Experiencing God At Home Day By Day: A Family Devotional

Experiencing God at Home Day by Day: A Family Devotional (B&H Publishing, Oct. 1, 2013) features 50 weeks of daily devotions the whole family does together, that takes them from Genesis to Revelations. Each devotion feature a passage of scripture, a parent connection section, a conversation starter and more. There are also special devotions for important family events like birthdays, holidays, and back-to-school. The book not only provides a basis for personal, daily family-time spent together in God's word, but aims to help parents to develop their own habit of seeking God in their lives. (publisher)




 

 My Review: This is a compact, padded book that may look small but packs a powerful message sure to impact your family. Each page starts with a question that opens up a conversation that is then easily steered in the direction of the focus of the day's study. Using the Scripture Reading provided at the top of the page as the story or theme, it allows you to lead your family into a more indepth study, and permits control over how much time you can invest during your devotional time. The Family Prayer Time is set up in the same manner so you can let one person pray or each may add to the prayer. The additions of Quiet Time for both younger and older children are excellent ways of introducing kids to having a personal quiet time aside from family devotions and training them early about the need to seek out their own relationship with God.

Day 1 is a Parent Connection that gives the topic of the week so you can better prepare for the discussions you will be having with your children. Tips are provided for extra Scripture to read and to familiarize yourself in order to answer the questions that are sure to arise. Another part I loved is the section in the back for Special Occasions. Of course there are the various holidays, but topics like 'Last Day of School', 'Death in the Family', 'Pregnancy', and 'Celebrating An Achievement' are all included. Finally, there are several blank pages provided for notes. If you are interested in having a family devotional time, leading your family, and training your child in the tenets of faith...this book is an excellent resource.


I received this book free from Shelton Interactive for review purposes.. I was not required to write a positive review and the opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255 : "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."

Blackaby Ministries International was founded by Henry and Marilyn Blackaby to help people experience God. The ministry focuses on three main concepts: helping people experience God, helping people and churches return to God, and helping church, business and family leaders move people to God’s agenda. Through writing, speaking and teaching ministries the Blackabys share their unique message, drawing on timeless truths to show how God is drawing people close to Him, and setting them free. For more information, visit www.blackaby.net.

Experiencing God at Home

Experiencing God at Home takes a fresh path back into the rich roots of Henry Blackaby’s world-renowned Experiencing God writings to connect what happens in our homes to what happens in our churches.

Here, his sons Tom and Richard Blackaby first establish the biblical case for the idea of experiencing God at home, illuminating how the clear foundation for God’s work in nations and churches around the world is his work in families.

Indeed, healthy families lead to healthy churches, and the Blackabys illustrate that through real-life stories of families that have found ways to experience God in marriage, in choosing life’s direction, in rescuing broken relationships, in forgiveness, in the salvation of loved ones, etc.

Lessons from the Bible support these moving accounts, and the book concludes with resources that will guide individuals families as well as entire churches toward practically experiencing God at home. (publisher's description)

I received this book from Shelton Interactive at no charge to me in exchange for a fair and honest review.

This book is part of the Experiencing God series that is written for specific target audiences. Using the same 7 principles familiar to those who have read the original book by Henry Blackaby, his sons now speak to parents on how to use those principles to raise children in homes that honor God and are God-centered. Briefly, the 7 steps they cover are God is always at work around you, God pursues a love relationship with you, God invites you to become involved with Him in His work, God speaks by the Holy Spirit, God's invitation leads to a crisis of belief, you must make adjustments, and you come to know God by experience as you obey Him and He accomplishes His work through you.

Filled with a lot of anecdotal stories of personal experiences and examples from the Bible, the emphasis is on the importance of a parent's involvement in a child's life. Listening to your offspring and taking time to answer is vital from an early age so the pattern is already established as your child grows older and has more important decisions to make. I especially liked the 'Questions for Reflection/Discussion' at the end of the chapters. These make this book useful for personal use, but also beneficial for small group study. I think this is a great book for anybody who is raising a family. Mine are grown, but I still got something out of the book. Even if you don't have children or grandchildren, there may be young people in your life that you do have influence with and who come to you for advice.

Tom Blackaby is director of International Ministries for Blackaby Ministries International and the former senior pastor of North Sea Baptist Church in Stavanger, Norway. He co-authored The Man God Uses with his father, Henry Blackaby (Experiencing God). Tom and his wife have three children.

Richard Blackaby is president of Blackaby Ministries International. A noted writer and speaker, he co-authored the revision of Experiencing God with his father Henry Blackaby. Richard and his wife have three children.

7 Steps To Knowing and Doing the Will of God

More teenagers than ever before seem to be spinning their wheels a long time before gaining any traction in life. Based on the world-renowned Experiencing God teachings of Henry Blackaby, Seven Steps to Knowing and Doing the Will of God for Teens provides students with relevant spiritual direction as they move toward adulthood.

Throughout, authors Tom, Mike, and Daniel Blackaby (Henry Blackaby's son and grandsons) utilize fun formatting with cartoon illustrations (Cory Jones), jokes, real-life stories, and graphically engaging treatments to bring strong focus to a message teenagers need in their often random settings.

 I received this book from Shelton Interactive at no charge to me in exchange for a fair and honest review. 
  
Although I am well past my teen years, I enjoyed reading this book myself. The stories, both Biblical and personal anecdotes, are written in a manner that is both easy to grasp and very relatable to others. I also loved the cartoons and bits of pop culture included. The 7 Steps:

1. God is always at work around you
2. God pursues a love relationship with you 
3. God invites you to become involved with Him in His work
4. God speaks by the Holy Spirit
5. God's invitation leads to a crisis of belief
6. Adjustments
7. You come to know God by experience as you obey Him and He accomplishes His work through you

 By giving examples and asking questions, each step is explained---not in a formulaic pattern, but as a process for the reader to have a deeper relationship with God. I have teenaged grandchildren, and this is a book I think each of them needs to read...and one I believe they will enjoy reading. Very well done!

Sammy Experiences God

I received this book from Shelton Interactive at no charge to me in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Sammy Experiences God is a well-written, beautifully illustrated book that is based on the Experiencing God teaching of Henry Blackaby. This children's book, written by Tom Blackaby and Rick Osborne, is the story of a boy named Sammy who wants to meet and have an adventure with God just like the ones he loves learning about in the Bible. Sammy tries to find God in a variety of settings, including camping and hiking, but gets discouraged as nothing seems to work. Yet, a fishing trip with Grandpa reveals the answer to Sammy's search.

This book is both a fun read and a definite conversation opener with younger children on God's involvement in their lives. Since children think more often in literal terms, this is an excellent resource to help children understand the ways God can communicate with us. Plus, there are several Scriptures, stories, and questions to further explore along the way. There are secret messages your child can find, plus hidden frogs to find (Sammy has a pet frog) that will add to concept that sometimes we need to search a bit more to discover things for ourselves. The illustrations by Isabella Kung are fantastic and detailed to give even the non-reader kids a chance to ask questions and have fun. Overall, a great book!