Experiencing God Day-by-Day: Devotional [Hardcover]

Henry Blackaby (Author), Richard Blackaby (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 1, 2006

Featuring a new cover design and padded hardcover format, Gold Medallion Award winner Experiencing God Day-By-Day is based on Henry Blackaby’s multi-million selling Experiencing God book and Bible study. Brimming with insight and seasoned with grace, this 365-day devotional reader helps to start a daily routine by focusing the mind on the divine presence in each life. Whether selected as a thoughtful gift or as a personal resource, this book will inspire great changes while sustaining the essential habit of turning to God on a daily basis.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Henry Blackaby is founder and president emeritus of Blackaby Ministries International, an organization built to help people experience God. Born in British Columbia, he coauthored the modern classic Experiencing God: Knowing and Doing the Will of God (more than seven million books and Bible studies sold), and his other acclaimed works include Spiritual Leadership, Fresh Encounter, and A God Centered Church. He and his wife have five children, fourteen grandchildren, and live in Rex, Georgia.

Richard Blackaby is president of Blackaby Ministries International and the oldest child of Henry and Marilynn Blackaby. He holds degrees from the University of Saskatchewan, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, and Dallas Baptist University. A coauthor of the modern classics Experiencing God and Spiritual Leadership, he lives with his wife and children in Canada.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Resolutions

So when they had eaten breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, "Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me more than these?"
John 21:15

Jesus has a wonderful way of restoring us when we fail Him! He does not humiliate us. He does not criticize us. He does not ask us to make a resolution to try harder. Rather, He takes us aside and asks us to reaffirm our love for Him.

Peter miserably failed his Lord when he fled with the other disciples from the Garden of Gethsemane. Later, he publicly denied that he even knew Jesus. Peter must have wondered if he had been capable of being Jesus’ disciple when he was unfaithful to Jesus in His most crucial hour.

As you begin a new year, you may be painfully aware that you have failed your Lord in many ways. Perhaps you were not faithful. Perhaps you disobeyed His word to you. Perhaps you denied Him by the way you lived. Jesus will take you aside, as He did Peter. He will not berate you. He will not humiliate you. He will ask you to examine your love for Him. He asked Peter, "Do you love Me?" If your answer, like Peter’s, is "Yes, Lord," He will reaffirm His will for you. If you truly love Him, you will obey Him (John 14:15). Jesus does not need your resolutions, your recommitments, or your promises to try harder this year. If your resolve to obey God last year did not help you to be faithful, it will not make you successful this year. Jesus asks for your love. If you truly love Him, your service for Him in the new year will be of the quality that He desires.

Woe Is Me!

So I said: "Woe is me, for I am undone!
Because I am a man of unclean lips,
And I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips;
For my eyes have seen the King,
The Lord of hosts."
Isaiah 6:5

An exalted view of God brings a clear view of sin and a realistic view of self. A diminished view of God brings a reduced concern for sin and an inflated view of self. Isaiah may have been satisfied with his personal holiness until he saw the Lord in His unspeakable glory. Isaiah’s encounter with holy God made him immediately and keenly aware of his own unholiness and the sinfulness of those around him. It is impossible to worship God and remain unchanged. The best indication that we have truly worshiped is a changed heart.

Have we so conformed ourselves to a sinful world that we are satisfied with unholy living? Have we sunk so far below God’s standard that when someone does live as God intended, we consider that person "superspiritual"? If we only compare our personal holiness to those around us, we may be deceived into believing that we are living a consecrated life. Yet when we encounter holy God, our only response can be "Woe is me!"

You will not see those around you trusting Jesus until they recognize a clear difference between you and the rest of the world. God wants to sanctify you as He is holy. When God deals with you, there will be a radical degree of purity about your life that is absolutely different from what the world can produce. The world, including those closest to you, will be convinced you serve a holy God by your consecrated life.

Making a Difference

But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king’s delicacies.
Daniel 1:8

Would you dare to believe that God, who called you to Himself and equipped you with His Spirit, could work mightily through you? Have you made the connection between the time and place in which you live and God’s call upon you? World events never catch God by surprise. He placed you precisely where you are for a purpose.

Daniel did not let the temptations of his day interfere with his relationship to the Lord. He knew that to make his life useful to God he must be obedient in all things. Regardless of what the most powerful king in the world commanded, Daniel refused to compromise what he knew God required of him.

History is replete with examples of Christian men and women who believed that God would work through them to make a significant difference for His kingdom. God placed Esther strategically in the king’s court at a crucial time when she could save the lives of God’s people (Esther 4:14). God placed Joseph strategically to become the most powerful adviser to the pharaoh in Egypt and to save Jacob and his family from a devastating drought (Gen. 41:39–40).

Are you allowing your surroundings to determine how you invest your life? Or are you letting God use you to make a difference in your generation? Ask God to reveal His purposes for you and His will for your life today. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 404 pages
• Publisher: B&H Books; 1 edition (December 1, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0805444785
• ISBN-13: 978-0805444780
• Product Dimensions: 6.1 x 4.2 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (38 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #36,116 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

32 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Highly recommending "Experiencing God", November 18, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Experiencing God Day-By-Day: A Devotional (Hardcover)

Experiencing God is by far the most superior devotional I've ever read. The daily enteries are bible based, insightful, thought provoking and practical. Easily read and absorbed in 15 minutes, what a way to start the day! A highly recommended tool for spiritual growth at any stage in your Christian walk.

30 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Highly Recommended, January 26, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Experiencing God Day-By-Day: A Devotional (Hardcover)

My church family read My Utmost for His Hightest corporately for 1999. I decided for 2000 to buy everyone another devotional that we could read corporately. I chose Experiencing God Day-by-Day. It was a major blessing. Personally and corporately we are experiencing God day-by-day. As I journal I write love letters to God. I feel I have drawn a little closer to God before I close that book. This devotional causes you to look within and come clean with God.

32 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Hm. . ., February 21, 2008

By 

Carol LeFlore - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Experiencing God Day-by-Day: Devotional (Hardcover)

I am about halfway through this devotional. Over the time I've been reading it, I have continually felt condemned and have questioned some of the things written in here. I've brushed them aside until now, thinking that if I feel condemned there is probably good reason and that I shouldn't just read "encouraging" devotionals.

However, I must disagree with the one of the statements in this book, that "there should never be dry spells in the Christian life" - April 23. That was kind of the last straw for me. Throwing out blanket statements about what "should" or "should not" be in a Christian's life is very dangerous thinking. Also, saying that dry spells do not exist ignores about half of the Psalms and all of the book of Job. This book continually states that most or every problem in the Christian life is most likely brought on by something you are doing or not doing. I disagree with that statement and believe that God sometimes withdraws the "feeling" of His presence to test our faith. That is not to say He withdraws Himself or isn't with us, but no one can deny that sometimes we just cannot feel Him.

There is some great stuff in this devotional, but I must say I do not look forward to reading it everyday. If anything it has taught me to question what religious leaders say and to make my own opinions about what I believe is true. Read carefully, and decide for yourself.