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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great teaching on how Christians receive God's guidance, March 25, 2008
This review is from: Guard Us, Guide Us: Divine Leading in Life's Decisions (Hardcover)
Packer and Nystrom present the church with a fresh formulation of divine spiritual direction.
Here is a new book written by two authors who construct beautiful sentences and well-crafted chapters in order to teach Christians how it is that God communicates His will to us.
This book is not short, skimpy, or sparing. It is more than just simple principles, and yet in many ways it arises from a simple (and Scriptural) formulaic understanding of divine guidance. In fact, I often felt I was reading an expanded and prosaic version of John MacArthur's straightforward "Found: God's Will" booklet (with 5 principles I can still remember twenty years later).
The basic thrust of the book is to put "an end to fear"- the fear found in the heart of a believer over what God's will is for their life. The authors combat false understandings, "some tangled tales" that hamper freedom and joy in the life of a believer who doubts whether they really can know God's will. Furthermore, the authors seek to combat the notion that one bad mistake along the journey will inevitably thwart any future attempt to be found in God's will.
They begin and end with Psalm 23 theology, establishing the "guard" and "guide" verbs of love flowing from the good shepherd to his sheep. They also show how the Word of God provides light and understanding, and how we are to obey the divine text as being the very will of God, for that it is what it is.
The vital foundation for hearing and following God's will is to be walking in overall spiritual health and vitality. This means holiness and purity and a heart desire to glorify God and obey Him. Without this commitment, a professing Christian has no reason to expect their sickly spiritual life will have ears and mind and heart to properly hear from God.
Packer and Nystrom present the church with a fresh formulation of divine spiritual direction. I am sure that additional reading and meditation will yield even more spiritual profit from their words. I can see this book being very useful for late high school and college students.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
This will become a classic book on guidance., March 25, 2008
This review is from: Guard Us, Guide Us: Divine Leading in Life's Decisions (Hardcover)
I received this book as a recommendation from Amazon, since I have enjoyed J.I. Packer's books, as well as books by Dallas Willard and Larry Crabb in this genre.
This book is the clearest, most scripturally-based and complete treatment of this topic I have read. Starting with the need to deal with fear, the author(s) (the book was co-written with Carolyn Nystrom) use Psalm 23 as a template for divine guidance and its special treatment of our need to discard fear as a driver for our actions.
The suthors then go through the respective roles of God's Word, God's wisdom (in that regard), the counsel of friends, the problems presented by a situational ethics view for guidance, the role of the Holy Spirit and an excellent summation.
If you have read Packer, you know he likes to "pack the ideas tight", so it isn't a fast read, but it isn't like C.S. Lewis's "Miracles" either. I believe Carolyn Nystrom was instrumental in spacing the ideas out a bit so it was easier to assimilate. There are also some great questions at the end of the book so you can use the book in a group setting.
Strongly recommend this book to anyone who is seeking God's guidance as they make decisions in their lives.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Interesting, April 1, 2008
This review is from: Guard Us, Guide Us: Divine Leading in Life's Decisions (Hardcover)
Guide Us, Guard Us is a practical, scripture-based approach to viewing God's guidance. The authors uses Psalm 23 as a foundation for our quest of following God.
I usually find J.I. Packer a bit hard to read as he's usually very intense, but his collaboration with Caroyln Nystrom was a wonderful idea as she helps to get his point across in a very readable manner.
As an added bonus, the questions included make this book easy to use in a group setting.
If you are seeking God's direction in your life, this is a good book to read.
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