Move Spiritual Growth

In Try Softer, you'll learn how to: know and set emotional and relational boundaries; make sense of the difficult experiences you've had; identify your attachment style-and how that affects your relationships today; move through emotions rather than get stuck by them; and grow in self-compassion and talk back to your inner critic. Trying softer is sacred work. And while it won't be perfect or easy, it will be worth it. Because this is what we were made for: a living, breathing, moving, feeling, connected, beautifully incarnational life.

With Intercessory Prayer, first-time author and gifted Bible teacher Dutch Sheets brings clear and startling revelation on the power of prayer and the role of intercession. With the rare grace of Lucado and Foster, Dutch unwraps the mystery of intercessory prayer, revealing our role as God's partners in His work. Have you ever wondered if your prayers really count? Or why you never seem to get any answers? If so, then Intercessory Prayer will convince you that your prayers can, indeed, move heaven and earth.

Have you ever felt stuck in a cycle of unresolved pain, playing offenses over and over in your mind? You know you can't go on living like this, but you don't know what to do next. Lysa TerKeurst has wrestled through this journey. But in surprising ways, she’s discovered how to let go of bound-up resentment and overcome the resistance to forgiving people who aren’t willing to make things right.

Prosperity. It's one of the most dividing words in the church. Some pastors use it to tell their congregations that God will make them all rich, rich, rich! Others spurn the word and insist that true Christlikeness is found in forsaking all worldly riches and possessions. The truth is, both are right - and both are wrong. With refreshing honesty, humor, and keen insight, best-selling author and pastor Kris Vallotton mines the Scriptures in an eye-opening study of what the Bible really says about money, poverty, riches, and wealth.

One of the church's primary responsibilities is to foster genuine spiritual growth in people's lives. Today's pastors bring tremendous effort and passion to this task, but they are often disappointed by people who sit in the pews for years, knowing about Jesus but never really knowing him. In 2004, Willow Creek Community Church in suburban Chicago undertook a three-year study to measure spiritual growth called the REVEAL Spiritual Life Survey. Over the next six years, additional data was collected from over a quarter million people in well over a thousand churches of every size....

Sheila Walsh encourages listeners to face the pain head-on and then start again, from right where they are. She shares that when she discovered "I'm not good enough, and I'm good with that", everything started to change. In It's Okay Not to Be Okay, Walsh helps women overcome the same old rut of struggles and pain by changing the way they think about God, themselves, and their everyday lives. She shares practical, doable daily strategies that will help women move forward one step at a time knowing God will never let them down.

Authored by counselor Dr. Richard Plass and spiritual director James Cofield, The Relational Soul brings together concepts from psychology and spiritual formation. Each chapter includes introductory stories and practical "If this is true, what about you?" questions to help listeners engage in relationships in more life-giving ways. When the presence of Christ and community connects with a soul that is open, we witness the miracle of transformation.

Bitterness is a destructive poison, yet we all struggle with it sometimes due to circumstances our sovereign God has allowed. In a world full of struggle, we must take care that difficult circumstances do not feed a bitter spirit within us. In this honest and hopeful book, pastor and counselor Stephen Viars shows you how to avoid the pitfalls of a bitter heart as you walk through our fallen world. When we learn to process bitterness biblically and effectively, we can move from life's greatest hurts to a life filled with joy. 

Our obsession with bigger and faster is spinning us out of control. We move through the week breathless and bustling, just trying to keep up while longing to slow down. But real life happens in the small moments, the kind we find on Tuesday, the most ordinary day of the week.

There are times in life when we look back and want time to stand still, particularly when we get blindsided by unexpected changes. But we can’t stop the flow of life, and we can’t stop time. What’s more, looking back doesn’t enable us to go back. More often than not, it just makes us stuck. In a place. In a space. In a memory. In a mindset. In a habit. With a rallying cry to “remember Lot’s wife,” Bible teacher, speaker, activist, and author Christine Caine motivates us to stop looking back, to get unstuck, and to keep moving forward into God’s promises and purposes for our lives.

Amid our packed schedules and life's curveballs, our hearts long for more. We want to live and love well; we want to be sources of joy and life. The good news is that you can - and the secret is found in the simple act of prayer. Prayer was never meant to be a recitation of requests but rather a drawing close to the heart of God. When you learn to exchange the obstacles of life for the promises of God, you will pray with passion and confidence rather than fear or insecurity.

Life is an incredible journey with ups and downs. We soar, struggle, scale, and stumble, and often stand at the edge of cliffs, afraid to step into the unknown, unsure of where we will land. But instead of running away, we are called by God to stand firm, muster up what faith we can, and take a step. Because we were made to move mountains. In this inspiring book, Kristen Welch calls you to step out in faith and climb the mountain in front of you - not because you are good enough or adequate or able, but because God makes a way where there is no way.

Before its foundation, America first flew the Appeal to Heaven flag. It was the banner George Washington used on his navy ships to signal that their only hope against British rule and religious persecution was an appeal to heaven. The crusade continues today. Sparked in part by a revelation Dutch Sheets received over the course of 12 years, the nation is being called back to prayer for a Third Great Awakening. As a result, pockets of revival are breaking out across the nation.

How would it feel to enter into prayer with confidence and assurance - certain that God heard you and that your prayers would make a difference? It would likely feel amazing and unfamiliar. That's because often our prayers seem to be met with silence or don't appear to change anything. Either response can lead to disappointment or even despair in the face of our ongoing battles and unmet longings - especially when we don't know if we're doing something wrong or if some prayers just don't work.

Ff we spend our lives trying to be “the strong one,” we become exhausted, burned-out, and disconnected from our truest selves. What if it were different? Could there be a different way to be strong? Could strength mean more than pushing on and pushing through pain, bearing every heavy burden on our own? What if, instead, true strength were more like the tide: soft and bold, fierce and gentle, moving together as one powerful force? In Strong like Water, author and trauma therapist Aundi Kolber offers a framework for true flourishing.

There is nothing more important in this life or the one to come than an intimate connection with Jesus. Unfortunately, we have thousands of voices distracting us, and all too often we listen to them. We confuse proximity to God with intimacy with God and are content with a Christian - branded life yet miss out on what we were created for: knowing God intimately.

Though compassion lies at the heart of the Gospel, it has been little studied in its own right. This book, written by an accomplished scholar yet accessible to the lay listener, fills that void by drawing on the broad and ancient tradition of the Orthodox Church.

Throughout Scripture, God's leaders built altars where He met them in powerful, miraculous ways. God still longs to pour out His power at those altars. But we've been seduced away by worldly wisdom and man-made distractions and plans, leaving us ineffective against the evil sweeping across our land. With insight and humility, international leader and pastor Rick DuBose shows the path back to five forgotten altars—and ultimately, the path to your place in heaven's throne room.

In Emotionally Healthy Discipleship, best-selling author Pete Scazzero combines three decades of wisdom with hard lessons from his own ministry journey. He lays out what is required for church leaders to multiply deeply changed people who are growing in relationship with God, themselves, and others. Scazzero begins with four beneath-the-surface, systemic gaps that undermine serious discipleship. He provides a clear vision for a church culture that deeply changes lives and then practically unpacks the seven biblical marks of emotionally healthy discipleship.

Everything changes when you crack open your heart. In this book, you'll learn how to move through the four progressive openings of consciousness: pain, compassion, connection and love. You'll also experience 365 Illuminations, Divine messages that guide you during the journey, and help deepen your understanding. These spiritual teachings include questions and contemplations, for you to use in meditation, journaling or part of your spiritual practice, so you can undertake this opening of your heart, one day at a time.