#everydayinspiration – Books that changed my life
In this journey of faith, there has been much to learn. The first book that changed my life was the Bible. I read The Living Bible from cover to cover around the time my oldest son was five years old. He is now almost 32 years old. This reading seemed to give me a real heart for God. In the reading, learning about the children of Israel and God’s relationship with them as well as theirs with God. There were moments that I could actually place myself in their shoes as well as connect to God in a way that I had not done so before.
However, the significance of the two books in this post is how the perspective of the writer, Frank Peretti, changed my whole thought process about good and evil. His detailed information about the subtlety and strategies of the enemy to lure us away from God is truly awesome to me. There was an understanding about the forces of good and evil that was given to me with such clarity. And, while I thoroughly enjoyed reading about the characters who had the challenges that we face today, the understanding about how difficult it can be to deal with those used by the enemy in our journey was very enlightening. Peretti shed clarity about the children of God, those who chose not to believe, those who were used by the enemy, the enemy and the angels.
Most important though was his point on how valuable prayer is to the believer. We must surrender to God as well as turn to Him for direction in our trials and tribulations. There are times when we are praying for others and God reveals something about ourselves. There are times when we are praying for ourselves and God guides us to pray for others. He does what He wants and uses us as He sees fit for all parties involved in any given situation. We are the Body of Christ, therefore, in obedience of prayer, the benefit and blessings are for all involved.
I will also say the book was even more influential several years after reading because of my own personal experiences with these different forces. I believe that God introduced me to those books at the time that He did because of what He knew I was going to experience. I hope to one day write about my journey to the best of ability in recollection to encourage those who may not understand everything about the different moments they experience in their journey. In all of it, we must continue to trust God because only He knows the specific details of our days.
I do believe that good and evil exists. I believe that the forces of evil are operating behind the scenes in obedience to Satan to undermine those who are called by God and to thwart those who are seeking God. We know we have the victory. However, Satan will keep trying until his time is up. These books opened my eyes to the truth in conjunction with the Word of God. I am led to look up Scripture and verify what is being written even in Christian fiction. One of the most important attributes to develop is researching what is being written when it comes to the Word of God. We cannot be lazy but must search the Scriptures for our own understanding and so that the Holy Spirit can bring to our remembrance what we need when we need it. While I enjoy reading all types of Christian material and one of my favorite genres is Christian fiction, I do have to research what I read. When we base decisions on information received, it is to our detriment when the information is incorrect. Research also deepens our understanding.
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