Unshakable Hope: Building Our Lives on the Promises of God

by Max Lucado, Ben Holland (Reader)

What is shaking in your world? Possibly your future, your faith, your family, or finances? It's a shaky world out there. In Unshakable Building Our Lives on the Promises of God, pastor and New York Times bestselling author Max Lucado offers encouraging guidance for overcoming sadness and despair, renewing a sense of purpose, and triumphantly facing the fears of the future. We’ve never been more educated and entertained. We have technological tools our parents could only dream of, and we are saturated with information, amusement, and recreation. Yet more than ever, we are starving for hope. School shootings are all too familiar. Depression is on the rise. And more people than ever are orchestrating their own deaths. In America alone, the suicide rate has increased 24 percent in fewer than twenty years. If a disease saw such a spike, it would be deemed an epidemic. People are dying from a lack of hope. After forty years of counseling and ministry, Max Lucado has learned that nothing lifts the desperate, weary heart like the promises of God. In a world full of despair, depression, anxiety, and instability, we do not need more opinions or hunches; we need the definitive declarations of our mighty and loving God. Unshakable Hope examines twelve of God’s promises that Max has turned to over the years to encourage himself and others. Each chapter explores one significant promise and reveals how it will equip you What is your life built on―the circumstances of life or the promises of God? The answer to that question changes everything. For every problem in life, God has given you a promise. Join Max as he takes a closer look at Scripture’s unbreakable promises and shows you how to live with an unshakable hope.

Genres: Christian, Nonfiction, Christian Living, Faith, Religion, Inspirational, Christian Non Fiction

Audio CD

Published August 7, 2018

About the author

With more than 150 million products in print and several NYT bestsellers, Max Lucado is America's bestselling inspirational author. He serves the Oak Hills Church in San Antonio, Texas, where he lives with his wife, Denalyn, and their mischievous mutt, Andy. His most recent book published in August 2024 and is titled What Happens Next.

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Reviews

[Cherie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't really read non-fiction, but I thought listening to this audio book might lift my mood and spirit. The audio book is read by Lucado himself. This contains about 12 promises of God that we can use to draw strength while going thru life's trials. There are a few parts that are repetitive. Often this book felt like info for beginners. There is nothing new here that you probably already don't know, but sometimes we need positive reinforcement mentally and sometimes we may need reminding of these simple truths against worry, stress, and anxiety.

[BJ Hewitt · Rating 4 out of 5]

I believe this is Max Lucado's 40th book. And this one didn't disappoint. It hit me in many different places I am currently facing from horrible financial problems to heart health problems to being worried about the future.

Max Lucado is good in his words guiding you through being overwhelmed by the problems you’re facing and the pain you’re feeling. He does a good job helping you to live with purpose.

This actually gets 4.5 out of 5.

[Vickie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved reading these promises each week! It's always great to get that reminder when you need it most. Very uplifting!❤

[Camille Maio · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have only read Max Lucado's children's books, so I was happy to find this at Barnes and Noble. I found it to be very inspirational and I appreciate how he wove real-life stories into it. I will definitely read more by him.

[Kate Willis · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't really read a lot of non-fiction. (Apparently, I didn't even have a shelf for it on here until today. XD) But this book was amazing. With honesty, humor, and humility, Max Lucado shared exactly what my heart needed. It was good to be reminded of how amazing, loving, and faithful God is. I'm so glad He brought me this book; it's exactly what this hope-starved child needed. It's definitely one to read again.



(Please note, many translations of the Bible were referenced throughout including Eugene Peterson's commentary, The Message.)

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

After reading Pastor Lucado’s books for 20+ years what can I say that hasn’t been said? If I need encouragement, a spiritual lift or even a laugh he’s my go to. I’ve probably said this in every review I’ve written, reading his books make me feel like we’re sitting at a table having coffee together. We all need unshakable hope in the world we live in. Pastor Lucado using his Bible, and life experiences tells us how to accomplish this. A favorite thing in all his books are the personal stories he shares. I recommend any of his books!

[Heather.loves.books · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just listen on repeat when you feel discouraged. Lucado narrates himself and it's so soothing!

[Cindy (BKind2Books) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I usually try to read an inspirational book at Easter & Christmas, but this year I was either late on the library wait list or there were a lot more people looking for hope. Either way it took until almost the end of May to get this, but I'm glad I waited. Max Lucado is one of my favorite religious writers. He can take a topic and bring it down and make it very understandable.

This book looks at the promises that God gives us - no, it's not always an easy life or a life of wealth and fame - but it is a life that God uses for His purposes and in His time. Whenever life is overwhelming, whenever you have reached the end of your patience, when times are tough, you have a God who promises his love, and strength, and hope - and He will see you through the storm. He does not promise no storms - no grief - no sadness, but He will be there to shoulder your burdens and give you hope and peace.

In these days - pandemic fears, police murdering citizens without any apparent remorse or emotion, race riots, looting in cities large and small - perhaps we need this hope more than ever. We need to look upon all of our fellow human beings - whatever color, sex, orientation - as children of the same god. We are all brothers and sisters. Let us build on God's promises for that better tomorrow.

Quotes to remember:

In the eyes of God you are worth dying for. Would you let this truth define the way you see yourself? Would you let this truth define the way you see other people? Every person you see was created by God to bear His image and deserves to be treated with dignity and respect. This means all people deserves to be seen for who they are: image bearers of God.

Does God have a word for the dark nights of the soul? He does. The promise begins with this phrase, "Weeping may last through the night" [Psalm 30:5]...this is not new news to you. But this may be, "Joy comes with the morning" [Psalm 30:5] Despair will not rule the day, sorrow will not last forever.

Do the same with your tragedies. Place them in the shadow of the cross and be reminded God understands injustice. He will right all wrongs and heal all wounds. He has prepared a place where life will be finally and forever just.

[Jim · Rating 5 out of 5]

I won this book on Goodreads. In a word, inspirational! A positive message of hope and never giving up that hope through the promises of God. For those of us who never had that hope to those who have had it and need a reminder now and again, I found this book to be uplifting. The book is laced with bits of humor which had be laughing because it was so unexpected but it works very will with the message the author is getting across and the stories in the book are inspirational as well especially the one about the girls softball players, that was very touching to me. One does not have to be a religious or spiritual person to enjoy this book, it may even change some non-believers in God as well who are willing to be open minded about it, the message is clear and uplifting.

[Erin Laramore · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a great reminder of the thousands of promises written in Scripture for us to cling to. In true Max Lucado fashion, with stories and scriptures to back him up, Mr. Lucado brings to the forefront several of his favorite promises in scripture. And he encourages each of us to find our favorites as well. Because He always keeps His promises, we can have Hope!

[Susan Barnes · Rating 3 out of 5]

Unshakeable Hope contains about a dozen promises of God that are particularly meaningful to the author, Max Lucado. He uses illustrations from history and personal anecdotes to expand each promise. I must confess to being a little disappointed with the book, especially the early chapters as they lacked the personal application that I have come to expect from Max. Often it felt like information for new Christians. While the book isn’t intended to contain in-depth theology, given Max’s experience, I was hoping for more.

Also, the study questions at the back didn’t work particularly well with my Bible study group. They were a bit vague but this may have been cultural, and perhaps would work better in an American context.

Despite all this, it is encouraging to be reminded of God’s promises. The book is easy to read and well written and does contain some good stories.

[Briana Hallin · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was amazing, if you need to hear God’s promises for you it’s the one to read

[Linda Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

We used this book in a recent Bible Study and it's yet another success for Max Lucado. He writes in a manner that easy to read and apply to situations in your own life.
We used the corresponding workbook in class which is more effective with the book. Our teacher chose to show the DVD's that are also available as part of the curriculum. They are excellent.
Of the three, I highly recommend the book. It's one that I will read again and reap new grains of truth.
All opinions are my own.

[Natalie Print · Rating 4 out of 5]

A helpful book, which encourages us to build our lives trusting God and His promises rather than the circumstances that we find ourselves in. Lucado does not shy away from the struggles and tragedies of life in our fallen, imperfect world, including real life stories, but he is also realistic about how we can find lasting hope in our unchanging God and His unchanging promises. A good book to work through slowly and to reflect on.

[Sandy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was interesting. I always like to learn about Hope because it is the word I ponder on the most. I didn't agree with him when he spoke of Mary "hugging" Christ after his resurrection. Some of the examples he gave were right on.

[PennsyLady (Bev) · Rating 4 out of 5]

group study

[Sam - Reading Reformed · Rating 2 out of 5]

This review originally appeared at readingreformed.com

The book Unshakable Hope: Building our Lives on the Promises of God written by Max Lucado is all about the hope that Christians can have by trusting God. Thomas Nelson Publishers released this book in August of 2018.

Summary
In each of the 14 chapters, Max Lucado selects a Biblical promise to expound and apply to the lives of his readers. The promises may be temporal (e.g. Christ is praying for you) or eternal (e.g. Justice will prevail). Passages are chosen from scripture and sprinkled in the text of each chapter which support the promise being discussed.

God has given his people numerous and wonderful promises, which truly do give them a solid foundation to build their faith upon. Unshakable Hope unpacks some of these promises that can give Christians hope and confidence in life.

Content
The good
The first chapter of the book deals with the reliability of God to complete his promises, which I think is an excellent way to start a book like this. Any time we begin talking about promises that God has made it is important to explain the faithfulness of God for any who may have doubts.
The next two chapters deal with the truth that all people are made in God’s image and that Satan has been defeated. Lucado does a great job explaining that we are all made in God’s image, yet due to sin that image has been twisted, and we need God to intervene to make us right. He handles the defeated nature of Satan well also. I think that many Christians see the devil as a force nearly equal with God that has all sorts of power over their life. We are called (as Lucado mentions) to resist the Devil, yet at the cross of Christ the war has been won, even if we do not yet enjoy the full effect. Knowing that Satan has been defeated can help Christians live with less fear.

The not so good
After these good chapters, unfortunately the book begins to drift into not so great territory. There wasn’t one major grievous error, it seems like there were just lots of small things that added up. There was some creative license taken with scripture in the form of “filling in blanks” and spiritualization as well as various ambiguities when discussing things of a theological nature. There are multiple examples I could use but I think it will be most clear to discuss Chapter 9, No Condemnation.

Lucado begins the chapter by comparing our sin to a debt counter, with each sin we commit being a tick on our account. This is an issue because anyone who has a single tick on their debt account cannot enter heaven. Lucado then uses the story of Abraham to explain the solution to this problem. He states that God has found a way to save us and that is by sending Jesus to die for sin, and by that our debt counter is reset to zero. This description is problematic for a few reasons. By the choice of words used, it is implied that God discovered some sort of loophole as to how he could save us, rather than purposing it from the foundations of the earth as the Bible states. The Biblical language of what God did for Abraham is largely ignored. The Bible says Abraham’s faith was credited to him as righteousness; that speaks of positive merit, not a cancelled debt. No doubt, our debt is taken care of. However, it is not simply ignored, but rather the penalty is suffered for us by Christ. If our debt counter was reset, we would still need positive merit to attain an eternal standing with God. Yet the story of Abraham is one of the clearest examples in scripture that God provides us the positive merit we are lacking.

This is a subtle but dangerous error to make. If we are left with a debt counter at zero than we must try to gain merit for ourselves, and scripture is clear that our supposed righteousness is like dirty clothes (Isaiah 64:6). However, without the merit of Christ counted to us as righteousness, we will find ourselves relying on our own works to gain a good standing with God.

Throughout the book there are similar (although generally less egregious) errors. I do not think that Lucado is intentionally trying to mislead anyone, but rather it seems like he hasn’t thought through some of his arguments all the way. Many of the promises throughout the book are for believers only, yet this was not mentioned. I think that without a clear statement that these promises are for people that are in Christ, followed by a call to believe in Christ, can give some readers a false hope in promises that may not in reality be theirs.

Physical
Unshakable Hope is on the shorter end of the spectrum when compared to similar books of today. It is 165 pages long. However, each chapter title page is on the right side, followed by a verse which ties into the chapter on the next page, and then the start of the chapter on the next page after. This format makes it possible to have 3 nearly blank pages between each chapter. As with every book I have read that was published by Thomas Nelson Publishers the footnotes are located at the end, a practice that I wish all publishers would end. My hardcover copy had a weird smug on page 17 near the edge of the text column that ran from top to bottom. It wasn’t too dark, so I was still able to read the words, but it wasn’t something I had seen before in a book published in recent times.

Recommendation
I find this book to be on a very helpful topic, however I think that it could have been written better. For that reason, I am a bit torn as to whether I would recommend it or not. I think that I would recommend it to a discerning reader who will use it as a starting point in thinking of God’s promises and study these promises in the Bible. However, I would not recommend it to a reader who is looking for a book that explains the promises in a way that do not require further digging simultaneously.

[Courtney · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Standing, standing, standing on the promises of God my Savior," proclaims the old hymn. In this book, Lucado encourages people to take hope in God's sure promises. I appreciate Lucado's pastoral tone and general exhortations. He is clearly a talented communicator with a deep love for and commitment to God and people. I did find much encouragement in this book and in his straightforward application of God's loving, gracious promises to help us in various times of need. That said, my two critiques are his use of sensationalist news stories, which was unpalatable to me, and the frequent blanket statements portraying his particular theological view as the only one. There was only one point in the book that I noticed a clarification that Christian scholars vary in their views, and ironically it was nestled in a chapter chock-full of issues for which you could hardly find two scholars who completely agreed with each other. For me at this point in my faith journey, I applaud the heart and thesis of book but quibble with some of the theological assumptions.

[Mark · Rating 5 out of 5]

It has been a while since I read a Max Lucado book, but this has to be one of his best. I always liked his style of writing. As with his other books, he uses a lot of stories about himself and others throughout the book, making it a great and interesting read. He had a unique way of bringing some of the promises of God to life and the book was a great reminder of those promises.

[Robert Vincent · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was a good reflection on the promises of God that bring the Christian believer incredible, “Unshakable” hope. Most of what I read in Lucado’s book is what I already know but it was a good read for me for two reasons. Lucado has a way of bringing many passages of scripture to my recall and his commentary is very refreshing. In the first chapter he relates his personal experience of the hope he has received:

“After forty years of ministry I’ve discovered that nothing lifts the weary soul like the promises of God. This book contains some of my favorites. Many of them are go-to promises I’ve turned to throughout the years to encourage others. And to encourage myself.”

And so, I have been encouraged. Chapter 10 was most significant for an 80 plus reader as myself. The theme verse on the promise of my resurrection is 1 Corinthians 15:54, “Death has been swallowed up in victory.” I know that I will not pass away, but pass on… There is great hope in the resurrection of Jesus. “Too many people “mistakenly think that their fondest moments, deep joy, and most profound experience happen sometime between the delivery room and the funeral home. Someone needs to tell them this is just the beginning. As good as it gets? For the Christian this world is as bad as it gets.”

No, Jesus “turned BC into AD” and all has changed! There is a Living Hope, His name is Jesus (1 Peter 1:3-5).

“The same hand that pushed the rock from the tomb can shove away your doubt. The same power that stirred the still heart of Christ can stir your flagging faith. The same strength that put Satan on his heels can, and will, defeat Satan in your life.”

This is a most refreshing book during so much confusion and despair not only in our nation but throughout the world. I pray for revival in Christ Jesus so that more can receive this, “Unshakable Hope!”

[Maureen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love Max Lucado's writing. It's as if he's speaking to me personally, and can see right into my heart. If you're dealing with any instability in your life, or just need a reminder that God's promises are real..... pick up this book! You'll be glad you did!❤

[Dianne Ragland · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hope is not Ended

Hope is Not Ended even in a world of Covid 19, murders, racial tension , political Hatred, abuse of children a
nd women, there is HOPE. Lucado uses Scripture a d real life situations to strengthen our Faith in the God of Everlasting Hope!

[Jenna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Max is one of my favorite pastors. His books are written in Truth with anecdotes and scripture to drive the points home. I appreciate and learn so much from his teachings both in sermons and through his written words.

[Emma Vogel · Rating 3 out of 5]

I may need some more time to sit on my rating. Overall, while Lucado’s book is full of truth and Scripture and hope (as it should given the title), I think there is something about his writing style that just doesn’t gel with me. Maybe it’s too much self deprecating humor, or maybe it’s because it occasionally feels overly simplistic. But I think this is a great book, especially for a newer believer, or for someone who needs to be led directly to places in scripture to cling to when they are feeling discouraged or hopeless.

[Sabra Ann Rasmussen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wonderful read! Very up lifting and I live the rich amount a scripture that he referred to!!

[Audrey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Life might be hard but with the promises of God we can be filled with hope. God is always good and He will never leave nor forsake us. This is a hope-filled book!

[Diana Tyndall · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great reminders. Did the Bible study that goes with this book too!

[Theresia de Reus · Rating 5 out of 5]

Prachtig geschreven boek!
Je leest niet direct iets “nieuws”, maar het is indringend geschreven. Gods grootheid en almacht, maar ook de menselijke kant van God staan centraal.

[Barb Camden · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good to hear value

[Nancy Kendall]

(Hoopla 5 hrs)