D.E.A.R God

Saturday I wrote about Drop Everything And Read Day and reading to my kids. Yesterday, I shared a list of some of my favorite quirkier reads that I have dropped things to read. Today I'm going to share a list of books and authors that have grown my relationship with God and have fed me spiritually over the years, some of which continue to do so and are definitely worth dropping everything to read...

1.  The Bible

I actually hesitated putting this one on the list. It's really not a book, but THE Book, a book to dwarf all other books. What can you say about a read that is considered to be the best selling book of all time, recognized by many as being divinely authored, and tells THE Story to top all stories, or as some have said, “The Greatest Story Ever Told”? The book most worth dropping anything and everything for...

2.  Anything by Timothy Keller                                                                                                                                                                                        
Keller, the pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City, writes smart, readable books on various areas of Christian thought. His Reason for God rivals C. S. Lewis' Mere Christianity as an intelligent presentation of what this Christian/God-thing is all about. Encounters with Jesus, also good, is Reason for God “lite”. Two other favorites of mine are Every Good Endeavor, his examination of work, and Prodigal God, a look at God's prodigious love for us.

3.  Anything by Donald Miller

I was given a copy of Miller's Blue Like Jazz a number of years ago, and reading it gave me a revival of the heart in my relationship with God. Miller's books are neither orthodox nor theological, and they often leave you with more questions than they answer, but they always leave me wanting more of God in my life, so I consider them worthwhile reads. His A Million Miles in A Thousand Years is another favorite of mine, an encouragement to tell a better story with our lives.

4.  Anything by C. S. Lewis

Non-fiction, fiction, Lewis is a master of both. His children's fiction classic, The Chronicles of Narnia, presents spiritual truths to readers of all ages. His Mere Christianity, The Screwtape Letters, and The Great Divorce are all masterpieces of Christian thought.

5.  A Praying Life, Paul E. Miller

The best book on prayer I've read. Paul Miller opens up his “prayer closet” and lets us have a peek inside to see how this persistent pray-er approaches a prayer relationship with God. Practical and inspirational simultaneously.

6.  The Practice of the Presence of God, Brother Lawrence

The compiled teachings of a simple 17th-century Carmelite monk, this book is a must read for anyone who wants more of God's presence in their lives. Brother Lawrence's relationship with God comes across in a wonderful, simple intimacy that leaves you wanting more of the same for yourself.

7.  My Utmost For His Highest, Oswald Chambers

My all-time favorite daily devotional. I've read through it at least 15 times in the past 30 years, and it never gets old. There is the original and the more modern English version. Both are good, though I personally like to wade through the slightly archaic language of the original, which really is not all that difficult to read.
 

8.  Trusting God in a Twisted World and Other Reflections On Asking God Why, Elisabeth Elliot

The title says it all. A collection of thoughtful essays from a godly woman who has gone through some very difficult things in her life. There's even an interestingly comforting piece for anyone who has grieved the loss of a pet.
 

9.  Celebration of Discipline, Richard Foster

 

Foster, a Christian Quaker theologian, examines the inner disciplines of prayer, fasting, meditation, and study in the Christian life. He also delves into the more lifestyle-like disciplines of simplicity, solitude, submission, and service, and the community-related disciplines of confession, worship, guidance, and celebration. A serious, but worthwhile read.

10.  Introverts in the Church, Adam McHugh

I identified with the title, so read the book. I found it both informative and comforting. This book is for the introvert who has ever felt that church is an extrovert's domain, but also for the extrovert who wants to understand that person who sits in the last row of the church and leaves early, or attends small group, but rarely talks.

* * *

There is always time in the day to drop something and pick up something to read. There is always a book that needs finishing...or starting...or has that amazing paragraph that needs rereading. Right now, THE Book is calling. I can jump into that one anywhere...

Reading ought to be an act of homage to the God of all truth. We open our hearts to words

that reflect the reality He has created or the greater Reality which He is. It is also an

act of humility and reverence toward other men who are the instruments by which

God communicated His truth to us. - Thomas Merton