The Enemies of the Heart by Andy Stanley

-
 God has given me a desire to know two things this year. The first is who He is. The second is anything that gets in the way of me experiencing Him in fullness. After much time reflecting on the mind of Christ, God led me to this book. I honestly had a very hard time reading it. It convicted me so heavily that, I would feel nauseous and tearful. I can't tell you the last time that my sin was so blatant to me. I feel like I have been beat about the head with a bat, sucker punched in the gut, and brought to the absolute end of myself. Andy's questions were ones that made me realize that I had sinful areas in the recesses of my heart that God wanted to use for something else. I desperately want my flesh crucified. Aside from the intimacy with my Saviour, I have no greater yearning than to die to myself at this moment. I honestly think that it is going to take months or more to unpack what God revealed to me while reading this. I am undone, friends. I want you to be as well. Any time you might find yourself thinking that this is the perfect book for one of your friends, stop and ask God to show you how these things are manifest in you.

Comments

Rachelle said…
thanks. Loved the excerpt. I just ordered it! I could use it right now!
12:19 AM
The Pursuit of Christ said…
I will do this with you. God had already been leading me to do it. i was going to ask you what the feeling of nausea meant but then i remembered when I had felt this way when we first had come to Florida, it was conviction. oh dear, I thought, how bad is my sin still? Please pray for me and I will be praying for you sister. Love you.
11:22 AM
Tonya said…
It does look like a very good book. The link for the first chapter was good. God has been speaking to me about heart issues. I noticed that fear is not one of the issues mentioned, but I am sure it is related to the ones he does address in the book. :)
9:27 AM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

David Crowder's House Restoration

-
Image
A recent edition of Waco Today featured David Crowder's six year renovation project(we had to go check it out). I said a quiet prayer that God would let our house be completed before six years was up for us and then I dove in to the details. David and his wife bought the home of the man who invented Dr. Pepper. It is encouraging to see something that took so much effort and energy come to completion. May we soon see the same thing. You can read the story of the Crowder renovation here .
Read more

A Writer's Callous

-
Image
Alright, baby photo below. Quit emailing me! ;-) I remember having a writer's callous when I was five years old. In my adolescence I hated it. Now, I find it fascinating. Almost as long as I have been alive I have borne a mark that declares I am passionate about something in such a way that it bores into my skin. I have been blessed with wonderful Apple products to use and I still prefer writing things out. I heard Michelle Pfeiffer say David Kelley writes out all of his award winning shows on yellow legal pad. I like that. I prefer a journal and a real wood pencil (the kind that are stained, not the yellow ones.) There's something romantic about it to me. Writing is a choice medium in my relationship with God . I love to prayer journal. I pour out thanks for every minute that I get to spend doing it. In last weeks post I told you that God broke my Mac so I would spend some time alone with Him (then I can have it back in January). Shortly thereafter the enemy came in tel...
Read more

Miscarriage | Infertility | Hope

-
Image
I encountered Jesus as a young child in a church pew in the balcony of an old country church. Through a lifetime of trial, I knew he was there. I did not always know or understand what he wanted of me, but I knew I was wanted. We could go through all of the pain and abuse of my life and unpack each tiny detail, but that is not what this is really about. I love what Frederick Buechner said, “Pain is not the biggest thing that has ever happened to you.” That is true. I have beheld far greater glory. As I clung to his word through all of this, I knew he was there.   My story about trying begins long before I began trying to have children. I tell you this because almost half of the population has been abused in some way. The attack on my uterus began when I was four-years-old. I spent most of my life believing that I was broken and I was crippled by shame. I carried that shame into every relationship I had. As I encountered people in the church, I never felt safe enough to ask for...
Read more