Customer Reviews

Knowing and Doing the Will of God: Daily Devotions for Every Day of the Year

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I was having some difficulty distinguishing between God's will in my life and my own will. I was searching for a book with the "magic" cure-all. As I browsed the shelves, I felt God-directed to buy this book, but at first I decided not to buy, and I left the store. However, some circumstances occurred immediately that lead me to feel that God WANTED me to buy this book. I went back to the store and bought it. I know that God directed this purchase. It has made a world of difference in my determining God's will in my actions. I still veer off a bit at times, but I continue to read and be guided by the daily devotions. I was going to buy one for a couple of friends, but I find it is now, sadly, out of print. A must buy for those in my same situation.

I was having some difficulty distinguishing between God's will in my life and my own will. I was searching for a book with the "magic" cure-all. As I browsed the shelves, I felt God-directed to buy this book, but at first I decided not to buy, and I left the store. However, some circumstances occurred immediately that lead me to feel that God WANTED me to buy this book. I went back to the store and bought it. I know that God directed this purchase. It has made a world of difference in my determining God's will in my actions. I still veer off a bit at times, but I continue to read and be guided by the daily devotions. I was going to buy one for a couple of friends, but I find it is now, sadly, out of print. A must buy for those in my same situation.

If you are at all familiar with J.I. Packer, you know that he is a theological heavyweight who, for all that, is able to write in eloquent, warm, and practical ways about living the Christian life. This book is a sort of "best of" Packer, with some of the most powerful and winsome passages from his books, and I have found it profoundly helpful. Several of the day's excerpts I have copied out by hand in their entirety--and I don't recall ever doing that with a devotional book before. I'm buying several copies of this book for friends and family this Christmas.

After reading Oswald Chambers' My Utmost for His Highest for a couple of years, this all-year devotional fell terribly short of my expectations. The format is this: verse, excerpt from a writing of Packer, and a reflection question or statement. It's often difficult to see how the three connect. The passages leave me wondering what the point is. If you have better luck deciphering the page, good luck trying to apply it.

In short, it's a poorly designed, quite irrelevant collection of passages that are too short to stand on their own with purpose and conviction.