In fast-food society we long for quick fixes and easy answers. But no worthwhile goal is easily reached, and a deep spiritual life is not created in a week or two. It takes perseverance over the long haul to finish well. "The Finishing Touch" encourages you to keep on keeping on to reach your goals and reap the harvest of a life worth living.

Charles Swindoll challenges today's I'm-getting-tired-so-let's-just-quit mentality. He says, "Dieting is a discipline, so we stay fat. Finishing school is a hassle, so we bail out. Cultivating a close relationship is painful, so we back off. Working through conflicts in a marriage is a tiring struggle, so we walk away. Sticking with an occupation is tough, so we change jobs. . . . what we don't hear about is finishing well. About sticking with something until it is done."

God wants to touch us and be our strength in the struggle. He wants us to finish what we started and complete the course. "The Finishing Touch "takes you through every day of a year, introducing you to God's touches of grace, joy, and love. As a sculptor applies himself to the marble, and keeps chipping and cutting away to reveal the masterpiece within, so the Master Artist wants to use our trials, hard times, and day-to-day struggles to chip away at our faults and to help us discover the potential treasures within us.

Daily devotionals for fifty-two weeks help you discover gut-level authenticity, hope in the midst of despair, courage in the face of fear, the light of faith in the shadows of doubt, and peace in the midst of stress. Learn how God's touch on your life enables you to run the race to the finish―to the honor and glory of the Master who has called you to be more than you think you can be.

One in five Americans has anxiety significant enough to be diagnosed, and a recent poll showed that 62 percent of people feel more anxious than they did a year ago. But while we're facing new challenges, anxiety itself is as old as time. It's an inescapable part of being human in this world, but it doesn't have to control our thoughts, our days, or our lives. Counselor, life coach, and Wall Street Journal bestselling author Holley Gerth wants you to break free of anxiety's grip so that you can experience an inner calm despite your outer circumstances. She knows from personal experience what it's like to struggle with anxiety. During this 60-day journey, she comes alongside you as a trusted friend, offering hard-won personal insights, biblical advice, and the latest brain science to help you take control of your anxious thoughts once and for all. Each devotion includes Scripture, prayer, and questions for further reflection.

The rise of these secular gods presents the most serious challenge to the absolute claims of Christ since the founding of Christianity itself. The Christian worldview has not only been devalued and dismissed by modern culture, but its believers openly ridiculed as irrelevant. In JESUS AMONG SECULAR GODS, apologetic scholars Ravi Zacharias and Vince Vitale challenge the popular "isms" of the day, skillfully pointing out the fallacies in their claims and presenting compelling evidence for revealed absolute truth as found in the Bible. This book is fresh, insightful, and important and will provide readers with valuable help in articulating why they believe that Jesus is who He said He is.

“Our God is a God of surprises... Am I open to the God of surprises?”-Pope Francis, 2014 Responding to this challenge, Surprised by God explores what it means to reflect on life and how we reflect theologically about our journey of faith.Theological reflection has been primarily used in academic training for ministry preparation, but it is a tool that is critical for any person pondering Pope Francis’ questions. Christina Zaker provides an in depth look at the foundational elements of theological reflection including definitions and guidance through various methods. Offering a lens for reflection based on the unique way Jesus’ parables surprise and invite listeners to collaborate in the kingdom of God, the book foregrounds the importance of honest spiritual reflection. Reveling in the many ways God surprises us, we learn how to respond to the invitation of faith with open minds and hearts.

Take Time Out of Each Day to Relax and Grow Together In the midst of the stress and pressure of everyday life, Moments Together for Couples will give you and your mate a chance to pause, relax, and draw upon the strength of the Lord. This easy-to-use devotional helps you set aside anywhere from 5 to 30 minutes every day with your spouse to grow closer to God and closer to each other.

For teens who make God an integral part of their lives, teens who are sorting through doubts about whether God really cares about them, and teens who don't know God at all, Chicken Soup for the Christian Teenage Soul may be one of the most influential books they'll ever read.

This volume is the first comprehensive survey of iconic books and texts tracing their development and influence from ancient to modern times and comparing their roles in multiple cultures and religious traditions. All twenty-two essays are original, cutting-edge contributions to this new academic field with wide appeal to students and scholars across the study of religions, literature, book history, archives and libraries.

El "Devocional en un ano para la familia" ofrece todo un ano de encantadoras historias y pasajes relevantes de la Biblia para estimular su tiempo devocional familiar. Ya que los versiculos de la Escritura, tomados de la sumamente amena Nueva Traduccion Viviente, estan impresos al lado de las historias, este libro es lo unico que necesitara. Tambien incluye una seccion Y tu? para personalizar cada leccion, un versiculo de la Escritura para memorizar y un resumen de dos a cinco palabras del mensaje del dia. Las familias que tienen ninos disfrutaran el aspecto actualizado de este libro devocional clasico."Devocional en un ano para la familia" offers a full year's worth of delightful stories and relevant Bible passages to boost your family's devotion time. Since the Scripture verses--taken from the eminently readable NTV Bible--are printed alongside the stories, this book is all you'll need. It also includes a "How about You?" section to personalize each lesson, a Scripture memory verse, and a handy two- to five-word summary of the day's message. Families with children will enjoy the updated look of this classic devotional book.

Finding hope can sometimes feel like a daunting, almost impossible task. How refreshing to be able to experience glimpses of hope in the simplest of daily interactions with others-even animals. All Creatures challenges the reader to see beyond the ordinary to the extraordinary treasures hidden by our Creator in the least of his creations. This collection of twenty-five devotions focuses on learning to look for God's promises of hope regardless of your current circumstances.

Finding hope can sometimes feel like a daunting, almost impossible task. How refreshing to be able to experience glimpses of hope in the simplest of daily interactions with others-even animals. All Creatures challenges the reader to see beyond the ordinary to the extraordinary treasures hidden by our Creator in the least of his creations. This collection of twenty-five devotions focuses on learning to look for God's promises of hope regardless of your current circumstances.

Being a keeper at home demands that women possess a wide range of skills. Now the training, skills and tips every woman needs are all here in one delightful-to-read volume. Five minutes a day, 52 weeks a year is all a woman needs to get the most of this inspiring, helpful read.

A new approach to thinking about the representation of the Other in Western society, The Jew's Daughter: A Cultural History of a Conversion Narrative offers an insight into the gendered difference of the Jew. Focusing on a popular narrative of "The Jew's Daughter," which has been overlooked in conventional studies of European anti-Semitism, this innovative study looks at canonical and neglected texts which have constructed racialized and sexualized images that persist today in the media and popular culture. The book goes back before Shylock and Jessica in The Merchant of Venice and Isaac and Rebecca in Ivanhoe to seek the answers to why the Jewish father is always wicked and ugly, while his daughter is invariably desirable and open to conversion. The story unfolds in fascinating transformations, reflecting changing ideological and social discourses about gender, sexuality, religion, and nation that expose shifting perceptions of inclusion and exclusion of the Other. Unlike previous studies of the theme of the Jewess in separate literatures, Sicher provides a comparative perspective on the transnational circulation of texts in the historical context of the perception of both Jews and women as marginal or outcasts in society. The book draws on examples from the arts, history, literature, folklore, and theology to draw a complex picture of the dynamics of Jewish-Christian relations in England, France, Germany, and Eastern Europe from 1100 to 2017. In addition, the responses of Jewish authors illustrate a dialogue that has not always led to mutual understanding. This ground-breaking work will provoke questions about the history and present state of prejudiced attitudes in our society.

Many scholars maintain that the Gospels should be dated later than they currently are. In Divinity of a Birth, Robert Geis reveals why this claim lacks foundation. Prophecy, the key to evidence of the Divine in human existence, is best demonstrated with a dating nearest to the time of the prophesied event. This work argues lexically for evidence of a Semitic substrate in much of the New Testament (NT) Gospels. This makes the timing of its composition an aid to the thesis that the Old Testament (OT) a source of NT prophecy was a Divine instrument, as the NT narratives of Christ make clear. The prophecies of the OT, therefore, support the claim of the divinity of Christ s birth. Geis carefully analyzes prophecies such as the virginity of Mary and argues for a stringent interpretation of Luke s claim to accuracy.

Dietrich von Hildebrand contributed to the Catholic tradition's increased recognition of conjugal love in marriage in the early twentieth century, and, as Kevin Schemenauer argues in Conjugal Love and Procreation, von Hildebrand's work remains relevant to contemporary Catholic thought as well. While some argue that this German Catholic philosopher and theologian neglected the role of procreation in marriage, this book shows that von Hildebrand's writings on reverence and superabundant finality contribute to a contemporary understanding of the significance of procreation within marriage. Schemenauer analyzes von Hildebrand's integration of conjugal love and procreation, showing him to be an insightful and parallel voice to the that of John Paul II. His thorough exploration of von Hildebrand's writings reveals not only how conjugal love and openness to new life are essential to marriage, but also how essential the role of procreation is to the conception of conjugal love.

Music does not make itself. It is made by people: professionals and amateurs, singers and instrumentalists, composers and publishers, performers and audiences, entrepreneurs and consumers. In turn, making music shapes those who make it-spiritually, emotionally, physically, mentally, socially, politically, economically-for good or ill, harming and healing. This volume considers the social practice of music from a Christian point of view. Using a variety of methodological perspectives, the essays explore the ethical and doctrinal implications of music-making. The reflections are grouped according to the traditional threefold ministry of Christ: prophet, priest, and shepherd: the prophetic role of music, as a means of articulating protest against injustice, offering consolation, and embodying a harmonious order; the pastoral role of music: creating and sustaining community, building peace, fostering harmony with the whole of creation; and the priestly role of music: in service of reconciliation and restoration, for individuals and communities, offering prayers of praise and intercession to God. Using music in priestly, prophetic, and pastoral ways, Christians pray for and rehearse the coming of God's kingdom-whether in formal worship, social protest, concert performance, interfaith sharing, or peacebuilding. Whereas temperance was of prime importance in relation to the ethics of music from antiquity to the early modern period, justice has become central to contemporary debates. This book seeks to contribute to those debates by means of Christian theological reflection on a wide range of musics: including monastic chant, death metal, protest songs, psalms and worship music, punk rock, musical drama, interfaith choral singing, Sting, and Daft Punk.

Reincarnation in America: An Esoteric History surveys the complex history of reincarnation theories across multiple fields of discourse in a pre-American context, ranging from early Greek traditions to Medieval Christian theories, Renaissance esotericism, and European Kabbalah, all of which had adherents that brought those theories to America. Rebirth theories are shown in all these groups to be highly complex and often disjunctive with mainstream religions even though members of conventional religions frequently affirm the possibility of rebirth. As a history of an idea, reincarnation theory is a current, vital belief pattern that cuts across a wide spectrum of social, cultural, and scientific domains in a long, complex history not reducible to any specific religious or theoretical explanation. This book is cross-disciplinary and multicultural, linking religious studies perspectives with science based research; it draws upon many distinct disciplines and avoids reduction of reincarnation to any specific theory. The underlying thesis is to demonstrate the complexity of reincarnation theories; what is unique is the historical overview and the gradual shift away from religious theories of rebirth to new theories that are therapeutic and trans-traditional.