"Courageous" (Dr Robert Jeffress)

TITLE: Courageous: 10 Strategies for Thriving in a Hostile World
AUTHOR: Dr. Robert Jeffress
PUBLISHER: Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2020, (272 pages).

What are we afraid of? What do we do when our faith is under attack? What strategies can we adopt when living in a hostile world? Can we live beyond simply surviving toward thriving? In this book, author and pastor Robert Jeffress gives us ten practical "survival tips" which are actually a disguise for helping us to thrive instead. These ten tips are:

1. Don't panic
2. Gain situational awareness
3. Take inventory
4. Develop a victor, not a victim mindset
5. Trust your training
6. Bend, don't break
7. Beware of celebrating the summit
8. Learn from the past
9. Help others
10. Do the next right thing.

Each chapter is filled with stories, bible examples, and explanation of why the survival tip is essential. He begins with a captivating story of faith and ends each chapter with a powerful conviction to simply trust God. There are remarkable stories of "one-way missionaries" who had died to themselves and lived for Christ. Readers will find more reasons to be hopeful than ever. We are told to expect opposition; to be constantly equipped; to develop a victor instead of victim mindset; and so on. Jeffress creatively aligns the world of practical advice with biblical truths in such a way that readers will never feel bored. I like the chapter on "Trust Your Training" which is bold call for believers to memorize Scripture. Survival Tip #6 holds special relevance as it gives us an alternative to the "down but not out spirit," to be flexible but firm in our beliefs. Each step of the way, we learn how the Bible speaks into the hostile world not with military fight-back but with spiritual courage and determination to live Christlike witness to the world. Against the opposition, be peacemakers. Be humble. Be a diligent student of history. Be on the lookout for people who need help. Don't just wait, but to search for these people. Be intentional not only about doing the right thing, but to do the "next" right thing.

Three Thoughts

Firstly, this book is surprisingly good. There is a strong feel-good element about living as a Christian. There is nothing too difficult for God, and we should constantly see the world from that angle. I like the stories and the illustrations that fill the book from start to finish. The stories come from all over, including the author's own experiences. Each chapter reads like a prepared sermon from an experienced preacher. This book comes at a time where many needed encouragement. If you are disillusioned or feeling down about the faith, this book is a good -pick-me-up!

Secondly, Jeffress urges us not to fight tooth for tooth, but with Christlike alternatives. Just like the beatitudes of Jesus that are counter-cultural, each of the ten survival tips are counter-cultural. In "taking inventory," we learn to fight injustice and hostility with the armour of God, which is essentially about being strong in the Lord and not our own strengths. Why is this important? It is simply because we are not battling against flesh and blood but against powers and principalities that war against us. That is the very reason we need to adopt a different mindset in terms of where our battle is, and who our real enemy is. Identify the wrong enemy and we end up fighting the wrong kind of war. 

Finally, the hope is that this book will draw people back to the basics of faith. We need to go back to the love of God and the love of the world from the perspective of God. We take courage for the purpose of being shining witness to the world, for Christ. The trouble with many believers right now is that they tend to be easily discouraged or are unable to see the true hope in the resurrection of Christ. We need help from time to time to be lifted out of our spiritual abyss. This book is that necessary lift. May the Lord use this resource to help the many who need spiritual courage and boldness anytime and everytime.

Dr Robert Jeffress is senior pastor of the fourteen-thousand-member First Baptist Church in Dallas, Texas. He has a daily radio program called "Pathway to Victory" which is heard in more than eight hundred radio stations nationwide. He is a graduate of Baylor University, Dallas Theological Seminary, and holds a DMin from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. 

Rating: 4.25 stars of 5.

conrade

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This book has been provided courtesy of Baker Books and Graf-Martin Communications without requiring a positive review. All opinions offered above are mine unless otherwise stated or implied.