How to engage both your mind and emotions in your walk with God.
What would it look like to genuinely love God with our head AND our heart? To have a faith marked by right thinking AND right feeling? To know God deeply AND worship him passionately?
Too often, Christians act as though these things are at odds with one another. But what if God intends for us to possess a Christianity that is radically committed to biblical truth, in a way that did not diminish the life of the heart, but actually intensified it?
Adam Ramsey invites us to engage both our minds and our emotions in our walk with God as we gaze at him until our hearts sing. He sums it up like this:
“My hope in these following pages is to paint a biblical portrait of what God is actually like, so that we can gaze upon him together until our hearts can’t help but sing. To behold him in such a way that our daily experience is transformed with a deepened awareness of who it is we pray to, who it is that is with us, and who it is that we are loved by. To let God’s truth set our hearts on fire.”
If you yearn for God but desire a clearer biblical picture of this God whom you love, or if you have been walking with God for a while now, but your experience of him has become settled or dry, then this book is for you.
Adam leads Liberti Church on the Gold Coast of Australia and serves as the network director for Acts 29 Australia, New Zealand, & Japan. He also contributes articles to The Gospel Coalition.
Foreword by Ray Ortlund
Introduction
1. God Is Other: The Experience of Wonder
2. God Is Sovereign: The Experience of Assurance
3. God Is Unrivaled: The Experience of Embracing Weakness
4. God Is Never Far Away: The Experience of Courage
5. God Is All-Holy and All-Knowing: The Experience of Honesty
6. God Is Good: The Experience of Trust Through Suffering
7. God Is Love: The Experience of Relational Beauty
8. God Is Never Late: The Experience of Patience
9. God Is Merciful: The Experience of Gentleness
10. God Is Just: The Experience of Prophetic Advocacy
11. God Is Happy: The Experience of Delight
12. God Is Victorious: The Experience of Hope
Conclusion: Reformation and Revival
| Contributors | Adam Ramsey, Ray Ortlund |
|---|---|
| ISBN | 9781784986490 |
| Format | eBook |
| First published | September 2021 |
| Case quantity | 50 |
| Language | English |
| Publisher | The Good Book Company |
I believe that the way people truly change is by truly beholding the glory of the Lord. This is why I’m exceedingly thankful for Adam Ramsey’s book. Chapter by chapter, with biblical depth and pastoral wisdom, he lifts our gaze up to contemplate the majesty of God. You will find both truth and Spirit in this rich work.
Adam Ramsey believes that how we think about God should shape how we experience him. I couldn’t agree more. This exquisite book is devotional writing in its purest sense, an invitation not just to know the God of the universe more deeply, but to be overcome in the knowing. Truth on Fire compels us to bow our hearts, to experience and exhibit the reverence that beholding God yields. Read it to think, and read it to feel. Herein is a feast for head and heart.
Immediately captivating, Adam Ramsey’s fine book challenges us not to settle for a faith wholly dependent on sensational spiritual experiences or, in contrast, one which insists on our minds merely being filled with accurate information about God. Eloquently and effectively he argues for a grasp of gospel truth that makes our hearts burn through an ever-increasing knowledge of him.
My first copy of Truth on Fire was the free e-book offered by The Good Book Company. Several years ago I was very briefly introduced to Adam in a church foyer, so was interested in what he might have written. Since reading the e-book, you can check my purchase record and you will see that I have purchased eight books. I keep giving this book away. I tell everyone it is one of my top three favorite Christian books of all time. What do I like about it? First, it is written in such a comfortable conversational style. It feel like I'm in a small group and Adam is speaking directly to us. Second, it is funny at points and I laugh out loud. But I mostly love this book because it has married my heart and head and I love Jesus even deeper still. Thank you, Adam, for writing it and thank you, Jesus, for loving me.
My first copy of Truth on Fire was the free e-book offered by The Good Book Company. Several years ago I was very briefly introduced to Adam in a church foyer, so was interested in what he might have written. Since reading the e-book, you can check my purchase record and you will see that I have purchased eight books. I keep giving this book away. I tell everyone it is one of my top three favorite Christian books of all time. What do I like about it? First, it is written in such a comfortable conversational style. It feel like I'm in a small group and Adam is speaking directly to us. Second, it is funny at points and I laugh out loud. But I mostly love this book because it has married my heart and head and I love Jesus even deeper still. Thank you, Adam, for writing it and thank you, Jesus, for loving me.
After a couple of really hard years, Truth on Fire seemed to come out at just the right time. It took too long for me to finally read it but I’m glad I did.
Adam Ramsey sets out explaining how we are either “thinkers” (high value on biblical truth but avoiding over-emotional responses to it) or “feelers” (vibrant spiritual life, knowing the love of God, but with little biblical reference for those experiences) and that both types of people need a reformation and revival.
So true, and having finished the book I do indeed feel reformed in knowing more of the truth of God, and revived in loving to experience what effect those truths have on my daily life.
Adam gives biblical and experiential insight into the thinking and feeling we all need to do to live a flourishing life with the Spirit.
Be reformed and be revived!
After a couple of really hard years, Truth on Fire seemed to come out at just the right time. It took too long for me to finally read it but I’m glad I did.
Adam Ramsey sets out explaining how we are either “thinkers” (high value on biblical truth but avoiding over-emotional responses to it) or “feelers” (vibrant spiritual life, knowing the love of God, but with little biblical reference for those experiences) and that both types of people need a reformation and revival.
So true, and having finished the book I do indeed feel reformed in knowing more of the truth of God, and revived in loving to experience what effect those truths have on my daily life.
Adam gives biblical and experiential insight into the thinking and feeling we all need to do to live a flourishing life with the Spirit.
Be reformed and be revived!
My favourite this year. Its title resonates true, namely gazing at God until one heart sings, so much so that I had to buy it for friends and family.
My favourite this year. Its title resonates true, namely gazing at God until one heart sings, so much so that I had to buy it for friends and family.
I really liked this book. It reminded me of Jen Wilkin’s pair of books “None Like You” and “In His Image”, but Adam Ramsey puts a particular spin on it by tying each attribute to a human experience. I’ve never read a book quite like this. I love the focus on God’s attributes and how we as broken people can experience Him on a deep and personal level.
Each chapter highlights a different attribute/experience duo. For example: God is Sovereign - The Experience of Assurance. God is Unrivalled - The Experience of Embracing Weakness. God is Good - The Experience of Trusting through Suffering.
On page 73, Ramsey writes “It goes without saying then, that if God knows every part of existence, then he knows every part of us. There is not one molecule of our lives — in thought, motive, word, or action — that he is not intimately familiar with.” While the reverse is not true because God is infinite and we most assuredly are not, books like this equip and enable Christians to know God a little more intimately than they did prior to reading it. The notion of experiences reflecting and reminding one of God’s attributes will stay with stay with the reader long after finishing the book.
Something I did not like about the book was chapter 10 (God is Just - The Experience of Prophetic Advocacy) that contained too much Social Justice/CRT discussion for me. While the pages contained some really good points, the underlying CRT rhetoric, which I consider unbiblical, was a major disappointment.
There is wisdom, insight, and encouragement to be found throughout this book and I really appreciate the reflection questions at the end of each chapter. This book would be an excellent choice to discuss with a small group or book study.
I really liked this book. It reminded me of Jen Wilkin’s pair of books “None Like You” and “In His Image”, but Adam Ramsey puts a particular spin on it by tying each attribute to a human experience. I’ve never read a book quite like this. I love the focus on God’s attributes and how we as broken people can experience Him on a deep and personal level.
Each chapter highlights a different attribute/experience duo. For example: God is Sovereign - The Experience of Assurance. God is Unrivalled - The Experience of Embracing Weakness. God is Good - The Experience of Trusting through Suffering.
On page 73, Ramsey writes “It goes without saying then, that if God knows every part of existence, then he knows every part of us. There is not one molecule of our lives — in thought, motive, word, or action — that he is not intimately familiar with.” While the reverse is not true because God is infinite and we most assuredly are not, books like this equip and enable Christians to know God a little more intimately than they did prior to reading it. The notion of experiences reflecting and reminding one of God’s attributes will stay with stay with the reader long after finishing the book.
Something I did not like about the book was chapter 10 (God is Just - The Experience of Prophetic Advocacy) that contained too much Social Justice/CRT discussion for me. While the pages contained some really good points, the underlying CRT rhetoric, which I consider unbiblical, was a major disappointment.
There is wisdom, insight, and encouragement to be found throughout this book and I really appreciate the reflection questions at the end of each chapter. This book would be an excellent choice to discuss with a small group or book study.
I resonated so much with Adam's story in the Introduction, of being tired of the divide between deep thoughts about God and deep experiences with him.
What I wasn't expecting though, was just how much each chapter led me to worship. Rare is the book that paints a picture of God with language that is not only true, but beautiful.
I was especially moved by the chapters on "gentleness" (God is Merciful) and "prophetic advocacy" (God is Just), which exposed some of the blindspots and tribalism in my own thinking.
All in all, each chapter left me with something that our world is in desperate need of: HOPE. So if you're looking for a book that will teach you, refresh you, and give you confidence to face anything...all because you've gained a clearer view of God...this is that book.
I resonated so much with Adam's story in the Introduction, of being tired of the divide between deep thoughts about God and deep experiences with him.
What I wasn't expecting though, was just how much each chapter led me to worship. Rare is the book that paints a picture of God with language that is not only true, but beautiful.
I was especially moved by the chapters on "gentleness" (God is Merciful) and "prophetic advocacy" (God is Just), which exposed some of the blindspots and tribalism in my own thinking.
All in all, each chapter left me with something that our world is in desperate need of: HOPE. So if you're looking for a book that will teach you, refresh you, and give you confidence to face anything...all because you've gained a clearer view of God...this is that book.
