Here’s this week’s morning and evening reading plan in Word and pdf.
This week’s single reading plan for morning or evening in Word and pdf.
If you want to start at the beginning, this is the first year of the children’s Morning and Evening Bible reading plan in Word and pdf. And this is the second year in Word and pdf.
The first 12 months of the Morning or Evening Bible reading plan in Word and pdf.
My mother used to tell me, ‘failure is not the opposite of success, it’s a stepping stone to success.’ So at some point, I learned not to dread failure. I strongly believe that we are not put on this Earth just to accumulate victories and trophies and avoid failures; but rather to be whittled and sandpapered down until what’s left is who we truly are.
‘Whenever I meet a successful CEO, I ask them how they did it. The great CEOs tend to be remarkably consistent in their answers. They all say, ‘I didn’t quit.’
I learned to be as open about my failure with my friends and family as I was willing to be about my successes. Startups are not just what you read in the press. The real story is much more volatile and human, and we do our community a disservice pretending otherwise.
Winners are those who are willing to lose. I really like that mentality.
My approach is always to admit as early as possible that the approach is failing and work to resolve the situation, without letting it drag on.
The best companies are those that can recognize when something isn’t going right, and fix it, instead of just turning a blind eye because it’s easier.
One day I realized that after each failure, I always gained some valuable knowledge of things I could apply to or avoid in my next project. That was the attitude I adopted after every failure from then on, I focused on what I gained instead of what I lost, because that’s what really matters in the end.
I had to learn that my greatest failure could be not aiming high enough, or not trying in the first place.
Some of the lessons I’ve learned from failure:
1. My failures are usually the result of over-confidence. When I’ve failed it’s often because I was putting too much trust in myself and not enough in God. A happy side-effect is that it has usually produced more prayerful dependence upon God.
2. Failure has made me more sympathetic to others. If I’d never failed in my parenting, preaching, teaching, financial decisions, etc., I would have no patience, sympathy, or help for others who had.
3. My failures have helped to re-direct my life. I’ve realized that I’m just not gifted for certain things I would love to do and I should focus on the areas God has equipped me for. Though painful at the time, I can look back with gratitude for failures that have changed my course.
4. Failure has given me a deep appreciation for people who succeed in areas I’ve failed in (usually jobs involving practical skills like plumbing, carpentry, mechanics, etc).
5. Failure has taught me to credit successes to God. When things go well, I recognize that it’s God alone who enabled, helped, and blessed, promoting more thankfulness and humility.
6. Many of my failures have been the result of being too tired or too busy. If I pace my life better and get good rest I seem to make better short- and long-term decisions.
7. My failures make me worship the Lord Jesus Christ more. When I consider how many mini-failures I have in a week and how many major failures in a decade, I’m awestruck to think that He spent 33 years on earth and never failed once!
I like to scour Amazon on Fridays for some cheap weekend reading, usually picking up a great book or two for a few bucks that I can read through in a few of hours.
As I spend my week reading Christian books for my teaching and preaching, I’m usually on the lookout for something a bit different, often a biography about someone I’d like to know more about, perhaps a popular history book, or maybe something on leadership/time management/study techniques. Some of last week’s books are still on offer:
Here are this week’s offers with their Amazon descriptions. I’ve read the last three but think I’ll get the “Third Reich” book for one of my summer books. The “Brain” book looks like a light and quick read that should provide me with lots of weird facts and funny stories to bore my family with.
The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich by William Shirer ($2.99) Shirer gives a clear, detailed and well-documented account of how it was that Adolf Hitler almost succeeded in conquering the world. With millions of copies in print, The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich has become one of the most authoritative books on one of mankind’s darkest hours. Shirer focuses on 1933 to 1945 in clear detail. Here is a worldwide bestseller that also tells the true story of the Holocaust, often in the words of the men who helped plan and conduct it. It is a classic by any measure.
Welcome To Your Brain by Sandra Ammodt ($1.99) In this funny, accessible book, we get a guided tour of our own minds, what they’re made of, how they work, and how they can go wrong. Along the way, we get a host of diagrams, quizzes, and “cocktail party tips” that shed light on the questions we nag each other about. (Can a head injury make you forget your own name? Are dolphins smarter than chimpanzees?) Fun and surprisingly engrossing, Welcome to Your Brain shows you how your brain works, and how you can make it work better.
The last three aren’t so cheap but they are still New York Times Bestsellers (and excellent reads) at less than half price!
Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead by Sheryl Sandberg ($5) Sandberg is the chief operating officer of Facebook and is ranked on Fortune’s list of the 50 Most Powerful Women in Business and as one of Time’s 100 Most Influential People in the World. If you want to know more about how our culture is changing and why, this and Jobs’ bio are must-reads.
Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson ($6.99) Based on more than forty interviews with Jobs conducted over two years—as well as interviews with more than a hundred family members, friends, adversaries, competitors, and colleagues—Walter Isaacson has written a riveting story of the roller-coaster life and searingly intense personality of a creative entrepreneur whose passion for perfection and ferocious drive revolutionized six industries: personal computers, animated movies, music, phones, tablet computing, and digital publishing.
Developing the Biblical Counseling Skill of Empathy Bob Kellemen: “Empathy means to suffer along with another, to suffer in the soul of another. It involves feeling yourself into or participating in the inner world of another person while remaining yourself.”
As I’m often asked for book recommendations on various subjects, I decided to put together an online list of my top ten books in various categories. Basically, if I was only allowed 10 books in my library on that subject, these are the ten I would choose. Other posts include:
Today I’m listing the Top 10 Books on Fighting Porn. I wish there didn’t have to be so many books on the subject, especially for Christians, but that’s where we’re at. You can also check out this list of Top 60 Online Resources for Battling Porn.
After this list you’ll find a poll where you can cast three votes for your favorite books and help others choose the best books on the subject. Click on “View Results” to see what books are most popular.
You can also add any book not on the list by writing the title in “Other” or in the Comments I’ll add these to the end of the post under “Reader Suggestions.”
This is biblical counseling at its best: full of sympathy for sinners, courageous confrontation of sin, accessible biblical truth, the power of Christ’s grace, and radical dependence upon the Holy Spirit. It offers eight grace-based strategies to needy sinners. Finally Free will liberate many lives and revitalize many marriages.
Sexual Detox and Finally Free are the two books I always give to anyone struggling with lust and porn. Sexual Detox is shorter, easier to read, and provides more emergency actions. Finally Free is deeper, more long-term. Both are gospel-based and grace-driven. Both manage to walk the fine line between R-Rated and Disney.
This book was forged in the battlefield of personal sanctification as Pastor and Biblical Counselor, Dave Coats, fought for purity in this muddy world. Also, having worked with people in this area of spiritual struggle for many years, he concluded that the best way to help people who already lacked personal discipline and self-control was to provide a structured workbook format that “forced” them to study the Word of God daily.
Good combination of the theological and the practical. Its strength is the way it rips porn of its allure and demonstrates its vile ugliness. Chester wants you to be revolted by porn and ravished by God
This book is different to all the others on this list. It was written by a Christian neuroscientist and researcher who explains how porn actually changes the brain, but also what we can do about it. Unique and insightful combination of the scientific, the theological, and the practical.
Harry Schaumburg has devoted his life to delivering people from sexual sin. Gives hope to the most hopeless. Not just about breaking a porn habit or addiction, but about “redemption.” A powerful book for the powerless.
A “positive” book about God’s view of sex for both men and women. Aims to show the beauty and wisdom of God in His definition, design, and provision of sex.
Previously titled Not Even a Hint, Harris’s aim is to separate lust (bad) from sex and sexuality (good). Maybe too many personal anecdotes and perhaps too candid in parts. It does address the problem of female lust and returns to the cross of Christ repeatedly for pardon and power.
This summarized and modernized version of John Owen’s Indwelling Sin and The Mortification of Sin, is about fighting indwelling sin in general rather than porn in particular. Not a book for a porn-emergency; more for long-term and deep work in the heart that attacks the roots of sin.
