Flourish: Grace-Centered Practices to Protect and Grow a Fruitful Life in Christ
Genre:
Nonfiction: Christian Living
If the fruit of the Spirit is promised to every Christian, then why do so many believers wish they were filled with more love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control?
Where is the disconnect? Why is there a disconnect? What are we missing? These questions inspired me to explore the fruit of the Spirit more deeply. What I learned became the basis for Flourish: Grace-Centered Practices to Protect and Grow a Fruitful Life in Christ.
Nurturing the fruit of the Spirit is dependent on four key points that form the basis of each chapter of Flourish.
- Recognize the enemy’s tactics:
We have a spiritual enemy and understand how he works. What are the temptations and distractions he employs to stunt the growth of the fruit of the Spirit in the lives of Christians? - Nurture a right perspective:
Identify how God views each display of the Spirit’s fruit. I quickly discovered that our understanding of His fruit did not always align with what God said about it in His Word! For example, one of the first things I learned is that the Bible speaks of this fruit as singular, rather than plural. It is one fruit revealed in nine different ways—a package deal! - Recover and grow the Spirit’s fruit:
Examine how to use what we learn to recover and grow the fruit of the Spirit God promised to us in abundance. - Share the harvest:
Explore how we can share the Spirit’s fruit to bless others too.* * *
Book Review of Flourish:
“Fruit of the Spirit. How often have we read Galatians 5:22-23 in our Bibles, or heard ministers encourage us to strive for these attributes? In this new book, author Ava Pennington provides an enlightening look at the nine “fruits” while offering encouragement to help us achieve them.
Reading this book felt like a personal one-to-one conversation with Pennington, and Flourish was “chock full” of Scripture to support the theories she shares. Each chapter concludes with a set of Application Questions to further challenge my thinking and there are Notes in the back to offer more documentation.
Flourish isn’t just for new believers! I was challenged, as a seasoned Christian, to read, ponder, search, and pray about this fruit offered by the Holy Spirit. I was also reminded that I can’t just choose the fruits that I like—they are facets of the ONE fruit that the Holy Spirit grows in my life to help me mature in my relationship with God.
This book is perfect for individual use, but it would also be a wonderful resource for a group Bible study. I highly recommend Flourish to anyone wanting to strengthen their Christian walk.
I received a copy of this book from Kregel Publications. There was no obligation for a positive review, and no monetary compensation was offered.”
My rating: 5 of 5 stars.”
~ Connie Porter Saunders, Goodreads Reviewer
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Author:Ava Pennington is an author, speaker, Bible teacher, and teaching leader for Bible Study Fellowship International. She has a MBA from St. John’s University and is also the author of Reflections on the Name of God. For more information, visit Ava at www.AvaPennington.com.
