Category: Book Reviews

Keys To The Deeper Life

by A. W. Tozer

 

– God demands all or nothing.

– What is your life producing?

– Does your soul cry out for God?

– Before there is a fullness, there must be an emptiness. We must be emptied of self.

– We cannot buy anything from God.

 

– How can you be filled:

1. Surrender

2. Ask

3. Obey

4. Believe

 

– No one is filled with the Spirit without knowing that he is filled with Holy Spirit.

– Being filled with the Spirit resolve all your other problems.

– To pray effectively, we must pray what God wants.

– Self is the serpent in the garden. Self is quenched when you are on your knees.

– No man is able to succeed unless he’s willing to fail. And no man is able to succeed if he is not willing to pass along the credit to someone else.

– You cannot be a genuine Bible Christian and love this world.

– The Holy Spirit is not simply enthusiasm, He is a person.

– Many do not truly want to be filled with the Holy Spirit of God because they still want to live as they please in this world.

– Be done playing with Christianity and throw yourself recklessly to God.

– Decide you’ll never take credit to yourself.

– Death to self is a painful thing.

– Worldliness has become acceptable and even popular in evangelical circles.

– We must become dissatisfied with the cheap form of Christianity.

– Follow the methods of the New Testament instead of big businesses.

How to Remember Names and Faces

by Dale Carnegie

 

“A person’s name is to that person, the sweetest, most important sound in any language.” — Dale Carnegie

 

– Make sure you hear the name clearly. If you don’t hear it, ask them to repeat it so you get it. If you still don’t hear it well, ask them to spell it.

– Get an eye impression as well as a mind impression of the person with their name.

– Get a distinct impression of facial features, height, voice and weight, it will help you remember their name.

– Repeat the name as quickly as possible and as often as possible.

– Use their name several times in a conversation.

– Don’t just say how are you, say how are you and use their name.

– Repeat the name of the person silently to yourself.

– Refresh your memory of someone’s name before meeting with them.

– When you leave the person, use their name again.

– Associate a name with a face.

How to Lead in a World of Distraction

by Clay Scroggins

 

– This world is full of distractions and all these distractions are costing you way more than you realize.

1. The opportunity cost of the unknown. Benefits you miss out on. Opportunity lost for every one of your distractions.

2. The lack of traction caused by the distraction. Our distractions are pulling you away from and keeping you from gaining traction in your life.

3. The failure to live your best life. Distractions stop you from living your best life right now.

– It starts by leading yourself. You can limit your distractions.

– Distractions make us promises and take our mind off of what we are currently doing.

– Distractions aren’t necessarily bad but get us off focused.

– Being a better you requires that you turn down your distractions.

 

– Here are three ways to turn down distractions:

1. Name your noise — TV, Facebook, email, etc. You can’t turn down what you don’t realize is distracting you.

2. Experiment with your noise — observe and know yourself well enough to know what to remove or go without. What would you say and what would others say is a distraction to you? Could you go a week by not doing it? Try.

3. Listen to what is there — self evaluate. Do you have the power to say no to something?

– If you can turn down the distractions, you can begin to envision what your future self will look like.

– If you’re not careful, you will let the external distractions of success affect the internal work that will lead you to growth.

– Don’t spend your life peacocking for others or the years will go by and you will have nothing to show for it.

– Some of the most successful people schedule times for nothing more than thinking.

 

– A good leader knows three things that help him simplify his life:

1. Where he came from

2. Where he is going

3. How he is going to get there

– What is urgent is usually important and what is important is usually urgent.

– Simplicity boils down to knowing why you are doing what you are doing.

– Simplicity brings clarity.

– Not only do we have to know why we do what we do but also the way to get there… and the way is through self-talk.

– You have to clear the voices to hear the right self talk, clear away all the noise. Create openings for positive talk.

– Write your list of things to do the night before and you’ll take care of many problems.

– Decide to not check email or social media before finishing something.

– Solitude scares most people but it’s a practice that can really help.

– Truly being silent means shutting off the negative talk.

– Using a screen for silent time can be counterproductive.

 

– Learn to hit pause in life. A few ways to hit pause are:

1. Sabbath (rest, silent time… put it into your daily or weekly schedule)

2. Fasting (from food, social media, etc.)

3. Sabbatical (set aside time from work and daily routines. Taking a step back from all would do us good).

– You can willfully choose who and what controls you, but you have to decide to turn distractions down or off.

– If you never learn to turn down the distractions in your life, you will never learn the key lessons in life.

– You’ll never be able to hear from God without turning down the noise.

 

Grit

by Martin J. Dweck

 

– Why did some quit when others continue on? Why do some stop trying when others keep pushing forward?

– Grit trumps talent and intelligence.

– Perseverance is one of the closest traits linked to grit.

– Albert Einstein’s parents thought that he was mentally challenged, but he continued persevering.

– Perseverance is good, but it lacks passion.

– Resilience is another trait associated with grit. Resilience teaches you to get back up when you’re not down.

– Ambition is a another trait closely related to grit. It is energy and passion to keep you going.

– You have to just regard the opinion of many people or else you will stop or become discouraged.

– Don’t dwell on the past or future, live in the now.

– Avoid procrastination. Delaying your to do list will only result in discouragement.

– Be hopeful. Hope goes beyond a feel good emotion, it is leaning towards a better place and as a result working to obtain it.

– Change the way you think. If you think on being well, you will begin to subconsciously working differently.

Goodbye, Things

by Fumio Sasaki 

 

– Get rid of things you haven’t used for one year.

– Differentiate between the things that you want and the things that you need.

– Take pictures of things and then throw them away. It’s easier to look through things when they’re digital.  – Organizing is not minimizing.

– Leave unused space empty instead of putting other things in its place.

– Discard things you’ve already forgotten about.

– Let go of the idea that you need to get your money out of something… if you don’t use it, you don’t need it.

– No need to stock up.

– If you lost it, would you buy it again? If you wouldn’t buy it again at full price, you probably don’t need it.

– You do not need to hold on to the objects of a deceased loved one just because they gave it to you. Memories without the objects are the real memories.

– Our homes are not museums, we don’t need to collect a little of everything.

– Put things in a bag or box and put it up for a month… if you don’t notice it after a month then you really don’t need it.

– One in, one out — don’t buy something unless you are ready to get rid of something else.

– Think of buying as renting — use what you buy for a while and then sell it.

– Don’t buy because it’s cheap or take it because it’s free. Sometimes free and cheap just clutters and isn’t needed.

– Part with items that were gifts if you don’t really use them. Send a thank-you note and get rid of it. No need to feel guilty if it’s just taking up space.

– Throwing away things does not mean you’re throwing away memories.

– The number of things you have doesn’t equal the satisfaction you receive.

– You don’t have to have a lot of clothes, just find what works for you and keep it limited so you can focus on other things.

– A little inconvenience can make you happier.

– Minimalism is freedom, you don’t need all the things you think you need.

– Don’t think, just discard. The more you think about it, the more reasons your brain will give you for why you can’t get rid of it.

– Getting rid of things will help you focus on more important things.

 

– Perks of being a minimalist:

1. Fewer material possessions means we don’t need as much room.

2. More cautious of buying things, meaning we spend less on frivolous things.

3. Satisfied with what we have, which means we need less moving forward.

4. Reduces stress because we have less material things to worry about

5. We are more efficient with time and income

Building a Discipling Culture

by Mike Breen

 

– We were not told to build His church, we were told to make disciples. He builds His church.

– Disciple making starts first by information, then imitation and then innovation.

– We must model our lives after the Master. He lived His life in three relationships: Up with his Father, in with His chosen followers and out with the hurting world around Him.

– We were never made to be lone-rangers. Jesus showed us by His example the importance of close relationships.

– You cannot model to others what you are not currently living.

– We cannot let hurt be an excuse to disciple others.

– It may not come naturally to us to have close relationships with others, but it must become intentional.

– From the very beginning God commanded man to be fruitful and multiply. We were never intended to just exist, we are to bear fruit.

– Just as in nature, growth must happen first before fruit can be produced.

– Before Jesus chose His disciples and did ministry, He set aside time to be alone with His Father – and we need the same thing.

– Jesus did not ask His disciples where they should go or take a vote on things, He led them because He knew where He was going.

– The Lord delegated and gave them both competence and confidence.

– His leadership style adjusted accordingly. He started off with saying come follow me and ended ministry by saying go into all the world.

– We do not grow by staying in our comfort zone, we have to be moved away from our preferences.

– God takes what He is doing in our lives and multiplies it through others.

– When we stop growing, we die. We must grow in order to disciple others.

– We must pray, wait and watch for the disciples that God has for us.

– Jesus told His disciples that when they go in a city to look for a worthy man, and if not, shake the dust off their feet and go find someone else. We should be looking for a worthy man as well — a person we can pour into and disciple. If they don’t want to listen, they are not a worthy man, so move on.

Atomic Habits

by James Clear

– Form habits as a routine or behavior that is performed regularly.

– Small habits will help you reach your potential.

– Tiny changes make big differences.

– If you can become one percent better every day, you will become extremely better at the end of the year — little adjustments every day.

– Success is a change of daily habits.

– You get what you repeat.

– Anger and negative thoughts all compound, and so does small habits.

– Forget about goals and focus on systems instead.

– Winners and losers have the same goals, but the system is what will determine if you’ll get there or not.

– You do not rise to the goals you set, you fall to the systems you have.

– You have to know your identity, who you are, to start the right habits.

– You become your habits.

– A habit is a behavior that is repeated multiple times.

– Craving, response, and reward is the habit cycle. We do what creates the reward, and we can use these to change and create new habits.

– To change or create new habits we have to be aware of your current habits. You must be aware of your current habits before you can change them.

– People who put concrete plans to their actions will be more likely to do it.

– Stack your new habits to the habits you currently have. For example, if you already walk, decide to meditate for a few minutes before; since you already eat, decide to put vegetables on your plate first. General goals are not enough, be specific and stack them with something you’re already doing.

– Make a new habit to be attractive and make it very visible. You will not do it if you do not think about it or see it.

– Make guidelines for yourself such as, “I will do ten push-ups before I check email or Facebook,” or “I will eat a piece of fruit before I eat a donut at the office,” etc.

– We usually imitate what is around us, so join a culture that will make it easier to create and continue the new habits in your life.

– If you want to master a new habit, the key is repetition not perfection. It is more important to practice than it is to plan.

– What is your gateway habit? In other words, what are you going to do that will help you complete your new habit. For example putting on running shoes might be the gateway to make you go running whereas sitting on the couch might make you want to watch TV.

– It’s remarkable what you can do if you will form and keep a habit.

– The difference between an exceptional and normal athlete is that an exceptional athlete has learned to keep practicing even when he gets bored with the habits.

30 Days to Your Best Marriage

by Various Authors

 

– You are the best when you work at being an encourager to your spouse.

– Your vows weren’t necessarily for your wedding, they are more for after your wedding. When you got married it was all emotional, but later in your marriage is when you need to remember the vows you said to your spouse.

– Learn to forgive, even if it is difficult.

– Make time for your spouse. Your spouse needs to know they are important to you. If you constantly cancel on your spouse because something comes up, they will soon realize everything else is more important to you than they.

– Pray. Pray for each other and pray together. Make time to talk to God and ask to strengthen your marriage.

– Put your spouse before you. Whether it’s for filling her physical, emotional or sexual needs, put your spouse before you.

– Pursue peace — Romans 12:18. Find a way to agree and fix things.

– Affirm and appreciate your spouse. You take for granted so many things that your spouse does, but you should surprise your spouse by making it a habit to say thank you for specific things. It will change your marriage.

– Find an older mentor that can help you in marriage. No one is just going to tell you what you need to work on, but there are plenty of people who would help you if you would humble yourself and ask them.

– Marriage is a listening part. It takes time and attention to listen and understand how the other person feels and what they are saying. The thing that may seem sacrificial to you now (stopping to listen), might save you serious headaches down the road.

– Listening shows you care. By listening you know what is going on and what lies ahead.

– Enjoy being together; develop a friendship. Don’t just live together, eat or do activities because you are married, enjoy each other‘s company.

– Work on your own patience. The one person that you love more than any other, knows more about you and is closer to you than any other, also knows how to get under your skin.

– Complete honesty. Are you keeping anything from your spouse? Truth lies at the heart of restoration. You cannot have a good relationship by keeping secrets.

– Dare to not compare.