Living the Extraordinary Life by Charles Stanley provides the path to abundant living for both the Christian and the unbeliever looking for answers in today's hectic society.
It is a study of nine principles that Dr. Stanley has discovered in his walk with the Lord. They include: God's Grace is the Starting Point; Trust the Lord, and He will move Heaven and Earth to Accomplish His Purpose; Obedience Always Brings Blessing; Knowing God's Will is Worth the Wait; and Fight Your Battles on Your Knees, and You'll Win Every Time.
"Are you wrestling against forces that seem out of your control? Is life's treadmill going faster that you are? If you answer yes...you are running your own life." And therein lies the problem for each of us. In this age of instant everything, if we don't get-or find-the answer yesterday, we ignore God and try to solve problems our way.
Dr. Stanley shows through Scripture and example the wisdom and blessing that is ours when we slow down, prioritize, and submit to God. We were created with a "God" hole in us. When we try to fill that place with anything but God, we are bound to fail. When we ignore God's rules and warnings, we set ourselves up to fall.
Developing a relationship with our Father takes time and effort, but is worth it. His way is seldom easy, but yielding to it always results in blessing and a deeper relationship with Him. The fruit of the Spirit is proof of His love to us and through us to others. It is proof of the Extraordinary Life possible to each one of us.
Living the Extraordinary Life is a great Bible study for individuals or small groups. At the end of each chapter there are a few questions and extra Scriptures to study. He also has provided journaling pages at the back. - Linda Demorest, Christian Book Previews.com
There is plenty of good advice and universal Christian truth in this book. However, much of it is clogged with fundamentalist rhetoric and "OSAS" (Once Saved Always Saved) appears in dogmatic statements throughout the book.
If you're a Southern Baptist in the strictest "hard line" Bible-only fundamentalist sense, then you will probably not notice these things... If you're a Christian who is closer to the roots of Christianity and belong to a liturgical protestant denomination (Lutheran, Episcopal, Anglican), Catholic or Orthodox, then you would absolutely have some theological problems with many of the underlying assumptions in this book.
In some ways, I think this book is just "cashing in" on the success of other recent protestant Christian inspirational books. Unfortunately, the author doesn't hit the nail on the head. This one will be short-lived, I'm afraid.
It's an "OK" book, but it's not NEARLY as nice to read as other Christian inspiration books, including Warren's The Purpose Driven Life. Even better for inspiration: check out the writings of Pope John Paul II.
-Michael
