Extraordinary

John Bevere has a wonderful talent for inspiring Christians to examine their faith.  His writing is always a challenging “I dare you to go deeper” approach that will set a spark in your spirit or wake you up to what you could have.

Extraordinary: The Life You’re Meant To Have is a well-written challenge to surrender the simple in search for the fantastic.  It’s an attempt to stir Christians to make use of the gifts and abilities God has placed in them.  It’s a call to be more than just the average joe.  Extraordinary sparks hope inside the reader and wakes up the dreams we have undermined with doubt and fear.

The first chapter perfectly expresses Bevere’s heart and purpose for writing.  This chapter ends with a prayer.  Each chapter is written with a very personable voice.  Chapters are concluded with questions for review and reflection. 

I always feel a little bad when I read books by John Bevere.  Somebody worked a lot of hours to create the pages and bind them into this wonderful looking book and there I sit with my pen in hand marking it up from front to back.  With notes and underlined sections all over the place, John Bevere books always end up looking more like a spirit-led journal once I’m through with them.  The truth is I learn a ton with every sentence.

Extraordinary begins with the definition of the title word.  To be ”beyond what is unusual, exceptional, exceeding the common measure.”  If we can learn to live this book and the scriptural foundation it’s built on, we could take our world by storm.  We could overwhelm them with the talents of God manifested in his children.

Personally, I received the majority of the message God had for me through this book on the second chapter.  I re-read it over and over again.  Boy do I struggle with concept of how deep God’s love is for me.  The fact that God loves and values me whether I am viewed as extraordinary to the world or not just amazes me.  It makes me want to do big things, not to gain His love, but to demonstrate the courage His love gives me.   

I will be recommending this book to friends.  I’ve already mentioned it to my Pastor’s wife who is now dying to read it.  She’ll have to get her own copy though.  Mine is too marked up with eye-opening notes.

You can order your  copy of Extraordinary here.

* I was given this product free to review on behalf of Random House, October 2009