Books to Feed Your Soul - Tyng

BOOKS. YAS! 

If you grew up a bookworm like me, you may have had the same memories of pretending to sleep when you were asked to go to bed, then waking up to read under a way-too-dim lamp. It may still be your sleeping routine now! It’s been a while since I’ve done that, and very many books since.

Here today, I’ll be recounting some of my favourite books I’ve read! Each of these books left me astounded in some way and would be my recommendation to anyone who is looking for the next, (pretty intense) read! 

The Pursuit of God, by A.W. Tozer

I found this book at a massive book sale called the Big Bad Wolf Books in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. At that time, I had walked past it sitting on a pile of books it didn't belong to categorically. It was completely beat up, and had a price tag of only RM8.00 (about $3 AUD/$2 USD). Absentmindedly, I placed it in my shopping cart. Tozer is now easily one of my go-to authors. 

The language he writes this book with is poetically-driven with a drawing invitation that really challenged me to dig beneath the surface with what I think about my faith. He addresses God’s presence, the speaking voice of God, the sacrament of living and all the things you want to know about being in a complete pursuit of God. Still a book I pick up to read every now and again! 

One of my favourite excerpts:

“The Bible is the inevitable outcome of God’s continuous speech. It is the infallible declaration of God’s continuous speech. It is the infallible declaration of His mind for us put into our familiar human words. I think a new world will arise out of the religious mists when we approach our Bible with the idea that it is not only a book which was once spoken, but a book which is now speaking. The prophets habitually said, “Thus saith the Lord.” They meant their hearers to understand that God’s speaking is in continuous present. 

We may use the past tense properly to indicate that at a certain time a certain word of God was spoken, but a word of God once spoken continues to be spoken, as a child once born continues to be alive, or a world once created continues to exist. And those are but imperfect illustrations, for children die and worlds burn out, but the Word of God endureth forever. If you would follow on to know the Lord, come at once to the open Bible, expecting it to speak to you. Do not come with the notion that it is a thing which you may push around at your convenience. It is more than a thing; it is a voice, a word, the very Word of the living God.”

Truly Free, by Robert Morris

I read this in 2018 when it was a recommended reading in KLA (now Greenhouse). I felt like I was in a freedom class at every chapter. It was actually so liberating! Some of the things he writes about include bitterness, greed, lust and past wounds. He also provides a lot of practical applications from the Bible that keep us on a healthier track. I would recommend this book to anyone looking to delve deeper into “breaking the snares that so easily entangle us”.

One of my favourite excerpts:

“Salvation and victorious living go hand in hand. Yet even though we’re forgiven and redeemed, saved, and on our way to heaven, we can still live a life of mental bondage. We’re only as free as our minds are…

Thoughts might flit into our heads from a thousand different sources - what we read, what we watch, what people say, old memories that crop up, a billboard we pass by on the street. When these thoughts align with God’s righteous character, we can choose to give focused and concentrated attention to them. If they do not align with God’s character, the best strategy is to take them captive. Rather than entertaining such thoughts, we make them listen to God’s Word. Then we reject them by consciously replacing them with Scripture. The Bible is clear that our minds are battlefields. We must wage war to win the battle for our thought lives.”

The Road Back to You, by Ian Morgan Cron

Learning about the Enneagram was incredibly fun and confronting at the same time. All the emotions, thought patterns and everything in between that I had experienced up until this point in my lifetime felt like it was put into words and explained.

If you have yet to learn about the Enneagram, this book is a really great place to start! You will find yourself shocked (at the accuracy of it all) and skeptical (at the accuracy of it all) and then graced for transformation (by the accuracy of it all). 

One of my favourite excerpts:

“Human beings are wired for survival. As little kids we instinctively place a mask called personality over parts of our authentic self to protect us from harm and make our way in the world. Made up of innate qualities, coping strategies, conditioned reflexes and defense mechanisms, among lots of other things, our personality helps us know and do what we sense is required to please our parents, to fit in and relate well to our friends, to satisfy the expectations of our culture and to get our basic needs met. Over time our adaptive strategies become increasingly complex. They get triggered so predictably, so often and so automatically that we can’t tell where they end our true natures begin…

Before we can become who we really are, we must become conscious of the fact that the person who we think we are, here and now, is at best an imposter and a stranger. Becoming conscious is where the Enneagram comes in.”

Happy reading everyone! 

Written By Tyng

Tyng is married to Jon and is on team at Kingdomcity.