religion and spirituality

This book is a must read for anyone who wants to draw closer to God. If you actually DO the work as instructed and not just read the book, your relationship with God will be forever transformed. You cannot possibly walk away from doing the steps in this workbook and have the same relationship with our LORD as you began.

It really gets to the heart of the relationship that we are to have with GOD. If you really have a heart for God and seek after him, this book will bless you over and over again. By using examples from the Bible the authors show us how God wants to have a close personal relationship with ALL of his children. We see how God works with HIS children from the Old and the New Testament. God does not change, and this book shows that to us again and again. This book has changed my life and improved my marriage.

From a practical standpoint doing the "work" in this workbook is a challenge (as is our Christian walk). There is no magic formula and you get out of it exactly what you put into it, no more and no less. If you just read the book there really is little point in purchasing it, but if you DO the work, the blessings will flow like water. Mine do.

Though this book frequently mentioned that God is omnipotent and that He can take care of us in all our circumstances, I felt that the authors' themes revolved too much around the lingo of modern-day charismatic evangelists and televangelists. Who ever coined the term God-sized task, anyway?

The main problem I had with this book is that the authors' logic seemed too linear in achieving what constitutes a perfect, or nearly perfect, Christian lifestyle. In my opinion, Blackaby and King presented an abrupt raw material to finished product approach without a thorough analysis or discussion of the growing Christian faith as a process.

Let me draw out a parallel. One problem I see in American education is that many students are in a hurry to get from step 1 to the final answer in step 10 without attaining the self-discipline to look at the interplay of steps 2 through 9. In similar fashion, Blackaby and King, despite mentioning that we are to wait for God's response, have too many times given the impression that if we do not quickly respond to God's call for a certain task by taking a point A to point B approach, then we will miss the boat (that is, his fullest of blessings)entirely.

I do agree that, because we are sinful creatures, we will not entirely fulfill our potential in life. However, God is a God of love which, according to the Christian faith, means that He is also a God of patience. Once we internalize this can we then, as Christians, be patient, ourselves, and be able to analyze and rectify our situations with His divine help. Now that is what I call Christian growth.

All in all, this is not a bad book, for it is actually quite good in many instances. It just needed more commentary and analysis about the process of growing Christian faith and the consequences of rebellious sin in our lives.

So far as recommendations I can make about issues concerning spiritual maturity or maturation and the second chances that can result from trying to get back on the right track, let me suggest anything,written or spoken, by Dr. Erwin Lutzer.

With any Christian book that's quite popular, it is guaranteed to bring in criticisms. There are LOTS of positive points about this book. I was evaluating this book by looking on the Internet and saw both rave and grave reviews. I suggest you ignore most of the negative criticisms - these people tend to nitpick (the kind that see specks in others' eyes and forget there's a plank in theirs) on details; they throw the baby out with the bath water; they are likely to criticise Jesus if He wrote a book. Read a couple of chapters (perhaps start with Chapter 5) and you'll see that this book is very God-centred, first and foremost. It is a VERY helpful and practical guide in our Christian walk.

We were looking for a book instead of the arduous question-and-answer format for our Bible Study. We were deciding between Rick Warren's "The Purpose Driven Life" and Henry Blackaby & Claude V. King's "Experiencing God". We found "Experiencing God" much more suited for Bible Study (and even doubles as a devotion - of course, "The Purpose Driven Life" is touted to be an excellent devotional!) for the following reasons:

1) It's practical - the things in this book can be applied in our lives wherever we are.

2) It's flexible - new Christians and mature Christians alike will find it just as applicable. I have been a Christian for 18 years already an still found this book a tremendous blessing.

3) It puts God first - You'll find time and time again, the book gives glory and honour to God first and foremost - everything starts with God. After all, He is the great "I AM" by which all meaning in life is derived from!

I truly believe you will be blessed by God through this book. Kudos to Blackaby and King for producing such a book. It is immensely useful and proves itself a worthy read!