Too Many Voices

What happens to a girl who grows up in a strong loving, religious family but feels like an outcast, too different from others due to a God-given gift inside her?  Such is the story of Alane Haynes who heard many voices early on in her youth and decided to follow them not knowing they would lead to a dark, unsafe and lonely place.

From Hippy to Holy

I stopped biting my nails when I got to the chapter of her full surrender to God with her new resolve to read the Bible to know Him better.  Her life took a new pathway, one of light instead of darkness.  I held my breath as I read of her radical determination to trust God fully and listen to only His voice.  Alane began to make wise decisions daily with confidence which opened up a new lifestyle of obedience to God.  He lead her eventually to a prophetic ministry to help others.

I found the message of this book summed up in a nutshell in the chapter, Transition: Out of the Old and Into the New.  Alane writes:

I had not fully realized just how deeply the world system of thinking is embedded within.  It isn’t just living a godly, moral life when you are born again.  To truly be a new creature, our minds have to be transformed.  The real transformation is from being our own god to letting God be God, and trusting Him for everything.

My Personal Preference

Here is what I particularly liked about this book:

1.      The author stresses the benchmark of absolute truth, the Word of God.

2.     The era was my era!  As I read of her hippy antics, I recalled the music of that time and put on my 60’s and 70’s playlists.

3.     Most chapters end with poetic summary which makes this read different and uniquely creative.  The author bares her soul and then sums up lessons learned in lyrical expression.

4.     I like short chapters.  The power-packed succinctly written life lessons framed in short chapters drew me into reflection and then application for my own life.

5.     I like honest believers!  Consequences do not evaporate after conversion.  The author’s recount of past poor choices led to depression, but God rescued her every time.

Alane’s testimony is more, much more, than just a story of darkness to light.  It depicts a loving Father who rescues His daughter and changes her life dramatically from fearful apprehension to confident joy as He transforms her into His own image.

I recommend Too Many Voices.  This book boosts a Christian’s faith with a reminder of how God’s Holy Word brings clarity to our hearing as opposed to the enemy’s voice which brings confusion.

Alane Haynes has written four books.  She is a featured writer on Elijah’s List and Spirit Fuel.  Alane is a public speaker as well as women’s leader at The Rock Church in San Diego.  Her heart’s desire is to see people reconciled to God and filled with His purpose.  She teaches others how to hear and obey God’s voice.  Alane and her husband, Kerry, are commissioned by Limitless Realms International Ministries.  Also, they are founders of Eternal Truth Now Ministry and Golden Vessels.    They live in San Diego and  love the outdoors.  They also enjoy spending time with their family.  You can visit Alane at her website:  www.alanehaynes.com

Great Redemption Story

Those stories, the ones we start to read and can’t put down, reel us in to another place in time with characters who seem alive.  We smell the scenes and visualize their emotions.  We want to shout out to them, to warn them or cheer them on!  Pebbles in my Way felt like a realistic, personal story. 

Author Alice Klies writes beautifully.  Her fiction story revolves around a main character, Karen, who found herself in trials from her past choices.  God puts the right people in her path and her opposition to the true gospel turns around.  This beautiful story of redemption portrayed in the mountains of Scottsdale, AZ, shows that God is a personal God who cares about His children.  No stuffy religious dialogue, this story unveils hope for the downtrodden. 

Karen looks like any woman caught in confusion and grief, but when she finds Jesus her life takes on new adventures!

I highly recommend this novel.

Alice Klies is currently president of Northern Arizona Word Weavers, a chapter of an international writers group.  She has nonfiction and fiction stories published in sixteen anthologies.  She is a seven-time contributor to Chicken Soup for the Soul.  She serves on boards for the PWG (Professional Women’s Group) and Y.E.S. the ARC in her community. She is a deaconess and Stephens Minister in her church.  Alice is a retired teacher who resides with her husband and two Golden Retrievers in beautiful Cottonwood, Arizona.  She prays her stories cause a reader to smile, laugh or cry, and most of all turn their eyes upward to God who loves them.

Book Review: A Jewel of the Kingdom

When I picked up A Jewel of the Kingdom by Cho Larson and began reading, memories surfaced of earlier days.  I remember my mentors pressing me to ask God for the desire to prophesy.  I remember feeling intimidated, studying Scripture and asking God to use anybody but me to prophesy revelations of Him.  I remember witnessing flawed vessels who created chaos in Christian meetings.  Over the years, I grew less ambivalent.  My pendulum swung from “this is crazy” to “I can’t live without it.”  

What exactly is this gift of prophecy?  How do I know if this gift of the Holy Spirit is for me?  What is the purpose of this gift of prophecy?

The gift of prophecy is the kind of gift that has to be ministered in the correct Scriptural order.  What is that order?  What do I look for in judging if a prophecy is the real thing before I embrace it?

The author addresses all these questions and much more.

A healthy church allows the gift of prophecy letting God’s spirit produce awe in His people, building them up and strengthening them and sometimes convicting them of sin.

When this gift is abused, do I shy away and think that prophecy is not necessary? I cheat myself when I neglect its importance.  Reading this book helps me to be less fearful of making a mistake.  I'm encouraged to embrace a loving God and his gifts so that I can love Him back and serve Him with a passion knowing God uses flawed people for His purpose. 

The book lays out the checks and balance system for Christian believers in a group setting that allows the gift of prophecy.  When believers are accountable, hidden sin cannot stay hidden!  It’s beautiful when we understand God's order.

I find it inspiring to reflect on Jesus making his bride beautiful with treasures that are spiritual.  Author Larson writes that we should desire this gift of prophecy, to wait for it, and to adhere to Jesus Christ. 

The author’s writing style made it easy to read.  His confidence and boldness as a teacher got my attention and I sat up straight learning and enjoying the journey of this teaching of the wonderful gift of prophesy.  You will too!

Book Review: Overcome Failure: Get Back on Your Feet

Author Ifeoma Samuel’s new book, Overcome Failure, is a must have for anyone who is human.  Don’t we all fail and find it hard to pick ourselves back up?  Especially if it’s a red face blunder type of failure and I think just about every one of us has experienced that in life.

The author reminds us who we are and to whom we belong:  trust God.  We don’t have to be perfect; God is the perfect one!

I like declarations from God’s Word and speak them over my life to remind myself of true reality.  Declarations from the Word are included here.

The advice to overcome critics helps me to know that if criticism evokes growth, I keep it.  If it is not meant for good, it should be discarded.

The author suggests ways to overcome embarrassing situations.  I have found myself in loads of those and checked off the list of what to do!

I nodded in agreement with this book when it comes to fear of failure and ways to overcome.  My favorites were saturating myself with God’s Word, really believing it!   The other is developing an attitude of gratitude.

I liked the emphasis on God’s Word, not just positive thoughts and statements.   Clever positive words have never held their strength compared to the power of what God says.  There is nothing like His promises!

The ending of this book targets faith and I know developing faith always overcomes fear.  Faith gets us to the finish line.

I highly recommend Overcome Failure.  It comes with a companion study guide and will be available for purchase on August 16, 2016.

Dr. Ifeoma Samuel is an author and blogger.  Visit her blog, Purposeful and Meaningful, http://purposefulandmeaningful.blogspot.com

Book Review: Treasures of the Kingdom

Treasures of the Kingdom is the second book in the Kingdom Series, written by Author Cho Larson.  The book features a Biblical explanation of the Holy Spirit’s role in the Christian Church as well as the role of the Holy Spirit in the life of a Christian believer.

Larson’s teaching is clear.  He uses Scripture with examples to point out the true objective of God’s purpose for us in the Body of Christ to not only live powerfully with the help of the Holy Spirit in our everyday lives, but fellowship corporately with the intentional purpose to honor a holy God with the free flowing gifts of the Holy Spirit.

How do we enter into worship that our God so deserves?

What are the steps of true worship?

How do I know how to serve God with the gifts He provides?

How do I break free of all the fleshly trappings that bind me so I can worship freely and serve a Holy God?

What does a healthy church look like when believers follow the Biblical requirements of gathering corporately and allowing the Holy Spirit to control the service?

What should I be cautious about when I see gifts of the Holy Spirit misused?

These questions and many more are answered in this valuable book.  After each chapter, the author asks a series of questions that I found helpful in understanding all that I have read.  Room to journal is provided as well.  I also liked the prayers that the author included to lead us to talk to God about it.

Treasures of the Kingdom is one of those books that instructs me, leads my heart to repent and also helps me commit what I’ve learned to Almighty God.  I highly recommend this book.

My review is an honest account of what I have read and how it affected my life.