Monday, December 10, 2012

Book Review: Pierced by the Word

Pierced by the Word: Thirty-One Meditations for Your Soul. John Piper. 2003. Multnomah. 140 pages.

I really LOVED John Piper's devotional book, Pierced by The Word. Each devotion has substance. For example, last week I quoted a little of what he had to say about God's love. A week later, I'm still thinking about it--absorbing it. This book may be the devotional book for people who don't know they like reading devotional books. I think it would also be a GREAT introduction to John Piper because the entries are so manageable. (I've tried two or three times to read Desiring God, perhaps his most celebrated work, but I always get intimidated.) I would definitely recommend this one!

The devotions:

  • How Strange and Wonderful Is the Love of Christ!
  • God Is The Gospel
  • Pierced by the Word of God
  • Be Not Mere Shadows and Echoes
  • How To Drink Orange Juice to the Glory of God
  • Big, Sweeping--But Not Insipid--Prayers
  • What is Humility?
  • Wilderness, Worship, Treason, and God
  • How to Be a Refuge For Your Children
  • Going Deep With God By Having Him Carry Our Loads
  • Persevere in Prayer!
  • Dorothy Sayers on Why Hell is Nonnegotiable
  • To You Who Believe, He is Precious
  • What Does Jesus Want?
  • How Does the Law Help Me Know My Sin?
  • A Passion for Purity Versus Passive Prayer
  • The Battle for Breakfast Blessing
  • You Have One Precious Life
  • Terrorism, Justice, and Loving Our Enemies
  • How is God's Love Experienced in the Heart?
  • Reasons Believers in Christ Need Not Be Afraid
  • Embracing the Pain of Shame
  • How Jesus Helped His Disciples Increase Their Faith
  • The Strange Ways of Our Wonderful Builder
  • A*N*T*H*E*M: Strategies for Fighting Lust
  • Mealtime Prayers with the Pipers
  • It Is Never Right To Be Angry With God
  • The Church Was Spoken Against Everywhere
  • By What Death Will You Glorify God?
  • John G. Paton's Father
  • Helping People Have The Assurance of Salvation 

Favorite quotes:

From "Pierced by The Word of God"
The word of God is not a dead word or an inefficient word. It has life in it. And because it has life in it, it produces effects. There is something about the Truth, as God has revealed it, that connects it to God as a source of all life and power. God loves His Word. He is partial to His Word. He honors His Word with His presence and power. If we want our teaching or witness to have power and produce effects, let us stay close to the revealed Word of God. (22)
From "Wilderness, Worship, Treason and God"
There are seasons of pain and loss and grief and darkness when nothing is worth asking for but God. Everything else seems trivial, even life. (40)
From "Going Deep With God By Having Him Carry Our Loads,"
The Christian life is a life of being carried from beginning to end. (50)
From "Persevere in Prayer"
Oh, let us be a praying people, and let this year--and all our years--be saturated with prayers to the Lord of all power and all good. (51-52)
From "Dorothy Sayers on Why Hell is A Nonnegotiable"
If you live only for this world, you will care little for truth... But if you live for eternity, you will forego a few fads in order to be everlastingly relevant. (54)
From "To You Who Believe He Is Precious"
Have you ever thought that Jesus wants you to love Him not merely with your love but with the love which God the Father has for Him? How is this possible? It is possible because of the new birth. Becoming a Christian means getting a new nature, which is given by God. Practically speaking this means that God comes into our lives by the Holy Spirit and begins to give us new affections, new emotions, namely the emotions of God. It is the presence of God the Spirit in our lives that causes us to love Jesus with the love of God the Father.... To be ruled by the Spirit is to be ruled by a divine love for Jesus. (59)
In all the universe none is more precious to God the Father than His Son, Jesus Christ. That is how precious he should be to us. (60)

© Becky Laney of Operation Actually Read Bible

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