Showing results by publisher "Zondervan" in Christianity

Life is hard for all kinds of reasons. It's tempting to try to move past the pain as quickly as possible. Instead, what if we embraced our struggles to develop the strength of resilience not dependent on circumstances? Writing as a friend who has also walked through difficult times, Rebekah Lyons—the bestselling author of Rhythms of Renewal and the popular host of the Rhythms for Life podcast—reminds us of adversity that always comes with a choice: will discouragement, stress, and fear cause you to crumble, or will you embrace the strength you've already been given?

After years of serving God, pastor and bestselling author Kyle Idleman had a startling revelation: for too long, he had been living as a fan of Jesus; someone who tried to make Christianity seem as appealing, comfortable, and convenient as he possibly could to others. Idleman decided something had to change--he needed to embark on the journey of becoming a completely committed follower of God, not just a fan.

Fire blazes from heaven, and a stone altar erupts in flame. So begins a spiritual awakening, the kindling of a revival fire still burning today. Beginning with Elijah and God's tremendous one-day revival of Israel, Wesley Duewel tells stories of revivals spanning the globe from America to China to Africa, all brought by obedience and heartfelt prayer.

The NIV Daily Scripture will help you on your journey through the Bible in one year. From day one, each audio installment includes a portion from the Old Testament, the New Testament, and a Psalm or Proverb. Before each day’s segment, a succinct applicational overview section will set the stage for that day’s portion, helping you step right back in where you left off the prior day. You don’t even have to wait until January 1st to start; the daily segments are not date-specific, so you can begin your 365-day journey at any point in the year.

Betrayal is searing, but God hasn't left you without balm for the pain. Betrayal is an invitation to intimacy with Jesus. When Christians Hurt You will equip you to move forward in love and experience hope and joy in your faith again.

Today we are told to be true to ourselves, look within for answers, and follow our hearts. But when we put our own happiness first, we experience record-breaking levels of aimlessness, loneliness, depression, and anxiety. Self-centeredness always fails to deliver the fulfillment we're seeking.

Though many of us can point to patterns of brokenness in our lives, we don't know why they're there. No matter how hard we work, we can't seem to outrun the very things that break our hearts. That's because our everyday setbacks are rooted in our unaddressed wounds. Guided by seminary-trained licensed trauma therapist Kobe Campbell, Why Am I Like This? will help you develop courage as you dare to turn your heart toward your brokenness, uncover uncomfortable truths, and learn how to invite God into your past and present pain.

The last book of the Bible frustrates and frightens many people with its imagery and apocalyptic tone. Popular interpretations rely on fear and politicization and often lead to pride and alienation of others. Is this really how we were intended to read John’s Revelation? In Revelation for the Rest of Us, Scot McKnight with Cody Matchett explore the key message of Revelation.

As a follow-up to his best seller The Irresistible Revolution, Claiborne issues a radical manifesto on Christian political imagination—that our hope lies not in partisan options but in Jesus and the incarnation of the church as "set apart" from this world. A thoughtful and lyrical examination of the relationship between faith and allegiance for modern-day saints.

This dramatized audio version of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John in the NIV brings the Bible to life with true-to-text dramatization of God's Word. The fully orchestrated background enriches the text reading and enhances the total experience. Digitally engineered from start to finish, this audio Bible delivers an inspiring and uplifting encounter with the Word of God.

Whether intentionally or not, many Christians today seek health, wealth, and happiness by summoning the Holy Spirit like a genie to grant their wishes. When things don't go the way they think they should, disappointment and disillusionment abound. But it doesn't have to be this way. In Knowing the Spirit, author, pastor, and speaker Costi Hinn shows you why a relationship with the Holy Spirit is the most important next step on your journey as a Christian.

When left unchecked, our thoughts can spiral out of control. We try harder and worry more as we watch the headlines and fill our calendars. But only God can bring us the relief from anxiety that our souls long for. Even in difficult times, we can experience God's presence. Calm Your Anxious Mind offers daily invitations to embrace the peacefulness God gives us no matter our circumstances.

Our pasts shape us and our futures in profound ways whether we know it or not. For some of us, our pasts can feel like heavy chains that we're dragging around with us forever. As a licensed therapist with his own difficult past, Jason VanRuler provides compassionate encouragement, practical wisdom, and a hand to hold as he leads you to a place where healing from brokenness is not only real but attainable.

Pull away from the things that pull you down and find lasting encouragement for today. The women at Proverbs 31 Ministries offer 100 devotions of wit, wisdom, and encouragement for women. For twenty years the P31 team has equipped and encouraged nearly a million women to live in the power of God's truths that apply to their everyday life.

Christians have proclaimed the good news about Jesus for centuries. But the good news isn't sounding so good these days, at least to some. More and more surveys show that people view Christians as bearers of bad news, judgment, and intolerance. In Vanishing Grace, best-selling author Philip Yancey acknowledges the problem and then explores how we can respond with both grace and truth. He offers a discerning look at what contributes to a hostility toward Christians, and identifies three groups - pilgrims, artists, and activists - who can show us a different way.

Each day we speak thousands of words in dozens of places. One thing is certain about the words we speak, type, and text: they are powerful, and they have consequences. They can impart love and life or deliver discouragement and defeat. No wonder Scripture contains more than 3,500 verses about the power of the tongue. This devotional will take you on a journey over the next forty days to learn to choose and use your words wisely--saving you a boatload of regret and wounded relationships.

The experience of shame is more common than we think. It isn't confined to those who have failed or gone through trauma or who have been told as children they would never amount to anything. People who are immensely successful also struggle with a sense they are deficient in some way. Drawing on a wide range of sources including scripture, spiritual formation classics, psychology, and relational neuroscience, and using a rich variety of stories from his own life, Ken Shigematsu shows how a deep, experiential encounter with the love of God can heal us of our shame and make us whole.

Some churches advocate one-on-one discipling, others try getting everyone into a small group, while still others training through mission trips or service projects. Yet others focus all their efforts on attracting people to a large group gathering to hear biblical teaching and preaching. But does one size really fit everyone? Based on careful biblical study and years of experience making disciples in the local church, Bobby Harrington and Alex Absalom have identified five key relationships where discipleship happens in our lives.

More than a decade ago, Jerry Sittser prayed for the protection of his family, yet three of his loved ones - his daughter, his wife, and his mother - died in an automobile accident. What went wrong? When God Doesn't Answer Your Prayer takes an honest and probing look at the problem of unanswered prayer. In doing so, it draws us ever deeper into a relationship with the God who is the end of all our prayers, the object of our faith, and the one who fulfills our deepest longings.

This is the story of how Jack Deere learned to hear the voice of God in his life and how you can too. Now a modern classic, Jack wrote Surprised by the Voice of God over twenty-five years ago. Based on that first book, Why I Am Still Surprised by the Voice of God has been entirely rewritten and includes additional thoughts and insights from a lifetime of hearing God speak.