Take Hold of the Faith You Long For: Let Go, Move Forward, Live Bold - eBook

Faith is a tricky subject among Christians today. We all know we're supposed to have it and to varying degrees, we all do. But past that it's something of a grey area, a no-man's-land where we can talk about the surface level and the extreme but never about our own places where we may lack faith.

When I chose to review this book with the Baker Books blogger reviewers program, I was hesitant. What was yet another book going to claim was the "one key" to having faith? And what would the author base their assumptions on?

I'm very happy to report that Take Hold of the Faith You Long For was a very pleasant, very real, very Bible-based read. The author, Sharon Jaynes, is very relatable and brings both the ordinary and the extraordinary from her own daily life together with the stories of great faith warriors from the Bible to teach us what she has learned - through experience - about faith. Perhaps most importantly, she shows us the various ways that we stand as the road block to our own happiness, citing unforgiveness and fear as key things (among others) that we allow to take over our lives and limit our faith. Rather than being a book of condemnations, listing all of the ways you're an awful person for not having raised any people from the dead with your faith, Jaynes is very warm and kind in the way that she approaches the quest for stronger faith. She reminds the reader repeatedly that they are not alone, they are loved, they are chosen, and that is precisely why they can allow themselves to move past these barriers they've erected and reach out for the kind of peace-in-the-storm faith all Christians long to have.

Overall, a job well done. Aside from great content, Jaynes has done an excellent job with her writing. Though the chapters are a standard length, they're broken up with sub-headers that make it easy to take the book piece by piece as you have time for it, and her points are very clearly organized and follow a predictable progression through the book. A worthwhile read for anyone from the brand new Christian to the one with decades of experience, and very enjoyable as well.

Sometimes believing we can let go and move forward can be one of the hardest aspects of life to accept. However, with the right motivation and tools each of us can get there without all the pain of trying to acquire this ability. Take Hold of the Faith You Long For: Let Go, Move Forward, Live Bold by Sharon Jaynes is revolutionizing the frame work of women's thoughts and I cannot agree more. We have to start where the struggle is and most if not all the time that involves how we think. The brain has always been such a hassle for me to break from and I mean not listening to the demons that want to take hold to drag me through the mud. Those sneaker little suckers just need and inch to take over and never let go. Fortunately, Jaynes has created a magical book that can and will break those barriers inside ourselves. I devoured this book so rapidly that I re-read it to make sure I grabbed everything that was absolutely necessary to make the shift. Thank you Jaynes your are a gem and this book is life-altering. I received a copy for this review from Baker Books and all opinions are my own.

In a couple of months, Ill be celebrating two years of blogging. When my pastor first invited me to be a guest writer for the churchs blog, I could barely breathe whenever I clicked on that publish button and that really hasnt changed too much. What has changed, however, is my understanding of bold believing, my willingness to trust God with the risk of putting my words out there to invisible readers. Im finding that God is not looking for a different Michele to carry His Truth.

Fortunately, Im not the first follower to need this bit of encouragement, and Sharon Jaynes unpacks the Let Go, Move Forward, Live Bold lesson that God revealed to Moses. Take Hold of the Faith You Long For addresses my objections to a bold following, my amnesia about the nature of the God who calls, and my desire to cling to the timid reluctance that characterizes the lives of most believers.

Sharon speaks from experience. Feeling stuck between the Red Sea and the Promised Land, Sharon longed to move from knowing the promise to believing the promise in her life of faith. She has discovered in the story of Moses and the burning bush a rescue mission in which God lifted Moses out of his insecurity and into his true identity through a revelation of Gods own power and presence. The result of her study is a pondering of Moses four questions that were forever settled for him there on the holy ground that surrounded the burning bush:

1. Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?

It turns out that Moses was asking the wrong question, for it was not who Moses was, but, rather, who God is that made all the difference, for He is the God who chooses, who loves, who enables, and who accepts His children with grace and patience. Gods presence and His abundant promises made all the difference for Moses as he moved into his new leadership role.

2. If I come to the people of Israel and say to them, The God of your fathers has sent me to you, and they ask me, What is his name? what shall I say to them?

With this objection, Moses learned the glorious truth that the Great I AM would fill in all his perceived gaps, giving him words to say and showing him what to do. God is not looking for perfection in our era either. With all our inferiority and insecurity, the underlying statement is a sense of inadequacy:

Im not smart enough.

Im not experienced enough.

Im not talented enough. Fill in the blank with your own . . .

Im not _____________ enough.

In every case, the answer is the same: God replies, I AM, just as He did with Moses.

3. But behold, they will not believe me or listen to my voice, for they will say, The Lord did not appear to you.

Maybe you have been belittled in the past. Perhaps you are carrying an identity that is freighted with failure. At the burning bush, Moses was confronted with the shame of his past and encouraged to move forward with a new God-given identity. He could choose to forgive himself and others and move on, or he could have elected to stay in bondage to the past. Forgiveness does not absolve the offender, deny the wrong, or lessen the evil of whatever has been committed. The Greek word for forgiveness carries overtones of freedom and release, and this applies to both the offender and to the individual who was wronged.

Sharon also challenges her readers to let go of the what ifs and to move into sure-footed confidence in Gods messages of hope.

4. Oh, my Lord, I am not eloquent, either in the past or since you have spoken to your servant, but I am slow of speech and of tongue.

With one of many relevant and heart-warming stories from her own life, Sharon reveals a first-grade memory from her own days of being slow-of-reading. Today God is up-ending her insecurity around words in her career as a writer. She has written twenty books, and Im smiling as I read a New Testament testimonial to the life and ministry of Moses:

And Moses was instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and he was mighty in his words and deeds. Acts 7:22

Mighty in words and deeds.

God washed away the stain of the REJECT stamp from Moses life, and Paul invites us to learn from this stunning example:

For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. Romans 15:4

Let Moses fireside conversation with God answer your objections to a bold faith and then move forward into the faith you long for.

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This book was provided by BakerBooks, a division of Baker Publishing Group, in exchange for my review. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commissions 16 CFR, Part 255 : Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.

In this book Sharon Jaynes' speaks life into those who are struggling on their faith walk. She uses the story of Moses as an example of how God calls us to bigger and greater things if we will only learn how to trust Him. Sharon infused the entire book with truths from God's word that can be used to combat the lies of the enemy. If we allow him to corner us, isolate us and beat us down, he wins but when we use Christ's word as the weapon is was created to be, we are victorious because the battle has already been won! This book has literally changed me and strengthened me to live a bold life; a life of faith where I am reminded that even with all my insecurities, inadequacies and outright failures, God remains faithful. He has a plan and a purpose for every single one of us and wants to use us all for great and mighty things. We just need to trust HIM!!!

This book is another great one by Sharon Jaynes. Her writing style, as well as the content make this a book to be read, studied, pondered, and applied. Our lives will be greatly impacted to Let Go, Move Forward, and Live Bold!