I am so excited to share that Trusting In The Names Of God - Drawing Strength From Knowing Who He Is is now available for pre-order at the Quiet Time Ministries Online Store. And something new and exciting is going to be released with Trusting In The Names Of God. In addition to the 30 day journey, I’ve also written a companion 8-week Quiet Time Experience to take you even deeper into the names of God. Both these books may now be pre-ordered and will be released by Harvest House Publishers in July 2008. Almost as soon as we launched the pre-order pages for these books, we received our first order! It was an amazing experience for me to write these books. I can truthfully say that my life will never be the same. In the 30 day journey, you will learn 5 vital actions on your part to help you truly trust God. I always define “trust” as Total Reliance Under Stress and Trial. But how can we totally rely on God? In this book you will learn how. One of the keys that unlocks the door is discovering God’s names. And He does not just have one name, but many names. I can’t wait to take this journey with others throughout the world. When we venture into what Tozer calls “the mystery of the Godhead,” we are on sacred ground indeed. We must, like Moses did, “remove our shoes” so to speak, and oh, what views of God’s magnificence and glory will await us. In the 30 day journey of Trusting In The Names Of God, we will explore 14 of my favorite names of God in the Bible. I’m especially thrilled that the foreword to this book is written by my Old Testament professor from seminary, Dr. Ron Youngblood. Dr. Youngblood is a translator of the New International Version and Today’s New International Version of the Bible and an Associate Editor of The NIV Study Bible and The TNIV Study Bible.
In the Trusting In The Names Of God Quiet Time Experience we are going to experience 8 weeks of daily quiet times according to the P.R.A.Y.E.R. Quiet Time Plan. Each day you will Prepare Your Heart, Read and Study God’s Word, Adore God In Prayer, Yield Yourself To God, Enjoy His Presence, and Rest In His Love. In the Quiet Time Experience of Trusting In The Names Of God you will interact with God Himself through His names. Your focus will be on Who God is, What God does, and What God says as you explore His revelation of Himself to men and women in the Bible such as Abraham, Hagar, Job, the prophets, and the disciples in the early church. Each day of quiet time includes devotional reading from classic Christian authors, in-depth devotional Bible study, prayer, worship, application, and a promise from God’s Word.
I am encouraging others to make Trusting In The Names of God part of their spiritual growth plan for this coming year. You can begin with the 30 day journey and then continue on with the 8 week Quiet Time Experience. At our church we are going to use the 30 day journey as a Women’s Personal Revival and Spiritual Growth Campaign with all our women and then study the 8 week Quiet Time Experience as part of our Women’s Bible Study. I can’t wait! For more information about Trusting In The Names Of God and how you can pre-order your copies of the 30 day journey and the quiet time experience for yourself and your friends, you may go to the Quiet Time Ministries Online Store at www. myquiettime.com. You will find links on the left hand side of the store under the 30 day journeys and the quiet time experiences.
Knowing God is what life is all about. In fact, one of the things I always say is that our greatest claim in life would be to say “I know God.” I also share in the 30 day journey how every passage of Scripture in the Bible tells you something about God and I share how to discover those truths when you open the pages of God’s Word. I am so burdened these days for the church because I know to many the Bible is a closed book. And if the Bible is a closed book, then that means very few are truly drawing near and knowing God intimately. What is on the heart of God today? You and me. He wants an intimate, vibrant, relationship with you and me. In fact, Richard Foster has said that he believes that God’s heart is “an open wound of love” and that God longs for our presence. I do believe that is true for I see the expression of God’s love for us written all across the pages of His Word and no expression is greater than the gift of Jesus and His death on the cross for you and me. In two weeks we will celebrate the love of Christ as we attend Good Friday and Easter services. Oh, how I pray we will all resolve anew to draw near to God, know Him, and then love and trust Him with all our heart, soul, mind and strength. God bless everyone as you all continue on in the great adventure of knowing Him.
Isn’t this the most amazing sunset! I always think of sunsets as the Lord painting the sky with brilliant colors. I saw this from the plane as we were on approach to Tulsa, Oklahoma where I spoke last weekend at First Baptist Church of Tulsa. I took a bunch of pictures of this sunset and wish I could show them all up here on the blog. Each one is unique and beautiful. People on the plane were watching me take pictures and looked out their window to see what was so important to me - then they saw God’s handiwork as well. Things like this just take my breath away. I watched this sunset in awe. If the Lord can handle the creation of the universe, how is it that I worry and fear over the details of my own life? I am learning to trust - total reliance under stress and trial.
Look at this amazing stain-glass window with the cross so prominently displayed - I loved it! What a privilege to share with the women of First Baptist Church in Tulsa! We talked together about what it means to have a heart that dances. I asked 4 questions: What’s It All About?, Will You Dance With Him?, Can You Hear His Music?, and What Is The Message Of Your Dance? As I shared about these powerful truths from the life of David and his words in Psalm 27, I could not help but be impacted myself and encouraged to lean in and follow the lead of my Lord. When I returned home, I read these words from F.B. Meyer out of my soon to be released book, Trusting In the Names Of God - A Quiet Time Experience: