92 Study Guides
Spiritual Growth & Disciplines
Deepen your spiritual life through the practices that have shaped Christians for centuries. These guides walk groups through prayer, fasting, solitude, simplicity, and the rhythms of a life with God.
The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry
by John Mark Comer
The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry by John Mark Comer is a passionate, pastoral argument that the greatest threat to the spiritual life in the modern West is not heresy or persecution — it is hurry. Drawing on the wisdom of Dallas Willard, the rhythms of Jesus, and the ancient practices of the church, Comer contends that we have mistaken busyness for productivity and noise for meaning. The cure, he argues, is not merely time-management but a wholesale apprenticeship to the unhurried Jesus — learning to live the way he lived, at the pace he lived it. The book is structured in two movements: first diagnosing the disease of hurry and its spiritual consequences, then prescribing four ancient practices — Sabbath, simplicity, slowing, and silence/solitude — as the path back to a life with depth, joy, and genuine connection with God.
View Discussion GuideFervent
by Priscilla Shirer
Fervent by Priscilla Shirer is a bold, strategic call to prayer — not the polite, routine kind, but the fierce, intentional, targeted kind that treats prayer as the primary weapon in a real spiritual war. Drawing on Ephesians 6 and the image of the full armor of God, Priscilla argues that the enemy of our souls has a specific, customized strategy against each of us — targeting our mind, our marriage, our identity, our past, our purpose, and our relationships — and that the only adequate response is an equally specific, customized prayer strategy. The book is organized around ten "strategies" the enemy uses against us, and for each one Priscilla offers a corresponding prayer strategy we can deploy. The thesis is simple but urgent: you are not just invited to pray — you are called to pray fervently, because the stakes are that high.
View Discussion GuideThe Spirit of the Disciplines
by Dallas Willard
Dallas Willard's The Spirit of the Disciplines makes a bold and clarifying argument: the Christian life is not a matter of trying harder to be good, but of training to become the kind of person who naturally lives as Jesus lived. Willard insists that salvation is not merely the forgiveness of sins but the total renovation of the human self — body, mind, soul, and will — and that the ancient spiritual disciplines are the God-given means by which that renovation takes place. Drawing on theology, philosophy, church history, and the example of Jesus himself, Willard shows why grace and disciplined effort are not opposites, and why a church that has abandoned the disciplines has, in effect, abandoned the path of transformation.
View Discussion GuideDiscerning the Voice of God
by Priscilla Shirer
In Discerning the Voice of God, Priscilla Shirer addresses one of the most urgent questions in the Christian life: How do I know when God is speaking to me? Drawing on rich biblical examples — from the prophet Samuel hearing his name called in the night to the disciples recognizing Jesus on the road to Emmaus — Shirer argues that hearing God is not a mystical gift reserved for a spiritual elite, but a normal, cultivated relationship available to every believer. Her central thesis is straightforward and liberating: God is always speaking, and the Bible is the primary lens through which we tune our spiritual ears to recognize His voice. A deep, consistent engagement with Scripture is not merely one tool among many — it is the foundation that makes genuine discernment possible.
View Discussion GuideDon't Waste Your Life
by John Piper
Don't Waste Your Life by John Piper is a passionate, personal call to abandon the small, comfortable, self-centered existence that our culture quietly promotes — and to instead pour your one life into something worthy of the glory of God. Drawing on his own crisis of vocational calling in his early thirties, Piper argues that the greatest tragedy is not death, suffering, or poverty, but a wasted life: one spent accumulating comforts, avoiding risk, and missing the magnificent purpose for which we were made. The book's central thesis is that God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him — and that a life built on that foundation will inevitably be a life of courageous, joyful sacrifice for the sake of Christ and the world.
View Discussion GuideToo Busy Not to Pray
by Bill Hybels
Bill Hybels wrote Too Busy Not to Pray out of his own struggle — not as a prayer expert looking down, but as a driven, schedule-packed pastor who discovered that the more demanding life became, the more desperately he needed to slow down and talk to God. The book's central thesis is disarmingly simple: busyness is not an excuse to pray less; it is the very reason we must pray more. Hybels walks readers through the basics of building a genuine prayer life — from finding a consistent time and place, to using practical frameworks for organizing prayer, to the often-overlooked discipline of learning to listen for God's voice. Along the way he draws on personal stories, honest confessions of failure, and the lived experience of his congregation at Willow Creek Community Church to show that prayer is not a religious obligation for the spiritually elite but a life-giving conversation available to every follower of Christ.
View Discussion GuideDisciplines of a Godly Man
by R. Kent Hughes
Disciplines of a Godly Man by R. Kent Hughes is a straightforward, no-excuses call for men to pursue godliness with the same intentionality and effort they bring to their careers, hobbies, and physical fitness. Hughes's central thesis, drawn from 1 Timothy 4:7 ("Train yourself to be godly"), is that godliness is not an accident — it is the fruit of sustained, deliberate spiritual discipline. Working through areas like prayer, integrity, marriage, friendship, worship, purity, and leadership, Hughes insists that the Christian man who drifts will not grow, and that every man who is serious about Christ must make concrete, daily choices to seek him. The book is warm but unsparing, blending pastoral wisdom, church-history illustrations, and honest confession in equal measure.
View Discussion GuideSoul Keeping
by John Ortberg
Soul Keeping by John Ortberg is a heartfelt and searching exploration of the most neglected part of modern life: the human soul. Drawing on decades of friendship and mentorship with the late philosopher-theologian Dallas Willard, Ortberg invites readers to stop living on the surface and begin tending to what lies beneath — the soul, that deepest center of the self that is our primary connection to God. The book's thesis is simple but urgent: you can manage your career, your reputation, your body, and your schedule, and still lose your soul. True life — the abundant life Jesus promised — flows not from self-management but from soul care. Ortberg structures the journey in three movements: discovering what the soul actually is, understanding what the soul needs to flourish, and experiencing the restoration that comes when we finally let God tend to us at the deepest level.
View Discussion GuideIn His Image
by Jen Wilkin
Most of us have spent more time asking "What is God's will for my life?" than asking "Who does God want me to be?" In In His Image, Jen Wilkin argues that we have the question backwards. God's will for every believer is not primarily a matter of career, location, or circumstance — it is the matter of character. Drawing on ten attributes of God — holy, loving, just, good, merciful, gracious, faithful, patient, truthful, and wise — Wilkin shows that the Christian life is not a self-improvement project but a conforming work: we are being shaped into the image of the God we behold. Because Christ is the perfect image of the invisible God, growing in Christlikeness means growing in the very character of God himself.
View Discussion GuideRhythms of Renewal
by Rebekah Lyons
Rhythms of Renewal by Rebekah Lyons is a practical and deeply personal guide to overcoming anxiety and restoring wholeness through four life-giving rhythms: rest, restore, connect, and create. Drawing from her own harrowing journey through panic attacks, depression, and the disorienting experience of moving her family from the suburbs of Atlanta to New York City, Rebekah shows that the frantic pace of modern life doesn't have to win. The book's core conviction is that God has wired us for specific, repeatable rhythms — not white-knuckled willpower or self-improvement hacks — and that when we practice these rhythms consistently, we create space for the Holy Spirit to heal, renew, and empower us to flourish.
View Discussion GuideThe Rest of God
by Mark Buchanan
Mark Buchanan's The Rest of God is a pastoral and theological invitation to reclaim the ancient practice of Sabbath — not as a legalistic rule but as a life-giving rhythm woven into creation itself. Buchanan's central thesis is that most of us are not simply tired; we are Sabbath-starved. We have lost access to a particular quality of rest that only God can give — what Buchanan calls "the rest of God" — and in losing it we have lost not just leisure but a portion of God himself that can only be known in stillness. Drawing on Scripture, personal stories from his pastoral ministry, and vivid imagery from everyday life, Buchanan argues that Sabbath is essential to our full humanity, our fruitfulness, our relationships, and ultimately our experience of heaven on earth.
View Discussion GuideThe Busy Christian's Guide to Busyness
by Tim Chester
Tim Chester's The Busy Christian's Guide to Busyness is not simply a time-management manual with a Christian veneer. Chester's core thesis is that busyness is primarily a heart problem, not a scheduling problem. Most of us are not too busy because our calendars are unmanageable; we are too busy because we are running from something, proving something, or trusting something other than God. Chester works through a range of root causes — the desire for approval, the love of money, the fear of missing out, the inability to rest — and holds each one up to the light of the gospel. The book's central claim is that the solution to busyness is not better productivity techniques but a deeper experience of the grace of God in Christ, which sets us free from the drivenness that keeps us perpetually overloaded.
View Discussion GuideHumility
by Andrew Murray
Andrew Murray's Humility: The Beauty of Holiness is a short but searingly honest book built around a single, radical claim: humility is not merely one virtue among many — it is the root of every virtue, the essence of Christ's redemption, and the only true posture of the creature before the Creator. Murray argues that pride, the poison first breathed into humanity by Satan, is the source of all sin and all human suffering, and that Jesus came not merely to forgive us but to restore the lost humility of Eden by imparting His own lowly spirit to us. The book moves through twelve chapters, tracing humility from its cosmic origins in the creature's dependence on God, through Christ's life and teaching, into the daily grind of life with difficult people, and finally to the surprising truth that humility is the doorway not to misery but to exaltation and happiness.
View Discussion GuideThe Prodigal So
by Henri Nouwen
Henri J. M. Nouwen's The Return of the Prodigal Son began with a moment of arrested attention: standing before a poster of Rembrandt's massive painting, Nouwen found he could not move on. That encounter became a years-long meditation on Luke 15:11–32 and on Rembrandt's luminous rendering of it — a meditation that eventually drew Nouwen to sit before the original canvas at the Hermitage in St. Petersburg. The book that emerged weaves together three threads: the parable itself, Rembrandt's painted interpretation, and Nouwen's own relentlessly honest autobiography. The thesis is both simple and demanding — that each of us is, at different moments, the younger son who has squandered his inheritance in a far country, the elder son who has stayed home but remained spiritually distant, and finally the father whose vocation is to become a person of boundless, grieving, rejoicing compassion. The journey the book traces is from lostness, in all its forms, toward the place where God has chosen to dwell: within the human heart opened wide enough to receive and to give love.
View Discussion GuideRespectable Sins
by Jerry Bridges
Jerry Bridges' Respectable Sins begins with a provocative and uncomfortable premise: while evangelical Christians are quick to condemn the "gross" sins of society — sexual immorality, violence, addiction — we have quietly tolerated a whole catalog of sins in our own hearts and communities. Anxiety, pride, anger, impatience, judgmentalism, gossip, and ingratitude have become so common among believers that we scarcely recognize them as sin at all. Bridges calls these "respectable sins" — the kind we wink at, explain away, or simply never name. His goal is not to heap condemnation but to bring these hidden sins into the light of the gospel, where genuine grace and transformation can meet them.
View Discussion GuideNothing to Prove
by Jennie Allen
Nothing to Prove by Jennie Allen is a passionate, gospel-rooted invitation for women to stop striving and start living from a place of fullness rather than emptiness. Allen's central thesis is deceptively simple: you are not enough — and that is precisely the point. Jesus is enough, and when we finally stop white-knuckling our way through life trying to prove our worth to God, others, and ourselves, we discover a soul-deep freedom and joy we never could have manufactured on our own. Drawing on her own story of exhaustion and striving, as well as rich biblical teaching, Allen points readers toward a life overflowing with the contentment that only comes from abiding in Christ.
View Discussion GuideOne Thousand Gifts
by Ann Voskamp
Ann Voskamp's One Thousand Gifts is, at its heart, a dare: dare to believe that the life you already have is the life you've always wanted. Written from the rhythms of a working farm in rural Ontario, the book traces Voskamp's journey from a childhood scarred by grief and a daily undercurrent of anxiety toward a discovered theology of gratitude — what she calls eucharisteo, the Greek word rooted in charis (grace) and chara (joy). Her central argument is that joy is not a feeling we wait for but a practice we choose: the discipline of noticing, naming, and giving thanks for ordinary gifts, one by one, until gratitude becomes a lens through which all of life is seen as grace. The book grew out of a friend's challenge to list one thousand things Voskamp loved — and that list became a revolution in her soul.
View Discussion GuideMultiply
by Francis Chan
Multiply by Francis Chan is a practical, Scripture-saturated call to return to the Great Commission as the organizing purpose of every Christian's life. Built around Jesus's command to "go and make disciples of all nations" (Matthew 28:18–20), the book argues that discipleship is not a program or a curriculum — it is the normal Christian life. Chan, joined by co-author Mark Beuving and online teaching partner David Platt, walks readers through what it means to be a disciple, how to read and understand the Bible, and how to live out the core doctrines of the faith in a way that reproduces itself in others. The book is organized into five major parts: Living as a Disciple-Maker, Living in the Church, Living in the Old Testament, Living in the New Testament, and Living as the Church in the World — making it both a handbook for personal discipleship and a guide for leading others.
View Discussion GuideA Long Obedience in the Same Direction
by Eugene H. Peterson
Eugene Peterson's A Long Obedience in the Same Direction is built on a deceptively simple premise: the Christian life is not a sprint of emotional highs but a patient, steady pilgrimage. Drawing on the fifteen Songs of Ascents (Psalms 120–134) — ancient pilgrim songs sung by Israelites traveling up to Jerusalem for worship — Peterson argues that what the modern world desperately needs is disciples who resist the culture of "instant everything" and instead commit to the long, slow, faithful journey of following Jesus. The title itself is borrowed from Friedrich Nietzsche, who observed that the one thing the modern age had lost was the ability to sustain "a long obedience in the same direction." Peterson takes that phrase and plants it at the heart of Christian discipleship, showing that virtues like hope, repentance, joy, and perseverance are not feelings to be conjured but habits to be cultivated over a lifetime of worship, community, and prayer.
View Discussion GuideThe Return of the Prodigal Son
by Henri Nouwen
Henri J. M. Nouwen's The Return of the Prodigal Son is not primarily a book about a wayward son who comes home. It is a book about you — and about whether you are willing to let God be the father who runs to meet you. It began with a moment Nouwen could not shake: standing before a poster reproduction of Rembrandt's painting of the same name, he felt something in the image reaching into him. That encounter sent him on a pilgrimage — first to the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg to sit with the original canvas for hours, and then deep into his own history of restlessness, achievement, loneliness, and longing. What he found there became this book: a sustained meditation on Luke 15 that moves through three figures in the parable — the younger son, the elder son, and the father — arguing that every person must ultimately make the journey from being a lost child to becoming a mature, compassionate father or mother in the household of God.
View Discussion GuideSacred Rhythms
by Ruth Haley Barton
Sacred Rhythms: Arranging Our Lives for Spiritual Transformation by Ruth Haley Barton is a gentle but searching guide to the ancient practice of spiritual disciplines. Drawing on the Benedictine tradition of the "rule of life" — a personal rhythm of prayer, silence, Scripture, and community that structures the soul's journey toward God — Barton walks readers through seven core practices: solitude, Scripture, prayer, honoring the body, self-examination, discernment, and a rule of life itself. Her central thesis is that transformation is not something we manufacture through willpower or religious effort; it is something we cooperate with by creating space for God to work. The disciplines are not the destination — they are the "means of grace," the conditions under which the Holy Spirit can do what only the Holy Spirit can do.
View Discussion GuideConfessions
by Saint Augustine
The Confessions of Saint Augustine is one of the most remarkable books ever written — a sustained, searching prayer addressed directly to God, in which Augustine recounts the story of his own wandering, sinning, seeking, and ultimate conversion. Written around AD 401, roughly a decade after his baptism, the Confessions is at once a spiritual autobiography, a philosophical inquiry, and an act of worship. Augustine's central thesis can be heard in the book's most famous line, uttered in the very first chapter: "Thou madest us for Thyself, and our heart is restless, until it repose in Thee." Every episode in the book — from infant envy to the stolen pears, from the seductions of Carthage to the garden in Milan — illustrates what happens when the human heart tries to rest in anything less than God. This study guide follows the nine books of this abridged edition, exploring Augustine's argument chapter by chapter.
View Discussion GuideWomen of the Word
by Jen Wilkin
Women of the Word by Jen Wilkin is a practical, passionate guide to help Christian women study the Bible with both their minds and their hearts. Wilkin's central thesis is simple but transformative: we cannot love what we do not know. Before the Bible can change our hearts, it must inform our minds — and that requires moving beyond devotional habits that feel good in the moment but leave us biblically shallow. Wilkin identifies common pitfalls women fall into when approaching Scripture (treating it like a mirror, a magic eight ball, or a personal encouragement journal) and then offers a clear, memorable framework for deeper study built around five P's: Purpose, Perspective, Patience, Process, and Prayer. The goal is not just information, but formation — women who know God more truly because they know His Word more deeply.
View Discussion GuideRenovation of the Heart
by Dallas Willard
Dallas Willard's Renovation of the Heart is one of the most important books on Christian spiritual formation written in the last century. Its central thesis is both simple and radical: following Jesus is not merely a matter of trying harder to behave better. True discipleship requires the intentional, grace-driven transformation of every dimension of the human person — will, mind, body, emotions, social relationships, and soul — so that, over time, we increasingly think, feel, desire, and act as Jesus would in our place. Willard calls this process "spiritual formation" and insists it is not optional for the serious Christian. To remain unchanged at the core while hoping surface behavior will improve is, in his memorable phrase, like a "vampire Christian" — one who wants the benefits of Jesus's blood but not the life of Jesus himself.
View Discussion GuideLies Women Believe
by Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth
Lies Women Believe by Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth is built on a sobering premise: most of the struggles Christian women face—guilt, fear, emotional bondage, broken relationships, spiritual defeat—can be traced back to believing lies. Drawing on the Genesis 3 account of Eve's temptation, Nancy argues that Satan has been deceiving women from the very beginning, and that his strategy has not changed. He whispers half-truths, distortions, and outright falsehoods about God, ourselves, sin, priorities, marriage, family, and emotions. Because these lies feel so natural and are so widely accepted—even in the church—most women never stop to question them. This guide exists to help you do exactly that: to hold your assumptions up to the light of God's Word and let truth set you free.
View Discussion GuideThe Good and Beautiful God
by James Bryan Smith
The Good and Beautiful God by James Bryan Smith is the first volume in the Apprentice Series (also called the Good and Beautiful Series), and its central argument is both simple and life-changing: the narratives we carry about God — whether we realize it or not — shape everything about how we live. Smith contends that most of us have absorbed false, distorted, or incomplete stories about who God is, often picking them up from culture, painful experiences, or even well-meaning religion. The remedy is not more information but a gradual renovation of the heart and mind through encounter with Jesus. By turning to the Gospels and watching how Jesus speaks about and relates to his Father, Smith leads readers toward a vision of God who is not harsh, distant, or disappointed — but genuinely good, beautiful, and filled with love.
View Discussion GuideJust Do Something
by Kevin DeYoung
Kevin DeYoung's Just Do Something is a refreshingly direct challenge to one of the most paralyzing problems facing Christians today: the endless, anxious search for God's "perfect will" for every decision in life. DeYoung argues that the hyper-spiritual approach — waiting for a sign, looking for a fleece, journaling and praying until unmistakable divine direction arrives — is neither biblically required nor spiritually healthy. Instead, he points readers to what Scripture actually says: God has already revealed His moral will in His Word, He is sovereign over all our choices, and He calls us to love Him, obey His commands, and then get on with our lives. The result is a short, punchy book that is as freeing as it is convicting.
View Discussion GuideLiturgy of the Ordinary
by Tish Harrison Warren
Tish Harrison Warren's Liturgy of the Ordinary begins with a simple but disorienting claim: the most important spiritual formation in your life is not happening at a conference, a retreat, or even in Sunday's sermon — it is happening right now, in the small, repeated, almost invisible acts of your daily life. Framed around a single ordinary day, each chapter takes something Warren actually does — waking up, making the bed, losing her keys, eating leftovers, checking her phone — and traces the deep theological and liturgical currents running underneath it. Drawing on the Anglican tradition, thinkers like James K. A. Smith and Alexander Schmemann, and the rhythms of Christian corporate worship, Warren argues that our habits and daily rituals are quietly but powerfully shaping who we are and what we love. The ordinary is not the waiting room for real spiritual life; it is spiritual life.
View Discussion GuideThe Holiness of God
by R.C. Sproul
R. C. Sproul's The Holiness of God is one of the most important and enduring works of popular theology of the twentieth century. Its central thesis is deceptively simple: God is holy — utterly, transcendently, overwhelmingly holy — and until we grasp that fact, we cannot rightly understand ourselves, our sin, our salvation, or our calling. Sproul argues that holiness is not merely one attribute among many but the very "Godness of God," the attribute that defines all others. Through careful study of Scripture, church history, and the witness of people who have encountered the living God — from Isaiah in the temple to Rudolf Otto's philosophical category of the "mysterium tremendum" — Sproul shows why the holy God simultaneously terrifies and attracts us, and why that tension is not a problem to be resolved but a reality to be embraced.
View Discussion GuideThe Imitation of Christ
by Thomas à Kempis
The Imitation of Christ by Thomas à Kempis is one of the most widely read Christian devotional works ever written, second only to the Bible in its influence across five centuries and countless traditions. Written in Latin in the early fifteenth century, most likely by Thomas Haemmerlein (à Kempis), a monk who spent seventy years in quiet Augustinian monasteries near the Rhine, the book makes a single, urgent argument: that a life of intellectual achievement, worldly success, or even religious busyness means nothing unless it is rooted in humble union with Jesus Christ. "What doth it profit thee to enter into deep discussion concerning the Holy Trinity," Thomas asks, "if thou lack humility, and be thus displeasing to the Trinity?" The work is divided into four books — practical admonitions for the spiritual life, counsel on the inner life, a sustained dialogue of the soul with Christ on inward consolation, and a meditation on the Eucharist — each pressing the reader deeper inward, away from self and toward God.
View Discussion GuidePracticing the Way
by John Mark Comer
Practicing the Way by John Mark Comer is a clarion call to rediscover what it actually means to follow Jesus — not merely to believe the right things about him, but to apprentice ourselves to him as a way of life. Comer argues that we are all being spiritually formed, constantly, by the world around us — by our phones, our schedules, our habits, and our desires — and that the urgent question is not whether we will be formed, but by whom. His answer is a return to the ancient path: becoming disciples who are with Jesus, who are becoming like Jesus, and who are doing what Jesus did. The vehicle for that transformation, Comer argues, is a Rule of Life — a set of intentional practices and relational rhythms that open us up to God's transforming work in the ordinary hours of our days.</p><p>This study guide is designed for small groups or individual study over twelve weeks, with one week devoted to the book's introduction, one week per chapter, and a final week of review and reflection. The best way to use this guide is to read the assigned chapter before your group meets (or before you sit down to journal), then work through the questions slowly — pausing to think, write, and pray before moving to the next one. You don't need to answer every question every week; let the ones that provoke the most resistance or resonance guide your time. A brief closing prayer is included each week to help you move from reflection into response.</p><p>By the end of this guide, you will have a clearer picture of what spiritual formation actually is and how it works, a honest assessment of what is currently forming you, and — most practically — the beginnings of your own Rule of Life. Comer is not asking you to become a monk; he is asking you to become a disciple. These questions are designed to help you take that invitation seriously, not as a self-improvement project, but as a response to the love of a God who wants you to become fully alive.
View Discussion GuideWild at Heart
by John Eldredge
Wild at Heart by John Eldredge is a bold, searching invitation for men to recover the heart God gave them — a heart that is dangerous, passionate, alive, and free. Eldredge argues that modern Christianity has domesticated men, offering them a safe and "nice" version of faith that leaves their deepest masculine longings unaddressed and unexplained. Drawing on Scripture, mythology, film, and his own story, Eldredge contends that every man carries three core desires: a battle to fight, an adventure to live, and a beauty to rescue. The book's central claim is that these longings are not cultural accidents or sinful impulses — they are the image of a passionate, wild God stamped on the male soul.
View Discussion GuideExperiencing God
by Henry Blackaby & Claude King
Experiencing God: Knowing and Doing the Will of God by Henry T. Blackaby is one of the most influential discipleship books of the modern era. Its central thesis is both simple and revolutionary: the Christian life is not primarily about doing things for God, but about joining God in what He is already doing. Built around seven Scriptural realities — truths Blackaby draws from Scripture and from his own pastoral experience — the book invites believers to move beyond religion as a set of rules or programs and into a living, real, personal relationship with the Creator. At the heart of the book is the conviction that God is always at work around us, that He speaks to His people, and that the moment of crisis comes when we must decide whether we will adjust our lives to Him and obey, regardless of the cost.
View Discussion GuideThe Treasure Principle
by Randy Alcorn
Randy Alcorn's The Treasure Principle is a compact but life-changing book built around a single, arresting idea: you can't take it with you — but you can send it on ahead. Drawing on Jesus' teaching in Matthew 6:19-21 ("Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth… but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven"), Alcorn argues that joyful, radical generosity is not merely a financial strategy but a spiritual discipline that rewires the heart. The book's central "Treasure Principle" is this: You can't take it with you, but you can send it on ahead. Alcorn unpacks six "keys" that flow from this principle, showing readers that where we put our money is where our hearts will follow — and that releasing our grip on earthly wealth is the path to both kingdom impact and deep, lasting joy.
View Discussion GuideThe Man in the Mirror
by Patrick Morley
The Man in the Mirror by Patrick Morley is one of the most enduring books written for Christian men — a frank, pastoral, and deeply practical examination of the pressures, failures, and longings that define the modern man's inner world. Morley's central thesis is that most men live lives of "quiet desperation," driven by cultural scripts about success, money, and achievement that ultimately leave them empty. The antidote, he argues, is not better self-management but a genuine, surrendered relationship with Jesus Christ that reshapes a man's identity, priorities, relationships, and purpose from the inside out. Organized around four broad themes — Identity, Relationships, Money, and Time — the book walks men through the questions they are actually asking but rarely voicing aloud.
View Discussion GuideThe Life You've Always Wanted
by John Ortberg
John Ortberg's The Life You've Always Wanted is a warm, honest, and deeply practical guide to spiritual transformation through the classic Christian disciplines. But Ortberg is careful from the very first pages to reframe what spiritual disciplines are actually for: they are not a performance track for the spiritually elite, nor a checklist that earns God's approval. They are, as Ortberg puts it, a way of "training" rather than merely "trying" — the difference between a person who strains to run a marathon on willpower alone and one who has patiently built the capacity to run it with joy. The book's central argument is that the life we most deeply long for — a life of love, peace, meaning, and genuine Christlikeness — is not achieved by trying harder but by arranging our lives around the practices that open us to God's transforming grace. The compass of the whole journey is Jesus himself: what he was like, how he lived, and who we become as we are drawn closer to him.
View Discussion GuideAbba's Child
by Brennan Manning
Brennan Manning's Abba's Child is a soul-searching invitation to abandon the exhausting performance of the "impostor" — the false self we construct to earn love, manage impressions, and hide our brokenness — and to rest instead in the radical, unearned love of God the Father. Drawing on Scripture, the desert fathers and mothers, contemplative prayer, and his own hard-won experience of grace, Manning argues that the single most transforming truth a person can internalize is this: God loves you as you are, not as you should be. The title comes from the Aramaic word Abba — the intimate, tender address Jesus used for his Father — and Manning contends that claiming our identity as Abba's children is not spiritual sentiment but the most courageous and countercultural act a broken human being can make.
View Discussion GuideKingdom Man
by Tony Evans
Kingdom Man by Dr. Tony Evans is a bold, pastoral call for men to step out of passivity and into the God-given authority they were created to exercise. Drawing on the biblical concept of the kingdom of God, Evans argues that every man operates under God's rule and is therefore accountable to God for how he leads — in his heart, his home, his church, and his community. The book's thesis is simple but demanding: a kingdom man is not defined by his career, his athleticism, or his cultural performance of manhood, but by his alignment under God's lordship and his willingness to bear responsibility for the domain God has given him. Evans weaves together Scripture, personal stories, cultural observation, and pastoral challenge to show that the crisis of broken families and fractured communities can be traced, in large part, to men who have abdicated their God-ordained role.
View Discussion GuidePraying Like Monks, Living Like Fools
by Tyler Staton
Tyler Staton's Praying Like Monks, Living Like Fools begins with an honest confession: prayer is the thing Jesus talked about most confidently and most of us practice most awkwardly. As national director of the 24/7 Prayer movement and lead pastor of Bridgetown Church in Portland, Oregon, Staton writes from both the heights of contemplative tradition and the mess of ordinary life. His thesis is deceptively simple — prayer is not a spiritual discipline to be mastered but a relationship to be inhabited, and the postures of historic Christian prayer (silence, lament, confession, persistence, wonder, and more) are not techniques for the advanced but gifts for the desperate. The title captures the tension at the heart of the book: monks pray with radical intentionality, fools live with radical trust, and Jesus calls his followers to both.
View Discussion GuidePrayer: Experiencing Awe and Intimacy with God
by Timothy Keller
Timothy Keller's Prayer: Experiencing Awe and Intimacy with God (2014) is built on a simple but searching conviction: most Christians know they should pray, but few actually find it transforming. Drawing on the devotional wisdom of Augustine, Martin Luther, John Calvin, and John Owen—as well as his own pastoral experience—Keller argues that prayer is not merely a religious duty or a technique for getting things from God. It is the primary means by which the gospel moves from our heads into our hearts, dismantling the idols that control us and reshaping us into people of genuine love, courage, and peace. The book moves in three broad movements: first, a theology of what prayer is and why it is hard; second, a deep exploration of how to pray—including meditation on Scripture, confession, adoration, and petition; and third, a remarkably practical set of daily, weekly, and monthly spiritual exercises designed to make prayer a sustainable, life-giving rhythm rather than a guilt-laden chore.
View Discussion GuideBelieving God
by Beth Moore
Beth Moore's Believing God is built around one of the most searching questions a Christian can face: Is there a difference between believing in God and actually believing God? Moore draws a sharp and transforming distinction between the two. Believing in God — trusting in His existence and in the salvation He offers — is where most Christians live. But throughout Scripture, certain men and women went further. Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness (Genesis 15:6). Moses believed God and led a nation through a wilderness. The heroes of Hebrews 11 believed God and received what was promised, endured what was impossible, and died with joy. Believing God is Moore's invitation to move from passive belief about God into active, radical, daily trust in what He says — to take Him at His word, no matter what the circumstances say.
View Discussion GuideSacred Parenting
by Gary Thomas
Most parenting books ask the same question: How do I raise better children? Gary Thomas dares to ask a different one: What is parenting doing to me? In Sacred Parenting, Thomas argues that God designed the parent-child relationship not only to nurture children but to sanctify parents — to use the relentless, exhausting, humbling, and glorious work of raising children as one of His most powerful tools for shaping us into the likeness of Christ. Just as Thomas's earlier book Sacred Marriage reframed marriage as a path to holiness rather than merely happiness, Sacred Parenting reframes parenthood as a sacred discipline, a school of the soul that no classroom or retreat can fully replicate. The thesis is simple but transformative: God is doing something profound in you through your children, and the struggles you face as a parent are not interruptions to your spiritual growth — they are the means of it.
View Discussion GuideDeeper
by Dane Ortlund
Dane Ortlund's Deeper: Real Change for Real Sinners (2021) is a pastoral and theologically rich guide to the often-misunderstood question of how Christians actually grow. Ortlund's central thesis is disarmingly simple: genuine sanctification is not a matter of trying harder, doing more, or accumulating better spiritual habits. It is a matter of going deeper — deeper into the grace of Jesus Christ, deeper into the gospel truths that saved us in the first place. Drawing on the wisdom of figures such as John Owen, Jonathan Edwards, Thomas Goodwin, and Herman Bavinck, Ortlund argues that the engine of Christian growth is not self-improvement but an ever-expanding knowledge of and union with Jesus himself. The book is anchored in 2 Peter 3:18 — "Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ" — and unfolds what it looks like to do exactly that.
View Discussion GuideBreaking Free
by Beth Moore
Beth Moore's Breaking Free is a rich, Isaiah-anchored study of what it means to live in the freedom Christ has already purchased for us. Drawing extensively from the book of Isaiah, Moore identifies five benefits of our covenant relationship with God that captivity robs us of: knowing God and believing Him, finding satisfaction in God, experiencing God's peace, enjoying God's presence, and bearing fruit that glorifies God. Using the parallel between Israel's Babylonian captivity and the spiritual bondage that so many believers live in today, Moore argues that freedom is not simply a positional truth to be acknowledged — it is a daily, practical reality to be walked in. The enemy's greatest strategy, she contends, is convincing Christians that they are stuck, that their strongholds are simply "the way they are," when in fact the truth of God's Word is powerful enough to demolish every stronghold.
View Discussion GuideHaving a Mary Spirit
by Joanna Weaver
In Having a Mary Spirit, Joanna Weaver picks up where her beloved Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World left off—moving from the question of what we do for God to the deeper question of who we are before Him. Her central thesis is that every Christian woman carries within her a "twisted sister": a war between the flesh and the Spirit that no amount of willpower, good intentions, or religious busyness can resolve. True transformation, Weaver argues, is not self-improvement; it is cooperation with the Holy Spirit, who alone can renovate the soul from the inside out. Drawing on the three biblical Marys—Mary, mother of Jesus; Mary of Bethany, sister of Martha; and Mary Magdalene—as well as other Scripture narratives and honest stories from her own life, Weaver shows what it looks like to open the hidden places of the heart to Christ and let Him do the work only He can do.
View Discussion GuideLife Together
by Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote Life Together in 1938, drawing directly from his experience leading the underground Confessing Church seminary at Finkenwalde, Germany — a community that the Gestapo would eventually shut down. The book is both a practical handbook and a theological meditation on what it means to live in genuine Christian community. Its central thesis is deceptively simple and profoundly challenging: Christian community is not a human achievement or an ideal to be realized, but a divine gift to be received. When we approach community as something we create — shaped by our wishes and dreams — we inevitably become disillusioned and destructive. But when we receive one another as gifts of God's grace, something miraculous becomes possible. Bonhoeffer organizes this argument across five chapters: Community, The Day with Others, The Day Alone, Ministry, and Confession and Communion.
View Discussion GuideChanges That Heal
by Henry Cloud
Changes That Heal by Dr. Henry Cloud is a landmark work at the intersection of Christian faith and psychological growth. Drawing on his clinical experience and his own spiritual journey, Cloud argues that God's design for human beings involves four essential capacities: bonding with others, setting healthy boundaries, acknowledging the reality of both good and bad within ourselves and others, and embracing the grieving and growing process that leads to maturity. When any of these capacities is stunted — often through childhood wounds, distorted theology, or relational pain — the result is the anxiety, loneliness, shame, and compulsion that so many Christians quietly endure. The good news Cloud insists on throughout the book is that healing is not only possible, it is promised: "God will complete the good work he has begun in you" (Philippians 1:6).
View Discussion GuideLive No Lies
by John Mark Comer
In Live No Lies, John Mark Comer argues that the greatest threat to our spiritual and emotional health is not external persecution or doctrinal error, but the lies we absorb — and then live. Drawing on the ancient Christian framework of "the three enemies of the soul" (the devil, the flesh, and the world), Comer offers a rigorous and surprisingly practical diagnosis of why so many people who follow Jesus still feel anxious, restless, and spiritually stuck. His thesis is disarmingly simple: deceptive ideas about who God is, who we are, and what the good life looks like get lodged in our bodies and our habits, and they quietly sabotage our peace. The answer is not willpower but truth — practiced, embodied, and pursued in community.
View Discussion GuideEverybody, Always
by Bob Goff
Bob Goff's Everybody, Always is a joyful, story-driven invitation to stop sorting people into categories of "easy to love" and "difficult to love" and to simply love them all — without distinction, without limits, and without waiting until you feel ready. Drawing on his own wild adventures (skydiving mishaps, conversations with a Ugandan witch doctor, friendships with people on death row), Goff argues that the kind of love Jesus modeled isn't reserved for the lovable. It is extravagant, reckless, and aimed especially at the people we'd rather avoid. The book's central thesis is as simple as it is demanding: become love — not just someone who occasionally performs loving acts, but someone whose whole life is shaped by an unstoppable, fearless affection for everybody, always.
View Discussion GuideThe Pursuit of Holiness
by Jerry Bridges
Jerry Bridges' The Pursuit of Holiness is a clarion call to take personal holiness as seriously as God does. Written in 1978 and still transforming lives decades later, the book builds its case around a deceptively simple conviction: holiness is not optional for the Christian. Drawing on the repeated biblical command — "Be holy, because I am holy" (1 Peter 1:16) — Bridges argues that most believers have accepted a dangerously low standard for their own moral and spiritual lives, drifting along with the current of culture rather than swimming upstream toward Christlikeness. The book's great contribution is holding two truths in careful tension: holiness is entirely God's work in us, and it requires the deliberate, disciplined effort of the believer. Neither passive mysticism nor white-knuckled willpower, but a cooperative pursuit.
View Discussion GuideHabits of the Household
by Justin Whitmel Earley
In Habits of the Household, Justin Whitmel Earley argues that the most powerful parenting tool available to families isn't a grand strategy or a weekend retreat — it's the ordinary, repeating rhythms of daily life. Drawing on the Christian tradition of liturgy, Earley makes the case that the small moments of the household (waking up, eating together, disciplining a child, putting kids to bed) are not interruptions to spiritual formation but the very place where it happens. The book's thesis is simple but convicting: habits form hearts, and whoever designs the habits of your household is discipling your family — for better or worse. Earley invites parents to be intentional architects of those habits, not passive passengers swept along by whatever the culture (or the screen) offers next.
View Discussion GuideThe Common Rule
by Justin Whitmel Earley
The Common Rule: Habits of Purpose for an Age of Distraction by Justin Whitmel Earley is a book about the quiet, daily practices that shape who we are becoming — often without our awareness. Earley's central argument is simple but arresting: habits form us more than we form them. We are not the autonomous, self-directed people we imagine ourselves to be. Instead, we are creatures of routine, and those routines — scrolling our phones in bed, eating lunch alone at our desks, filling every silence with noise — are quietly forming us in the image of a distracted, anxious, and isolated culture rather than in the image of Christ. Earley's answer is not a self-help program but a "rule of life" — a structured set of daily and weekly habits drawn from the ancient tradition of Christian community life — that gently reorients our loves toward God, neighbor, and truth.
View Discussion GuideElijah: Faith and Fire
by Priscilla Shirer
Priscilla Shirer's Elijah Bible study traces the life of one of Scripture's most electrifying prophets — a man who stood alone against a corrupt king, a manipulative queen, and a nation that had quietly traded the living God for the convenience of Baal. Drawing from 1 Kings 17–19 and 2 Kings 1–2, Shirer argues that Elijah's story is not ancient history but a mirror held up to our own moment: a time of cultural pressure, moral compromise, and spiritual exhaustion. The study's central thesis is that the same tenacious faith and holy fire that marked Elijah's ministry is available to every believer today — not because we are extraordinary, but because the God who sent fire from heaven is still the same God.
View Discussion GuideHinds' Feet on High Places
by Hannah Hurnard
Hannah Hurnard's beloved allegory Hinds' Feet on High Places follows Much-Afraid, a young girl in the service of the Chief Shepherd, as she journeys from the Valley of Humiliation to the High Places. Along the way she is accompanied by two unlikely companions — Sorrow and Suffering — and faces trials, fears, and the persistent whispers of her Fearing relatives. The devotional companion to this allegory, written for women, draws out the spiritual heart of the story: that God calls each of us — no matter how crippled, fearful, or ordinary we feel — into a deeper walk with Him, and that the path to the High Places almost always leads through the very valleys we most dread. The central thesis is one of surrender and trust: as Much-Afraid keeps saying "yes" to the Shepherd even when the way seems impossible, she is transformed, and the reader is invited to do the same.
View Discussion GuideThe Battle Plan for Prayer
by Stephen Kendrick & Alex Kendrick
The Battle Plan for Prayer by Stephen and Alex Kendrick is a comprehensive, Scripture-saturated guide to developing a powerful, intentional prayer life. Inspired by their film War Room, the Kendricks argue that prayer is not a last resort when all else fails — it is the first and most essential weapon in the Christian's arsenal. The book moves from the foundational purpose of prayer, through its biblical mechanics, to practical strategies for praying over every area of life. The central conviction driving every chapter is this: prayer can accomplish what a willing God can accomplish, and a believer who learns to pray with faith, persistence, and strategy will see the spiritual landscape of their life transformed.
View Discussion GuideThe Divine Conspiracy
by Dallas Willard
Dallas Willard's The Divine Conspiracy is one of the most important and challenging books on Christian discipleship written in the twentieth century. Its central thesis is both simple and revolutionary: the gospel is not merely a message about how to get into heaven after death, but an invitation to live now, in the present, as an apprentice of Jesus Christ — participating in the life and rule of God that Jesus called "the kingdom of the heavens." Willard argues that the church has largely exchanged genuine discipleship for what he calls "bar code Christianity" — the idea that salvation is a transaction that gains us entry to eternal life while leaving our actual lives essentially unchanged. Against this thin version of the faith, Willard calls readers back to Jesus's own vision: a life so thoroughly transformed by love, character, and the presence of God that it overflows into every corner of our existence.
View Discussion GuideGarden City
by John Mark Comer
Garden City by John Mark Comer is a sweeping, theologically rich exploration of what it means to be human — and what it means to work, rest, and live in the way God originally designed. Drawing on the creation narratives of Genesis, Comer argues that work is not a curse to be endured but a calling to be embraced. From the very first pages of Scripture, humanity was placed in a garden and given a commission: to rule, cultivate, and create. Comer's central thesis is that what you do matters just as much as who you are — that vocation, creativity, rest, and everyday life are all spiritual. The book traces this vision from Eden through the fall, through the cross and resurrection, and into the coming new creation, showing that God's ultimate goal is not to evacuate us from the world but to renew it — and to renew us as his image-bearing workers within it.
View Discussion GuideIf You Want to Walk on Water, You've Got to Get Out of the Boat
by John Ortberg
John Ortberg's If You Want to Walk on Water, You've Got to Get Out of the Boat is built around one of the most vivid scenes in the Gospels: Peter stepping out of a storm-tossed boat to walk toward Jesus on the water (Matthew 14:22–33). Ortberg uses this story as a lens for exploring the life of faith — specifically the kind of faith that requires risk, vulnerability, and a willingness to leave behind what feels safe. The book's central argument is simple but bracing: you will never experience the full adventure God has for you as long as you stay in the boat. The "boat" represents whatever zone of comfort, control, or familiarity keeps you from responding to Jesus' invitation to "Come." Growth in character, intimacy with God, and alignment with his purposes are all found outside the boat — and nowhere else.
View Discussion GuideMy Utmost for His Highest
by Oswald Chambers
My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers is one of the most beloved devotional books ever written. Compiled from Chambers's sermons and lectures by his wife Gertrude ("Biddy") after his death in 1917, the book presents 365 daily meditations, each anchored in a specific Bible verse and designed to press the reader toward total abandonment to God. Chambers's central thesis is that the Christian life is not about moral improvement or religious activity but about an ongoing, deepening surrender to Jesus Christ — what he calls giving your "utmost" to the One who gave His highest for you. The meditations are short but dense, often provocative, and always personal. Chambers does not allow the reader to remain comfortable; he presses toward the question of whether we truly trust God in the details of ordinary life, not just in grand spiritual moments.
View Discussion GuideWayMaker
by Ann Voskamp
WayMaker by Ann Voskamp is a deeply personal and poetically written exploration of how God carves paths through the impossible terrain of our lives. Drawing on the ancient Hebrew practice of the sacred SACRED pathway—Stop, Attend, Commune, Receive, Enter, De-clutter—Voskamp weaves together her own raw experiences of marital crisis, a prodigal child, grief, and longing with the biblical story of the Israelites' Exodus journey through the wilderness. Her central thesis is as simple as it is radical: God is not a way-pointer or a way-suggester—He is the WayMaker, and the same God who parted the Red Sea is still making a way through every seemingly impassable place in our lives today. The book invites readers not to manage their obstacles but to meet the God who transforms them.
View Discussion GuideFollow Me
by David Platt
In Follow Me, David Platt issues a bracing, countercultural challenge: the Jesus of the American church and the Jesus of the Bible may not be the same person. Platt argues that for too long, Christianity in the West has been reduced to a simple transaction — say a prayer, sign a card, walk an aisle — while the radical demands of discipleship have been quietly set aside. Drawing on the Gospels' portrait of Jesus calling fishermen away from their nets, a tax collector away from his booth, and crowds away from their comfortable assumptions, Platt contends that following Jesus is not an addition to your life but a total reorientation of it. True disciples are not just converts; they are men and women who have been transformed by the gospel and who now make disciples of others — to the ends of the earth.
View Discussion GuideGet Your Life Back
by John Eldredge
Get Your Life Back by John Eldredge is a compassionate and practical guide for people who feel wrung-out, over-stimulated, and emotionally depleted by the pace of modern life. Eldredge's central thesis is both simple and urgent: your soul is not designed to absorb the relentless torrent of information, tragedy, and demand that defines contemporary living — and unless you intentionally create space for God to restore you, you will continue to run on empty. Drawing on his own struggle and on the wisdom of Christian spiritual formation, Eldredge introduces a series of "graces" — small, accessible practices like the One Minute Pause, benevolent detachment, and drinking in beauty — that don't require you to overhaul your life but do require you to show up differently in it. The good news he keeps returning to is this: God is gentle, and he is near, and he wants to give you more of himself.
View Discussion GuideThe Awe of God
by John Bevere
In The Awe of God, John Bevere makes the case that the fear of the Lord is not a relic of Old Testament religion but the very foundation of a thriving, intimate walk with God. Far from being a gloomy or oppressive idea, holy fear is what Bevere calls the "uncommon path" — the largely forgotten virtue that unlocks wisdom, guards against sin, builds eternal legacy, and paradoxically produces the deepest confidence and freedom. Bevere argues that the men and women of Scripture who lived and finished well share one unmistakable mark: they feared God. The book is a passionate, pastoral invitation to recover this essential but neglected dimension of Christian faith.
View Discussion GuideHolier Than Thou
by Jackie Hill Perry
Why don't we trust God? We sing about His faithfulness, confess His goodness with our lips, and yet we quietly live as though He might hold out on us — as though He might not actually have our best interests at heart. In Holier Than Thou, Jackie Hill Perry argues that the root of our distrust is not a deficit of willpower or spiritual discipline, but a misunderstanding of who God actually is. Specifically, we have misunderstood His holiness. We have reduced "holy" to a moral checklist, a synonym for uptight or unapproachable, when in reality God's holiness — His utter "other-ness," His set-apart completeness — is the very thing that makes Him worthy of our full and joyful trust. Drawing readers through Scripture with her characteristic blend of theological depth and poetic honesty, Jackie dismantles our small, suspicious versions of God and replaces them with the awe-inspiring reality: God is not like us, and that is the best news in the world.
View Discussion GuidePrayer: Finding the Heart's True Home
by Richard Foster
Richard Foster's Prayer: Finding the Heart's True Home (1992, reissued 2012) is one of the most beloved and comprehensive guides to the life of prayer ever written. Foster's central thesis is deceptively simple: prayer is not a technique to be mastered but a relationship to be entered — specifically, the relationship of a beloved child speaking to a loving Father. Drawing on the great classics of Christian spirituality (from Teresa of Ávila and John of the Cross to the Desert Fathers and Julian of Norwich) as well as his own honest personal experience, Foster maps twenty-one distinct forms of prayer, organizing them into three broad movements: Moving Inward (prayers that deepen our inner life), Moving Upward (prayers that adore and commune with God), and Moving Outward (prayers that intercede for and serve the world). The result is not a how-to manual but an invitation into the full, rich terrain of Christian prayer.
View Discussion GuideThe Pilgrim's Progress
by John Bunyan
The Pilgrim's Progress is John Bunyan's immortal allegory of the Christian life, written while Bunyan was imprisoned for preaching without a license and published in 1678. Its hero, Christian, flees the City of Destruction and journeys toward the Celestial City, passing through the Slough of Despond, the Hill Difficulty, Vanity Fair, Doubting Castle, the Delectable Mountains, and the River of Death — each landscape a vivid picture of the soul's experience of sin, temptation, doubt, suffering, fellowship, and hope. Every character Christian meets — Obstinate, Pliable, Mr. Worldly Wiseman, Faithful, Talkative, By-ends, Hopeful, Giant Despair, Ignorance — is not merely a person but a spiritual condition. To read the book carefully is to read yourself.
View Discussion GuideYou Are Free
by Rebekah Lyons
In You Are Free, Rebekah Lyons writes from the hard-won place of personal exhaustion, anxiety, and striving — and from the surprising discovery that Jesus has already declared freedom over every one of those struggles. The book's central thesis is simple but radical: Christ does not say you can be free or might become free. He says, in the present tense, you are free. Drawing on her own story of battling anxiety, depression, and the relentless pressure of performance, Rebekah unpacks the many forms of bondage that quietly hold women captive — people-pleasing, self-condemnation, ungrieved loss, fear of failure — and then sets each one against the liberating truth of the gospel. The result is both a personal memoir and a theological call to action: freedom is not a destination you earn; it is a gift you receive, and then courageously give away.
View Discussion GuideThe Screwtape Letters
by C.S. Lewis
C. S. Lewis's The Screwtape Letters is one of the most original and penetrating works of Christian apologetics ever written. Cast as a series of letters from the senior demon Screwtape to his bumbling nephew Wormwood, the book turns the usual perspective on temptation inside out: we see humanity not through the eyes of a saint or a pastor, but through the eyes of hell. The result is both darkly comic and deeply convicting. Lewis's central argument is that the Enemy (God, from hell's perspective) is relentlessly pursuing the love and free will of every human soul, while the demons work not through dramatic supernatural horror but through the quiet, corrosive power of distraction, self-deception, and spiritual complacency. Written against the backdrop of World War II, the letters expose how ordinary life — marriage, friendship, politics, pleasure, and even church attendance — becomes the battlefield for the soul.
View Discussion GuideThe Ragamuffin Gospel
by Brennan Manning
Brennan Manning's The Ragamuffin Gospel is a passionate, unflinching meditation on the grace of God — a grace so extravagant, so unconditional, and so scandalous that most of us spend our lives half-believing it. Manning's central thesis is simple but revolutionary: God's love for us is not earned, managed, or maintained by our performance. It is freely given to the bedraggled, the beat-up, and the burnt-out — to ragamuffins. The book is both a theological argument and a personal confession, drawing on Manning's own struggle with alcoholism, self-contempt, and the long journey toward receiving rather than just preaching grace. It challenges the comfortable Christianity of the respectable and invites broken people to sit down at the table they feared they'd been excluded from.
View Discussion GuideThe Pursuit of God
by A.W. Tozer
A. W. Tozer wrote The Pursuit of God in a single sitting on a train, and the urgency of that moment pulses through every page. The book's central argument is deceptively simple: God is not merely a doctrine to be affirmed but a living Person to be known, pursued, and experienced. Tozer believed that the greatest crisis of the modern church was not theological error but spiritual dryness — an orthodoxy full of correct opinion yet empty of conscious communion with God. Against that dryness he set the testimony of the great saints across the centuries, and the invitation of Scripture itself: taste and see, draw near, seek His face. This study guide follows Tozer's ten chapters, plus his Preface, across twelve weeks, ending with a final week of review and reflection.
View Discussion GuideThe Purpose Driven Life
by Rick Warren
The Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren begins with one of the most disarming sentences in modern Christian literature: "It's not about you." From that opening provocation, Warren unfolds a 40-day journey through five God-given purposes that every human life is designed to fulfill — worship, fellowship, discipleship, ministry, and mission. Drawing on more than 1,200 Scripture references from 15 different Bible translations, Warren argues that you cannot discover the meaning of your life by looking inward; you must look to the One who made you. True purpose, he insists, is not found but received — a gift from the God who created you for His glory.
View Discussion GuideThe Practice of the Presence of God
by Brother Lawrence
The Practice of the Presence of God is one of the most beloved spiritual classics in Christian history. Written by a seventeenth-century French Carmelite lay brother named Nicholas Herman — known in the monastery as Brother Lawrence — it is a slim but inexhaustible book about a single, revolutionary idea: that any person, in any circumstance, can walk in continuous, conscious communion with God. Brother Lawrence did not develop this practice in a quiet study or a peaceful garden. He discovered it in the noise and clutter of a busy monastic kitchen, while rolling over wine casks on lame legs and repairing the worn sandals of over a hundred brothers. His testimony is that God is not reserved for the chapel or the prayer closet, but is available — and eager — in every moment of every ordinary day.
View Discussion GuideThe Next Right Thing
by Emily P. Freeman
Emily P. Freeman's The Next Right Thing (2019) offers a quiet, countercultural approach to decision-making in an age of overwhelming options and constant noise. Freeman's central thesis is simple but profound: rather than striving to discover "God's perfect will" for every major life choice, we are invited to practice the habit of doing the next right thing in love — one small, faithful step at a time. Drawing on her own experience of decision fatigue, as well as the wisdom of spiritual directors, contemplative writers, and everyday moments of ordinary life, Freeman builds a practical and deeply spiritual framework for soul-care in the midst of uncertainty. The book is organized around a series of short, accessible practices — like "becoming a student of yourself," "naming your arrow," and "building a rule of life" — that gently clear the inner clutter and make space for God's voice to be heard.
View Discussion GuideThe Emotionally Healthy Leader
by Peter Scazzero
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View Discussion GuideThe Cost of Discipleship
by Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote The Cost of Discipleship in 1937 — from the context of a Germany sliding into totalitarianism and a church being seduced by compromise — and its central argument has lost none of its urgency. The book's thesis is announced in its very first line: "Cheap grace is the deadly enemy of our Church." Against the comfortable Christianity that demands nothing, Bonhoeffer sets the call of Jesus Christ, which demands everything. True discipleship, he argues, is not a religious program layered on top of ordinary life; it is a new kind of existence, born in obedience to a living Person. The book moves in two major movements: a theological examination of grace and call (Part One), followed by a sustained, verse-by-verse meditation on the Sermon on the Mount and the missionary discourse of Matthew 10 (Part Two). Together, they form one of the most searching challenges to comfortable Christianity ever written.
View Discussion GuideSpiritual Leadership
by J. Oswald Sanders
J. Oswald Sanders' Spiritual Leadership, first published in 1967, remains one of the most beloved and enduring books on Christian leadership ever written. Sanders' central thesis is simple but radical: spiritual leadership is not an achievement of natural talent, ambition, or organizational skill — it is the product of a life wholly surrendered to God. True spiritual leaders are not self-appointed; they are Spirit-appointed. Drawing on the lives of biblical figures, church fathers, and missionary heroes such as David Livingstone, Samuel Brengle, and Hudson Taylor, Sanders paints a portrait of leadership that looks nothing like the world's version — one marked by sacrifice, prayer, servanthood, and a willingness to bear costs that others will not.
View Discussion GuideSpiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life
by Donald Whitney
Donald S. Whitney's Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life is built around one compelling thesis: God has given us specific, time-tested practices — the spiritual disciplines — as the means by which we "train ourselves to be godly" (1 Timothy 4:7). Whitney argues that godliness is not the result of passive waiting or emotional experience alone; it requires intentional, Spirit-dependent effort. Drawing on the Puritan tradition and the broader sweep of church history, he walks through disciplines such as Bible intake, prayer, worship, journaling, fasting, stewardship, and evangelism, showing how each one becomes a channel through which the Holy Spirit transforms us into the image of Christ. The goal is never discipline for its own sake — it is always Christlikeness.
View Discussion GuideSacred Marriage
by Gary Thomas
Gary Thomas opens Sacred Marriage with a question that reframes everything: "What if God designed marriage to make us holy more than to make us happy?" That single question is the engine of the entire book. Thomas argues that marriage is not primarily a romantic arrangement for personal fulfillment — it is a spiritual discipline, as rigorous and transforming as fasting, prayer, or solitude. Every frustration, every moment of tenderness, every season of boredom or passion in a marriage is raw material in God's hands for shaping us into the image of his Son. Sacred Marriage does not promise a better marriage by the time you finish it; it promises a better you — and a richer, more honest relationship with God.
View Discussion GuideRadical
by David Platt
David Platt's Radical: Taking Back Your Faith from the American Dream is a passionate, uncomfortable, and ultimately liberating call to reconsider what it means to follow Jesus in a culture saturated with comfort, consumerism, and self-advancement. Platt argues that American Christianity has, often without realizing it, reshaped the gospel to fit the values of the American Dream — a gospel of health, wealth, personal happiness, and minimal sacrifice. Drawing on the actual words of Jesus, Platt invites readers to compare what Jesus said discipleship would cost with what we typically ask of ourselves, and then to have the courage to close that gap. The book is not a guilt trip; it is an invitation into something far more exciting and far more costly than the comfortable Christianity many of us have settled for.
View Discussion GuideNot a Fan
by Kyle Idleman
Not a Fan by Kyle Idleman is a frank, searching invitation to examine whether you are truly a follower of Jesus Christ — or merely a fan. Drawing on his experience as a teaching pastor, Idleman distinguishes between fans who admire Jesus from a safe distance and followers who have surrendered their entire lives to him. The book's central argument is that Jesus never called anyone to be a fan: he called people to deny themselves, take up their cross, and follow him — and that anything less is a counterfeit Christianity that leaves both us and the world around us unchanged. Idleman weaves together personal stories, honest self-examination, and the red-letter words of Jesus to confront the comfortable, consumer-minded faith that fills many church pews today.
View Discussion GuideKnowing God
by J.I. Packer
J. I. Packer's Knowing God (1973) is one of the most beloved works of Christian theology written in the twentieth century. Its central thesis is deceptively simple: there is an enormous difference between knowing about God and knowing God personally — and that difference makes all the difference in the world. Drawing on the great Reformed tradition, Packer moves through the attributes and acts of God — His majesty, wisdom, love, wrath, grace, and more — not as dry doctrinal categories but as living realities meant to transform the believer's heart. The book famously opens with the claim that "the most important thing about a Christian is not what they do, but what they think of God," and every chapter is a sustained invitation to upgrade our vision of who God is and how He deals with His people.
View Discussion GuideHaving a Mary Heart in a Martha World
by Joanna Weaver
In Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World, Joanna Weaver uses the familiar New Testament story of Mary and Martha (Luke 10:38–42) as a lens for examining the tension every woman feels between doing and being — between the kitchen and the living room, between busyness and intimacy. Weaver's thesis is simple but piercing: God does not want us to choose between loving Him and serving Him, but He does want us to get the order right. "Living-room intimacy" with Jesus must come first; "kitchen service" will then flow out of it naturally, joyfully, and without the resentment and exhaustion that so often plague busy Christian women. Drawing on her own story, Scripture, and the lives of women throughout Christian history, Weaver offers both theological grounding and practical strategies for women who feel they are never quite godly, loving, or doing enough.
View Discussion GuideGet Out of Your Head
by Jennie Allen
In Get Out of Your Head, Jennie Allen confronts one of the most intimate battlegrounds of the Christian life: the mind. Drawing on her own struggle with spiraling, anxious, and toxic thought patterns, Allen argues that the enemy's greatest weapon against us is not circumstances or suffering — it is the thoughts we allow to take root and run unchecked. Her central thesis, drawn from Romans 12:2 and 2 Corinthians 10:5, is that we are not helpless victims of our own minds. We can, by the power of the Holy Spirit, choose what we think. That choice — practiced deliberately, repeatedly, and in community — is nothing less than a spiritual battle with eternal stakes.
View Discussion GuideGentle and Lowly
by Dane Ortlund
Gentle and Lowly: The Heart of Christ for Sinners and Sufferers by Dane C. Ortlund is a book with one simple, stunning thesis: the deepest impulse of Jesus Christ's heart is not frustration, disappointment, or reluctant tolerance — it is tender, zealous, and inexhaustible love for sinners. Drawing on Matthew 11:29, where Jesus describes himself as "gentle and lowly in heart," Ortlund mines the Old and New Testaments and draws heavily on the Puritan writers — Thomas Goodwin, Richard Sibbes, John Bunyan, John Owen, and others — to show that the gospel does not merely change what God does for us; it reveals who God is toward us. The book is not primarily about what we must do but about what kind of Savior we actually have.
View Discussion GuideForgotten God
by Francis Chan
Francis Chan's Forgotten God: Reversing Our Tragic Neglect of the Holy Spirit (2009) begins with a disarmingly honest question: if the Holy Spirit were completely removed from your church, would anyone notice? Chan argues that most Western Christianity has domesticated, ignored, or quietly sidelined the third person of the Trinity — and that this neglect is not a minor omission but a catastrophic loss. The book is a passionate, pastoral call to recover a living, dangerous, transforming relationship with the Spirit of God — not as a theological concept, but as a personal, powerful divine presence who was promised to believers and who makes the Christian life actually possible.
View Discussion GuideEmotionally Healthy Spirituality
by Peter Scazzero
Peter Scazzero's Emotionally Healthy Spirituality begins with a confession most of us quietly recognize: it is entirely possible to be deeply involved in church, committed to the Bible, and actively serving God — and still be emotionally immature. Scazzero, a pastor who built a growing congregation in Queens, New York, discovered through a painful personal and marital crisis that his spiritual life had a gaping hole in it. He had been using ministry to run from himself, suppressing his anger and sadness in the name of Christian niceness, and leading others while his own soul was starving. His central thesis is both simple and radical: emotional health and contemplative spirituality are not optional add-ons to discipleship — they are its very foundation. You cannot be spiritually mature while remaining emotionally immature.
View Discussion GuideDo Hard Things
by Alex Harris
Do Hard Things by Alex and Brett Harris is a rallying cry to a generation that has been told to sit down, take it easy, and wait until adulthood to do anything that really matters. Written when the twins were eighteen years old, the book challenges the modern concept of adolescence as a "vacation from responsibility" and replaces it with a bold vision: the teen years are not a holding pattern but a launching pad. Drawing on biblical truth, history, and the stories of real young people who are already doing extraordinary things, Alex and Brett introduce the concept of the "Rebelution" — a rebellion against low expectations that fuels genuine personal and social change. Their central thesis is simple but countercultural: doing hard things is not the exception for young people who follow Christ; it is the calling.
View Discussion GuideDesiring God
by John Piper
John Piper's Desiring God opens with a thesis that many Christians find simultaneously liberating and unsettling: the chief end of man is to glorify God by enjoying him forever. Piper calls this "Christian Hedonism" — the conviction that God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him. Drawing on hundreds of Scripture passages, and standing on the shoulders of Blaise Pascal, Jonathan Edwards, and C. S. Lewis, Piper argues that the pursuit of joy is not a distraction from worship but the very heart of it. To seek your deepest pleasure in God is not selfishness — it is the one pursuit that simultaneously honors God supremely and satisfies your soul completely.
View Discussion GuideCultivate
by Lara Casey
Lara Casey's Cultivate: A Grace-Filled Guide to Growing an Intentional Life is an honest, hope-filled invitation to trade the frantic pursuit of a perfect life for the slow, faithful work of growing a good one. Drawing on her own story of broken relationships, miscarriage, business pressures, and a garden that taught her more than she expected, Casey argues that meaningful growth is never instant — it is cultivated. The central thesis is deceptively simple: the same principles that turn a barren patch of dirt into a thriving garden apply to every area of our lives. We prepare the soil, we plant seeds with intention, we pull weeds, we water with patience, and we trust God for the harvest. The result is not a picture-perfect Instagram life, but something far better — a life deeply rooted in what actually matters.
View Discussion GuideCrazy Love
by Francis Chan
Crazy Love: Overwhelmed by a Relentless God by Francis Chan is a passionate call to abandon the lukewarm, comfortable Christianity that has become the norm in much of the Western church. Chan's central thesis is simple but unsettling: God loves us with a wild, all-consuming, "crazy" love — and the only sane response is to love Him back with our whole lives, holding nothing in reserve. Drawing on the awe-inspiring scale of the universe, the warnings of Jesus, and the radical lives of ordinary Christians, Chan challenges readers to stop playing it safe and start living the kind of life that only makes sense if God is real.
View Discussion GuideCelebration of Discipline
by Richard Foster
Richard J. Foster's Celebration of Discipline is widely regarded as one of the most important books on Christian spirituality written in the twentieth century. Its central thesis is both simple and revolutionary: the spiritual life is not a matter of trying harder but of training wisely. Foster argues that the classical spiritual disciplines — practices like prayer, fasting, meditation, confession, and worship — are not burdensome rules for the religious elite but are, in his memorable phrase, the "path to spiritual growth." They are, he insists, a means of grace: ways of placing ourselves before God so that He can transform us from the inside out. Organized into three movements — the Inward Disciplines, the Outward Disciplines, and the Corporate Disciplines — the book invites readers into a whole-life spirituality that touches solitude and service, simplicity and celebration alike.
View Discussion GuideA Praying Life
by Paul Miller
A Praying Life by Paul E. Miller begins with a disarmingly honest confession: prayer is hard, and most of us don't do it very well. Rather than offering another set of techniques or disciplines to master, Miller diagnoses the deeper problem — we have stopped being needy. We have learned to live as "functional atheists," managing our lives with skill and self-sufficiency while leaving God largely out of the picture. The book's central argument is that the solution is not more willpower but a recovery of childlike dependence — learning to bring our real selves, with all our mess and confusion and longing, into honest conversation with a Father who loves us.
View Discussion GuideSpiritual Growth & Disciplines Studies — Questions Leaders Ask
- How many Spiritual Growth & Disciplines study guides are there?
- 92 guides right now, listed above, out of 223 in the library. Each one is written for a specific published book: a reading, discussion questions, and a closing prayer for every week of it. Browse the whole library →
- How long does a study take?
- Spiritual Growth & Disciplines guides run 6 to 27 weeks, one meeting a week, and each week has its own reading, discussion questions, and closing prayer. Groups that meet every other week or take a break for the holidays simply spread the same weeks further apart. Put your meetings on real dates →
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- Two ways to pay. This Guide Only is $29 once for the book you pick, and never renews. Full Library is $79 a year for every guide in the library — $59 for your first year if you have not bought from us before, through September 30, then it renews at $79 a year unless you cancel. There is a 30-day money-back guarantee on the year (with 2 or fewer guides downloaded) and 30 days on a single guide. See both options →
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