That you may overflow with hope ...

• For those believers in Iraq facing uncertainty and death:

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

• For those believers in Nigeria abducted or searching for those who are lost:

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

• For persecuted believers throughout the world:

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

• For those believers experiencing any kind of weakness or pain:

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

• For ourselves, when despair begins to creep:

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Romans 15:13

My unusual prayer list

Half way down a long stretch of the A3, on my way to work last month, the smoke started pouring out of the car radio. The only time this had happened to me before the car was a blazing wreck within 5 minutes, so my heart raced a little as I looked for somewhere to pull over. But this time, with a gentle "POP" the radio went silent, the smoke stopped, and everything seemed fine.

I'm a bit of a news junkie, so the Today programme is my usual companion on the morning drive to work. It has become part of my morning ritual. Thought for the day; the headlines; the ten past eight interview have all filled my mind with thoughts on the commute. But now there is silence. An enforced "news fast".

And like the other kind of fasting, it has taken me through some stages. First of all irritation (at the cost of replacing the radio). Then hunger: "I wonder what's happening?" Then wondering what to do with my head in the silence. And then working out that this is a great opportunity to use the time proactively. Suddenly, my journey to work has become an opportunity to pray. And I've developed an unusual prayer list.

• Restaurants: Driving down the main street of the suburb I live in, I pray for the progress of the gospel in the home countries of the restaurants I pass. South and North Korea, Japan and Italy all get a look in - and later on, Turkey and India/Pakistan/Bangladesh. I know missionaries in some of those countries, so they get prayed for too.
• Road names: There are a few road names that trigger associations with people I know. So when I turn down Chesterfield Road, I remember to pray for an old friend who comes from there.
• Sports grounds: I pass a golf course and a couple of leisure centres, so Christians in Sport sometimes comes to mind.
• Churches: and of course there are dozens of churches I pass - sparking prayer for their ministry, and the work of evangelism in the local area.

I'm very thankful that the radio broke - and I'm in no hurry to fix it.

We're recruiting!

On to a Good Thing

1. Compared to Her ebook - half price!

Get the ebook version of Compared to Her for just £3!

2. 7 Different Ways to Read a Book

Tim Challies looks at seven different kinds of reading.

3. EMA 2014: Audio and Video Resources

Watch or listen to the main talks from the Evangelical Ministry Assembly 2014.

4. We Must Learn to Taste

A post from one of our authors Barry Cooper on Desiring God.

5. A First Glimpse at ‘Look at the Book’

Also on Desiring God, a first glimpse at ‘Look at the Book’.

6. The Anatomy of a Great Message

Tom Basson shares a helpful infographic with practical steps on creation sermons.

7. And finally...

Our video of the week, ‘Live Grow Know’ trailer:

Found something that you think should make it on to the On to a Good Thing round-up? Send it to: ontoagoodthing@thegoodbook.co.uk

We must learn to taste

God doesn’t play fair.

Much to my parents’ concern, I hadn’t been to church for a long time. And yet here I was, in my first term at university, sliding into a pew at St Ebbe’s Church in Oxford.

This, I can promise you, was not the result of any pious yearning on my part. Rather, it was because the congregation counted among its number a particularly lovely second-year student of modern languages.

Where earnest parental pleading had failed, she had proved to be rather more convincing.... continue reading

Questions we'd really not like to think too much about

Met yesterday with an old friend who came up through the youth group I was involved in and who is now a missionary in South Africa. He thanked me for producing the Questions Christians Ask series, and then, like many others, asked me what is next on the list.

I went through the icons on the front of the books, talking about progress with each of them, and the difficulties with getting the level and approach right and with the commissioning some of the titles.

Ben reminded me of a talk I was once asked to give - that I had completely forgotten about. Apparently, I had been asked back to the youth group to talk about UFOs - a subject of deep concern to some of the teenagers at the time. I have not a clue what I said, what Bible texts I referred to, or what kind of steer I gave on the subject - but the conversation reminded me how short-lived some of our concerns can be. As a teenager, I was often involved in intense conversations about UFOs, fuelled by wild speculation from Erich von Daniken's books like Chariot of the Gods (ask any man over 55 and they will fill you in if this is a mystery to you). But it's just not something people talk about now - not in my experience anyway.

And when you read books on apologetics from 20 or 30 years ago, their lists of top questions seem strangely unfamiliar to modern ears - apart from questions about suffering and a God of love. You will search in vain for references to gender and homosexuality in the handbooks on evangelism from a previous generation - but now they are virtually top of the list. Our culture and it's questions just move on.

And our thinking and engagement must move on with them.

In memory of that talk, Ben sent me through the mock-up to the right. It's not a title we are going to publish any time soon - but perhaps there are other Questions Christians No Longer Ask titles you might like to suggest... Answers on a postcard, or by clicking the comment button below...

Light in the Darkness: in development

Work is well underway on our second graphic novel: Light in the Darkness

We're currently on the inking stage of this exciting project, which is the prequel to our first, popular graphic novel, 'The Third Day' - and we thought you'd like a glimpse of how it's going.

Light in the Darkness uses the biblical text of Luke chapters 1-2 and visualises the drama and emotion of Luke's narrative as we explore the characters of the very first Christmas...

We're expecting it to be available in early October - just in time for your Christmas shopping!

Watch this space...

Fighting the Monday feeling

The LORD is righteous in all his ways
and faithful in all he does.

My mouth will speak in praise of the LORD.
Let every creature praise his holy name
for ever and ever.

Psalm 145:17-21