Book Review: Sun Stand Still
I have signed up for the Blogging for Books program with WaterbrookMultnomah Publishing Group. You will see reviews of their books appear from time to time on Life in the Fishbowl. It’s part of the deal. They send me free books. I review them.
The first time I really heard about Steven Furtick and Elevation Church was on Wade Joye’s blog. I had been following the story of their premature twin daughters during the Summer of 2008. This sentence stuck out as I read one of his updates about their journey: “we are doing what Pastor Steven said during the Sun Stand Still series, and pray while we push.”
Sun Stand Still? That’s an interesting title. Surely it’s based on Joshua’s battle in the Promised Land. I liked it. It was memorable. Something I’d probably borrow in a sermon I’d preach somewhere along the way.
As I thumbed through the book, Sun Stand Still, I couldn’t help but think of the Joye family and how their two little girls survived their ordeal, propped up by the audacious prayers of their parents and others who loved them. I was glad to see their story mentioned in the book.
The basic premise of Sun Stand Still is fairly simple: God wants to accomplish amazing, seemingly-impossible things through us. I’ve read books like this one before. But there are a few aspects in this book that make it stand out compared with the others.
Especially chapter 10. That’s where he encourages us to speak Scripture to each other and ourselves. “Before Joshua could make his Sun Stand Still prayer, he had to make the ways and words of God a natural part of his vocabulary – in speaking to others and in speaking to himself” (p. 111, emphasis mine). He then encourages us to preach – even to ourselves.
At first, I was concerned that this was some type of “name it, claim it” type of theology. It’s not. He doesn’t guarantee that we’re going to be healed of all sickness and drive in a Bentley while donning the finest jewelry. He does, however, say that we cannot live in audacious faith unless we actually know God’s promises. Speaking Scripture to ourselves and even preaching to ourselves helps us learn and remember God’s promises. After all, faith does come by hearing.
This book has challenged me to dream again. It has also encouraged me to dust my old dreams off the shelf and begin praying audaciously for them.
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