Temptation and Discernment


Book Description

Brief reflections by noted Chilean priest and author, showing how to avoid activism, messianism, and other common pitfalls in ministry and prayer, based on the discernment principles of Ignatius of Loyola, John of the Cross, and Teresa of Avila.




Temptation and Discernment


Book Description

The author describes the nature of Christian spiritual discernment, drawing on the teachings of the Spanish saints and mystics: Ignatius of Loyola, John of the Cross and Teresa of Avila. He then applies their insights in a series of brief chapters on the major temptations in the two principal areas of our Christian life: ministry and prayer. In wise and practical terms, he discusses activism, entrenchment, pastoral envy, discouragement in prayer, misuse of prayer methods, and many similar problems, showing us throughout how to distinguish good spirits from evil. He closes with a short reflection on the connection between Christian self-renunciation and our natural desire for happiness. For both individuals and groups, this book offers indispensible guidance for a review of life and authentic spiritual discernment.




The Discipline of Spiritual Discernment (Foreword by John MacArthur)


Book Description

Spiritual discernment is good for more than just making monumental decisions according to God's will. It is an essential, day-to-day activity that allows thoughtful Christians to separate the truth of God from error and to distinguish right from wrong in all kinds of settings and situations. It is also a skill-something that any person can develop and improve, especially with the guidance in this book. Written by a leading evangelical blogger, The Discipline of Spiritual Discernment is an uplifting, scripturally grounded work that explains the need for discernment, its challenges, and the steps that will cultivate it. Author Tim Challies does not do the discerning for readers; he simply shows them how to practically apply scriptural tools, principles, and wisdom so that their conclusions about everything-people, teachings, decisions, media, and organizations-will be consistent with God's Word.




Discernment of Spirits in Marriage


Book Description

To navigate the inevitable ups and downs of our spiritual lives, countless souls have found comfort and guidance in St. Ignatius of Loyola's Rules for Discernment. For the past forty years, popular retreat master and author Fr. Timothy Gallagher has been at the forefront of making St. Ignatius's Rules understandable and applicable to hundreds of thousands of Catholics seeking greater sensitivity to the "movements of their souls. Now Fr. Gallagher returns with a more focused mission: to help you apply these rules to your role as a husband or a wife. In Discernment of Spirits in Marriage, Fr. Gallagher aims to free you from discouragement and assist you in finding peace in your spiritual life and in your marriage. He will help you determine what is of God and what is not and will show you how the enemy works to discourage you in your daily spousal interactions in order to undermine both your spiritual growth and your marital bond. Best of all, you'll learn what to do about it! With St. Ignatius and Fr. Gallagher as your guides, you'll learn: How to identify and remove spiritually harmful habits The eleven forms of spiritual desolation — and the four things you must do to combat it Why God permits spiritual dryness The easiest way to resist temptation Your marriage's most vulnerable place — and how to strengthen it The four tactics of the enemy — and the grace-filled responses you can offer to each. The five ways in which God strengthens husbands and wives who seek to grow spiritually




Pursuing God's Will Together


Book Description

Church boards and other Christian leadership teams have long relied on models adapted from the business world. Ruth Haley Barton, president of the Transforming Center, helps teams transition to a much more fitting model—the spiritual community that practices discernment together.




The Discernment of Spirits


Book Description

"[Anderson] succeeds in neatly fitting together selected pieces of the history of discernment of spirits to provide a valuable, readable description of the contours of its evolution in the late Middle Ages." -- Debra L. Stoudt, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, The Medieval Review Late medieval Christians lived in a world of visions, but they knew that not all visions came from God: angels, demons, illness, nature, or passion could also inspire an apparent divine visitation. During the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, the involvement of visionaries in everything from reform movements to military campaigns to papal schisms raised the political and spiritual stakes of determining whether or not a vision was truly from God. In response, a diverse group of medieval thinkers - including men and women, clergy and laity, visionaries and theologians - gradually began to transform the loose patristic readings of Pauline discretio spirituum into a system with the potential to distinguish between true and false visions and between genuine and delusional visionaries. Wendy Love Anderson chronicles the historical, political, and spiritual struggles behind the flowering of late medieval mysticism and what came to be seen as the Christian doctrine of discernment of spirits.




Spice


Book Description

In this brilliant, engrossing work, Jack Turner explores an era—from ancient times through the Renaissance—when what we now consider common condiments were valued in gold and blood. Spices made sour medieval wines palatable, camouflaged the smell of corpses, and served as wedding night aphrodisiacs. Indispensible for cooking, medicine, worship, and the arts of love, they were thought to have magical properties and were so valuable that they were often kept under lock and key. For some, spices represented Paradise, for others, the road to perdition, but they were potent symbols of wealth and power, and the wish to possess them drove explorers to circumnavigate the globe—and even to savagery. Following spices across continents and through literature and mythology, Spice is a beguiling narrative about the surprisingly vast influence spices have had on human desire. Includes eight pages of color photographs. One of the Best Books of the Year: Discover Magazine, The Christian Science Monitor, San Francisco Chronicle




Too Great a Temptation


Book Description

Dr. Gregory goes behind the scenes to reveal the inside story on the inner politics, corruption of character, power struggles and hypocracy that have existed in super churches hiding behind the claims of being houses of God.




Keeping Faith


Book Description

“A triumph. This novel’s haunting strength will hold the reader until the very end and make Faith and her story impossible to forget.” —Richmond Times Dispatch “Extraordinary.” —Orlando Sentinel From the #1 New York Times bestselling author Jodi Picoult (Nineteen Minutes, Change of Heart, Handle with Care) comes Keeping Faith: an “addictively readable” (Entertainment Weekly) novel that “makes you wonder about God. And that is a rare moment, indeed, in modern fiction” (USA Today).




Closing the Window


Book Description

Pornography is everywhere, and many Christians have fallen prey to its snare. Tim Chester believes we can be captured by a better vision—a liberating confidence that God offers more than pornography does. Moving beyond pat answers or mere willpower, Chester offers spiritual, practical and corporate resources for living porn free.