Here are 100 books that Sparrow's Prayer fans have personally recommended if you like
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I am an ordained minister with over 10 years of experience serving as a pastor in both the hospital and church settings. I’m also a mom of three children, ages 2, 5, and 7. I routinely get asked for resources to help raise children in the Christian faith. As both a pastor and a mother, I am a strong advocate for teaching children a theology they won’t have to heal from. All the books I recommend are progressive, inclusive, and diverse. I’ve done extensive research when it comes to faith-based literature, and I’m passionate about finding the best books to recommend to families.
I love this book because it broadens a child’s imagination about who God is.
God is not Santa Claus – a white guy with a beard in the clouds looking down on children in judgment, evaluating whether they’re good or bad. God is gracious, generous, and loving, and God gives and nourishes life to all, like a faithful mother.
“Dear Mama God - Thank you for the earth and all living things.” So begins this wonder-filled prayer of gratitude from a child addressed to Mama God.
Combining stunning illustrations with simple yet profound prayers, "Dear Mama God" is the perfect children's book to introduce children (and their adults) to the heart-expanding practice of referring to the divine in feminine form. The text thanks Mama God for trees for birds to nest in, hula hoops for dogs to jump through, paper to draw on, cozy fires, loving hearts, and the universe that is our home. The illustrations invite readers into…
I am an ordained minister with over 10 years of experience serving as a pastor in both the hospital and church settings. I’m also a mom of three children, ages 2, 5, and 7. I routinely get asked for resources to help raise children in the Christian faith. As both a pastor and a mother, I am a strong advocate for teaching children a theology they won’t have to heal from. All the books I recommend are progressive, inclusive, and diverse. I’ve done extensive research when it comes to faith-based literature, and I’m passionate about finding the best books to recommend to families.
If your kid is curious and loves to know wild, random facts, this is the book for you.
This book is chock-full of interesting, obscure details about life in the 1st century. This book not only teaches kids what the world was like when Jesus was alive, but it increases their engagement with their faith. It’s fun, silly, and you’ll need more than one copy if you have multiple kids, because they’ll inevitably fight over it, just like mine.
Jesus often told stories using everyday objects to help his listeners understand life with God. But for most of us, the deep imagery and meaning behind those objects has been lost to history. This book helps kids discover the world Jesus lived in through maps, charts, graphs, and other infographic elements. They'll learn about the culture Jesus lived in-his Jewish religion, the power of the ruling Roman Empire, the role of fishermen and carpenters and shepherds. It's an invitation to explore the stories of Jesus in their cultural context, bringing new life to familiar biblical events. This beautifully illustrated book…
I am an ordained minister with over 10 years of experience serving as a pastor in both the hospital and church settings. I’m also a mom of three children, ages 2, 5, and 7. I routinely get asked for resources to help raise children in the Christian faith. As both a pastor and a mother, I am a strong advocate for teaching children a theology they won’t have to heal from. All the books I recommend are progressive, inclusive, and diverse. I’ve done extensive research when it comes to faith-based literature, and I’m passionate about finding the best books to recommend to families.
If you’re a parent who wants to raise their children in the faith, this is a primary resource to have on hand. Kids are always wondering what God is like. This book is a useful tool in showing children just how good God is. It explores all kinds of diverse metaphors and instills the important truth that God loves us all.
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The late, beloved Rachel Held Evans answers many children's first question about God in this gorgeous picture book, fully realized by her friend Matthew Paul Turner, the bestselling author of When God Made You.
Children who are introduced to God, through attending church or having loved ones who speak about God, often have a lot of questions, including this ever-popular one: What is God like? The late Rachel Held Evans loved the Bible and loved showing God’s love through the words and pictures found in that ancient text. Through these pictures from the Bible,…
I am an ordained minister with over 10 years of experience serving as a pastor in both the hospital and church settings. I’m also a mom of three children, ages 2, 5, and 7. I routinely get asked for resources to help raise children in the Christian faith. As both a pastor and a mother, I am a strong advocate for teaching children a theology they won’t have to heal from. All the books I recommend are progressive, inclusive, and diverse. I’ve done extensive research when it comes to faith-based literature, and I’m passionate about finding the best books to recommend to families.
The illustrations are incredible, and the language invites readers of every age to imagine how expansive God is. I love the use of the female imagery for God. This has been lost for too long. If you’re looking to instill a theology that’s broad, diverse, and full of wonder, start here.
Teach your kids that God's love transcends single-gender expression--God is creative, fierce, protective, and her love as a Mother knows no bounds.
With lyrical, rhyming text and exquisite illustrations, Mother God introduces readers to a dozen images of God inspired by feminine descriptions from Scripture. Children and adults alike will be in awe of the God who made them as they come to know her as a creative seamstress, generous baker, fierce mother bear, protective mother hen, strong woman in labor, nurturing nursing mother, wise grandmother, and comforting singer of lullabies.
This gorgeous picture book welcomes children into a fuller,…
I’m often introduced as a “prayer expert” but I’m not. I’m just someone who’s found herself praying a lot—for my family, my friends, and even sometimes complete strangers. And while there are all sorts of ways we can pray, I like praying the Scriptures—taking the actual words of the Bible and using them to shape our perspective as well as our prayers. Not only has that approach made my conversations with God more diverse and creative, but it has made them more powerful. Plus, praying this way has equipped me to trust God and experience freedom from worry or fear—even when things don’t happen the way, or in the timing, that I want them to.
Live a Praying Life is, hands-down, my top pick when it comes to making a study of prayer. Jennifer Kennedy Dean understands that we want to know the “why” and the “how” behind prayer, and she tackles the thorny questions to equip us to persevere when it doesn’t look like the needle is moving. In looking at the lives of folks who’ve gone through more than a few tricky places (guys like Joseph, who thought he was supposed to be a ruler but wound up being sold as a slave), Dean warns us not to mistake God’s will for his ways, or confuse what he is doing with how he is doing it. We only see part of the picture. And, she writes, “We cannot control God or tell him how to accomplish his plan.” We can, however, partner with him to accomplish his best purposes—and the way that we…
Practical yet powerful insights from Jennifer Kennedy Dean’s life’s work and best-selling Live a Praying Life®! Now in a newly designed format, Live a Praying Life®! will… • Provide the biblical basics of prayer’s purpose, process, promise, and practice. • Give easy-to-understand illustrations, stories, and details to answer complex theological questions. • Clean out myths about prayer! • Help you rev up a powerful, ongoing connection to God.
I’m just an everyday person. I don’t have a fancy title or lots of degrees, but I do have experience being close to God and a never-ending quest to know Him more. His love is so good that it absolutely must be shared. So if I, in all of my ordinariness, can learn extraordinary sacred things, then I can bring others along the journey, too. His presence in my heartaches, struggles, joy, and adventures has sustained my life, and I don’t know any credential that could testify any clearer that a journey with God is worth taking.
When we think prayer is hard, we need a reminder of God’s listening ear. While there are limitless ways to connect with the Lord, Praying God’s Word invites us into conversation when we don’t know what to say.
Scripture is alive and active, and God Himself gives us words when we don’t have any. The thing I loved about this book is that it’s a springboard to get us started with this type of prayer. When I tried praying this way, I felt closer to God because His words were right there.
Beth Moore's #1 best-selling book (more than one million copies in print) is available in paperback for the first time!
Praying God's Word is the perennial favorite Scripture-prayer resource designed to help us decisively overcome specific strongholds: pride, idolatry, addiction, loss, depression, unbelief, temptation, and more.
No matter how overwhelmed or out of control a person may feel today, Beth boldly reminds us that nothing is bigger or more powerful than the Lord. With this landmark book we learn to wield the sword of the Spirit, praying God's Word to break free from anything that has a hold on us…
Books have been an important part of my faith journey. I set aside time each morning to read scripture, and devotional material, to meditate and pray. As I read about the experiences of others my faith increases and I know God better. As a writer I express my own faith through words and invite others to know God better by experiencing Him with time set aside in the mornings. More Love is part of a series of small books that I have created to give readers experiences to connect with God and to know His love.
Mark Batterson writes, “If you press into God’s presence like never before, you will experience God like never before.” This small book has led me back to a richer prayer life again and again. I’ve prayed through it many times and have given away countless copies to others. Each day Batterson invites a new way to look at prayer and a practical way to start a morning devotion time all grounded in scripture. As a writer I love the focus on creativity and honoring ideas. He writes, “I don’t type on a keyboard, I pray on one.”
Your 40-day guide to experiencing more passionate, persistent, intimate communication with God.
Do you pray as often and as bravely as you want to? Are you looking to strengthen your relationship with God and experience a deeper, more intentional prayer life? Mark Batterson, New York Times bestselling author of The Circle Maker, is here to teach you all about a new, life-changing way to pray.
After the release of The Circle Maker, thousands of readers quickly became many tens of thousands, and soon enough, true stories of miraculous and inspiring answers to prayer began to pour in. Draw the Circle…
I am passionate about writing, reading, and recommending books that help people understand how to improve their relationship to God and to others. Verbal advice only goes so far. The wonder of books is that they contain the wisdom of years and lived experience that can encourage and equip readers long after the writers are gone. In addition to being an author of Christian living books, I have a graduate degree in biblical studies as well as decades of experience in adult education, public relations, and ministry to women. I also speak internationally on spiritual living.
There are plenty of books on prayer. Lots and lots of them. But I have never read one prior to this that helped me understand conversing with God in ways that come so naturally to me. In Praying Personalities, Janet Holm McHenry skillfully helps readers understand what Jesus taught and practiced when it comes to prayer, while providing tools to help everyone discover the prayer styles that work best for them.
I am recommending this invaluable resource to all those longing for a richer, more meaningful life of prayer.
Discover the particular way God designed you to connect with prayer You should pray in the morning. You should write out your prayers. You should make prayer lists and pray through them every day. You should pray with others or out loud. We've all heard the "you shoulds" of prayer from pulpits, presenters, and well-meaning friends. But when none of these ways to pray feel natural, what's next? Janet Holm McHenry has studied prayer extensively, and the one thing she knows for sure is that there's no one-size-fits-all way to pray. Instead, there are different styles of prayer--and by discovering…
As a painfully shy child, I found friendship, adventure and ultimately my own voice reading about—and spending time with—animals. Animals felt safer to talk to than people, and they gave me the gift of their presence and time to practice communication. Overtime, I conquered my extreme shyness, obtained a Masters degree in counseling, and, eventually, began writing about the many ways animals can help people. There is no denying the role that animals—and books about animals—have played in my life. And by sharing this list, I hope to help others find that same comfort and inspiration.
While this book isn’t technically about animals, I read it every morning with my golden retriever, Gracie, curled up at my feet, so I can’t help but include this one in the list. My time reading this powerful devotional book—with Gracie at my feet—became such a beautiful picture of what it means to lay my every fear, anxiety, and worry at Jesus’ feet and trust him to steady me and hold me through the hard seasons.
If you have ever wrestled with anxiety or found your heart so gripped by fear it was hard to take a deep breath, then this is the book for you! And if possible, have an animal beside you while you soak in the hope found in its pages.
Find hope amid anxiety through the spiritual practice of breath prayer in this beautifully illustrated and practical guide to connecting body, mind, and spirit during times of stress.
Breath as Prayer will lead you through the practice and the proven health benefits of Christian breath prayer: intentional prayers centered around Scripture that focus our minds on Christ as we calm our bodies through breathing.
Breath as Prayer offers:
More than 80 breath prayers focused on Scripture, along with brief meditations
Gorgeous original full-color illustrations
A quick-start how-to guide to refer to as needed
Guidance on how to implement a breath…
I’m often introduced as a “prayer expert” but I’m not. I’m just someone who’s found herself praying a lot—for my family, my friends, and even sometimes complete strangers. And while there are all sorts of ways we can pray, I like praying the Scriptures—taking the actual words of the Bible and using them to shape our perspective as well as our prayers. Not only has that approach made my conversations with God more diverse and creative, but it has made them more powerful. Plus, praying this way has equipped me to trust God and experience freedom from worry or fear—even when things don’t happen the way, or in the timing, that I want them to.
If you’re looking for a well-loved prayer “classic,” you won’t find many books with more staying power than Andrew Murray’s With Christ in the School of Prayer. Murray doesn’t see prayer as one facet of the Christian life; rather, he says that it is the “root and strength” of all that we do. “Jesus never taught his disciples how to preach,” Murray writes, “only how to pray.” And the secret to a powerful prayer life is abiding in Christ—growing into his likeness—so that our lives (including our thoughts and desires) look more like his. As we enroll in Jesus’ “school of prayer", we will learn to pray in harmony with God, be equipped to impact our world, and discover the true purpose of prayer.
Originally titled: 'With Christ In the School of Prayer: Thoughts on Our Training for the Ministry of Intercession,' to Include: Lord, Teach Us to Pray - In Spirit & Truth - Pray To Thy Father, Which Is In Secret - After This Manner Pray - Ask, & It Shall be Given You - How Much More? - How Much More the Holy Spirit - Because of His Importunity - Pray the Lord of the Harvest - What Wilt Thou? - Believe That Ye Have Received - Have Faith in God - Prayer & Fasting - When Ye Stand Praying, Forgive…
