Spiritual Friendship

All ministry leaders need to cultivate healthy and life-giving friendships with peers, and especially with Jesus. Unfortunately, the concept of friendship has been reduced to clicks and “likes” on social media sites that are neither life-giving, nor truly signs of friendship.

We need companions on our spiritual journey. The modern world has taught us to value autonomy and individualism. Our churches often see spirituality as personal and private. But we cannot go long in our Christian pilgrimage before realizing that isolation leads to spiritual barrenness. We soon discover that our souls long for accompaniment, intimacy, and spiritual friendship. As a result, many Christians today are rediscovering the ancient practice of spiritual direction.

Why is the third person in the Godhead - the one Jesus said would be the believer's ultimate source of truth and comfort - the source of such confusion? In The God I Never Knew, Robert Morris clearly explains that the Holy Spirit's chief desire is for relationship - to offer us the encouragement and guidance of a trusted friend. This insightful and biblically-based book moves beyond theological jargon, religious tradition, and cultural misconceptions to clarify what the Holy Spirit promises to do in your life.

There's just something about people who are close to God. Through the ups and downs of life, they remain secure, hopeful. If you want a more rewarding spiritual life, if you want the pleasure of knowing your Creator's heart, this soul-lifting book is for you. Learn from Dutch Sheets as he shares his life lessons for cultivating an intimate relationship with God. Each of the 30 short chapters reveals a simple practice or biblical mindset that will help draw you away from the noise of life and into the Lord's peaceful presence.

Too often our friendships with other women can be marked by drama, competition, betrayal, and unforgiveness. As women, we can cause one another deep pain, creating wounds in need of healing. But we were made for connection and healthy friendships with other women to cheer each other on and fulfill our God-breathed purpose - together.

Relational Intelligence is your action plan for getting smart about your purpose partners. Relationships were God's idea, writes Daniels, and when we understand and apply what God has to say about them we end up avoiding unnecessary relational turmoil, advancing in all areas of our life, and accomplishing our God-given purpose. When your purpose is on the line, the cost of relational unintelligence is too great to pay. In this audiobook, you will explore and learn how to activate the relational intelligence you need for the life of purpose you want.

Do you desire a new new normal of healthy life giving relationships as well as increased peace and joy in your everyday life? In this 14 day devotional we will embark on an inner healing journey. We will take a look at some biblical truths revealed throughout scripture, that we can safely build the foundations of our lives upon. There will be times to reflect on your unique upbringing and childhood years, allowing the Holy Spirit to bring healing of past wounds and freedom from unhealthy patterns, actions or thoughts passed on from previous generations. We will explore some of life’s core...

In tough times, we can become more familiar with pain than progress and more acquainted with loneliness than companionship. But what if the purpose of our faith is not to reach the Promised Land but to recognize that God is with us in our lowest moments and times of our own personal wilderness? In Experiencing Friendship with God, speaker and pastor Faith Eury Cho draws on ancient wisdom about intimacy with God to help us cultivate a relationship with Him, even among all the complications of today’s world.

Join Rachel Anne Ridge, author of the beloved memoir Flash, in a journey back to the pasture. As she adopts a second rescue donkey as a little brother for Flash - a miniature named Henry - she finds that walking with donkeys has surprising lessons to teach us about prayer, renewing our faith, and connecting to God in fresh ways.

Imagine if FIRST CONTACT happened in 1947 Roswell, NM just after WWII ended and they needed our help. In 1947 Geogram makes first contact with Malcolm Dow and Adam Rabinowitz. The army privates agree to help the life-form, and try to contact General Jones, while avoiding the anti-alien majority in their chain of command. With junior reporter Charlotte Baker hot on their heels, time is of the essence before panic sweeps the globe. Dow and General Newman recruit scientist Mary Goss to help incorporate the alien tech into their equipment for their desperate mission. Failure means not only the ...

She's climbing the ladder. He's hit rock bottom. Can unselfish love bring them together?Adam struggles to reclaim his life after the death of his brother. While he knows he should trust his faith, he turns to the bottle instead. But a chance meeting with an ambitious beauty inspires purpose, happiness, and something more. Benita won't rest until she's reached the top. But with her next promotion opportunity in Spain, she hopes Adam can help her learn a second language. As she studies with every waking moment, she's surprised how often thoughts of her tutor dance across her mind. What will ...

Here are only a few of the new friends you'll meet in TEENAGE CHRISTIAN: ASHLEY wins a songwriting contest and backstage passes to meet her favorite rock star, but discovers there's only one true Rock worthy of her love. MELISSA dreads attending a new high school, but learns that unknown roads are often mapped out by God. NICOLE and her best friend must spend Valentine's Day at a nursing home where both encounter real love when they least expect it. WHITNEY suffers from insomnia, but a heavenly cure brings sweet dreams. JESSICA feels like she's missing out on Halloween fun, then learns ...

Margo and B.B. are each divorced, and each is trying to reinvent her life in Colorado - while their respective teenage daughters look on with a mixture of humor and horror. But even smart women sometimes have a lot to learn - and they will, when B.B.’s ex-husband moves in next door to Margo.

The Bible reveals not just butterflies and broken hearts. In Scripture, we see God’s beautiful design for the partnership of marriage. We witness friendships that cross all boundaries. We watch as families navigate the many seasons of life. Our guiding example for them all is the deepest, most abiding, foundational love ever known: God’s unconditional love for His people. In The Love Stories of the Bible Speak, Shannon Bream draws lessons from the good, the bad, and the ugly of Biblical romances, friendships, and families.

He's tried and failed in country music - and women - before. She wasn't supposed to be at the ranch that summer. When Maddy shows up unexpectedly, will she and Kyle have their second chance romance? Or will the call of the stage lure him away? Kyle Stewart toured with a popular band for a year, but he couldn't get a record label to pick up his music. He's been back at his family's ranch, using his country music contacts to arrange summer concerts for the tourists who come through the Texas Longhorn Ranch for a unique western experience. Lately, he's had some interest in his music again, ...

Women long for deep and lasting friendships but often find them challenging to make. The private angst they feel regarding friendship often translates into their own insecurity and isolation. Christine Hoover offers women a fresh, biblical vision for friendship that allows for the messiness of our lives and the realities of our schedules.

In No Greater Love, Rebecca McLaughlin walks us through the highs and lows of friendship love—a love that’s been neglected and malnourished in our modern world. She draws especially on Jesus in the Gospels and on Paul to show how powerful and precious Christian friendship is and how we can walk through the hurt, loss, and disillusionment that comes from broken friendship trust. Beginning with the words of Jesus on the night he was betrayed and abandoned, she points us to his battle-tested love as the unending source of our best love for one another.

In his most accomplished novel to date, Roger DeBlanck delivers an unforgettable contemporary story of a young Native American man on the road to recovery. Abuse and addiction have ruined Thomas Newsome’s youth, but he refuses to follow the wasted path of his father, Gilbert. After Thomas narrowly avoids tragedy, he vows to get clean and stay that way. Before he can bury his past and move on, he wants answers from his father for why he never changed. But then Gilbert falls ill and takes off on a personal journey. With only a handful of clues from his Apache past, Thomas sets out on a ...

She's tired of having her heart broken by cowboys. He waited too long to ask her out. Can Lance fix things quickly, or will Amber leave Last Chance Ranch before he can tell her how he feels? Amber Haws has never had a problem saying yes to a date. She's been out with lots of men in the time she's been at Last Chance Ranch, but she's finally gotten her heart broken one too many times. She swears off cowboys right to the one who's been watching her for months now. Lance Longcomb followed the advice of his friends and waited to ask her out after each of Amber's break-ups. But now she's done ...

For many, friends now play the role of family, but often our friendships don't turn out quite as we envisioned or hoped. Bible teacher Kelly Needham debunks our world's constricted, small view of friendship and casts a richer, more life-giving, biblical vision for friendship. In Friend-ish, Kelly Needham takes a close look at what scripture says about friendship. She reveals the distorted view most of us have of it and recasts a glorious vision for a Christian understanding.