Knowing the Face of God: The Search for a Personal Relationship with God - Hardcover

Stafford, Tim

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0310328500 ISBN 13: 9780310328506

Publisher: Zondervan Pub. House, 1986

Synopsis

The author recounts his efforts to establish a personal relationship with God, describes spiritual paths recommended in the past, and discusses how God appears in one's daily life

About this title

About the Author:

TIM STAFFORD is the senior writer for Christianity Today and an author whose books include That's Not What I Meant, Sexual Chaos, and Comeback, written with Dave Dravecky. Along with Philip Yancey, he edited The Student Bible. Tim lives with his wife and children in Santa Rosa, California.

Review:

Most Christians know about God and having a personal relationship with Him is something we all talk about. But true spirituality must go deeper than mere talk. Do we really know God as He relates to our homes, families, meals, work, feelings, praise, friends, suffering and more? Stafford wrestles with bringing God into the nitty gritty context of every-day life. (Passport, Summer 1997)

The phrase "a personal relationship with God" is so commonly heard today among evangelicals that the understanding of what it actually means often remains undefined, as if the meaning is self-evident. Stafford decries various spiritual programs that stress singular avenues to God. Specific methods of prayer, Bible study, and corporate worship are proposed by others as if the spiritual life is a machine that will run smoothly if one can only locate the missing part to make it work. The problem is, no one seems to know what that part is. All that's left is a deepening hunger for a relationship with God with little idea of how it comes about...[Stafford] offers a refreshing and practical understanding of what it is to know God beyond just what we know about Him. (P.A. Kochenburger, Christian Retailing, March 25, 1996)

This was not an easy book to review. As I read it I was drawn into the author's thought process. His struggle to know God on a personal level became my own. This is not light reading. It's for those desiring-and being willing to risk-developing closer relationship with God. The author notes that even the most mundane, everyday tasks become opportunities to encounter God. In the process he helps us discover how we can encounter God in our conversations or during our meals. Then Stafford underscores that discovering the mystery of God is an ongoing process, and I couldn't help but pause along the way to ponder my own spiritual journey. -- Youthworker, November/December 1996

About this edition

• Publisher: Zondervan Pub. House
• Publication date: 1986
• ISBN 10: 0310328500
• ISBN 13: 9780310328506
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 256