40 Days of Grace: Discovering God’s Liberating Love By Rich Miller Book Review

In 40 Days of Grace, Rich Miller explored the fundamental concept of grace given by a loving Creator. Rich Miller described that when Jesus died on the cross for our sins and we repented and asked for forgiveness. This very act of sacrifice lead to grace being introduced into the world. The book is written in the form of a 40 day devotional and divided into six weeks. The weekly topics include “Amazing Grace”, “Canceling the Guilt Trip”, “From Disgrace to Grace”, “From Fear to Faith”, “The Power of Humility”, “The Grace-Rest Life”. Each day has a personal story demonstrating an aspect of grace, “a thought to chew on” – a sentence to think about, “a truth to remember” – a scripture verse to mediate on, “a question to mull over”, and “talking it over with God” – a prayer to pray.

 

In one of the day’s devotional, Rich Miller revealed a personal story about struggling with guilt over his sins. About a year after he began a follower of Christ and was saved, he was in college drinking with his friends. When his brother surprising arrived and handled him a Christian book for his birthday. Rich felt guilty for his actions but soon turned back to drinking to numb his emotions. His so called friends wrapped him in a bed sheet and threw him in an elevator and pressed all the buttons where every floor could witness his drunken state. A few hours later, he managed to make it back to his room and his buddies took the notation to pick him up off his bed and shove his head into the wall. Then his roommate also stated, “Do you really think this is glorifying God?” (Page 71). Overall, he later learnt that God adopted him and chose him (See Ephesians 1:5-8) and God already has provided us grace and forgiveness of our innumerable sins. The blood of Jesus that was shed on the cross has declared that we are forgiven for our sins by his unmerited grace.

 

My favorite story that Rich Miller shared was day 6, “Grace Works”. Rich Miller noticed that his son, Brian was having trouble sharing a room with his younger adopted brother, Luke. Luke struggled with understanding boundaries and he would constantly invaded Brian’s space. When Rich’s three other children were playing a game, Luke would destroy the game and they eventually begin to shut the door where Luke couldn’t mess up the game. As parents, they had to address the issue and they told their kids that they couldn’t treat their brother that way. Brian still struggled with sharing a room with him. Rich came up with an idea and he told Brian to imagine Luke sitting there listening to him. He told him to get out the anger and the hurt and then proceed to forgiveness. Afterwards, Brian took the initiative and went and played with his brother for 45 minutes for the first time ever. This gave me great hope and I wonder if we did that as adults and forgave quickly what would happen. Grace could rapidly change our relationships with others!

 

I would recommend this magnificent book to anyone who is needing a refresher course on grace. This devotional was very entertaining to read and each day was only about three pages each. I immensely loved the prayer that was at the end of each day and they were simple and consistent with the message content. I love the way Rich Miller connected all of the stories back to undeserved grace and forgiveness. One of my favorite day devotions was entitled, “A Return to Dignity”. This one Rich Miller encouraged readers who feel ashamed to proclaim out loud these helpful paragraphs regarding sexual abuse or rape, and emotional abuse. These statements relinquishes the lies that they may have believed about themselves. I also love how he used scriptures to assist in readers finding freedom from the lies of satan. If you’re looking for a book that will convey to you the importance of grace, then this book is the one you need to read!

 

 

"I received this book free from the publisher from Kregel Publications book review bloggers program."

 

 

If you would like to purchase a copy of 40 Days of Grace, then check it out on Amazon.com:

 

http://www.amazon.com/40-Days-Grace-Discovering-Liberating/dp/0857214438

Epic Grace: Chronicles of a Recovering Idiot By Kurt W. Bubna Book Review

Epic Grace is written to assist readers into comprehending that God’s grace and mercy is a compelling critical aspect of grasping what being a Christian is truly all about. Kurt W. Bubna begins the book by admitting to his readers that he is a recovering idiot and he has made numerous mistakes throughout his life. By despite, his failures and his mistakes God was and is gracious enough to forgive him of his sins and give him implausible epic grace when he didn’t deserve it or earn it. He revealed to readers several personal stories about his heartaches, hardships, regrets, and how God’s amazing grace sustained him through his suffering.  

Kurt W. Bubna realized that perseverance and endurance during the difficult times is often overlooked. Most people don’t connect perseverance to the term grace. But he stressed that grace isn’t just about sinning and repenting, grace can also mean, receiving divine assistance while we are enduring through our struggles and suffering. God is always by our side in the midst of trying seasons of our lives and He promised to never leave us or forsake us. He is a true friend that sticks close to us and He has everything under complete control, even when we feel like there is chaos all around. Job was a man who feared God and stayed away from evil things and God surpassingly blessed him. Satan told God that if he could test Job and destroy everything he has then Job would surely curse God. God allowed it and satan began taking away everything Job treasured. Job had his donkeys and oxen stolen and all of his servants were tragically killed, next lighting stuck and burned up his sheep and all of his shepherds but one, and later raiders stole his camels and killed all of the servants but one. Just when he thought it couldn’t get any worst, another blow hit it blew behind the knees this time. A messenger arrived and told him the awful news that his children was at their oldest brother’s house when a powerful wind swept and made the house collapse, killing everyone but the one messenger. Losing children would be the final straw for most parents but Job fell to the ground and worshiped God even after the fact that his children were gone. (I don’t know if I would even have the strength to do that) He was also tested in his health and was tortured with boils all over his body. His wife complained and told him to curse God and die. His friends kept blaming and stating that all of his problems was because of all of the sins that he has committed. Job went through appalling suffering that no one wants to have to undergo. But Job is an excellence example of someone who continued to worship God and trust him during these problematic trials.  

Unfortunately, Kurt W. Bubna has experienced terrible grief and it’s one his family never saw coming. His daughter-in-law went into premature labor at seven months along. On the way to the long drive to the hospital, Nathan, his son called and told them the news that his little son, Phineas was born with undeveloped lungs and only lived an hour. Like most people, Kurt questioned God and he didn’t understand why he had to lose his grandson. His entire family was heartbroken and devastated. During this trial, he learnt that God knows what it is like to lose a Son and God was always there to comfort him in his grief. I would love to write that was the only dreadful pain that he ever had to go through but it wasn’t.  

I also loved the personal story about how Kurt discovered his calling and destiny and how he became a preacher. I related to the questions on “the process of discovery” that he presented in the chapter entitled, “Driven by Destiny”. I massively benefited from this section and I was reminded to listen to the still small voice and promptings that God places on our hearts in order for us to determine God’s purpose for our lives. It’s also viral to listen to what others believe to be our gifts and talents from God. It’s important to make sure that the Godly advice we receive from our friend’s line up with what God is saying and what he says in His written word. This past year, God has impressed upon me to assist His chosen people in whatever areas, they are struggling in and help them to overcome their issues that our hindering them from being all that God has intended for them to be. I’m majoring in Psychology because I want to be equipped to help children and adults, who struggle with low self-esteem, eating disorders, love and relationship issues, red flags in dating, how to end bullying, preventing suicide, parenting children, marriage problems, overcoming addictions, grief, handling stress in the workplace, how to monitor technology usage with children, how to protect our children from predators, how to help foster children to deal with the trauma experiences of losing or being abandoned by their birth parents, and people who were abused. I’m still seeking God on where He wants me to serve and where I should focus on being a therapist or a counselor. This chapter greatly reinforced the significance of following God’s plan and purpose for my life.  

I would recommend this magnificent book about God’s epic grace to anyone who is feeling like a failure, and they are feeling terrible guilty for the sins that they have committed, and they feel like God can’t possible forgive them and love them. This book will proved to you that God can forgive us of our stupid mistakes and sins, all we have to do is confess and repent, and turn away from our sins. God freely sent His only Son to die on a wooden cross for our many sins and He took the punishment we all deserved, which is death. The book will impart in readers that God will give them grace through whatever trials they have to withstand and He is constantly there. The book was a gigantic catalyst in helping me understand more fully the concept of epic grace. I immensely loved how Kurt W. Bubna was transparent in his struggles and triumphs and how epic grace from our loving Creator changed his life completely. He was very genuine in disclosing that he grew up in a dysfunctional family and his father had an unrealistic standard of perfection that no one could measure up to. His father also had secret addictions and was angry most of the time. Kurt shared that he was at one time, the prodigal son who rebelled and did shameful things that he regretted. He confessed that there was a time he drank a lot and partied hard whenever he got the chance. But by the grace of God, his life has turned around to where now he is serving God fully. I truly appreciated his honesty regarding his marriage troubles and how they went to a marriage counselor for guidance. The notion of the large circle conveying how a marriage covenant bond is supposed to work during the different stages of marriage was very life changing and will be extremely helpful to readers. I also loved the chapter about Caleb and his adoption story it was very inspiring to learn about how Caleb became to be a part of Kurt’s daughter, Jessica’s family. I greatly hope that God has me a Caleb out there somewhere in the future. I highly commend Kurt for writing such a life changing book and being extremely open to his fellow readers. If you’re looking for a book on the topic of grace, then you need to read this one!  

 

“I received an advance PDF copy of the book for free from the author for this review and I was a member of the book launch team”. 

If you would like to purchase a copy of Epic Grace, then check it out on Amazon.com:

 

http://www.amazon.com/Epic-Grace-Chronicles-Recovering-Idiot/dp/1414385048

 

Check out the book trailer:

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2nzOhRtsvA

 

 

Grace: More Than We Deserve, Greater Than We Imagine By Max Lucado Book Review

 

In Grace, Max Lucado explains the concept of grace is undeserved forgiveness from a God who loves us completely. He sent his only Son to die on a cross for our sins and to display unconditionally love to the world. One example of grace that Max Lucado shared was the story of when the Pharisees brought a woman to Jesus and stated that they caught her in the act of adultery. The Pharisees pointed out to Jesus that Moses law told them to stone her and put her to death. Jesus didn’t say anything at first but just squatted down and began writing in the dust. The Bible doesn’t say what he wrote. They kept asking Jesus what they should do to the woman. Jesus finally said, “All right, stone her. But let those who have never sinned throw the first stones!” (John 8:7-8 NLT). Everyone that was condemning her turned to leave. Jesus extended compassion and told her to “go and sin no more” (John 8:11 NLT).  Max Lucado goes on to describe how Satan is here to destroy our lives and he likes to condemn us when we sin. Thankfully, Jesus is able to forgive us when we repent for our sins.

 

God can forgive you when you were unloving to another person or maybe you told a lie to another person. Maybe you even fell into temptation and you had sex before marriage and you know you should have waited but you choose to do it anyway- God can still forgive you. Maybe you got pregnant and chose to have an abortion- God can still forgive you. And you’re awake every night in regret because you know you should have raised and been a part of your child’s life but choose not to. Maybe you committed a crime and you know it was wrong- God can forgive you. God can forgive anything that is sin, but we have to first confess that we know we messed up and admit that you’re truly sorry. The next step we must take is to turn from our mistakes. If you can right a wrong, then go ahead and do it! But it’s extremely important to know that this isn’t a free for all opportunity to sin just because you feel like it. If you know you’re sinning, then change it, and stop! And when you fall short always remember that grace is there.

 

I would recommend this fantastic book on grace to everyone, especially if you’re having a hard forgiving yourself for past mistakes and failures. Grace is something God gave to us and it didn’t come without a price. I found the chapter “Chosen Children” to be an enormous benefit for adults to remember that God chose us as His children and he is our Heavenly father. He is a father to the fatherless and it’s important to never judge that God is like your Earthly father. God will never reject you as His child and he isn’t surprised when you make a mistake. Satan is the liar that gets satisfaction when he can make you wear the coat of shame. God will give you forgiveness no matter how deep your scars are or how many times you’re ashamed of what you have done. I immensely enjoyed how Max Lucado kept reminding readers that God adopted them into His family when we confessed that He is Lord and we need a Savior. So if you’re a believer in Christ, we’re family! Grace happens when we receive it and this book is an excellent reminder that God truly does call you His son or daughter and He loves you!

 

"I received this book free from the publisher through the Book Sneeze book review bloggers program.”

 

If you would like to purchase a copy of Grace check it out on Amazon.com:

http://www.amazon.com/Grace-More-Deserve-Greater-Imagine/dp/0849920701