by Jim Miller
Growing with Purpose: Connecting with God Every Day
Jon Walker
Zondervan (September 1, 2009)
I’m a daily devotional junkie. I think I have been through them all—Mrs. Cowman’s Streams in the Desert, Oswald Chambers’ My Utmost for His Highest, Brennan Manning’s Reflections for Ragamuffins, A Year with C.S. Lewis (my favorite). And I plan to do it all over again in 2010 and just may have found my devotional of choice: Jon Walker’s newly released Growing with Purpose: Connecting with God Every Day, a book that is meant to be a companion to Rick Warren’s blockbuster bestseller Purpose Drive Life (sales now peaking at 20 million copies), which, incidentally, is a book Walker collaborated with Warren in writing. In the foreword Warren writes, “Jon makes the message of God’s grace clear and practical. God created you for a purpose and this book will encourage you to live a purpose driven life day in day out.”
This handy bedside book combines concise stories from Walker’s life, humorous anecdotes with a purpose, and wise biblical insight. The following entry especially spoke to me, probably because I struggle with it. Perhaps you do, too. Walker writes:
In our clash of wills with God, we are tempted to pray, “My will, not yours.” But that is a prayer of separation and division. It’s the invocation in a worship service of one; the prayer request that brings Christian growth to a slam-on-the-brakes halt.
Jesus prayed, “Not my will, but yours.” It’s easy to forget he still prays that prayer today, by the Spirit groaning within us when we don’t yet know the words to say. When we say “Amen and so be it,” we become one with God’s will, joining him as he loves others through us. In our abandonment to the Father’s will, we put ourselves aside in order to “help others get ahead” (Philippians 2:3 MSG).
The life of God flowed through Jesus because he emptied himself of all personal concerns for comfort and honor and demonstrated for all time that God’s power isn’t found in seizing and grasping and taking, but in emptying and being spent for others.
You enter God-life by praying, “Not as I will, Father, but as you will.”
Walker brushes away our all-too-human drift toward half-hearted faith and cheap grace by inviting fellow-worshipers to deepen and renew their commitment to Christ. He does this by helping us identify those areas of weakness in our lives that keep us from growing as we would like and offers sound biblical advice to arm us to combat and overcome those weaknesses. Why not drop by your local bookstore and thumb through a copy. It may be just what you are looking for in 2010.
Artist Bio
Jon Walker has worked with Rick Warren for many years, first as a writer/editor at www.Pastors.com, later as vice president of communications at Purpose Driven Ministries, and then as a pastor at Saddleback Church. He’s also served as editor-in-chief of LifeWay’s HomeLife magazine and founding editor of the Rick Warren’s Ministry Toolbox. His articles have appeared in publications and websites around the world. You can learn more about his ministry at www.gracecreates.com.
