Energize Your Faith!

Sun Stand Still by Steven Furtick

The subtitle to this book is "What Happens When You Dare to Ask God for the Impossible". The author is a young man who pastors Elevation Church in Charlotte, NC which has been named one of the fastest growing churches in the nation.
The main theme of the book is based on the story of Joshua in the book of Joshua, chapter 10 in the Bible. This is the time when Joshua prayed for the sun to stand still so that the Israelites could defeat their enemy in battle and God did this...He delayed the going down of the sun for about a day. The author doesn't go into the details of the proof that this happened, however, I have read many accounts of a missing amount of time in history and how this would account for that time.
What the author does focus on is the audacious faith of Joshua in asking the Lord to do the impossible. He then develops this theme into reminding us as Christians that we have access to that very same God who is able to do miraculous things, who controls time, who created the sun and the moon and the earth.
I believe the author does a very good job of balancing this subject. It could easily have turned into a "do this and this will happen" type book, or be focused on what we "do" as to how God answers us. Furtick is sure to consistently turn the focus to the Lord and His power and strength and that it is not a "If...Then" type of faith we are to have. But he does bring up some wonderful things to think about, pray about and study as far as understanding the very nature of God and living a life of faith based on that understanding.
This book is very inspirational...but the author says he doesn't want it to stop at being "inspirational". He gives many examples in the Bible and in present day life of faith that has accomplished great things for God. Again, I want to bring to light the fact that he does not make one feel that the reason some of your prayers are not answered is because you do not have enough faith. There are things that we do not understand because we can not see the whole picture as God does, and sometimes our prayers are answered in ways we do not expect, or even do not want. But all is for His glory. I liked the statement he makes that it is not our faith that accomplishes miracles but God's faithfulness. We are only able to have faith because of God's faithfulness to us.
I believe this book can be tender to start a fire of faith in the hearts of believers who have backed down from demonstrating faith in God's ability. I found the writer's style of writing to be modern day language, easy to understand and clear. I will be suggesting this book for reading to many of my church family. Thank you, Pastor Furtick, for being willing to tackle the task of writing about our God of possibilities from such an energizing perspective!