Kim Gentes

[Free Devotional Download "7 Sacred Steps" from writer Dan Wilt- see at the bottom of the review.]

OK. Confession time. I'm one of those people who prays everyday, and reads most days. For a long time, I would go on the "energy" of a scripture section, allowing the concepts, fused as they are with a perfusion of love and truth, to propel me through an ongoing desire to read and meditate on the Bible. But what I found is that I actually need to be more intentional about my devotional life. Not because God is standing over me, frowning for my lack of enthusiasm, but because at the core of my human condition is a lack. A lack of the real material of heaven that is required to live life on earth.

When I feed regularly on the scriptures, my soul is filled with what Jesus promised - "a spring of water gushing up to eternal life." But often enough, as silly as it sounds, I just forget or let myself become overwhelmed with the cares of daily life that I don't leave enough space in my day for meditations on God's word. When I lose focus, I find it is helpful to reset myself by using a guidebook or plan to help structure/lead my devotional time. The last month, I was privileged to get an early copy of Dan Wilt's "A Well-Worn Path" book. 

It was just the kind of simple structured path I needed to get my daily walk into a regular rhythm again. I've read a number of things Dan has written, and this may be his most piercing work yet. He doesn't mince words or paint pictures for pages. He gets to the heart of an issue in short order. Each scripture. Each day.

In fact, as I read each day through, I felt as though the devotionals were a sort of scriptural, even prophetic, declaration over my life. "Believe, Then See", "Enter Light", "Cease Worry", "Do Good", "Create With God", and on it went. Rather than giving placid generalities, Wilt throws a spear into the heart each day, by taking the most poignant edges of scripture and punctuating it with a simple phrase of instruction. After a further paragraph or two of clarity he offers up a prayer that we can join in immediately.

The devotions are simple, one page, and a pure gasp of clean air from the atmosphere of heaven. Much of Dan Wilt's writings are crafted stories and imagery meant to bring you into the heart of the matter. "A Well-Worn Path" is much more direct and works well as a month-long progression that doesn't tire you out from his style or topics. In fact, the nice thing about using a well-written devotional like this is that the choice of topics makes the journey authentic and prone to learning. I wouldn't have chosen to challenge myself in the same way the author does, and this is good. We are often too easy on ourselves.

Having gone through the devotional, I can honestly and completely recommend it to you. It is powerful, succinct and absolutely worth-while. In my opinion, it is Dan Wilt's best writing yet.

Amazon Book Link:  http://amzn.to/18RRXdx

Review by Kim Gentes

DOWNLOAD! Check it out below!

Be sure to chime in and let us know what you thought (post comments) and you are welcome to share this with friends on Facebook and twitter with your friends. 

Free Devotional Download "7 Sacred Steps" from author Dan Wilt

[Free Devotional Download "5 'Makes' of Great Relationships" from writer Dan Wilt- see at the bottom of the review.]

 I've read a lot of books that deal with Christian topics, but many of them diverge into two camps:
A) theoretical advice that falls far afield from the reality of having to live here on earth, and
B) personal stories of victory and rescue that seem as foreign and contrived as movie fiction with no connection to what might actually help me.

What I love about Dan Wilt's book here is that he is our "everyman" talking about real life stories that meet you and I on the playing field of life, not some super-stardom miraculous happenings that never seem to happen to you and I. Dan talks about moms, dads, children, working, friends, struggles and real life- and shows the absolutely glorious rays of hope that shine into our lives from the source of true hope- God Himself. I won't share details of these stories because they are rich in their reading and well worth the individual time to digest one a day until you've filled up with the kind of life-giving inspiration Dan weaves with words. Dan's gift is story-telling, and judging from the 2 million listeners he speaks to each week, there is little doubt that his message is heard, loud and clear.

I've had plenty of tough times, personally, and the stories Dan tells are part of a diet of encouragement that our world is desperately in need of. And it's not just because they are clever stories. Rather, it is because the center of his hope-telling is the person of Jesus, in whom all Dan's stories source their glistening ray of light.

I love this book because I can read something reasonably sized for my busy day and just let it digest for 24 hours. Some times I feel like a story is good enough for a few days. But I like that the book is set up for busy people like me. The story is powerful but succinct. Each story has a theme, a real life application and a foundational scripture verse he ties things together with.

I can't recommend this book enough. Really, it is a great treasure.

Amazon Book Link:  http://amzn.to/1fYNCut

Review by Kim Gentes

DOWNLOAD! Check it out below!

Be sure to chime in and let us know what you thought (post comments) and you are welcome to share this with friends on Facebook and twitter with your friends. 

Free Devotional Download "5 Makes of Great Relationships" from author Dan Wilt

Many of us didn't grow up in a traditional church background. We had heard of Jesus as children, but only remembered his figure on a felt flannel board in our few visits to church. We knew he died, but weren't quite sure how that mattered to us. When we later became followers of Jesus, it took a while to learn the new bespoke lingo. After a few years of being Christians, we felt too embarrassed to admit we still hadn't figured out the seasonal words like lent, passion week and advent. (I was a Christian 10 years before finding out lent had nothing to do with that stuff in my pocket, passion week had nothing to do with earthly desires and advent didn't sound very "adventurous" at all)

If we had dug deeper, we'd have found out that those words were just a capstone to a world of devotion that could transfix the life, teachings, death and resurrection of Christ and the celebrations of the historic church across an entire calendar year. For almost two thousand years, the church has remembered this story of Christ and his followers not just by historical writings, but by participation. This remembering by participation is the crux of Christian liturgy and the Christian calendar.

In "Rise: An Eight Day Easter Devotional", Dan Wilt (author, teacher, speaker, radio host) crafts a planned but luscious menu for the soul of the Christian, feeding them through the Passion week. If this devotional is a menu, each day is a meal- and a full meal it is! Beginning at Palm Sunday (the Sunday before Easter), Wilt lays out a daily devotional that brings you through to Easter Sunday with clear purpose and rich understanding. Each day's devotional contains an introductory paragraph, a short scripture quotation, a concise devotional teaching, a brief reflective prayer and a summary question. And while the devotional resource has an inspiring aesthetic, the beauty of this booklet is its terse format woven around such a deeply meaningful prose.

The devotional is just twenty pages in length, but begins smartly by opening the reader to an understanding of the language of what Easter is, and even an historical and scriptural sketch of its significance. Having personally walked through the devotional myself, I found each day a significant encounter for my mind and heart to engage with God. As Wilt says in his prose, "Baptism has always been the perfect visual for what happens when the Easter story becomes our own", so it is in this devotional. One becomes engaged not through the accumulation of good teaching (though that is here). Rather it is through the participation in which the believer is guided that this devotional springs to life.

Through this daily journey you will learn to see the triumphal entry, turn the table on idolatry, wait in the right way, make worship lavish, feast on the last supper, enter the cross, live between the times and rise with Christ to life! This resource is concise, and so is my recommendation- engage with this devotional! It is excellent!

 If you have the privilege of reading a printed version already provided through your church (and many thousands of you already do), I encourage you to take it in daily through this week. Even if you haven't begun yet- start now! I am going to be re-using this for regular reflection times throughout the year.

If you don't have access to a printed version of the devotional, you can purchase a digital copy here:

http://bit.ly/15OfpDD

The "Rise: An Eight Day Easter Devotional" is a produced and distributed through Vineyard Resources, but is applicable and useable for any biblical Christian or group.

Risen in Christ,

Kim Gentes