The Practice of Being with Jesus

by Chris Cruz

The Practice of Being with Jesus is a 28 day tool to create space for God in your daily life. It’s more than a devotional–it’s a guide into holistic spiritual growth. The daily exercises give you a strong growth. The daily exercises give you a strong but fluid structure. It’s simple and deep at the same time. The questions are designed to provoke you and lead you to reflection, as Christ is formed in you.

The book is a pathway to support your intentional choice to be with Jesus. If we’re not intentionally being disciples by Jesus, then we are unintentionally being disciplined by the world. As disciples, we cannot learn from a distance—therefore, we must be with Jesus. “The Practice of Being with Jesus” is a companion to our highest calling: a passionate pursuit of His presence.

Genres: Christian, Nonfiction, Faith

173 pages, Paperback

First published October 26, 2019

Reviews

[Tim Littleford · Rating 4 out of 5]

I learned so much about how to craft my own quiet time with Jesus through this devotional. Solid theologically, clever in it's structure. Id give this to anyone looking to start, grow and give form to that pivotal practice of our faith.

[Stephen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is good for those in need of a template structure for their time with God, or some topical guidance for those new to the Faith. That being said, there are a couple of times that the author's scripture application seems to be hermaneutically off just slightly inasmuch as he puts a slant on some passages that have no proof/support outside of the author's chosen version's verbiage. Overall, there is nothing theologically incorrect within the book, and it does encourage space for Holy Spirit input.

[Lydia · Rating 5 out of 5]

This devotion provides a helpful quiet time structure, complete with insightful and theologically-sound writing. I was deeply impacted by the thoughtfulness of the author to cultivate an atmosphere conducive to intimacy with Jesus.

[Thomas · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Practice of Being with Jesus is a really good book idea that could have used some polishing. I had to read this book for school, and I am not the biggest fan of devotionals. So take that into consideration.

This book helped me to build on my daily routine of reading the word. Particularly I found the two minutes of silence to be very nice. The devotionals themselves were good and had a sensible order, however I didn't like how they were not really connected to the daily Pslam and chapter in Matthew. The bible reading overall seems to be very disconnected. The questions in the devotional stirred up some good thoughts.

Overall I would recommend this book to those that want to grow in their daily routine, Christians that struggle with devotional bible reading, Christians that want to learn how to sit in God's presence, or new believers in general. If you have read a lot of books from Bethel Redding authors like Bill Johnson and Kris Vallotton, then the devotionals won't bring much new thoughts. Finally, the first printed edition honestly looks like it was rushed and could've used an editor (spelling errors, weird formatting and punctuation).

[Samuel Cooper · Rating 4 out of 5]

Chris Cruz does a masterful job of pulling my heart and pure, innocent love into the equation of spending time with Jesus.

I appreciate the simplicity of this book because it helped me focus on Jesus all the more. It’s not a studious book and it’s not trying to be. Chris Cruz’s only goal is to help people practically spend time with Jesus.

This book is basically half a preface for spending time with Jesus and half a guide for spending time with Jesus including scriptures to read, prayers to pray, worship, time in silence with Jesus and devotionals.

Once or twice I didn’t agree with a point Cruz made in the devotionals, but his heart is so pure and his love for the Lord is indisputable. I love his value for Scripture and his value for surrendering everything to Jesus.

[Chase Polishchuk · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’m bad at keeping on track with devotionals simply because I don’t love having much more than my Bible with me in the secret place; however, I did get through this one in time. Although I loved the prompts (especially the practice of silence) and received a number of insights from this, I found that the many grammatical mistakes and the sections of content I theologically disagreed with made this book only partially beneficial for the individual. I would say to those interested in reading this that they should use discernment in reading the devo part of the book, yet still heavily engage with the prompts throughout.

[Willis Tripp · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a 28-day devotional following the Gospel of Matthew. The devotional gave time to be alone with God, meditate on the Psalms, read other parts of scripture, reflect on difficult questions, and create time for prayer. I really enjoyed this structured time with God!

[Jason · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very practical framework for getting more out of your quiet times with Jesus.

[McKay Powers · Rating 5 out of 5]

Can’t say enough good things about this. This is by far my favorite devotional. Highly, highly recommend!

[Katie Kreamer · Rating 5 out of 5]

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟/5
Such a great read on how to practically spend time with Jesus in silence and stillness!

[Mady Franklin · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best devotionals I’ve ever done!

[Jeff Bell · Rating 5 out of 5]

A gift from my friend Carl and wow! An amazing prescriptive process for daily getting into the right mindset.