Patterns: Ways to Develop a God-Filled Life
What began as a simple offer to pen a weekly essay on spiritual matters for his Elmbrook Church congregation grew into a significant add-on ministry for pastor and author Lawrenz (The Dynamics of Spiritual Formation). Several thousand interested recipients from more than 30 countries have benefited from these narratives about the life-giving spiritual disciplines of daily prayer, Bible reading and meditation. In this expanded treatment of those essays, Lawrenz skillfully examines well-known character traits such as love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. In an opening story as charming as any offered by Max Lucado, the author breathes life into each trait with a concise and lively biblical summation, and then discusses ways Christians might experience that trait in their lives. Lawrenz incorporates poignant, well-spoken prayers and incisive personal reflection questions. In one especially fine essay on patience, Lawrenz declares, "`Now' is a golden calf of the modern world." He admonishes Christians to endure by developing a willingness to wait patiently, thereby girding themselves for the next battle. Lawrenz vows that daily attentiveness to the things of God will result in a life characterized by design, order and consistency-a message many readers have gleaned from the highly acclaimed works of Richard Foster. Like Foster's work, Lawrenz's remarkably fresh treatise expounds upon the spiritual disciplines of the Christian life.Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.