This book has been on my wish list for a long time, but I didn’t know too much about it, other than it was all bestselling book about prayer. But as I have been trying to improve my personal prayer life, I decided to give this book a shot. I had it read a little over 24 hours after it arrived on my doorstep. I found this book to be insightful and a completely different approach to prayer than I had encountered before. Although I will probably not use all the methods he outlines in the book, I am definitely interested in utilizing some of them in my personal prayer life. This has also made me interested in reading more books by Mark Batterson in the future, as well as other books on prayer. I that is something that all Christians should do to improve their relationship with the Lord. If you haven’t, then you should start today ~ Bethel​

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________

We are so often afraid to pray for our greatest dreams. We struggle to have the faith to believe that the Lord a come through for us. Sometimes, it’s because we misunderstand the way God answers prayers. This often results in us putting an all-powerful God in a tiny box, limiting what He can and can’t do, which in turn limits how far we will go when asking God for our greatest dreams. Yet, many of us know that there is more to prayer. We read stories of those whose prayers virtually moved mountains, but don’t know how to get there. It makes us ask the questions: How can we pray for our biggest dreams when we aren’t sure how God will answer?

​In his bestselling book, The Circle Maker, Mark Batterson walks us through what it means to pray circle around our biggest dreams, which is often give us victory over our biggest fears. We learn the story about Honi the circle marker, a Israelite man of the intertestamental period that drew a circle around himself during a drought and resolving to stay in the circle until God sent rain to quench the dry land. Mark concludes that most of us struggle with our prayer lives is that we don’t pray through – praying until we get to the miracle or the answer. Encouraging us through the example of Honi, as well as Elijah the prophet and the Israelites that marked around Jericho, we are encouraged to define our own prayer circles. The first circle is to dream big, realizing that God can handle our dreams, even when they seem insurmountable. The second circle is to pray hard, fully believing that the dreams we have in line will God’s will can and will be answered. The last circle is to think long, praying and living our lives in light of what will matter into eternity. Through it all, it seems that when we pray through, although things don’t always work out the way we hope, we are often changed by our own prayers. This book is engaging, compelling, and inspiring. It’s an great resource on prayer that it’s no wonder it became a bestseller. Get your copy today!

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Forgive is a difficult word in our culture today. When we are offended, it is our nature tendency to become anger and bitter, wanting vengeance toward those that hurt us. We desire for those that hurt us to get their comeuppance. All the while, we often in this process take on the tracts that we hate in the person that hurt us and push us further and further from the Lord and the life He has planned for us. Although we want for them to pay for what they did, we are the ones that are held prisoners by our own anger and bitterness. When we are told we need to forgive, so many of us can’t even comprehend it, let alone take the necessary steps to forgive them. It makes us ask the question: How do I learn to forgive those that have hurt me when I have been so deeply hurt?

​In her book, Choosing Forgiveness, Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth [published under her maiden name, Nancy Leigh DeMoss] helps her readers break free from the pain and bitterness from those that hurt us by revealing that forgiveness is a choice, not a feeling. After helping her audience to see the consequences when we don’t forgive, Nancy walks us through the many facets of forgiveness through the lens of God’s Word, helping us to see what forgiveness is and what it isn’t. We are reminded that there is no magic words or secret formula to make it easy or automatic, but there are biblical principles that will allow us to find freedom and healing from the pain that comes from bitterness. Through examples in Scriptures as well as illustrations of real life people who experienced the healing power of forgiveness, you will be encouraged, challenged, and inspired to break the chains of holding on to anger or resentment. This book is powerful from cover to cover, theologically packed with truth, and a tool that every Christian should have in their library. Get your copy today!

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________

​Mentorship has become a lost concept in the church today. When we do think about it, we imagine a rigid relationship all about rule keeping and meeting for coffee weekly. That doesn’t really appeal to most of us, especially in the millennial generation. As a result of this picture in our heads, we often tend to stick with deeper friendships only with those who have similar life situations to our own, all the while neglecting the benefits of relationships with generations older and younger than us. Meanwhile, we struggle with facing everyday challenges in our spiritual lives but feel that we have no way to navigate them. This often leaves us feeling so alone in our struggles or turning to peers that don’t have the experience to help us through our struggles.

​In her book, Adorned, Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth shares through teachings from Titus 2 about the importance of women living out the gospel together by creating a culture of older women mentoring younger women. Beginning with the challenge of finding the courage to pursue both finding younger women to invest in as well as finding older women to invest in you, she begins to break down the heart of the doctrine of Titus 2, eventually breaking down each concept in the passage about what women, young and old, are supposed to be learning from each other. From reverence and abstaining from slander, to purity and self-control, Nancy spends individual chapters getting to heart of each concept and applying it to older and younger women alike. All the while, Nancy paints a powerful picture of how much better our lives would be and how much stronger the church would be if more women would take the challenge of living out the beauty of the gospel together.  Her teaching is so theologically strong, but is understandable and accessible to everyone. This book is one that all adult women in the church need to read. This book is also an excellent Bible study option with a study guide and video curriculum available, one that I personally participated in. Get your copy today!

If you like this book sounds like a good book for you, check out my reviews on some of Nancy's other books:
Lies Women Believe
Lies Young Women Believe (co-authored with Dannah Gresh)

​This is a book I was not expecting to read. But it proved to be exactly what I needed. In fact, I was hesitant to read it. This is because I have read a few books on prayer, and none of them were all that helpful. Even the book written by the Kendrick brothers for the War Room movie did not prove to help me improve my prayer life or prayer strategies as I hoped it would. This book proved itself to be different than the rest. It was relevant and powerful in every way. I read it at a time that I had so many issues weighing down on my heart, I didn’t know how to begin to pray through them. This book changed the way that I understand prayer. It also introduced me to the Priscilla Shirer as an author. She has a great writing style that is honest and relevant. I would recommend this book to any woman who wants to learn more about strategic prayer. I also look forward to reading and reviewing more books by Priscilla in the future ~ Bethel

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Prayer. It’s such a common word, but it is so common to misunderstand what this word can do. We often think of it as a conversation with God. It can often turn into a list of requests and tend to happened most consistently during times of trouble. It seldom happens consistently during times of normalcy and peace. We rarely see it as the weapon that it is, a weapon of defense against the forces of evil one, the one that seeks to destroy our faith by overwhelming us with the troubles of this life. We are often so burdened by these troubles that we fail to see the weapon that is right under our noses. But we also struggle with knowing where to start. It makes us ask the question: How can we learn ways to strategize our prayers to help stand against the devil’s  schemes?

​In her book, Fervent, Priscilla Shirer shares with women how they can pray specifically and strategically. Instead of taking about the in’s and out’s of prayer, she shares about ways that we can make our prayers more intentional to the issues at the heart of our lives. Each chapter walks through different areas of our lives where it’s important to develop strategies, shares practical insights on how to develop your own personalized plan, and shares Scriptures to help shape your prayers. Priscilla also shares personal stories to illustrate how her life was shaped by her prayers or lack of prayer. Starting with prayers for passion in our spiritual zeal, she covers nine other categories, including prayers of focus on the real enemy, prayers for family, prayers for the past, and prayers for relationships. At the heart of all of it is to help each Christian woman become the warrior that God has enable her to be by surrendering all the things we struggle with and allowing God to do what only He can do. All of this is done in a writing style that is fresh and relatable. There are even tear out cards to help you start writing down your own prayer strategies. This book is an amazing tool that can be used by any woman, regardless of age or stage of life you are in. Get your copy today!

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________

​In her first book, Gay Girl, Good God, Jackie Hill Perry shares her incredible testimony of God’s redeeming grace as he helped her overcome her struggles with same sex attraction. A childhood including an inactive father and abuse at the hands of someone she trusted, brokenness was a theme of the early part of her life. This eventually result in her pursuing same sex relationships, embracing masculinity instead of womanhood, and drug abuse. But one night, while she was home alone watching TV, God got a hold of her heart. Without a church or a preacher, God revealed to her that her sin would be her death and that she needed to repent and change her ways. And that’s exactly what she did. She broke up with her girlfriend, slowly started to change her clothes, and started going to church. She eventually met and married Preston Perry, a man who also had brokenness in his past. They are now the parents of two little girls. Although Jackie knows that struggles with temptation will be an ongoing battle, she also knows that power of God’s grace in her life, if we choose to pursue. She also addresses working through same sex attraction from a biblical perspective. Jackie’s testimony is powerful and moving and her insights into living in victory over sin is something that everyone can relate to. Aside from its biblically grounded perspective on same sex attraction, the story of the redemption in Jackie’s life makes this a book that I would recommend to practically anyone. Get your copy today!