Recommendations


My focus here is on providing guidance and suggested resources for further reading on the main topics we’ve covered.


The recommendations are confined to what I’ve read. Please take any obvious omissions as a sign of my limited study rather than any pass of judgment on the work. 


No resource outside of Scripture is perfect. Explore and integrate whatever is helpful, and disregard the chaff. Test all things!


On Scripture Reading


Nothing is more important to a disciple’s growth than the daily intake of Scriptures (see 1 Peter 2:2) in pursuit of Jesus (see John 5:39) and by the power of the Spirit (see Luke 24:45).


If you’re starting off, focus on getting in the habit of reading through the whole Bible each year (or over a two-year span).


Most years, I use the M’Cheyne Bible Reading plan, but you can find plenty of options on the Bible app (or even make your own here). 


The key is to find what plan works for you and try to stick with it until you’re through. As long as the plan gets you in the Bible, you’re all good. Don’t let the search for the perfect reading system distract you from being in the Book itself and simply reading it.


Sometime along the way, pick up some basic principles that keep your interpretation from going off the rails. It’s good to ask the Holy Spirit for help, and it’s also good to lean on trusted brothers/sisters who have been leaning on His help for decades. 


Though I’ve never really practiced the inductive method, enough people do that I’d point you in that direction. Howard Hendricks’s Living by the Book is the most helpful overview I can remember reading.


Eugene Peterson recommends reading through commentaries cover to cover. John Stott’s and Alec Motyer’s are insightful and highly readable, and D.A. Carson’s commentary on John’s gospel is well worth the challenge. If you're ever curious what's the best commentary on any book of the Bible, John Dyer (who also created the reading plan generator linked above) created a really helpful resource at bestcommentaries.com.


If you’ve been reading through the whole Bible for a while and you’re stuck in what feels like a “dip of familiarity,” ask the Holy Spirit to teach you what it means to sit with Him and listen to His voice as you read. 


Through this journey, you may find it helpful to explore the ancient practice of lectio divina—the practice (in Nouwen's words) of reading “the Bible with reverence and openness to what the Spirit is saying to us in the present moment … reverently, attentively, and with the deep faith that God has a word for me in my own unique situation.” Thelma Hall’s Too Deep for Words is a helpful introduction to what she calls this “methodless method.”


Hall's book will get you started, but Thomas H. Green says it well: there is no shortcut to intimacy with the Lord. It takes time—a lot of it—and most of it filled with unspectacular consistency. "Little by little, one goes far."


On Spirit-Led Prayer


As with Bible reading, some structure can help our prayer lives start off on the right foot.


Praying with Paul (titled A Call to Spiritual Reformation when I read it back in 2012) was an invaluable resource that taught me how to pray even when I don't feel like it and how to give God's Word back to him.


A Praying Life is a helpful guide to making our petitions specific enough for God to answer and ensuring we go back to God when he does. 


Another early read that poured fuel on my prayer life was Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire. If you need a reminder that God moves through prayer, the story of Jim Cymbala and the Brooklyn Tabernacle will help. 


At the same time, structure will only take us so far (I talk about this here). New covenant prayer is dialogue with the Father in Christ through the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit. Fruitful prayer, then, is not mainly a matter of saying our prayers but sensing the direction of the Prayer Leader and responding to his voice.


For this, I can only tell you to go straight to the Father and ask. His answer is “Yes” (see Luke 11:13)—though the help comes at his perfect time.


If you’re tasting the Father’s goodness in prayer through the Spirit, don’t be surprised if and when he takes you through a season where you can’t taste anything at all. You could be walking through what St. John of the Cross called a “dark night of the senses.” Lean on the wisdom of well-travelled saints here. I found Thomas H. Green’s Opening to God and When the Well Runs Dry especially helpful, and Thelma Hall’s book mentioned above contains an excellent summary of St. John's counsel for the “dark night” (pp. 45-48).


On Spiritual Gifts


Use Your Gift was written to serve as a starting point, but Sam Storms has devoted decades to activating the gifts in a biblical manner (here and here and here)—so if you’re looking for detailed guidance, I’d point you there. Practicing the Power is especially helpful for churches wanting to take some steps in the direction of Spirit-led participation. 


I don’t recommend seeking to discover your gift through an online test you can take at home. The gifts come out not in theory but in action—in the midst of a people trying to follow the Holy Spirit, build up the body, and glorify Christ. What these resources can do is provide some biblical parameters and common language for a church to desire the gifts, call them out, and better recognize what the Holy Spirit is doing.


Charismatics and "continuationists," by the way, don't have a corner on guidance for the spiritual realm. Read broadly from your brothers and sisters through the centuries since Pentecost, and learn what you can from all who have caught the fire. The early desert fathers, for instance, lived with angels, demons, and prophecy in common parlance and have plenty to share.


On Spiritual Warfare


It’s really hard to recommend books for spiritual warfare, since most of what I’ve learned on the topic has come through literal trial by fire.


Sam Storms and Percy Burns both came on the podcast, and I respect their authority and teaching on the topic. If you need some written guidance, perhaps start with their resources and any that they would recommend.


At the same time, I fear that too much research on the topic could be a form of avoiding the frightening prospect of oppression and/or procrastinating the agonizing but simple work ahead: (1) asking God for power, (2) waiting on him with patient perseverance, and (3) confronting the enemy with the authority of Christ. 


I’ve been there! I have plenty of compassion for the tendency to avoid the ugly reality of demonic attack. But I believe that God wants to use the fire to bring you face to face with him. For many of us, we have to encounter the power of the enemy before we recognize our need for the greater power of the Holy Spirit. 


Paul’s charge in Ephesians 6 implies that the main issue in spiritual warfare is not acquiring new armor but learning to put on armor that is already ours in Christ.


If you are in the thick of warfare, ask the Father for (1) authority and (2) assistance.


Ask him to fill you with a greater measure of power, and ask him to lead you to some local brothers/sisters tried in war who can stand by your side.


Every time the Holy Spirit leads me into unknown territory, he is faithful to hold my hand through it and guide me, one step at a time. I trust he will do the same for you.


Other recommendations




May the Lord lead you to the pages and paragraphs that fit the season. It's true that "of making many books, there is no end." And I'm also glad that some have been made. The right book at the right time just might change your life.