Download or read book Snapshots of God s Caring Presence written by Raymond J. Golarz and published by AuthorHouse. This book was released on 2024-04-30 with total page 109 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With an array of stories the author affirms that throughout our lives God is there. Sometimes He is there simply enjoying with us the gifts and treasures He has provided. And at other times He is there in our sad and tragic moments, sitting quietly at our side. This book, Snapshots of God’s Caring Presence is a collection of this author’s true and favorite short stories revealing in a multitude of ways God’s caring presence. As you read, you will sit with a barefoot little girl playing joyfully with God as they enjoy the little tadpoles in her long ago pond. In another story you will watch Jose, with God’s guidance, save the life of this book’s author. Still, further as you read, you will observe the women in a poverty neighborhood, fashion and sew little Catherine’s first dress and coat—clothing her mother could never afford. You will listen to the old saw sharpener as he relates God’s wisdom to the neighborhood children sitting with God in the grass near his feet. You will feel the biting, winter-cold wind as along with neighborhood youth you will help put into gunny sacks coal collected from the railroad tracks—coal that will provide heat for the homes of their neighbors. You will savor the joy of God’s work as you sit later with them enjoying coffee around a pot-bellied-stove. Finally, some stories will take you to the edge of our reality. Was God really there? Did I dream it? The stories of the book will flow to and around you, and you will feel God’s caring presence page after page. As noted in the book’s preface, you may not want to read too quickly for every story is intended to provide its own unique flavor.

Download or read book The Illusion of God s Presence written by John C. Wathey and published by Prometheus Books. This book was released on 2016 with total page 464 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An essential feature of religious experience across many cultures is the intuitive feeling of God's presence. More than any rituals or doctrines, it is this experience that anchors religious faith, yet it has been largely ignored in the scientific literature on religion.Starting with a vivid narrative account of the life-threatening hike that triggered his own mystical experience, biologist John Wathey takes the reader on a scientific journey to find the sources of religious feeling and the illusion of God's presence. His book delves into the biological origins of this compelling feeling, attributing it to innate neural circuitry that evolved to promote the mother-child bond. Dr. Wathey argues that evolution has programmed the infant brain to expect the presence of a loving being who responds to the child's needs. As the infant grows into adulthood, this innate feeling is eventually transferred to the realm of religion, where it is reactivated through the symbols, imagery, and rituals of worship. The author interprets our various conceptions of God in biological terms as illusory supernormal stimuli that fill an emotional and cognitive vacuum left over from infancy. These insights shed new light on some of the most vexing puzzles of religion, like the popular belief in a god who is judgmental and punishing, yet also unconditionally loving; the extraordinary tenacity of faith; the greater religiosity of women relative to men; religious obsessions with sex; the mysterious compulsion to pray; the seemingly irrepressible feminine attributes of God, even in traditionally patriarchal religions; and the strange allure of cults. Finally, Dr. Wathey considers the hypothesis that religion evolved to foster reproductive success, arguing that, in an age of potentially ruinous overpopulation, magical thinking has become a luxury we can no longer afford, one that distracts us from urgent threats to our planet.Deeply researched yet elegantly written in a jargon-free and accessible style, this book presents a compelling interpretation of the evolutionary origins of spirituality and religion.

Download or read book The Practice of the Presence of God written by Brother Lawrence and published by Hyweb Technology Co. Ltd.. This book was released on 2011-10-15 with total page 311 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Presence written by J. Alexander Sider and published by Wipf and Stock Publishers. This book was released on 2011-06-17 with total page 230 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As God's eternal life flows through us, we learn to let go of our pretensions of control and rest into the new life offered in Jesus Christ. This book is an invitation for you to become nonresistant to this movement of God's love for you and the world. Through a variety of sermons and meditations, Sider and Villegas bear witness to a grace that disarms our guardedness and makes room for us to fall into the love of God. Preaching becomes a dispossessive practice, as each person is invited to give and receive God's transforming power. The proclamation of the gospel, Villegas and Sider say, should display the priesthood of all believers. Thus, the call to preach belongs to the whole congregation and its conversation rather than to the lone preacher and her (or his) sermon. Presence: Giving and Receiving God draws on the Mennonite tradition of the Zeugnis ("conversation") to explore how the preached Word echoes through all of our voices.

Download or read book The Culturally Savvy Christian written by Dick Staub and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2008-09-09 with total page 258 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In The Culturally Savvy Christian—his incisive critique of contemporary culture and religion—Dick Staub concludes that though it is influential, American popular culture is generally superficial (diversionary, mindless, and celebrity-driven) spiritually delusional (moralistic, therapeutic, and deistic) and soulless (sustained not by art, craft, and ideas, but by the mad pursuit of profit—propped up by marketing and technology). Similarly American Christianity has devolved into its own mindless, diversionary, and celebrity-driven superficiality. Because humans are created in God's image with spiritual, intellectual, creative, moral, and relational capacities, we long for more, yet the true seeker faces the lose-lose alternatives of a soul-numbing culture and a vacuous Christianity-lite. The renaissance we need in both faith and culture will originate in a deep spiritual renewal that restores God's image in us and creates a new breed of culturally savvy, thoughtful creatives who rekindle the spiritual, intellectual, and creative legacy of Christians as enrichers of culture.

Download or read book Practicing God s Presence 24 7 written by Dennis Clark and published by Xulon Press. This book was released on 2012-08-01 with total page 120 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Transform your life by learning a new simple way of prayer to touch Christ.

Download or read book Luther on Vocation written by Gustaf Wingren and published by Wipf and Stock Publishers. This book was released on 2004-02-19 with total page 268 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: ...[C]oncern about the [inherited doctrine of vocation and its relevance for modern life] was generated out of the complexities and frustrations especially of industrial life, and it has produced a voluminous literature of a popular and semi-popular kind which has served to drive home the problem of daily work upon the conscience of contemporary Christians, and also to provide certain resources for handling it. In addition to this varied literature, the last years have also seen a very general discussion of the question at every level of church life: in ecumencal conferences, in the curricular material of the major denominations, and in conferences and study groups of all kinds. About the urgency and importance of the problem of vocation there is now no doubt. But now we find that the rather simple formulae in which we have been dealing with it do justice neither to the Biblical and Reformation inheritance, nor to the profound dilemmas that appear not only in industry, but in every area of professional and commercial life. The problem now is not only to equip our lay-people with fuller theological resources for the understanding of the meaning of discipleship, but to utilize their practical experience of day-to-day dilemmas and day to-day decisions. ...Gustaf Wingren's conscientious analysis of Luther's teaching on the matter...remains our prime resource for the understanding of the relation of faith and works. Nothing could exceed the patience and thoroughness with which Wingren has combed through the Luther corpus.... [I]t will serve to put the full range of Luther's insight at the disposal of those who care for theology as part of their care of all the Churches. Alexander Miller Stanford University

Download or read book A Treasury of Miracles for Women written by Karen Kingsbury and published by FaithWords. This book was released on 2008-11-15 with total page 125 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: #1 New York Times bestselling author Karen Kingsbury shares a collection of inspiring true stories from women whose faith has sustained them through monumental trials. For mothers, wives, sisters, and friends, this book will uplift the hearts of its readers through accounts of faith proving triumphant over any obstacle.

Download or read book Wonderstruck written by Margaret Feinberg and published by Worthy Books. This book was released on 2012-12-01 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: We Were Created for WonderYou were created and designed to experience wonder. Woven into the fabric of our humanity is an innate ability and desire for the wonder of God. It's felt in the moments when you watch the sun melt behind the horizon, when you reach out to cradle a baby and smell the sweet scent of new life, when you can't help but smile as you witness two wrinkled souls renew their vows to each other. Such moments remind us we were made for something more than deadlines and debt, carpools and coffee breaks. Yet despite such wondrous moments, we can still find ourselves going through the motions of faith. Whether you're: A long time follower of Jesus or still figuring Him out. Unemployed, overly-employed, or an entrepreneur. A creator, innovator, or conformist. Grumpy, ebullient, grey-haired or bed-head. An average Joe or have-a-gym-membership-but-never-go. A superhero (of any era), supermom, superdad, super grand, super great grand, or don't feel particularly super at all No matter who you are or where you've been-if you've lived a life where you've seen it all, done it all, or feel like you're past it all-God still longs to take your breath away. Isaiah 29:4 records God's desire for you: "Therefore once more I will astound these people with wonder upon wonder." Do you see it? God is busting at the seams to display His glory, power, and might in your life. And He wants to give you the greatest gift of all-Himself. Yet why do we pass by the wonder of God unaware?

Download or read book The God Who Goes before You written by Timothy Paul Jones and published by B&H Publishing Group. This book was released on 2018-10-01 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In The God Who Goes before You, Michael S. Wilder and Timothy Paul Jones establish a foundation for Christian leadership that draws not from human assumptions, but from the wisdom of God. By considering the whole canon of scripture as their supreme and sufficient authority, Wilder and Jones present both pastors and laity with a Christ-centered, kingdom-focused vision of godly leadership. When it comes to leadership, there is much to be learned from empirical research and from marketplace leaders. However, without Scripture as our authority, flawed views of God's purposes and human nature will skew our understanding of the character and practices of God-called leaders. In this book, Wilder and Jones redefine leadership as Christ-centered followership and present a radically countercultural perspective on leadership practices in the church today.

Download or read book The One Year Experiencing God s Presence Devotional written by Chris Tiegreen and published by Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.. This book was released on 2011-09-28 with total page 762 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This year, experience a closer relationship with God than ever before. All of us long for God’s presence, and we sense it—occasionally. But there are times when it seems like something’s missing . . . deep encounters with him, certainty that we have heard his voice, and a palpable experience of his presence every day. Like no other writer can, Chris Tiegreen draws us deeper into real intimacy with our intensely relational God. This deluxe LeatherLike edition of The One Year Experiencing God’s Presence Devotional will cultivate your sense of God’s presence in your life, help you learn to recognize his voice, and deepen your trust that he is “always ready to help” (Psalm 46:1, NLT) in every situation.

Download or read book The Fire of God s Presence written by A.W. Tozer and published by Baker Books. This book was released on 2020-09-15 with total page 192 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Many people believe in God and believe that God is everywhere, but they have yet to experience his presence. What did it mean for Moses to encounter God at the burning bush? How did it change his life and his perception of God? What is keeping you from experiencing his presence in your life? It was in that burning bush experience that Moses began to understand and appreciate the sacredness of worship. Through this book, Tozer teaches how proper worship has to be equal to the one we are worshiping, so if we are worshiping God, we must do it on his terms. This means having a spirit of reverence and holiness--like Moses taking off his shoes and kneeling before him. The bush's fire did not frighten Moses, but rather it poured the essence of sacredness into his life, giving him an experience he had never had before. Let this book teach you how, like Moses, to kneel and worship before God's holy fire.

Download or read book Practicing God s Presence written by Robert Elmer and published by Tyndale House. This book was released on 2014-03-24 with total page 88 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For centuries, the sayings of Brother Lawrence, a seventeenth-century monk, have shown believers how to follow and live like Christ. Now a new generation can discover the joy of practicing the presence of God with this updated version.

Download or read book Recovery from Distorted Images of God written by Dale Ryan and published by . This book was released on 1990-07 with total page 68 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Romancing God written by Lynn S. Neal and published by Univ of North Carolina Press. This book was released on 2006-12-08 with total page 260 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the world of the evangelical romance novel, sex and desire are mitigated by an omnipresent third party--the divine. Thus romance is not just an encounter between lovers, but a triangle of affection: man, woman, and God. Although this literature is often disparaged by scholars and pastors alike, inspirational fiction plays a unique and important role in the religious lives of many evangelical women. In an engaging study of why women read evangelical romance novels, Lynn S. Neal interviews writers and readers of the genre and finds a complex religious piety among ordinary people. In evangelical love stories, the success of the hero and heroine's romance rests upon their religious choices. These fictional religious choices, readers report, often inspire real spiritual change in their own lives. Amidst the demands of daily life or during a challenge to one's faith, these books offer a respite from problems and a time for fun, but they also provide a means to cultivate piety and to appreciate the unconditional power of God's love. The reading of inspirational fiction emerges from and reinforces an evangelical lifestyle, Neal argues, but women's interpretations of the stories demonstrate the constant negotiations that characterize evangelical living. Neal's study of religion in practice highlights evangelicalism's aesthetic sensibility and helps to alter conventional understandings--both secular and religious--of this prominent subculture.

Download or read book Sinners in the Presence of a Loving God written by R. Zachary Manis and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2019-06-03 with total page 432 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Why would a perfectly good and loving God consign anyone to eternal suffering in hell? In Sinners in the Presence of a Loving God, R. Zachary Manis examines in detail the various facets of the problem of hell, considers the reasons why the usual responses to the problem are unsatisfying, and suggests how an adequate solution to the problem can be constructed. Historically, there are four standard explanations of the nature and purpose of hell: traditionalism, annihilationism, the choice model, and universalism. In Manis's assessment, all are deficient in some crucial respect. The alternative view that he develops and defends, the divine presence model, stands within the tradition that understands hell to be a state of eternal conscious suffering, but, Manis contends, avoids the worst problems of its competitors. The key idea is that the suffering of hell is not the result of a divine act that aims to inflict it, but rather is the way in which a sinful creature necessarily experiences the unmitigated presence of a holy God. Heaven and hell are not two "places" to which the saved and damned are consigned, respectively, but rather are two radically different ways in which different persons will experience the same reality of God's omnipresence once the barrier of divine hiddenness is finally removed.

Download or read book The Path of Life written by Lisa N. Robertson and published by Thomas Nelson. This book was released on 2019-05-07 with total page 221 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “This book should be your next read! I give The Path of Life my highest recommendation.”--Lysa TerKeurst, #1 New York Times bestselling author Uncover joy on your path of life. God has a path for each of our lives--a path full of adventure, challenges, and joy. Biblical paths are not all that different from the paths we encounter in our world today. Finding God’s path is not a mystery. Throughout the Bible, God makes it clear that He will teach us, show us, speak to us, and guide us on this path. Lisa Robertson is passionate about walking alongside women to uncover the mysteries, symbolism, and truths about the path of life. Perfect for fans of Lysa TerKeurst and Priscilla Shirer -- this book blends sound, Biblical teaching with heartfelt wisdom.