Book Review: Undaunted

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Don’t read this book unless you are ready to do something awesome for God’s glory and the good of others.  So grateful for Christine Caine and her authenticity in writing Undaunted…a conversation between her and God discussing what it means to really follow Him.  This book particularly speaks to young ladies, but I believe that every believer can identify with the struggle to run hard after Christ in a world that would lead you to believe that anything else would be a more worth pursuit.  My favorite part of this book is all the spots where Christine intentionally demonstrates what it means to take every thought captive and replace it with the truth of God’s word. (2 Corinthians 10:5) Run hard after Him…undaunted!

I’ve already promised my copy of this book to a friend, so I hope you’ll buy a copy for yourself and a friend!  I highlighted several things while reading and have posted my notes below…

  • God doesn’t call the qualified.  He qualifies the called.
  • The Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline.  2 Timothy 1:7
  • Just as life will upend you, so will love.
  • Why is it always so hard to choose first what God says about us?  Why do we listen to the voices of others more than his?  If our goal is to be undaunted, then we should be especially diligent to not let the lies and foolish thoughts of others daunt us.  Labels, insults, attempts to overwhelm and limit and thereby control us—these have no place in the life of the believer.  God has freed us, and if we’re to live undaunted, we can’t allow the maneuvering of others to force us back into bondage.
  • When there is a fight between your heart and your head, experience has taught me that the best thing to do is pick up your Bible and remind yourself of what God says.
  • If God created us to do good works of eternal significance, he would not create us ill-prepared for those tasks.
  • We have no strength of spirit or wholeness of heart to set anyone else free because we are not free or healed ourselves.
  • Take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.  Philippians 3:12
  • God steps in and promises to be strong when we are weak.  2 Corinthians 12:10
  • You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.  Genesis 50:20
  • How can you convince others of the wonder of God’s promises if you doubt them yourself?
  • My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways…For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.  Isaiah 55:8-9
  • Beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair.  Isaiah 61: 3
  • A spiritual exchange took place; I magnified the Lord instead of my disappointment.  I began to remember his mercies more than my hurt.
  • Hear my cry, O God; attend to my prayer.  From the end of the earth I call to You, when my heart is overwhelmed; lead me to the rock that is higher than I.  Psalm 61:1-2
  • I would have lost heart unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.  Psalm 27:13
  • The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy, I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.  John 10:10 TO THE FULL
  • Jesus doesn’t do triage.  He leaves the healthy ninety-nine safe in their pen while he goes out into the night looking for the one who’s lost, sick, depressed, disappointed, wounded, enslaved.  And when he has found it, he lays it across his shoulders and in celebration calls together his neighbors, saying, “Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.”  Luke 15:6
  • No matter how the treasure of a soul comes to be lost, our job is to go and rescue and save what is precious.  Were you blameless when Jesus came for you?
  • The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor.  He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free.  Luke 4:18
  • The only difference between the Samaritan and the religious people was that the Samaritan actually crossed the street.  The Samaritan was willing to have his plans interrupted so he could assist the man.  The Samaritan stooped down to lift up the broken one.  Stopping and stooping are different.  Compassion is only an emotion—until you cross the street.  Compassion means action.  You go to them.
  • Cultivating a Heart to Cross the Street
    1.  Be Sensitive to the Spirit of God
    2.  Live Aware
    3.  Simply Step into the Moment
    4.  Pray for a Heart Change
    5.  Be Open
  • God is with us (Romans 8:31)
    God is in the business of making miracles where humans fail (Hebrews 13:5-6)
    God told us to go into all the world (Matthew 28:19-20) and he’d shown me a part of the world so dark and hidden I hadn’t even known it was there, and he was not letting me forget it.
  • When you decide enough is enough, that the darkness of this world must be lit with the hope of Christ and his transforming love, and that you are a conduit of that love, you will not rest.
  • When Jesus said to go into all the world (Matthew 28:19), he didn’t mean to wait until morning, or until you get the right job, or find the perfect spouse, or have raised the kids right, or have your house in order, or find a spare weekend.  Christ brought us light in the darkness so that we can reach everyone living a nightmare now.  He longs to shake us awake so that we can shout out the truth—that humankind is made for eternity but trapped in time, and time is running out.  He means for us to be a lantern in the darkness.  He means for us to find and rescue others because we know what it is to be lost and then found, hurting and then healed.
    He means for us to walk into the gap where he’s thrown down the cross, to walk like him, to walk with him.
    Unwilling to stay asleep.
    Unafraid of the dark.
    Unflinching in the face of disappointment.
    Unstoppable in the face of the difficulty.
    Undaunted.

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