From Duty To Delight

Is praying a duty or a delight?J. I. Packer and Carolyn Nystrom say that it's both; an essential, expected practice as a follower of Christ, but also a privilege and joy. As we start out learning to pray properly, however, the delight often seems to be missing. Here is practical help for active, honest praying that involves all of who we are--heart, hands and head--and moves us to deeper obedience, joy and intimacy with our Father.

Prayer has an important role in the lives of believers. For some, however, prayer has become a chore almost something to be dreaded than eagerly anticipated. Some people get caught up in the "how much/how often" they pray. But it really is not about how many chapters of the Bible you read or how many minutes a day you pray. It is that you read the Bible and you pray. In From Duty to Delight: Finding Greater Joy in Daily Prayer, author Ron Parrish seeks to help you become a person who enjoys spending time in God's presence through prayer someone who finds such joy in devotion that you will lose track of time. From Duty to Delight is written for the average person who struggles to set aside time for meaningful, focused interaction with God. If you feel badly about missing your devotions, if you quickly run out of things to say when you try to pray, if you sometimes find prayer boring, or if you have given up on trying to be a man or woman of prayer, From Duty to Delight can help you find your way to prayer that is fulfilling and that you can look forward to each day.

Duty or Delight? Knowing Where You Stand with God - Member Book is a 6-week, 7-session women's Bible study (print only). Author Tammie Head leads you on a journey of taking your relationship with God from a duty to a delight.

For almost fifty years, through her tireless service to the poor and her courageous witness for peace, Dorothy Day offered an example of the gospel in action. Now the publication of her diaries, previously sealed for twenty-five years after her death, offers a uniquely intimate portrait of her struggles and concerns. Beginning in 1934 and ending in 1980, these diaries reflect her response to the vast changes in America, the Church, and the wider world. Day experienced most of the great social movements of her time but, as these diaries reveal, even while she labored for a transformed world, she simultaneously remained grounded in everyday human life: the demands of her extended Catholic worker family; her struggles to be more patient and charitable; the discipline of prayer and worship that structured her days; her efforts to find God in all the tasks and encounters of daily life. A story of faithful striving for holiness and the radical transformation of the world, Day’s life challenges readers to imagine what it would be like to live as if the gospels were true.

Each of us is hard-wired to pursue our happiness. We long for significant, profound joy. Some try to satisfy it with exotic vacations, high-tech gadgets, career success, sports, academics, drug experimentation, even ascetic rigors. Yet the longing remains. Why? In The Dangerous Duty of Delight, John Piper turns our heart toward the one true object of human desire and happiness: God. Piper shows from Scripture that pursuing our happiness in Christ is not optional for the Christian, but essential. Come along on a journey from desperate desire to infinite delight. Learn how you were created for ultimate satisfaction in Him, and how this new perspective will change your attitudes toward worship, relationships, material goods—and everything. “Our hearts are restless until they find their rest in Thee.” --Saint Augustine

Merit Award, World Guild Christian Living Book Praying is an action that is of the essence of Christian existence. It involves our beliefs, emotions, values, hopes and fears, certainties and uncertainties, knowledge and ignorance. As J. I. Packer and Carolyn Nystrom explain, "Our aim is not just to clarify Christian understanding but to foster Christian living. In real praying, head, heart, and hands go together." With wisdom, humility, and sincerity the authors lead us through different moods of praying, including brooding, praising, asking, complaining, and hanging on. In Praying the authors offer hope for those of us who daydream when we try to listen to God and stumble when we try to speak. Yet they don't just teach us about prayer; they challenge and inspire us to do it by pointing us to a clearer realization of the reality of God and his character. Let Packer and Nystrom guide your praying to our powerful God, and let him move your praying through mere duty to delight.

Tired of just doing your duty in the bedroom? This book is for you. Do you want to have all (and I mean all) that God designed for a wife's sexual pleasure? This book is very practical. Do you want calming tools to bring down your levels of fear and anxiety when intimate with your husband? This book gives step-by-step instructions for reducing fear and worry and even wrong attractions. Wonder how to strengthen your core muscles for better orgasms? There is a chapter for you. Ever consider what foods to eat for improved sexual responses? Again, a chapter by a registered dietitian spells it out. If you are single, widowed, or divorced, there is a chapter for you too. Just go straight to the last chapter, which guides you into greater spiritual and emotional intimacy with your Bridegroom, Jesus Christ. The topic of sexual intimacy is taboo in the church. Women who struggle with sexual dissatisfaction do no know where to get help. From Duty to Delight: Sexual Intimacy for the Whole Woman is a treasure trove of biblical knowledge and wisdom for the church. In this powerful and passionate book, biblical counselor Eileen Scipione takes us on a necessary and adventurous biblical journey to teach Christian women how to develop physically, emotionally, and spiritually into becoming more fulfilled sexual beings. Shannon Kay McCoy Eileen Scipione offers a biblical approach to sexuality, openly discussing topics that seem off-limits to many. She unapologetically offers wisdom that many young women wished their mothers had openly discussed with them. Contrasting the cultural misconceptions of monogamous sexual union as drab and dull, she provides the beauty of biblical sexual intimacy filled with pleasure and purpose. Dr. Dale Johnson, Director of ACBC About The Author The author is a committed follower of Christ and an experienced biblical counselor. She was a pastor's wife for several years, and then her husband George helped launch CCEF. Eileen was a pioneer in the homeschooling movement in New Jersey and also in home birthing. She has five grown children and two grandchildren. She earned her BS in education for the visually impaired and also earned her ThM in biblical counseling at Reformed Presbyterian Theological Seminary. A conference and retreat speaker for many years, Eileen loves to use her gifts for those who want biblical and practical help for spiritual, emotional, and even physical challenges. Now a widow, she senses a call on her life to sharing the secrets of her own enriched and intimate marriage of forty-seven years.

Why is it so hard to pray? It’s something many Christians can relate to: the desire to pray but the failure to execute. A Journey to Victorious Praying will tell readers why this is—and how to move past it. Addressing common misconceptions about prayer, then offering biblical truths and practices instead, Bill Thrasher teaches readers how to: Honestly share their desires with God Turn temptations into victorious prayers Experience the Spirit’s motivation in prayer Get help when they don’t know how to pray Implement fasting into their prayer life Move from anxiety to peace And more Filled with practical insight and pastoral warmth, this book will give readers renewed enthusiasm for embarking on the essential journey of prayer. And its brief chapters, organized around various themes, make it perfect for quick reference, as does the appendix with tips for stimulating prayer.