If you know me well you know it is no secret that I LOVE to read, but I haven’t always been this way. I remember attending a large Bible Study while in graduate school and hearing the teaching leader talk about how a perfect Friday night for him was spent in God’s Word. This was so foreign to me at the time. I couldn’t understand yet for I hadn’t tasted and seen the beauty of God’s Word. It was because I didn’t yet know the Word himself, who came down from Heaven full of grace and truth and tabernacled among us.
When God in his mercy opened by blind, broken eyes so I could see him it was the written Word of God I couldn’t get out of. It was through the written Word of God the Holy Spirit watered my soul exalting the Living Word, Christ himself. The Bible became alive to me because it is the very word of the Living God who does not change like shifting shadows. You see Jesus is not just a red-lettered Christian, He is the very Word of God who all the scriptures are about and point too. He fulfilled each prophecy foretold and all the promises of God that will be fulfilled find their yes and amen in Christ. “The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word”(Hebrews 1:3). The Word himself has dwelt among us and we have seen his glory!
So I understand now why a Friday night in the scriptures is the perfect night because its time spent with the Lord himself as the Spirt of God teaches you and waters your Soul as you look upon the One whom you were predestined to know and enjoy.
So my number one favorite book is the Bible. I encourage you draw near to God being honest with Him seeking Him in His Word. Read the scriptures as a child leaving your own understanding behind and let the Holy Spirt pierce your heart. You must come reading as a child, not blindly with the baggage of your own understanding but fully trusting and let the Lord wash over you with his goodness piercing your heart with the double edge sword of His Word. A recent testimony of a friend coming to Christ was that she finally started reading the Bible for what it is not bringing to the table what she thought she knew about God. She simply let God himself teach her through the scriptures but she had to lay aside her false previous understanding of Him.
If you are a skeptic about the full authority of the scriptures I just encourage you to start reading it. I mean really read it. Camp in it and just see for yourself. You may just be surprised what you discover. If you are a local woman wanting to study with a group of women this summer I’m going to be walking through 1 Peter with a group if you want to join in please reach out.
Below are also some of the top books the Lord has used in sharpening me and by that I mean pointing me to the scripture in peeling away idols and wrong teachings I had believed growing up about God. You won’t find many of these in bookstores…the real good stuff almost never is:)
- The Heavenly Man
- The Pleasures of God by John Piper
- The Crucified Life by AW Tozer
- The Knowledge of the Holy by AW Tozer
- Keep a Quiet Heart by Elisabeth Elliot
- Jesus the King by Tim Keller
- The Path of Loneliness by Elisabeth Elliot
- I believe this is an important one for the believer to read in this time Counter Culture by David Platt
- Humble Roots by Hannah Anderson
- Future Grace by John Piper
Ok I’ll stop at ten. Wait no… just because these are three really great ones that are easy but convicting reads that will help you grow as a disciple: Radical by David Platt, Follow Me by David Platt and Crazy Love by Francis Chan.
I’m tempted now to name authors to stay away from but I won’t here…but if you are curious just ask:)) The scriptures speak of the number of false teachers that are to come and how many women will be gullible to their teachings always learning but never really seeing. Oh friend, test every book and article in scripture. Ask the Lord to give you discernment to recognize the lies of the enemy. Satan often tries to disguise himself in light but the way for his lies to be exposed are always on the pages of your Bible. You will not recognize his lies if you aren’t in the scriptures yourself consistently.
Now “I keep asking the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come.” ~Ephesians 1:17-22
Happy Reading! May you grow in your love for Jesus more and more and handle His Word faithfully with obedient care.
~Lane
Eyes Fixed on Jesus 