Two books about prayer

I have heard said that if you want to learn about prayer you should read a book about God, rather than a book about prayer.  So true.  Knowing the One to whom we pray is a great encouragement to pray.  But there are times when a specific boost comes in handy.  I've been in need of such a boost so I pulled the two books on prayer that have been waiting quietly in the wings and had a read.

A Praying Life by Paul Miller is good meeting point between a book about God and a book about prayer.  Paul Miller loves God.   And he loves praying.  He prays all the time.  About the big and the small.  He has complete trust that God hears and answers his prayers.  Paul Miller gets "pray without ceasing."

This book is an exhortation to pray.  Like Wendy said, this book makes you want to pray.   And like Jean said, you don't have to wait until you have things all sorted out to come before God because He wants you to come messy.

When Jesus describes the intimacy he wants with us, he talks about joining us for dinner. "Behold, I stand at the door and knock.  If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me." (Revelation 3:20)

A praying life feels like our family mealtimes because prayer is all about relationship.  It's intimate and hints at eternity.  We don't think about communication or words but about whom we are talking with.  Prayer is simply the medium through which we experience and connect to God.

Oddly enough, many people struggle to learn how to pray because they are focusing on praying, not on God.

I didn't agree with absolutely everything he had to say.  And personally I found it a bit too anecdotal - which is funny because used to love books with lots of stories woven into them...  But even so I would have no hesitation in sharing this book with others.  Miller takes the mystery out of prayer (but not the wonder of it) and provides warm encouragement to get on with it, without fear.  If you have stopped praying or never really got started, if you are stuck in a rut or want to up the ante, this book will spur you on. 

The second book I read is called Praying by JI Packer and Carolyn Nystrom.  I've had this one for six years, mostly unread, having had several attempts at starting it.  Others seem to have had that experience with this book as well.    Which I think has much to do with JI Packer's style of writing.  It's deep and dense.  You have to read it slowly.  In fact I read a review of this book that started, "This book is SO good that I had to take six months to read it."

This book is not a quick fix book.  If you need a quick prayer-pick-me-up then this isn't the book for you.  The authors say as much at the beginning - that "non-practitioners" of prayer will be quickly left behind.  But if you want to take deeper look into the subject of prayer - and the One to whom we pray - then this is a great volume.

I didn't get the best out of this book.  I mostly read it late at night and the chapters are long - however the chapters are divided into shorter sections.  A better way to read it, as the reviewer said, would be to take your time.  A bit like Knowing God.  The next time I read it - and I will read it again so I can't say better than that - I will read it not chapter at a time, but smaller section at a time and go through it slowly, slowly over a longer period of time.  There is a great set of study questions at the end of the book as well - and taking it more slowly, I would do the studies as well, which include sections on understanding what has been said, studying the Bible and deep praying - not just a quick prayer tacked on at the end for sake of completeness. 

It's certainly not the easiest book I've read all year, but it's a worthwhile read.  And there are lots of quotes from the puritans and from CS Lewis, so that may spark an interest for at least one fellow blogger.

It's not rocket science, but I thought it was interesting

So, we have the ten commandments.  The first four are about loving God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength.  Then the following six are about loving one another.  God first, and then the people.

Notice then, the Lord's prayer.

This, then, is how you should pray:

“Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
And forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.

Matthew 6:9-13

 

God first, and then the people.
Interesting.

 

And then in terms of the people JI Packer (I'm pretty sure at this particular point it is JI Packer speaking and not Carolyn Nystrom) says,

 

In asking God to meet observed needs, the second half of the Lord's prayer stands as a model.  Here we pray for daily provision ("Give us each day our daily bread" - we need it), for daily pardon ("Forgive our sins" - we need that) and for daily protection ("Deliver us from evil" - we need that too, more than we know.)

 

Provision.

Pardon.

Protection.

Nifty.

 

And the plurals us and our are key words, which show that we are meant to make this prayer for other Christians besides ourselves.

 

Quotes from Praying by JI Packer and Carolyn Nystrom pages 155-156

The blank cheque of prayer

In their book Praying, JI Packer and Carolyn Nystrom quote three passages from John.

And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.
John 14:13,14

You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you.
John 15:16

In that day you will no longer ask me anything. Very truly I tell you, my Father will give you whatever you ask in my name.
John 16:23

Does God really give us a blank cheque? 

What is the message here?  Is Jesus giving his first disciples (and us with them) a blank cheque?  An invitation to write in whatever amount, so to speak, for whatever we want or think we want - and God will make it happen?... The thought from the text is that we should ask God for things that the Lord Jesus will also ask for on our behalf.  We are to make requests to the Father that the Lord Jesus will back.  Jesus will associate himself with us in our requests when our requests match what he wants for us.  That is the meaning of asking hi his name.  Jesus looks forward to his disciples asking for things that can only become a reality with his help and by his power, and that will make for his glory when they do.  That is what it means to ask according to God's will, the will of the Father which the Son knows and does.

From Praying by JI Packer and Carolyn Nystrom p. 154 (The underlining is my emphasis.)

Incline my heart to your testimonies, and not to my selfish gain. 

Psalm 119:36

Doing some reading on prayer at the moment

Good praying is at once both duty and delight, but often we must begin where prayer is primarily duty. As we grow in the knowledge of prayer and in the practice of praying, however, God will sanctify our efforts and delight will come upon us.

From Praying by JI Packer and Carolyn Nystrom, page 10.



 

A Grief Sanctified # 4

To what exercises of mind and heart (attitudes and actions) should the bereavement experience lead us?  Said the Puritans characteristically, these three:

1.  The exercise of thanksgiving for all that we valued and enjoyed in the person we have lost and, in the case of a believer, for the happiness to which we know he or she has now been promoted.

2.  The exercise of submission to God, as we resign to him the loved one he has taken from us, confess to him that we had no claim on the continuance of that loved one's earthly life, and consciously put ourselves in his hands for whatever future experiences he has in mind for us.

3.  The exercise of patience, which is a compound of endurance and hope, as we live through our bereavement on a daily basis.

Richard [Baxter], in his sadness at losing Margaret, transparently models all three in the Breviate.  Lewis, mourning the loss of Joy, does the same in A Grief Observed.

From the section "The Sanctifying of Grief" from A Grief Sanctified by JI Packer, pages 188-189.

A Grief Sanctified # 3

Of what truths particularly should the bereavement experience remind us?  Said the Puritans characteristically, the three that follow:

1. The reality of God's sovereignty - that we, like everyone else, are always in his hands, and neither bereavement nor anything else occurs apart from his overruling will.

2.  The reality of our own mortality - that we, like everyone else, are not in this world on a permanent basis and must sooner or later leave it for another mode of existence under other conditions.

3.  The reality of heaven and hell - that we leave this owrld for one or the other, and that we should use the time God gives us here to unsure that as saved sinners we shall go to heaven, rather than as unsaved sinners go to hell.

From the section "The Sanctifying of Grief" from A Grief Sanctified by JI Packer, page 188.

A Grief Sanctified # 2

All life, said the Puritans, must be managed in such a way that it is sanctified; that is, all activities must be performed, and all experiences received and responded to, in a way that honours God, benefits others as far as possible, and helps us forward in our knowledge and enjoyment of God here as we travel home to the glory of heaven hereafter.  Of the experiences to be sanctified, some are pleasant and some are painful.  The Puritan labels for the latter are "afflictions" and "crosses"; and bereavement, with the grief it brings, is one such.

How may an experience be sanctified?  By relating it to the truth of the gospel, so that we understand it in biblical and evangelical terms; by letting it remind us of truths we might otherwise forget, or not take seriously; and by disciplining our hearts to accept it in an appropriate way - with gratitude or self-humbling or whatever.

From the section "The Sanctifying of Grief" from A Grief Sanctified by JI Packer, pages 187-188.

A Grief Sanctified by JI Packer

I've just finished reading A Grief Sanctified by JI Packer.  It includes Richard Baxter's breviate - think A Grief Observed by CS Lewis but written 1681 - written soon after his wife Margaret died.  Richard Baxter reflects on Margaret's life and deep faith, her gift to him as his wife, her suffering and her death and then his own grief. 

JI Packer has taken Baxter's breviate and included it in the book A Grief Sanctified, with a few editorial changes and explanations. Either side of the breviate itself, Packer has drawn some of his own conclusions on the Puritan experience of life, marriage, death, suffering and grief. 

It's a fine read, with some sober reflections on the sometimes shallow nature of our modern take on life, marriage and death.  Which is not to say that the Puritan experience of life (and death) is where our stereotypical thoughts might possibly take us. You know, dressed in black and all very serious and upright.  Far from it.  Here were two people who loved one another to bits, loved life, loved God and lived lives full of joy, despite all sorts of attendant difficulties. Margaret and Richard Baxter understood sanctification - and they enjoyed some of the immediate benefits of it in their lives.

Over the next few days I am going to post a quote in three sections - JI Packer's summary of the puritan experience of the sanctification of grief.  That is, how the Puritans managed their grief with a view to bringing God all honour and glory, even the darkest of moments - a view that Packer endorses. 

18 Words

When I first started reading 18 Words: The Most Important Words You Will Ever Know by JI Packer, you might remember that I came across this quote at the beginning of the introduction...

Keys open doors; keywords open minds, and through minds hearts. This book takes keywords from the Bible - terms, we may truly say, from God's own vocabulary - and spells out in a particular way some of the main thoughts linked with them. The goal is understanding, faith and wisdom.

18 Words covers some pretty lofty topics...

Revelation

Scripture

The Lord

The World

Sin

The Devil

Grace

The Mediator

Reconciliation

Faith

Justification

Regeneration

Election

Holiness and Sanctification

Mortification

Fellowship

Death

This list screams the word DOCTRINE (or THEOLOGY).  Until recent times I would have run a mile from a book like this.  I'm a practical person - I like the concrete rather than the conceptual.  The closest I have ever come to having a nervous breakdown was when I was preparing to sit the exam for the doctrine unit in the Moore College correspondence course.  So why would I or you or anyone read a book like this?

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1.  It is written in the same lovely style as Knowing God.  JI Packer writes so very well - clearly, cleanly and with an amazing economy of words.  But it certainly isn't stuffy or academic.  There are plenty of delightful moments like this one at the beginning of the chapter on holiness and sanctification...

The two English nouns in our title represent a single word-group in both Hebrew and Greek.  In English, we have no adjective from the verb 'sanctify', nor any verb from the adjective 'holy.' This, perhaps is not a very great tragedy; if the words 'sanct' and 'holify' existed, they would sound so ugly that nobody would want to use them...

2.  The chapters are short - an average of ten pages each, some shorter, some longer.  I always find short chapters a comfort when I am having to really concentrate.  Seems to make it more achievable.  And each chapter stands alone.

3.  These are important biblical themes.  And some of them are not easy to grasp.  But Packer provides a clear explanation with lots of examples and Bible references.  Granted they are summaries - Packer describes them as sketches - but they are a good start if you are grappling with (or want to grapple with) any of these topics.

4.  It isn't theology for theology's sake.  Packer is wonderfully pastoral.  This is a book of knowledge.  But it is abundantly clear that he doesn't want this knowledge to stick around in our heads only.  Chapter by chapter, he wants the knowledge to drop into our hearts and hands.  You can tell this just by reading the dedication...

 

For

Ruth, Naomi and Martin

with their father's prayers

that they will make their own

all that I have written here.

 

This is a book of applied theology.

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I enjoyed each of the chapters.  The one on "the mediator" was very interesting.  That chapter opens with these words...

The mediator is a familiar figure in modern industrial and international negotiations.  The pattern of events that calls for his services is increasingly common.  Things get tense; both sides feel there is no common ground for continuing the discussion; then one walks out - and at once a mediator has to be found to go to and fro between the estranged negotiators trying to bring them together again.  The mediator is thus...the man inthe middle.  He has links with both sides; he sympathises with both, and both trust him.  He serves the cause of justice, peace and goodwill.  His job is to represent each side to the other and find a basis for restoring their friendship.

The mediator Packer talks about is Jesus.  I know in my head that Jesus is our mediator but I don't think I'd thought about this in such stark terms before.  So that was interesting. 

The chapter on election was brilliant - a fairly long and measured introduction cutting through all the fear, arguments and misconceptions that abound around this topic, followed by the clearest and most uplifting, humbling explanation of election that I have ever read.  Packer tackled the chapter on the devil quite differently - straight in with both gloves on.  His writing was direct and frank.

This is a great book.  I am planning on reading it a few times - once a year for a few years to come (and you can check my reading list as the years unfold to see if I do and hold me accountable to this) - until some of these trickier subjects sit clearly and comfortably with me...and I don't feel like I have to run away from all things theological and scary!

Says JI Packer at the end of his introduction to 18 Words...

I hope that the following sketches of biblical themes (they are no more) will subserve the Spirit's double purpose of constantly leading us to love and adore the Christ of the Scriptures, and to amend our lives by their light. 

I think he achieves his aims.  This is a really good book.

Packed up and ready to go

How many Christians live their lives packed up and ready to go?  There is no mystery about it; common sense should tell us.  Be wholly committed to Christ's service  every day.  Don't touch sin with a barge-pole.  Keep short accounts with God.  Think of each hour as God's gift to you, to make the most and best of.  Plan your life, budgeting for seventy years (Ps. 90:10), and understanding that if your time proves shorter that will not be unfair deprivation but rapid promotion.  Never let the good, or the not-so-good, crowd out the best, and cheerfully forgo what is not the best for the sake of what is.  Live in the present; gratefully enjoy its pleasures and work through its pains with God, knowing that both the pleasures and the pains are steps on the journey home.  Open all your life to the Lord Jesus and spend time consciously in His company, basking in and responding to His love.  Say to yourself often that every day is one day nearer.  Remember that, as George Whitefield said, man is immortal till his work is done (though God alone defines the work), and get on with what you know to be God's task for you here and now. 

Said Paul: 'The time has come for me to be gone.  I have fought the good fight to the end; I have run the race to the finish; I have kep the faith; all there is to come now is the crown of righteousness reserved for me, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give to me on that Day; and not only to me, but all those who have longed for his Appearing.' (2 Timothy 4:6-8, JB)

Urged Peter: ' For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love...make your calling and election sure. For if you do these things, you will never fall, and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.' (2 Peter 1:5-7, 10-11, NIV)

That's the way.

The very last page of 18 Words: The Most Important Words You Will Ever Know from the chapter called "Death" by my new friend JI Packer.  So very encouraging. 

The world according to God

In his chapter on "The World" in 18 Words: The Most Important Words You Will Ever Know, JI Packer considers the different ways we might regard the world - physical, geographical, racial, anthropological, sociological, cultural...and even personal (think "welcome to my world.")  And then there is the biblical view. 

The biblical idea of the world covers approximately the same area of meaning as our secular notions does.  It likewise denotes this earth with its cosmic environment, and men upon it, or sometimes mankind alone.  There are words both in Hebrew and Greek translated "world" in the English Bible, which mean simply "the habitable (or inhabited) earth."  Yet the standpoint from which the Bible speaks of "the world" is quite different from ours.  For in the Bible "world" is a theological word - a word, that is , which is defined in terms of God.  "The world" is always, and emphatically God's world - the order of things which He made, which He owns, and which He rules, despite all His creatures' efforts to cast off His sway.  The reference-point of the biblical idea of the word therefore, is not man, but God.  What we have to do now is to learn to think of the world God-centredly, as the Bible presents it - not always as it appears to human inspection, but as God sees it, and thinks of it.  For the thoughts of God about it are the measure of what it really is.

From 18 Words: The Most Important Words You Will Ever Know  by JI Packer chapter four, page 55-56.

A helpful reminder that the world doesn't revolve around us.

Knowing God by JI Packer

Put up your hand if you have read Knowing God by JI Packer.

I know lots of people who have started it but haven't make it all the way through.  And many others who didn't ever get started.  Which seems to defy logic given that this book has found its way onto most top ten lists of good reads for Christians.

I've made a start on it several times in the past but didn't ever get very far.   I started it again last October and finished it just last week. 

It's definitely a book that needs to be read slowly.  And savoured.  I read it a chapter here and a chapter there over the six months that it sat on my bedside table.  It's not to be read for the sake of ticking it off the top ten list.  Nor is it good to read if in pride you think you already know it all. If you go into this book just wanting to turn the pages and check off "yes, I know that" on your list of knowledge about God or wanting to check off the book title from your top ten list of books then you probably won't make it.    

Because this is not an especially easy book to read.  JI Packer writes clearly, cleanly and beautifully.  He explains difficult theological concepts with amazing clarity.  And there are a few quips and asides to enjoy along the way.  But Packer writes with such economy of language that you cannot skim over paragraphs or skip over pages.  Every word on every page counts.

But if you find yourself in a space where you really want to know God better - to deepen your personal resources on how to love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength and to be truly amazed by His amazingly gracious and merciful love for you - then this is a rich book.

I especially enjoyed chapters eight (The Majesty of God) and nine (God Only Wise).  And in the final chapter (The Adequacy of God) Packer did a quick sweep over Romans 1 to 7 and then spent several wonderful pages plumbing the depths of Romans 8 - which was glorious.

This book clearly has its place on the top ten lists.  Keep it on your top ten list.  But keep it for a time when you have the time, patience and perserverence to take it slowly. For a time when you are truly hungry to know God better.  And then read it and grow.

For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you

and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. 

And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way:

bearing fruit in every good work,

growing in the knowledge of God,

being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might

so that you may have great endurance and patience,

and joyfully giving thanks to the Father,

who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. 

Colossians 1:9-12

The problem of unanswered prayer

Sometimes when praying, especially with prayers said repeatedly over the long haul, it can be easy to wonder, "Why isn't God answering this prayer?"

Here's a wonderful quote from Knowing God by JI Packer about looking for the ways in which God may in fact be answering such prayers.

Not, indeed, that our Father in heaven always answers his children's prayers in the form in which we offer them.  Sometimes we ask for the wrong thing!  It is God's prerogative to give good things, things we have need of, and if in our unwisdom we ask for things that do not come under these headings God, like any good parent, reserves the right to say, "No, not that; it wouldn't good for you - but have this instead."  Good parents never simply ignore what their children are saying, nor simply disregard their feelings of need, and neither does God; but often he gives us what we should have asked for, rather than what we actually requested.  Paul asked the Lord Jesus graciously to remove his thorn in the flesh, and the Lord replied by graciously leaving it and strengthening Paul to live with it (2Corinthians 12:7 ff.)  The Lord knew best! - and to suggest that because Paul's prayer was answered this way it was not answered at all would be utterly wrong.  Here is a source of much light on what is sometimes called "the problem of unanswered prayer."

From Knowing God by JI Packer chapter nineteen, page 239. Emphasis mine.

What is wisdom?

In the chapter "God's Wisdom and Ours"* from Knowing God, JI Packer uses Ecclesiastes to weave an explanation of what the Bible means by wisdom.  And then he provides this wonderful summary.

But what, in that case, is wisdom?  The preacher [in Ecclesiastes] has helped us to see what it is not; does he gives us any guidance as to what it is?  Indeed he does, in outline at any rate. 

'Fear God and keep his commandments' (12:13);

trust and obey him, reverence him, worship him, be humble before him, and never say more than you mean and will stand to when you pray to him (5:1-7);

do good (3:12);

remember that God will some day take account of you (11:9; 12:14), so eschew, even in secret, things of which you will be ashamed when they come to light at God's assizes (12:14). 

Live in the present, and enjoy it thoroughly (7:14; 9:7ff: 11:9ff); present pleasures are God's good gifts. 

Though Ecclesiastes condemns flippancy (cf. 7:4-6), he clearly has no time for the superspirituality which is too proud, or 'too pious', ever to laugh and have fun. 

Seek grace to work hard at whatever life calls you to do (9:10), and enjoy your work as you do it (2:24; 3:12ff; 5:18ff; 8:15).  Leave to God its issues; let him measure its ultimate worth; your part is to use all the good sense and enterprise at your command in exploiting the opportunities that lie before you (11:1-6).

This is the way of wisdom.

* God's Wisdom and Ours" is chapter 10 from Knowing God.  The Bible verses are all from the book of Ecclesiastes.  And this quote was written as one single, flowing paragraph in the book.  I have separated it into a list of sorts for ease of reading on the computer screen.

God only wise

We may be frankly bewildered at the things that happen to us, but God knows exactly what he is doing, and what he is after, in his handling of our affairs.  Always, and in everything, he is wise; we shall see that hereafter, even where we never saw it here.  (Job in heaven knows the full reson why he was afflicted, though he never knew it in his life,)  Meanwhile, we ought not to hesitate to trust his wisdom, even when he leaves us in the dark.

But how are we to meet these baffling and trying situations if we cannot for the moment see God's purpose in them?  First, by taking them as from God, and asking ourselves what reaction to them, and in them, the gospel of God requires of us; second, by seeking God's face specifically about them.

If we do these two things, we shall never find ourselves wholly in the dark as to God's puropose in our troubles.

From Knowing God by JI Packer chapter nine, page 109.

Holiness

The following quote is from a chapter about holiness in the book 18 Words: The Most Important Words You Will Ever Know by J. I. Packer.

A holy person’s life will not centre on things: instead, a certain frugality will mark it, an eschewing of luxury and display, a sense of stewardship of all possessions, and a readiness to let them go if need be for the Lord’s sake. Holy people do not undervalue this world’s good things, as if God did not make or provide them…, but they refuse to be enslaved to them. Nor do they squint sideways to compare their material showing with that of others; they know that keeping up with the Joneses is not holiness, even if Jones goes to their church or is in orbit in some Christian celebrity circuit. The holy person lives free from the passion for possessions, just as he does from other forms of self-seeking and self-indulgence. His treasure is with God, and his heart too…. The cheerfulness of his disregard of the world’s scale of values, and the straightforward, single-minded, spontaneous ardour of his love for God may make him somewhat unnerving company, though if so it is because he is so much more honest and human than we who watch him, not because he is odd and we are normal.

Wow!  There is a life's work.  Something to pray about.  Again and again.

This quote and the cover picture make me want to own a copy of this book.  Pop!  On it goes onto the wishlist.

HT: Rebecca

Knowing God Vs Knowing about God

I've been wondering what to read next.  I'm going to work through Come Thou Long Expected Jesus again during Advent but wanted something to fill in the weeks between now and December.  So I went to my husband's bookshelves and settled upon Growing in Christ by JI Packer.  I started in on the introduction to read that Packer himself described Growing in Christ as the companion volume to the classic Knowing God.  And I read no further. 

It is time to read Knowing God.  It's one of those books on everyone's list of top ten MUST READS.  I've tried to read it in the past without success.  Now is the time.  I'm three chapters in and it is brilliant! 

Here's a bit I read a couple of days ago.

One can know a great deal about God without much knowledge of him.  I am sure that many of us have never really grasped this.  We find in ourselves a deep interest in theology (which is, of course, a most fascinating and intriguing subject - in the seventeenth century it was every gentleman's hobby.)  We read books of theological exposition and apologetics.  We dip into Christian history, and study the Christian creed.  We learn to find our way around in the Scriptures.  Others appreciate our interest in these things, and we find ourselves asked to give our opinion in public on this and that Christian question, to lead study groups, to give papers, to write articles, and generally to  accept responsibility, informal if not formal, for acting as teachers and arbiters of orthodoxy in our own Christian circle.  Our friends tell us how much they value our contribution, and this spurs us to further explorations of God's truth, so that we may be equal to the demands made upon us.

All very fine - yet interest in theology, and knowledge about God, and the capacity to think clearly and talk well on Christian themes, is not at all the same thing as knowing him.  We may know as much about God as Calvin knew - indeed, if we study his works diligently, sooner or later we shall - and yet all the time (unlike Calvin, I may say) we may hardly know God at all. 
                                                                   
Knowing God by JI Packer.  Chapter 2 page 26

These words were ringing in my ears all the day after I read them.  And I woke up the next morning still thinking about them and feeling slightly ill.  Deeply convicted, I've prayed and I've pressed on.  And I've been challenged and convicted, and yet nurtured and fed.  All in three chapters.

Knowing God along with Come Thou Long Expected Jesus will see the year finished well.  Thereafter I hope to go back and read beyond the introduction of Growing in Christ and then tackle John Owen's Communion with God, thanks to Jean's recommendation. It's been good advice to read short and well - a few short minutes, say fifteen, every day from well chosen titles - which can see you through a handful of good books each year and greatly enriched as a result.  Thanks Jean Williams and John Piper for the good encouragement.