What do you think?
Rate this book
God in Motion
¦Where is God?˜Countless people echo this complaint. They have needs'real needs'in their marriages, their careers, their kids, their health, or some other crucial part of their lives. They pray. They ask God to dive into their problems and work. They expect healing or change or resources or at least some wisdom, but the hear nothing from God.Have you been there? Do you have more questions than answers? In this book, Jeff Leake gives a wealth of insight and encouragement. He doesn”t promise instant solutions. He offers much more. Jeff reminds us that even when God seems inactive, unaware, or indifferent, He”s not. He”s always in motion behind the scenes to accomplish His wonderful (if sometimes mysterious) purposes.God in Motion contains inspiring life principles, compelling stories, specific applications, and questions to stimulate reflection and interaction. If you”re puzzled about the loose ends in life this book is for you!
- GenresNonfictionChristian
192 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2013
15 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
December 30, 2013
God In Motion
Author: Jeff Leake
Publisher: Influence Resources
First published: 2013
Price: $14.99 Paperback(US dollars)
ISBN: 978-1-93783-087-8
Classification: Christian
Number of pages: 224
You are a Christian. You pray a particular prayer and you pray and you pray. Nothing! No answers to your prayer, heaven is silent. We all have needs in our lives - illness, family issues, financial problems, the list can be long. When we don’t see any progress toward a solution to the problem we wonder where God is and why He isn’t moving on our behalf. In the book “God In Motion” Jeff Leake finds himself in just this situation. Jeff is not just your average church goer, he is an assistant minister. Where was God, why wasn’t he answering? One day, out of absolute frustration, Jeff finds himself in his car yelling at God thru his windshield. Why wouldn’t God move? In the book Jeff explores this question.
I won’t tell you how the situation turned out or what Jeff learned. But I will tell you that he tried different ways (unconsciously) to get God to move. He prayed with passion and emotion. Almost as if he felt that if he prayed “harder” he would get God’s attention and then God would hear him and answer the prayer. We don’t need to get God’s attention. We have it – always. While prayer may be filled with passion and emotion, it won’t make God move. Jeff said subconsciously he also felt he “deserved” the answer he wanted and reminded God of all the things he had done for God. As Jeff already knew consciously, good deeds should come from an overflowing heart of love for God and his creation. You can’t bribe God to get what you want. Jeff shares many other examples in the book and gives advice (based on scripture) that many Christians will find very useful. I don’t think that a Christian exists who at some point has not had this same experience.
However, according to my interpretation of scripture, I would add a few things to his book. First, when faced with unanswered prayer I must determine if what I am asking is in God’s will. Second, I must determine if I have any unconfessed sin in my life. Third, I must decide if my prayer is motivated in some way by selfishness. These things will keep God from answering your prayer, at least until the issues have been resolved.
Next, God has three ways to answer prayer: Yes, No, and Wait. We understand and gladly accept the “yes”. We may not understand the “no”, but we understand that God knows best and always does what is best for us even though we may not understand it at the time. It is the “wait” answer where we really have a problem. That is the answer Jeff is exploring in his book. “Wait” is an answer! We just need to recognize it as an answer.
The book had one discussion that disturbed me. When Jeff discussed grace vs. what he calls “legalism” (following a set of rules), I felt he may have been too easy on sin. I know this is an old, old discussion. But personally I see God’s directive in the Bible as telling us to be “holy” and “perfect” rather than for us to have an easy going, laid back approach to sin. God hates sin! But he loves the sinner! While He knows we can’t be perfect (except through Jesus Christ), He wants us to strive to get as close as possible to that goal. I understand that there are some people who beat themselves up over sins they committed years ago. They are sincerely sorry for the sins and have honestly asked God to forgive them – and He has. This is a case where the individual can’t forgive himself. I think those cases are few when compared to our modern, flippant treatment of sin. It seems we sin; ask God to forgive us, we repeat the same sin again, and ask forgiveness again and the cycle repeats over and over again. Somewhere along the way we have to understand that sin is not something to be taken lightly. If you are a Christian, you should strive to please God. Not out of fear, but out of love. Jeff did touch on this, but it wasn’t emphasized as much as it should have been.
“God in Motion” is set up so that it can be used as a small group study. I think it would be good for that purpose. I read it straight through and that worked well too. But a slower, more in depth study would give more time for questions, discussion and reflection. I learned some things reading this book and there are some things I am not sure I totally agree with. But if you want to explore the topic of prayer, give it a try and see what you think.
Reviewed by: Barbara Wright
Author: Jeff Leake
Publisher: Influence Resources
First published: 2013
Price: $14.99 Paperback(US dollars)
ISBN: 978-1-93783-087-8
Classification: Christian
Number of pages: 224
You are a Christian. You pray a particular prayer and you pray and you pray. Nothing! No answers to your prayer, heaven is silent. We all have needs in our lives - illness, family issues, financial problems, the list can be long. When we don’t see any progress toward a solution to the problem we wonder where God is and why He isn’t moving on our behalf. In the book “God In Motion” Jeff Leake finds himself in just this situation. Jeff is not just your average church goer, he is an assistant minister. Where was God, why wasn’t he answering? One day, out of absolute frustration, Jeff finds himself in his car yelling at God thru his windshield. Why wouldn’t God move? In the book Jeff explores this question.
I won’t tell you how the situation turned out or what Jeff learned. But I will tell you that he tried different ways (unconsciously) to get God to move. He prayed with passion and emotion. Almost as if he felt that if he prayed “harder” he would get God’s attention and then God would hear him and answer the prayer. We don’t need to get God’s attention. We have it – always. While prayer may be filled with passion and emotion, it won’t make God move. Jeff said subconsciously he also felt he “deserved” the answer he wanted and reminded God of all the things he had done for God. As Jeff already knew consciously, good deeds should come from an overflowing heart of love for God and his creation. You can’t bribe God to get what you want. Jeff shares many other examples in the book and gives advice (based on scripture) that many Christians will find very useful. I don’t think that a Christian exists who at some point has not had this same experience.
However, according to my interpretation of scripture, I would add a few things to his book. First, when faced with unanswered prayer I must determine if what I am asking is in God’s will. Second, I must determine if I have any unconfessed sin in my life. Third, I must decide if my prayer is motivated in some way by selfishness. These things will keep God from answering your prayer, at least until the issues have been resolved.
Next, God has three ways to answer prayer: Yes, No, and Wait. We understand and gladly accept the “yes”. We may not understand the “no”, but we understand that God knows best and always does what is best for us even though we may not understand it at the time. It is the “wait” answer where we really have a problem. That is the answer Jeff is exploring in his book. “Wait” is an answer! We just need to recognize it as an answer.
The book had one discussion that disturbed me. When Jeff discussed grace vs. what he calls “legalism” (following a set of rules), I felt he may have been too easy on sin. I know this is an old, old discussion. But personally I see God’s directive in the Bible as telling us to be “holy” and “perfect” rather than for us to have an easy going, laid back approach to sin. God hates sin! But he loves the sinner! While He knows we can’t be perfect (except through Jesus Christ), He wants us to strive to get as close as possible to that goal. I understand that there are some people who beat themselves up over sins they committed years ago. They are sincerely sorry for the sins and have honestly asked God to forgive them – and He has. This is a case where the individual can’t forgive himself. I think those cases are few when compared to our modern, flippant treatment of sin. It seems we sin; ask God to forgive us, we repeat the same sin again, and ask forgiveness again and the cycle repeats over and over again. Somewhere along the way we have to understand that sin is not something to be taken lightly. If you are a Christian, you should strive to please God. Not out of fear, but out of love. Jeff did touch on this, but it wasn’t emphasized as much as it should have been.
“God in Motion” is set up so that it can be used as a small group study. I think it would be good for that purpose. I read it straight through and that worked well too. But a slower, more in depth study would give more time for questions, discussion and reflection. I learned some things reading this book and there are some things I am not sure I totally agree with. But if you want to explore the topic of prayer, give it a try and see what you think.
Reviewed by: Barbara Wright
November 9, 2013
This book is not one to read straight through in one sitting. While it's not immediately clear to the reader, this book is structured as a comprehensive study of how God is constantly at work, both in our individual lives and in our society. While each chapter adds an additional dimension to how God is in motion at all times, each chapter could easily stand alone as a sermon or study, independently of the others. If I were using this book for a Bible study group, I would *NOT* be afraid to take the chapters out of order or to choose only the chapters that speak to the group's needs/interests.
This book is not for the new Christian. While it mentions several Biblical passages, it does not always give the specific scripture references (outside of the footnotes) and does not consistently walk the reader through the exegesis of those references. If a new Christian were to pick up this book, I'd recommend they start with the last chapter, as it's written from a more relational viewpoint than some of the others.
That being said, a Christian who has some familiarity with the Bible will recognize many of the stories enough to understand their context within the author's points.
Some of my favorite points in the book:
- I absolutely LOVED the parallel drawn between Jesus the carpenter and modern-day steel workers. From the book: "Until He was thirty, Jesus hauled rocks or pounded nails. He sweat, and He met deadlines. Every day He put in a full shift of hard labor. When He got home each evening, He plunked down His lunchbox and sat to rest. He was bone tired." (Kindle location 454-458) So different than the Jesus I've pictured in my head!
- "When people I love and respect tell me stories about their lives, they don't talk about the pleasant days they spent at theme parks. They talk about the biggest difficulties they've faced, the heartaches they've endured, and the occasions God has seen them through in the nick of time." (Kindle location 1787-1789) This point resonated with me. While it doesn't explicitly make the point, it illustrates how our roughest moments can still be used for the glory of Something Bigger.
Overall, I'm pleased I took the time to read this book. It will not be a bookshelf staple for me, but it was a worthwhile and fresh perspective on God's work with each of us.
This book is not for the new Christian. While it mentions several Biblical passages, it does not always give the specific scripture references (outside of the footnotes) and does not consistently walk the reader through the exegesis of those references. If a new Christian were to pick up this book, I'd recommend they start with the last chapter, as it's written from a more relational viewpoint than some of the others.
That being said, a Christian who has some familiarity with the Bible will recognize many of the stories enough to understand their context within the author's points.
Some of my favorite points in the book:
- I absolutely LOVED the parallel drawn between Jesus the carpenter and modern-day steel workers. From the book: "Until He was thirty, Jesus hauled rocks or pounded nails. He sweat, and He met deadlines. Every day He put in a full shift of hard labor. When He got home each evening, He plunked down His lunchbox and sat to rest. He was bone tired." (Kindle location 454-458) So different than the Jesus I've pictured in my head!
- "When people I love and respect tell me stories about their lives, they don't talk about the pleasant days they spent at theme parks. They talk about the biggest difficulties they've faced, the heartaches they've endured, and the occasions God has seen them through in the nick of time." (Kindle location 1787-1789) This point resonated with me. While it doesn't explicitly make the point, it illustrates how our roughest moments can still be used for the glory of Something Bigger.
Overall, I'm pleased I took the time to read this book. It will not be a bookshelf staple for me, but it was a worthwhile and fresh perspective on God's work with each of us.
January 1, 2014
Jeff Leake has such a profound understanding of the Scriptures and how they apply to our everyday life. in his book, "God in Motion" he addresses the issue we all face at some point in our lives: "Where is God?" During the times that God seems to be silent we can have faith and hope that God is fully at work having sovereignty over all aspects of our lives. This book is such an encouragement to persevere through our problems to reach the provision of the promises God has in store for each of us.
November 6, 2013
Wonderful book. Check out my review for more information.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews