The idea for this excellent compilation of personalized Scripture couldn't be more natural. "Praying the Scripture for spiritual growth," as the subtitle says it, can nurture a person's faith like no teacher's commentary can.

Author Ken Boa has advocated meditating on and personalizing Scripture for many years. In this book, he offers his own translation of many Bible verses, adapting them into a first person or second person perspective. In this way, a reader dwells on the Words of God offered as direct praise. Instead of reading, "Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might" (Deut. 6:4-5 ESV), he reads, "O Lord my God, You are one. I want to love You, Lord my God, with all my heart and with all my soul and with all my strength." Instead of reading, perhaps passively, these words from Proverbs 23:4-5, "Do not toil to acquire wealth; be discerning enough to desist. When your eyes light on it, it is gone, for suddenly it sprouts wings, flying like an eagle toward heaven" (ESV), Boa urges the reader to dwell on its personal application: "I will not wear myself out to get rich; I will have the understanding to cease. I will not set my desire on what flies away, for wealth surely sprouts wings and flies into the heavens like an eagle."

For devotional use, the book offers Scripture meditations in five categories for each day of a three month period. The categories are "The Attributes of God," "The Works of God," "My Relationship to God," "The Character I Want to Cultivate," and "My Relationship to Others." With a couple mediations in each topic, Boa encourages the reader to follow a 93-day pattern of thoughtful consideration and prayer, praising God with His own words and being confronted by His demands on our character.

That's the first half of the book. The second half is a topical guide to Scripture's affirmations of God's character and the Holy Spirit's work in us. Divided into the same categories listed above, this guide lists many more verses than are printed in the devotional section, which could facilitate longer meditation on God's glorious character and His teaching. For someone in the habit of reading through the Psalms and Proverbs every month, this book or it's companion, Face to Face: Praying the Scriptures for Intimate Worship, would be a great alternative.

I have a very difficult time keeping my focus while I am praying. This book has helped me so much to direct my prayers and keep them in a Scriptural context. It not only leads the reader in daily prayers of Adoration, Confession, Renewal (Scriptural reminders), Petition, Intercession, Affirmation, Thanksgiving, and closing prayers, but also has a weekly schedule of praying for yourself and others such as your church, your family, and world missions. The Scriptures are well-chosen for their subjects, as well as not chopped up so as to make them out-of-context. This book is for morning devotions, and there is a companion evening devotion book which is excellent as well.

As a newly "re-found" Christian, I found this book a great source to learning how to pray again. I didn't want to call on God only from desperate need, nor did I want to thank Him only when things were going great. This book is a terrific guide to a daily time of purposeful prayer with God. It takes us step-by-step through Praise, Confession, Renewal, and Intercession,(among others), using scripture verses right from the Bible. The premise is that by praying God's own promises and glories as written in the Bible, we can more align ourselves with His will and more fully realize Him in our lives. On the same vein, I really appreciate "Praying the Bible for your Marriage" by David & Heather Kopp.

I find it very important to begin the day in the proper frame of mind, and the author's approach of centering my prayers in God's own words rather than my own ramblings have a unique effect. I find my mind is stilled and my heart comforted when I read and pray these passages. My day begins fresh with my mind above my own circumstances.

I've tried many prayer resources, but I find Kenneth Boa's the best for leading me to the mind of God.

This is a great book for anyone who is interested in a daily conversation with God. It's easy to read and will increase your knowledge regarding verses in the Bible. The writers of this book did an excellent job in the layout and detail. This book is superb, and I strongly recommend it for everyone.

I use this book in my daily devotions as a means of focusing my thoughts and adding direction and Biblical basis to my prayer life. It gives you a topic and then four ways of application to your life, in the forms of thanks, study, request, etc..

Talk Thru the Bible provided me with what most commentaries cannot-- a clear and concise overview of the Bible that saved me the time and trouble of wading through paragraphs of tedious text. Wilkinson and Boa did an excellent job charting the outlines of each book of the Bible, providing capsulated information on the background and theme of each book, and explaining the Bible in modern-day English. I highly recommend this resource to any Bible student, Sunday School teacher, Bible study leader. In fact, it's thorough enough to meet the need of most Bible teachers, but also simple enough for any Christian. My library is incomplete without it.

If you are looking for an easy to understand survey book, then this is what you want. Talk Thru the Bible does a good job explaining the historical background, date, theological contributions, and authorship of each book by highlighting the big ideas presented. It is written from a conservative evangelical perspective in a conversational mood and is devoid of heavy theological language.

Besides what you'd expect to find in a survey book, Talk Thru the Bible also offers explanations of Hebrew poetry which you can understand, nifty charts, and outlines detailed enough that you could develop sermons from them. All the articles are short and easy to digest--which is perfect for the micro wave attention spans (short) we all seem to have these days. This would be my choice of a textbook if I were to teach Old or New Testament survey.

This is a wonderful resource for any serious student of the Bible. Use it right along with your Bible to help you better understand the who, what, when, where of each book of the Bible and how it fits together as a whole. I find it very easy to follow and would highly recommend it for any Christian's library. Now I am even more excited than ever to dig deep into the treasures of God's word!

This prayer book is the best all around prayer book for daily personal (or even family)use. The Scriptures are addressed back to God and arranged by category (with direction to add certain categories of requests inbetween the sections). This adds structure to ones prayer life and breaks the monotony of "grocery list" praying. This one is a little longer than, "Praying the Scriptures for Spiritual Growth" or the "Simple Prayers" books; in my own personal devotions, it takes me about 7 minutes per daily prayer segment.

Boa has written several prayer books, all great, all solid. This is my favorite to date.

Many times when we pray we don't know where to get started, what to do, many times we just want a deeper prayer life.

This book will scripturally guide you through praying...not only the scriptures, but will guide you in praying for your world around you. It begins with praise and worship of Almighty God, leads you in a confession of Who He is, then guides you through personal renewal, petitions, intercession, and then a prayer of thanksgiving.

One of the things I liked best about this book was that it started out with each section, declaring the Word of God, then it guides you (differently each day) to pray for your leaders one day, your family the next, that you will be a faithful steward of your time and money, for God's wisdom...the list goes on and on.

Both this book and "Praying the Scriptures for Spiritual Growth" are two of the best prayer/devotional books I have ever used. If I could only keep two, these would be the two I would keep. Not only are they easy to follow, they are taken directly from the Word of God.

Face to Face is a wonderful tool to help you pray. Boa has assembled scripture into eight sections for each day. You pray through scripture for Adoration, Confession, Renewal, Petition, Intercession, Affirmation, Thanksgiving and Closing. It helps you focus and it gives a marvelous sense of the completeness of God's word. I do not recommend very many books but this is one that I would recommend to anyone. I have already given away 20 copies.

Spiritual formation: Even the term itself is esoteric, suggesting this book's likely value only inside the cloistered halls of seminaries. That misunderstanding would be a tragedy. Readers, this outstanding, very well organized textbook is anything but purely academic! It offers a gold mine of wisdom, experience and biblical understanding about a Christian's spiritual journey--in all its various facets. If there is a God in heaven (and there is!), Dr. Kenneth Boa's book should get very broad distribution among Christian laypeople, not just pastors and professors. His book is absolutely fantastic, thoroughly biblical, and even devotional and reverent. It is also very practical and emminently helpful to persons on the pilgrim's path, particularly to those who are looking for more spiritual progress. Perhaps most helpful is the fact that Boa's book gives readers a balanced perspective on those teachers and teachings that suggest that there is only one pathway within orthodox Christianity to proper spiritual formation and an intimate relationship with God. I give Conformed to His Image my highest recommendation!

Kenneth Boa masterfully coordinates the various perspectives in Christian Spirituality throughout history to present a well-rounded approach to spiritual formation. A must read for anyone involved in church leadership or discipleship.

This is the third copy of I'm Glad You Asked I have purchased. I keep "lending" copies of this book to others as a valuable reference, particularly when witnessing to non-Christians or Christians seeking to learn more about some very good questions: "What makes Christianity different?" "Doesn't Anyone who is good get to Heaven?" "What about those who have never heard the Gospel?"

I have several other books, including books by Hugh Ross (Creation and Time), Barry Wood (Questions non-Christians Ask Today) and Geisler and Brooks (When Skeptics Ask). All of these are good books, but I found this book answers the questions that are relevant today in a very readable yet thoughtful manner. It's well worth the investment.

The key strength of this book is in the fact that it challenges the reader to ask the question, " Is my faith reasonable?" If the answer is " No ", then the reader is then confronted with the decision of whether to hang on to an irrational faith or to discard it.

Christianity is viewed by many as a leap of faith and not a rational world view. This book walks the reader through the rational arguments for belief in the claims of Christ and of the historical Christian Faith.

I have used the book for personal study and as a course in evalgelism for young people and adults. I have watched as the syudents grew in confidence and became eager to take a reasonable Faith out into the market place of ideas.

This is a must-have booklet for both new Christians and those who have been reading the Bible for many years.In just 13 two-page chapters there is a visual survey of the entire Bible and includes charts and maps. It takes less than one hour to read this booklet.It begins with a general overview of the Old and New Testaments then breaks it down into more detail.It includes the history of the people, the land, and the kingdom of Israel. Next it shows "the Heart of the Jews" in the poetic books, and "the Hope of the Jews" in the prophetic books. It then tells of the history of Isreal"the Remnant." Next there is the Life of Christ, History of the early church, the writings of the early church (Peter, Paul, John, and others) including a description of the themes of each book with key words.If you want to read and study the Bible but seem overwhelmed by it, this booklet is a good place to begin.

This 24 page booklet is a must for anyone who is serious about serving God and reading the Holy Bible.In just 13 two-page chapters there is a general overview of the whole Bible and its teachings with the visual aids of maps and charts.It begins with a very general overview of the Old and New Testaments. It then goes on to review the history of the early world and of the people, the land, and the kingdom of Isreal. Then to the poetic books which shows the heart of the Jews and the prophetic books which shows the hope of the Jews. Next we see the history of the Remnant of Isreal, the life of Christ, the history of the early church, the writings of the early church (Peter, Paul, John and others), with the last chapter showing the themes of the New Testament letters.It takes less than an hour to read this booklet from cover to cover at which time one will receive a wealth of knowledge of God and the bible.After reading this visual survey one can confidently begin to read the bible without feeling so overwhelmed. I definitely urge Christians whether mature in the Lord or just beginning their journey with Him to read this booklet.

The time is ripe for this book. I bought it years ago and continually refer to it because of two strentghs: its concise discussion of a cult/world religion's beliefs; second, a suggestion for a Christian witness and response.

For longer discussion, see editions of Walter Martin's "The Kingdom of the Cults."

This is what it will do for you also, so find a copy.

Drawing Near is a great devotional aid. It provides five Bible reading guides, a guided, scriptural prayer section for every day of the month, and a three level memory verse guide. For each day, it provides prayers, straight from scripture, in the areas of adoration, forgiveness, renewal, personal needs, prayers for others, affirmation, thanksgiving, and closing. It is an excellent tool for prayers of any age. After using this guide for a few weeks, the reader will indeed find him/herself drawing nearer to God. A great book.

Unbelievably well-written and organized journey into antimonies: contraditiction between two equally valid principles or between inferences correctly drawn from such principles.

These he lists and unpacks: God-man; trinity; divine soverignty-human responsibility; problem of evil, resurrection, time, space, omnipresence-localizatin, transcendence-immanence.

You'll truly find much to ponder and use in your apologetics with finding yourself a copy of this book.