The Story of My New Book

I want to tell you the story of how my new book came about. It is titled Know, and last week it released on Amazon.

The book is the product of praying for wisdom. Two or three years ago, I concluded that I would probably not be able to publish any more books through established publishing companies. I had been working for several years with an agent to find a publisher for another book I had written, but nothing fell into place, and the agent eventually stopped working with me. I did not want to waste months or years trying to find another agent and then more time finding a publisher.

So I wrote this prayer in my inquiring-of-God journal: “Lord, give me wisdom how to publish my books to bring you glory and advance your kingdom and truth in the maximum way possible.” I spoke that prayer numerous times over several years.

In the Fall of 2023, in the middle of one night, I was lying in bed awake and thinking. I had already written a series of blog posts on the subject of praying for wisdom, and as I laid in bed I was thinking about how I could repackage these and add value. That is when the idea came to self-publish this content as a book. I had never self-published a book before and never had any desire to do so.

But at this moment the idea germinated in me—with excitement. I was not worried about how many copies the book would sell or how I would spread the news about it. I wanted to pass on what has been so helpful to me. I figured if I could give a copy to each member of my family and leave copies to my heirs as a heritage, and if the members of my church and the readers of my blog read it, that would be worthwhile.

At the same time, the idea came to make this a workbook, a journal. I had already experienced the difference journaling had made in my successful prayers for wisdom. Moreover I had experienced the power of God’s Word to inspire faith as I had memorized many scriptures on this subject. I realized what would be most helpful to readers would be to combine and rework the material I had already written into a book with space for journaling. Every journaling page would feature a promise from God.

All this came together in about 20 minutes, and it came with excitement.

I wrote in my inquiring-for-wisdom journal: “Answer: Create a workbook for inquiring of the Lord.”

Almost a year later, I invite you to read the final product:

Share with us

I welcome your feedback on the book in the comments below.

Moreover, I would like to hear your stories about how you have prayed for wisdom and received God’s answers. Please share them in the comments.

May 6, 2019April 25, 2019

My May Letter to You

Hi, here are some happenings and memories of the last few months.

I took this fun photo at Morton Arboretum recently, where an artist has created several giant statues like this.

Nancy and I took a day for an outing to one of our favorite restaurants, the Grande Luxe Cafe, and the Planetarium.

Can you imagine being sealed into this tiny Apollo spacecraft for days and never leaving your seat?

News:

At our church we recently had a wonderful experience with prayer for seven weeks. Several people had critical needs related to work and visas, and so the Lord led us to fast and pray on seven Sundays for the moving of mountains in our lives. We invited people to fast from lunch, or breakfast and lunch, and then after our Sunday morning worship service we went to one of our homes and prayed for a couple of hours together. Then we ate together. God answered a number of our prayers, and our relationship with him was deepened. It was a powerful and life-changing experience.
I have several months more writing to do on the theme of God’s love. Thinking long about God’s love has changed my life, and I hope yours as well.
I’m still writing my book on holiness. This is a labor of love. I revel in the subject of God’s holiness, and I love sharing with others about it, partly because it is so little understood or cherished in our world today. God’s holiness has become lost knowledge.
The ministry of this blog has grown to 91 readers who have signed up to receive my weekly email, which is free. If you have not signed up, I invite you to join and belong if you enjoy reading my writing, if you think others could benefit from it, if you want to foster the knowledge of God in as many others as possible, if you want to support this writing ministry and message. One benefit of your signing up, for example, is that it may please God to publish the content of this blog not only online but in the traditional world of book publishing, and book publishers are much more willing to publish a writer who has a “built-in” readership (measured by the number of email subscribers). You can sign up in the upper-right column of my site, craigbrianlarson.com. Thanks, and welcome to the Knowing God village!

My favorite three posts since my last letter:

My most important, challenging post since my last letter:

God’s Jealous Love

Books I’ve been reading:

Intercessory Prayer, by Dutch Sheets
Future Grace, by John Piper
Hearing God, by Dallas Willard
The Secret of Guidance, by F. B. Meyer
Love Beyond Reason, by John Ortberg

Favorite new website and mobile app: I have known about the free BlueLetterBible.org site for years, but recently I started using it as my main Bible-study resource. Surprisingly, I now prefer it in most ways over my PC’s $350 Bible-study application.

The most interesting mobile app I’ve recently come across is “Read Scripture.” I haven’t used it a lot yet, but what I’ve read has impressed me.

Questions: How can I make this site more valuable to you? How can we have more community and interaction among readers? What are your questions about God and his ways? Please send me an email with your feedback:

Prayer request: I am seeking a publisher for a manuscript I’ve written on the subject of divine testing.

Knowing God: What do you most want to know more about? What are you most curious about? Over time, that is what you will gain understanding in. Curiosity leads to knowledge, for it leads to motivated reading, to conversation and connection over our shared interest, to love of what we study, to the ability to see what others overlook, to further meditation.

God wants us to be curious about him. He wants us to think about him, to meditate on him, to talk with others about him, to ask questions and sing songs and report what we have learned about him. He wants us to have a sense of wonder about him similar to the wonder that scientists and explorers have in their field of study. Not so that we can control or master God, but so that we can know and praise him and relate to him as closely and deeply as possible.

God is deeper and more profound than the greatest questions and theories in mathematics or physics, for he created mathematics and the material world and understands every aspect of it completely.

God is more beautiful and pleasing than a collection of the world’s most beautiful music. He created music. He created Mozart, or whoever writes the music you regard as most wonderful. God could write and play a million songs more beautiful and delightful than any you have ever heard, and the next day write a million more, and the next day a million more. Just for starters. But all these beautiful songs are simply an expression of his own beauty, the music of his own heart and mind, of who he is.

God is more loving than the kindest, most sacrificial person you know. He doesn’t just do love; he is love. Love is his nature, his being, his constitution, for love gives. God upholds all things and gives existence to all things as a continuous expression of his will. He is love, for all things are from him, through him, and to him. He gives and gives and gives as who and what he is.

Therefore, for good reason the Lord says, “Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the LORD” (Jeremiah 9:23–24 ESV).

For good reason he commands, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength” (Mark 12:30). He knows this brings the good life, the very best life, the ultimate and most satisfying life.

There you have it, my reason for being, my reason for writing, and the purpose of this blog. May you grow in the knowledge of God today. And thereby, may you have the good life.

January 15, 2018January 20, 2018

How I Learned to Practice God’s Presence

The book “The Practice of the Presence of God,” by Brother Lawrence, played an important role in helping me learn to pray and be aware of God throughout the day.

I have found that practicing God’s presence is one secret to having a deeply satisfying, personal relationship with him. In brief, it involves being aware of him all through the day.

I have not arrived, I still have much to learn, but normally that describes my life. I practice God’s presence, and I can say from experience it is the only way to live.

Here is the story of how I learned it and how you can too.

My story of learning to practice God’s presence

Two books have been crucial in teaching me how to practice God’s presence.

First and most important of course is the Bible. That is the basis for all true knowledge of God, an inexhaustible source of instruction about God and a means of fellowship with him. More on that later.

Brother Lawrence and The Practice of the Presence of God

Second is a book I read a few years ago that God used to teach an approach to practicing God’s presence through prayer.

There is a spirit to this book that affected my heart. Just its title, The Practice of the Presence of God, gave me a new way of looking at prayer.

If you have grave concerns about many tenets of Roman Catholic theology, as I do, you might reject the book before reading because the author was a French monk some 400 years ago.¹ But I believe the author, Brother Lawrence, who was not a church leader or theologian, had a genuine relationship with God through faith in Christ, despite some wrong beliefs.

Several people have translated the book, but I recommend the edition by Whitaker House, published in 1982. You can get it on Kindle or in paperback at Amazon, or from Whitaker House.

I also highly recommend Harold Myra’s 40-day devotional on the book published in 2017 by Discovery House, available in Kindle and paperback. It contains devotions written by Myra (former publisher and ceo at Christianity Today) and a modern paraphrase of The Practice of the Presence of God.

I’ve reread it numerous times because it affects my heart. I feel God’s love and am stirred to relate to him personally.

The best book

Throughout my life I have practiced God’s presence through a daily devotional time of Bible reading and prayer, which I still do.

I love this more than a good meal. It is my reference point for knowing God in my mind and spirit.

I know what it is like to feel his presence because in these times of devotion I hear his voice in Scripture. And that is a sure plumb line.

I know what the peace and the thoughts of God feel like in my soul because I have experienced them so often in these times alone with him. I typically invest 1–2 hours a day alone with God.

For much of my life, regrettably, I did not always carry God’s presence with me throughout the day, even though I was a pastor and an editor of Christian publications. I could have a great hour alone with God in the morning but then go all day without pausing to pray again.

I could fall into lingering fear, selfishness, resentment, or despair.

Learning to practice God’s presence has changed that.

Catching fire

In recent years there has been another strong influence on how I practice God’s presence. I’ve learned from several people much more about how to walk in God’s anointing.

Essentially this involves expressing ongoing verbal praise and thanksgiving throughout the day when possible, with a conscious effort to tune into God and maintain a sense of his presence.

Here is what that looks like. As I walk down the sidewalk, or wash dishes, or take a shower, or have some other unfocused time, you will hear me singing quietly, or saying phrases like “Hallelujah, thank you, Lord, hallelujah, praise you, Father, for your mercy, hallelujah, holy, holy, holy is the Lord” and so on, or praying in tongues.

And with this praying, there is urgency, intensity, fire, passion. Connection with God.

I learned this by praying with others and sensing their spirit. This too is God’s presence.

It is more than a thought about God, but a feeling for God that is expressed verbally. And it is more than human emotion, for God’s Spirit inhabits our praises.

The Spirit of God flows like a river and burns like a fire.

Footnote

I believe strongly in the truths of the Reformation, that we are justified by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone.