Top 5 Unconventional Christian books...that altered my walk with Christ
Give yourself silence, uninterrupted time, and a good view, and you have the perfect setting to dig into a good read. Here are 5 unconventional Christian books that altered my walk with Christ.
Top 5 Unconventional Christian books... that Altered my walk w/ Christ
1. I Dared to Call Him Father by Bilquis Sheikh
Have you ever wondered how others hear the voice of God? Well, this spiritual memoir gives great insight on how intimate the Lord can be to an individual. From intimate conversations to divine warnings, to specific convictions, the Holy Spirit spoke to Ms. Sheikh in a way that I didn't think was possible. Great read. (Shout out to Lydia friend for the original rec!)
2. Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers
For years, I’ve been begging my husband (literally) to read this great novel! This is by far my favorite fiction book. But you should only pick up this book if you are ready to experience a depth of rawness that you didn’t know your eyes could take in (without consuming anything graphic). To be perfectly honest, Francine Rivers has a way of writing that is much different from most other cliche’, diluted, cheesy Christian fiction novels that I’ve read in the past. I don't mean to sound harsh but that's just been my experience meandering the published Christian fiction selections. What sets Rivers apart from others is that she gets at the heart. Now, don't you love how I’ve told you absolutely nothing about the premise of the novel? Just trust me and read the book!
3. Mark of the Lion Series by Francine Rivers
When I read Paul’s epistles, like Romans or Ephesians, I have little context for the places and environments in which Paul writes. But after reading the fiction series, Mark of the Lion, oh boy, do I see that there is absolutely nothing new under the sun. Talk about living in environments in which evil was done blatantly and was also culturally accepted (sound familiar?). Now insert Christ. Being a Christian in these times was no joke (70 A.D.-). You were either hot or cold. There was little room to be lukewarm. After you read these novels, I promise, you’ll read the New Testament differently.
4. A Voice in the Night: The True Story of a Man and the Miracles That Are Changing Africa by Pastor Surprise
God is still doing supernatural miracles. You may not witness them every day, but the impossible is still being made possible. This spiritual memoir, by Pastor Surprise, exacts just that. From being the only survivor of his village, to somehow becoming a Christian through divine intervention, to healing others and performing miracles as a teenager, this spiritual memoir will definitely reveal to you a divine Power that you have probably yet to experience in your own day-to-day life (at least this is what I can say of my own life._
5. Deadline by Randy Alcorn
This fiction book is apart of a mystery series. I typically don’t go for mystery, but I tried this anyway. By the time I finished reading Deadline, my prayers became more potent. I increasingly found myself praying over our home, my husband, the streets of Chicago, church services, coworkers, work environments, meals, car rides. You name it, and I was praying over it! Why? This book reveals to you what is potentially happening in the spiritual realm while incidents occur in the physical realm. If you are looking to expand your prayer life, this book will naturally do it!
6. Heaven by Randy Alcorn
So this book is last and not apart of the top 5...mainly because I’m still reading it. But I had to add it to the list. Heaven is nonfiction and draws attention to something that we should all be leaping for joy over, and yet, typically know so little about. What I'm talking about is Heaven. Alcorn reveals scriptures and uproots all misconceived conceptions on what Heaven is going to be like. Although I’m not done reading the book (it’s a pretty thick text), I am already so much more excited about living on the New Earth. When I take walks with our baby boy and when we watch Planet Earth, I love sharing with him how there will be remnants of this Earth on the next. Oddly enough, this book is also helping me become less comfortable on this Earth. As I face recent trials, this book is currently helping me to persevere that much more everyday. My only warning is that as you read Heaven, the glamor of this life will slowly lose any and all appeal.
It's Not About You
Have you ever found yourself in prayer, constantly asking/praying in a rhythmic pattern of “Lord help me to....and I pray that You would...and help me to...and help me to...and help me to...and help me to?”
Have you ever found yourself in prayer, constantly asking/praying in a rhythmic pattern of “Lord help me to....and I pray that You would...and help me to...and help me to...and help me to...and help me to?”
Seeing how God desires our ultimate dependency on Him, and then seeing how the Lord is limitless in what He can do, I find myself in this pattern of “I pray that You would...and help me to…” quite often. And...there’s nothing wrong with that.
But what strikes me about King Hezekiah, when he says a particular prayer in 2 Kings 19, is not his request. Instead, it's his reasoning behind his request that gives me pause. After being threatened by death to himself and to his kingdom, Hezekiah ends his prayer to God by saying, “Save us...that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you, O Lord, are God alone.”
Do you see it? Let’s back up. King Hezekiah just received word from another kingdom, the Assyrians, that it was going to destroy the Israelites. In fact, Hezekiah received multiple messages from the Assyrians stating that Hezekiah’s kingdom would fall to ruins and that Hezekiah’s God wouldn’t be able to protect the Israelites, God's chosen people. In response, King Hezekiah ran to the Lord. Analyzing his prayer, you can see that Hezekiah does a couple of noteworthy things:
Instead of looking to his own devices, King Hezekiah humbles himself and first acknowledges who the Lord is.
15 Hezekiah prayed before the LORD and said, “O LORD, the God of Israel, who are enthroned above the cherubim, You are the God, You alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth.
How important it is to explicitly acknowledge who the Lord is in prayer, especially in times of trouble/doubt. Before Hezekiah makes his request known to God, Hezekiah not only proclaims who the Lord is, but he also reminds himself just who he speaks to. I’m slowly learning the value of actively acknowledging who my heavenly Father is while I speak to him. Personally, this has helped me to pray further in faith when I remind myself who God is. He is not just another man. I’m literally speaking to the Creator of the entire Universe (ponder that for a second!).
2. King Hezekiah then presents this life-threatening problem in a way that lays the burden of his request at the feet of God rather than hesitantly at his own. This shows true trust and dependency.
16 Incline your ear, O Lord, and hear; open your eyes, O Lord, and see; and hear the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to mock the living God. 17 Truly, O Lord, the kings of Assyria have laid waste the nations and their lands 18 and have cast their gods into the fire, for they were not gods, but the work of men's hands, wood and stone. Therefore they were destroyed.
King Hezekiah recognizes that this battle with the Assyrians is really not against him. It's against God. How many times do we find ourself in a situation in which we take the battle personally? The Lord warns us in John 15:18, “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first." He also warns us in Ephesians 6 that we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but we wrestle against principalities, powers, the rulers of the darkness of this age, and spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. It's pivotal to understand just who our battles are against. It's really not about you.
3. Lastly, King Hezekiah explicitly states the reasoning behind his request. He acknowledges that it's not about him!
19 “Now, O LORD our God, I pray, deliver us from his hand that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You alone, O LORD, are God.”
And this is where I take great pause! How often do we pray with this motivation? I mean honestly. It’s so easy for me to pray “help me to...” without any motivation for the Lord to receive glory, for His kingdom to progress here on Earth, or for others to come to know Christ. Often I’m just in need and I just send up a prayer. Often, I stop thinking about the Lord’s agenda and stop short-sighted by my own selfishness.
But what I’m learning is that when I pray with the latter motivation, I subtly take myself off my own pedestal and place God in His rightful place. This guards me from bitterness or anger when I don’t see such a prayer answered, because it reminds me that I was never/should never be the center for why a prayer is answered in the first place. Rather, it reminds me that at the end of the day, Jesus really is the center of it all. (i.e. Colossians 1:16 "16 For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him.")
PonderedThought: If God isn’t the center of your prayer, check your motivation as to why you are praying in the first place.
Is His will greater than your own want/desire?
Inspired Passages:
James 4: 2-3 “You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.”
Joshua 7:7-9 "Joshua said, “Alas, O Lord God, why did You ever bring this people over the Jordan, only to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us? If only we had been willing to dwell beyond the Jordan! 8 O Lord, what can I say since Israel has turned their back before their enemies?9 For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land will hear of it, and they will surround us and cut off our name from the earth. And what will You do for Your great name?”
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Do You Overlook Miracles due to Spiritual Shortsightedness?
It’s easier to overlook spiritual miracles and rush towards doubting/questioning/becoming overly concerned with miracles that I can see with the eye.
Did you ever watch the “Prince of Egypt” growing up? Growing up, my sisters and I would listen to the soundtrack of Mariah Carey and Whitney Houston, while mouthing the words to the famous song “When you believe.”
Our favorite scene was the splitting of the Red Sea. To any child, to see waters split like magic, never got old. I wanted to serve this kind of God. At the time, I thought the story ended there. I honestly thought that Moses and the Israelites lived happily ever after. But...such is life. It wasn’t until I was an adult that I discovered that Pharaoh and the Red Sea were only the beginnings of several trials that Moses later faced.
If you don’t know the story, Moses led an entire nation (who was enslaved for more than 400 years) away from the grips of Pharaoh and the Egyptians. The Lord promised the Israelites a land flowing with milk and honey. However, obtaining that land would not come without its’ challenges. Well, in the midst of some of these challenges, the Israelites began to complain. Miraculously, the Lord provided food from the heavens (I wonder what that bread must’ve tasted like) every single day. But the Israelites started to want some meat. So much so, that the Israelites questioned why they even left Egypt in the first place. Maybe slavery wasn’t so bad? (Shocker, right?) This was a direct affront to the Lord, who not only freed them, but also provided for them each and every day. Y’all, this was just one of several complaints that the Israelites made (read the book of Numbers).
Quail eggs in a nest.
Well, it got to a point that Moses prayed for death. In Numbers 11, the burden of caring for so many people with so many different complaints, led Moses to state the following: “I alone am not able to carry all this people, because it is too burdensome for me. So if You are going to deal thus with me, please kill me at once, if I have found favor in Your sight, and do not let me see my wretchedness.”
Thankfully, the Lord didn’t answer that prayer. Instead, the Lord responded to Moses' prayer by stating 2 miracles that He would do instead.
The Lord would place His Spirit on 70 of the elders that Moses chose. (At the time, the Lord’s Spirit was only on Moses.) Numbers 11: 16 -17
The Lord would feed the 600,000 Israelites quail every single day for 1 Month Numbers 11: 18-20
2 miracles. But which of the two miracles do you think was harder for Moses to believe?
Numbers 11:21 But Moses said, “The people, among whom I am, are 600,000 on foot; yet You have said, ‘I will give them meat, so that they may eat for a whole month.’ 22 Should flocks and herds be slaughtered for them, to be sufficient for them? Or should all the fish of the sea be gathered together for them, to be sufficient for them?”
Why am I writing such a long blog post about Moses (kudos if you have made it this far in reading)? I think it’s because I see the humanness of Moses in me and in so many other Christians in today’s Christian culture. It’s easier for many to overlook spiritual miracles and rush towards doubting/questioning/becoming overly concerned with miracles that one can see with the eye. The ability for the Lord to place His Spirit upon 70 ordinary men is just as miraculous, if not more, than feeding quail to 600,000. One ought to see the miraculous work in both.
Instead of doubting or exciting oneself over the thought of God's Spirit dwelling in 70 ordinary men, Moses quickly turned his attention to God's ability to provide quail—something Moses could see with the eye. Why didn't he react in the same way upon hearing about God's spirit dwelling in 70 men?
You see this interesting tension play out thousands of years later when Jesus confronts a man who is paralyzed. When a paralytic comes to Jesus, the Lord immediately states to the paralytic man, “Take courage, son; your sins are forgiven.” Of course, there were doubters in the crowd who merely scoffed at this notion that Jesus could forgive sins. To which the Lord responded by stating, “Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up, and walk’? “But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—then He said to the paralytic, “Get up, pick up your bed and go home.” The people didn’t actually believe in the power of the Lord to spiritually forgive sins, until they physically saw Jesus heal this man of his paralysis.
So what does this all have to do with you and I?
How many times have we thanked the Lord or shared a testimony with others solely regarding physical miracles and ignored the spiritual miracles that the Lord is doing in and around us? You see, if we aren’t careful, we may miss out on so many opportunities to thank the Lord and testify to His power, due to overlooking the work of the Lord—simply because we cannot tangibly see it. In my experience, it's been more difficult to share with others regarding what the Lord is doing spiritually on my behalf due to the inevitable need to be more transparent. Recall that the Lord sent His Spirit upon 70 men, in response to Moses' prayer for death. How could Moses share the former without disclosing the latter as well. So many times in sharing what the Lord has done for me spiritually, I must acknowledge my weakness, brokeness, my fallenness, my NEED. Thus I resort to merely sharing what is easy and appropriately fitting for the physical realm..."My praise report is that I got 8 hours of sleep last night."
God’s ability to help you shut your mouth when you really want to curse someone out, or to respect your husband truly in your heart, or to treat your wife as one who is willing to lay down his life for her, or to forgive the unforgivable—these are all miracles from God. So the next time you have a praise report… be careful to not overlook the spiritual miracles that the Lord has done in your life in conjunction to the physical. That new job, or new condo, or new car, or high tax return is definitely something to praise God for. But let’s not overlook the fact that the ability to have peace, to see oneself become more like Christ, to see certain strongholds broken, to have angels swarm about you for protection in the middle of the night—also ought to be praised with just as much fervor! When we acknowledge the miracles of the spiritual, we see that it is nothing for God to bless in the physical. And it creates opportunity to see just how amazing God is and just how much we are in need of Him. Sometimes I think the Lord blesses in both realms just to kindly remind us that His power is not limited.
In the end, the Lord responded to Moses’ questions by stating the following:
23 The Lord said to Moses, “Is the Lord’s power limited? Now you shall see whether My word will come true for you or not.”
PonderedThought: I encourage you this week to allow your prayers to extend to the physical and even beyond. Do you struggle with anxiety, fear, lustful thoughts, greed, jealousy, lack of love for the Lord, irritability, doubt of one's ability, or a greater love for man’s opinion than God’s? Pray for the impossible! Don’t just stop at what you can see—fewer bills, better grades, traveling mercy, etc. These things need to be prayed for...just don’t forget about the spiritual blessings as well! The Lord's power is not limited.
Is God only found on certain parts of Earth? (I thought I knew the answer)
However, when it came down to a dwindling savings account, a lack of call backs from potential employers, was God a God of the real world with harsher consequence?
Because the Arameans have said, “Yahweh is a god of the mountains and not a god of the valleys,” I will hand over all this great army to you. Then you will know that I am the Lord. 1 Kings 20:28
I am in constant amnesia of what the Lord is capable of doing, as I enter into different seasons of life in which the season yields itself to unfamiliar territory. As a result, anxiousness soon arises. The Arameans fought a battle in the mountains against the Lord’s people, the Israelites, and saw how Yahweh moved on the behalf of His people. The Arameans quickly reasoned that God’s ability was confined to a particular region and area—the mountains. Therefore they assumed that if the battle against the Israelites took place in the valley, the Israelites would cease to win. No, like they actually believed this.
When I initially read this passage, I quietly chuckled to myself, knowing all too well that the Lord is not confined to the basis of a geographical region. Yet, the first time I chuckled, the Holy Spirit quickly revealed to me how often I, a believer, attain the same thinking as the Arameans did. What do I mean by this?
If I haven’t seen the Lord move within my life within a particular area or challenge, I forget that He too has control and power in that area. It’s as if the Lord is constantly whispering to me,
“I too am the God of the valley, Jessica.”
Looking back, I recall these constant whispers when, for instance, I desperately ran to my mama when my first pregnancy symptom arose, or to my girlfriend when the first challenge in marriage seemed insurmountable, or to my fiction books when I wanted to escape reality, or to some blogs when I wanted to read how others dealt with a particular struggle, or to my own wisdom when the Lord wasn’t answering my prayers quickly enough. And though these things aren’t wrong, in them of themselves, why is it my first inkling is to run to others before I turn to the Lord?
My motivation? What I truly believe deep down is, “I believe you to be God—but just not in this area. I’ll consult You when all my other options are exhausted.”
You see, it’s easier for me to believe in God for salvation from eternal damnation, but not from certain external circumstances or internal struggles. I believe that God can prove powerful in my friend’s life, but not in all areas of my own. I believe that He can set the captives free in the bible, but not those closest to me (of whom I’ve been interceding on behalf for for years.) In all these ways, I sublty state,
“Lord, you are the God of the mountains...but maybe not of the valleys.”
How hurtful.
And yet, in response, God graciously proves me wrong every...single...time.
When the lemon, the ginger, the crackers, and the carbonated drinks wouldn’t alleviate my morning sickness, I prayed and the Lord showed me exactly what to eat each morning—greatly reducing my nausea.
When I contracted a sinus infection that persisted for 3 weeks on end without relief, and the docs suggestions weren’t working, I finally prayed and the Lord told me to stop eating chicken for a day. Guess what? My sinus congestion actually cleared up by the next morning (I can't make these things up).
When I began to feel anxious at work and all my best efforts of breathing exercises and Facebook distraction couldn’t take off the edge, I finally prayed and the Lord told me to read the Word. He LITERALLY granted me His peace that surpasseth all understanding.
The moment I confine the Lord into certain areas of my life by making Him into a God of the _____ or a God of the ______, I forget that He is simply Lord. He owns it all. He knows it all. Because...He created it all.
PonderedThought: The next time you run to your “go to,” first ask yourself,
Do I believe God to be God, or do I confine Him to only certain regions of my life?
Saved...through stand still traffic
Some car got shot at. Some car...was shot.
I sat in traffic, not knowing nor realizing that I had begun my day already late. I woke up and left the house around 7:18 AM, already 10 minutes ahead of schedule. However, as I traveled down the Dan Ryan highway in Chicago, the impending lights caused my brakes to come to a screeching halt. And like that, my schedule was upended. I texted my principal, and what was initially planned to be a 25-minute ride, turned into one that lasted well over an hour and a half in standstill traffic.
How often do we plan, schedule, adjust, prepare—only to be brought to a screeching halt? God works in and beyond schedules and even time. He somehow possesses control over every living moment of our lives, in and through our schedules. My mind can’t fathom it at times. The moments that I think I’m in control, I’m not. As I’ve recently been reading through the first half of the book of 1 Kings, I see that many persons in history probably thought that they were in control, not realizing the previous promises made to ancestors—allowing certain kingdoms to rise or fall, certain people to live or die, and certain persons to come into power due to the Lord’s faithfulness to one’s lineage. But as I sat in traffic today, it was hard to recall that even the Lord had this subtle schedule delay in control all along. I thought I was in traffic only due to my own misgivings. Therefore, I simply sat thinking of how I should’ve left earlier, how I should’ve checked Google maps before taking this route, and how I should’ve should’ve could’ve “XYZ.”
The previous day, the Spirit told me to begin praying for traveling mercy for both Evan (husband) and I. I’d never felt this prompting from the Spirit to randomly pray for traveling mercy during my regular day-to-day activity. Usually, Evan and I would always pray when going on a long road trip or when jetting off on an airplane. But the Spirit kept reminding me to pray for traveling mercy. And so I did.
But by the next day, I had completely forgotten this prompting as I sat in traffic. By the time I arrived at school, I had a sliver of 2-3 minutes before beginning my first class. While walking briskly to my classroom, a teacher yelled out from her desk, “Jess you good?” This teacher knew that I had missed my first-period prep.
“Yeah, I finally made it in,” I responded, a bit out of breath.
“Yeah, I heard they shut down the Dan Ryan due to some police activity.”
“Really?”
“Yeah they were shooting on the highway and some car got shot at.”
Due to needing to get to my classroom, I didn’t have time to adequately respond. Yet, my thoughts began racing.
Wait, what?! Some car got shot at. Some car...was shot.
Here I was, consumed by my own natural thoughts... not realizing, nor thinking, of the mercy and grace of being stuck in traffic. I had succumbed to view my situation merely through a natural lens, rather than to thank the Lord for what He was doing in the supernatural realm. If I had left earlier… who knows? All I can say ask is, how can one not see the Sovereignty of God? I made it to school, just in time, in one piece. And though I don’t know all of the reasons for being stuck in traffic—to say that it didn’t work out for my good (however “good” is defined), is preposterous. No, the Lord is in control and it is Him that I will continue to serve and give all the glory.
PonderedThought: Next time your carefully planned schedule is unexpectedly thwarted, be careful to immediately look towards the means by which you could’ve prevented the situation. It’s already there. Instead, look up and ask the Lord the following:
“Lord, how are you working in and through this situation for my good and for Your glory?”
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