Pursuing a Deeper Faith: Develop a Closer Relationship with God

by Charles F. Stanley

Dr.Charles Stanley's new series of Bible study guides features insights and wisdom of this beloved pastor and author. Small groups and individuals who want a Bible study that's spiritually sound and practical will find a wealth of ideas to help them understand and apply the Scriptures to the real world. Each title takes a unique fourfold approach to get the most out of Bible study time-emphasizing personal identifications with the Scripture passage, recognition of your emotional response, reflection of the passage's meaning and application, and taking steps to apply what's been learned. This is a sound way to explore the Word of God.

Genres: Christian

128 pages, Paperback

First published November 8, 1999

About the author

Dr. Charles F. Stanley is the senior pastor of First Baptist Church Atlanta, founder of In Touch Ministries, and a New York Times best-selling author who has written more than fifty books, and has sold more than nine million copies. He demonstrates a keen awareness of people's needs and provides Christ-centered, biblically-based principles for everyday life.

Charles Frazier Stanley was born September 25, 1932, in the small town of Dry Fork, Virginia. The only child of Charley and Rebecca Stanley, Charles came into the world during a time when the entire nation felt the grip of the Great Depression. To make matters worse, just nine months later, his father Charley died at the young age of 29.

However, Charles refused to let the Great Depression or the difficulties of his life define him. Instead, like his father and grandfather before him, he clung to God’s Word and took up the mantle to preach the gospel to whoever would listen.

Dr. Stanley’s motivation is best represented by the truth found in Acts 20:24, “Life is worth nothing unless I use it for doing the work assigned me by the Lord Jesus—the work of telling others the Good News about God's mighty kindness and love.” This is because, as he says, “It is the Word of God and the work of God that changes people’s lives.”

Dr. Stanley’s teachings can be heard weekly at First Baptist Church Atlanta, daily on “In Touch with Dr. Charles Stanley” radio and television broadcasts on more than 2,800 stations around the world, on the Internet at intouch.org, through the In Touch Messenger, and in the monthly, award-winning In Touch magazine.

Reviews

[E.W. Buck · Rating 5 out of 5]

inspiring and reassuring

Charles Stanley was one of a kind, and you can hear his resonant and authoritative voice speaking in this wonderful book and study guide. I found it very uplifting, and I believe you will too.

[Thai Holman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing

This is perfect excatly what i needed. Made me cry at times and gave me the information i needed. On to the next charles stanley book.

[Brent Soderstrum · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this study on pursuing a deeper faith. Instead of a lot of pie in the sky ideas, Stanley sets out practical ways to go after the deeper faith all christians are suppose to constantly strive for. The first few chapters give you a yardstick to measure if you are still growing as a christian. The next chapters set out what the requirements are for growing more intimate with God. The chapters I found the most helpfule were the stages of growth toward intimacy with God. I found myself in the 5th of 7 stages the Spiritual Dependency stage having just left the Frustrated Inadequacy stage. Reading about turning my life over to God and trusting Him made me feel better. The final chapters cover God's formula for Spiritual Growth which are Instruction + Involvement = Spiritual Growth.

Very practical which suprised me. Well worth the time to work through it.