Renewing Your Spiritual Passion (Gordon MacDonald Bestseller Series) [Paperback]

Gordon MacDonald (Author)

Book Description

Series: Gordon MacDonald Bestseller Series | Publication Date: May 1997

Have you ever been too far from home to turn back yet too weary to want to continue toward your destination? Renewing Your Spiritual Passion looks at the journey we are on, as Christians, and poses just that question. All of us want to have the passion to be godly people. But too many times, having that passion is easier to talk about than to actually find or maintain. Bestselling author Gordon MacDonald asks if there is a growing weariness of spirit among Christians and discusses what they can do to change that.

Product Details

• Paperback: 244 pages
• Publisher: Thomas Nelson Publishers (May 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0785271627
• ISBN-13: 978-0785271628
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #474,383 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Highly Recommended, September 9, 2003

By 

Robert Wynkoop (Washington State) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Renewing Your Spiritual Passion (Gordon MacDonald Bestseller Series) (Paperback)

MacDonald scored a home run with this excellent book. The author looks at the journey of life we are all on and catalogs the issues that drain us and slow us down. He then states that spiritual passion has an ethereal quality about it, and if not taken care of it will soon disappear. He then shows us how to regain lost spiritual passion through safe places, still times and special friends.

Macdonalds passionate writing style is a welcome breeze of refreshment. Finally, I was reading an author who not only writes of the things of God, but employs beautiful prose in doing so. As I read his chapter on positive and negative people, it brought to mind the people I have dealt with over the years. I realized that it was the Very Nice People and the Very Draining People who occupy most of my time. It is the authors contention that while we do not ignore these people, we should try to focus our time on those who enhance our ministries. In this respect, he echoes John Maxwells dictum about spending most of our people time with the top twenty percent of influences in the church.

MacDonald needs to be more precise in distinguishing between ambition and passionate desire; the distinction he makes seems somewhat artificial. He says that ambition is the urge to get ahead, to establish oneself powerfully. My question is this: Just what is the difference between this and the urge to do great things for Christ and profile security for one?s family. Ambition, in itself, is not evil. It is the motivation behind our ambition that either enhances it or taints it. Too many pastors have too little ambition; they settle for small vision, mediocre ministries and call themselves spiritual.

I highly recommend this book. It is written in a style and manner that is delightful to read and gives solid advice on how to renew our passion for God.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Raises questions, October 11, 2001

By 

ransome22 "ransome22" (Washington DC area) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Renewing Your Spiritual Passion (Gordon MacDonald Bestseller Series) (Paperback)

Speaking clearly from experience, and perhaps even from a wearied condition, Gordon MacDonald does a thorough job of identifying various kinds of habits, individuals, attitudes, and situations which are prone to drain us of spiritual passion, or quite likely of any passion whatsoever. In fact he does so thorough a job that the men in my Bible study class began to question whether the book would do much more than define the problem. MacDonald does offer some wise counsel after a clear transition from "problem" to "solution" is made on page 119: "After all of this discussion about weariness and passionlessness, is there anything positive to say? Are there principles and truths that, when properly applied, permit one to put the inner, and even the outer, life back into form in much the same way as we realign the pool balls at the beginning of a game?" At this point the book does begin to outline the sorts of practices and relationships that help a person recharge. Reservations expressed in class had to do with labeling people as "the very draining people", "the very important people", "the very nice people", etc. and advocating the need to recognize people as such so we can appropriately tailor our responses. Students questioned the wisdom here and doubted whether the "normal Christian life" is truly intended to always exhibit passion. Several cited examples of people like Paul, Elijah, Job, Jonah, etc. who seemed utterly despondent at times. Another reservation had to do with the relative lack of scripture references as the foundation for the specific points being made and for the book as a whole. Some of MacDonald's other works come highly recommended and may be better starting points for those who are not familiar with his writing.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Renewed my passion, November 20, 2002

By 

"genesis2214" (Allen, TX United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Renewing Your Spiritual Passion (Gordon MacDonald Bestseller Series) (Paperback)

For those, like me, who find themselves wondering why such hard work for jobs, family, church, etc. result in such little joy and satisfaction, Mr. MacDonald's writing may bring some solice. I found great relief in his experiences and antecdotes and also found the initiative to investigate why I lacked spritual passion. The book provided me with answers as to why I lacked passion, what sapped my passion and what elements could be placed in my life to maintain passion. This book was recommended to me and I would recommend (and have recommended) it to others.