Book Review: iFaith

Several weeks ago I received an email from Daniel Darling asking me if I’d be willing to review a copy of his newest book iFaith: Connecting with God in the 21st Century.  I told him I would be happy to and found a copy of the book in my mailbox just a few weeks later.  iFaith was at the top of my list of books to read this summer as it covers a topic that is very near and dear to my heart.  How do we connect with God in the midst of our society that is so tethered to our technology?  In fact, hilariously enough, I found it odd to be sitting down with a paperback book when I have come so accustomed to reading on my Kindle or iPad!  I really got a lot out of this book and found a lot to highlight.

Dan is a writer, speaker, pastor, husband, and father.  I don’t know him well enough to know what order he prefers those things to be listed, but he is very transparent in the book in pointing out that he needs to do a better job of disconnecting and really investing in eternal things.  I appreciate that he is willing to be open about his own shortcomings in an effort to encourage others that are no doubt in the same spot.  As someone that works with high school students on a regular basis, I often wonder how this generation will turn out in the relationship category, both with people and with God.  For many of them, it is easy to “follow” people on Twitter and Facebook, but the idea of running hard after Christ can seem foreign to them.

I appreciate the way that Dan laid his book out and the way that it gets straight to the point.  I read the whole book in one setting and would definitely recommend it to anyone that realizes the need to “go dark” or get “off the grid” for some real time to hear from God.

Here are some things I highlighted while reading…

  • “It occurs to me that I’ve never met anyone young and patient.  We’re all in a hurry.  We don’t like to miss one panel of a revolving door.  Patience comes hard in a hurry-up society.  Yet it’s an essential quality, cultivated only in extended periods of waiting.” Chuck Swindoll
  • Jesus resisted the urge of the immediate, submitting to the precise timing of the Father’s will.
  • When God is silent, God is active (Habakkuk 1:5).
  • God’s solution often comes from an unexpected source.
  • God’s timing is always perfect (Habakkuk 2:3).
  • God is worthy of worship, regardless of our circumstances.
  • Waiting is the essence of a faith that pleases Him.
  • Your struggles might point others to God.
  • Our problems are always vertical and not horizontal (Ruth 1:20).
  • Suffering is the syllabus for ministry.
  • Quiet time with the Father is the Sabbath rest our restless souls need and crave.
  • He’s God and we’re not.
  • Life with God is hard.  Life apart from God is dangerous.
  • God is better than your stuff.
  • We’re not as good as we think we are.
  • “God’s I AM is perfectly adequate for man’s ‘I am not.'” Dr. Warren Wiersbe
  • Dr. Blackaby writes, “God uses our activities and circumstances to bring us to Himself.  When He gives us a God-sized assignment, its sheer impossibility brings us back to Him for His enabling.”
  • God does His greatest work on the margins of comfort, when the impossibility of our calling collides with the reality of our human frailty.
  • We have come to grips with a sobering reality.  It’s really not God’s will for us to live like we’re superhuman.  God delights in our humanity.  He shines in our weakness.  His glory is revealed when we desperately lean on Him for strength.
  • Dr. Warren Wiersbe writes, “When God puts His own people into the furnace, He keeps His eye on the click and His hand on the thermostat.  He knows how long and how much.  We may question why He does it to begin with, or why He doesn’t turn down the heat or even turn it off; but our questions are only evidences of unbelief.”
  • Pursue genuine intimacy with God.
  • Pursue genuine intimacy with people.
  • Prioritize your technology choices.
  • Guard your heart and eyes online.
  • Give God the glory with your online presence.
  • Unplug, unwind, enjoy the old.

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