their decisions, both big and small, so that they desire God’s will more than their own.

Found: God's Will

Author: John MacArthur, Jr.
Publisher: David C Cook
ISBN: 078140360X
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 82

Book Description
Does God have a path for me? How do I make the right choices in life? Why is it so difficult to uncover God's will? Trusted pastor and teacher John MacArthur answers these vital questions and more. Found: God's Will shares six powerful principles that will give you direction, fill you with purpose, and give you the confidence to live out His plan for you.

God's Voice Within

Author: Mark E. Thibodeaux
Publisher: Loyola Press
ISBN: 082943304X
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 242

Book Description
Many of us do not trust our own thoughts, feelings, and desires when it comes to discerning God’s will. Instead we look outside ourselves to determine what God wants from and for us. In God’s Voice Within, spiritual director Mark E. Thibodeaux, SJ, shows us how to use Ignatian discernment to access our own spiritual intuition and understand that the most trustworthy wisdom of all comes not from outside sources, but from God working through us. God’s Voice Within is intended for people who know that there is more to the spiritual life than they are currently experiencing and are ready to take the next step in their walk of faith by making effective discernment—specifically Ignatian discernment—a daily practice. Ultimately, God’s Voice Within teaches us to discern what is at the root of our actions and emotions, which in turn allows us to respond to God’s promptings inside us rather than unconsciously reacting to life around us.

Learning to Hear with the Heart

Author: Debra K. Farrington
Publisher: Jossey-Bass
ISBN: 9780787967161
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Book Description
As faithful Christians, it is important we hear, see, feel, and think with the heart, for it is through the heart that we attune ourselves to the Spirit and to what God wishes for each of us. Learning to Hear with the Heart—written as a companion for your discernment journey—invites you to spend thirty days listening for God's guidance not only for the big questions of your life but for everyday matters as well. Drawing on a wealth of stories, Scripture, prayer, and questions for reflection, author Debra Farrington encourages readers to be fuller and more joyful participants in discerning the shape and direction of their lives and in learning to live closer to God. Individuals and groups can use Learning to Hear with the Heart as a companion book to the author's earlier work Hearing with the Heart or as an individual, inspirational guide to the discernment process.