Authentic Faith

Fortify your commitment to Christ by examining ten 'authentic' disciplines God uses to forge a fire-tested faith. What if the spiritual disciplines that bring us closer to God are not the ones we control? Bestselling author Gary Thomas reveals the rich benefits that derive from embracing the harder truths of Scripture. With penetrating insight from Scripture and the Christian classics, along with colorful and engaging stories, this eye-opening look at what it means to be a true disciple of Jesus will encourage you, bolster your faith, and help you rise above shallow attachments to fix your heart on things of eternal worth.

Customer Reviews:

A must read

By Dawn Martin - January 14, 2008

If I could give this book more then five stars I would. "Authentic Faith" was very convicting, and really made me think about some things in my life. I am a fast reader, but there were days that I could only read a couple of pages because I had to take time to think about what Gary Thomas said.

Thomas starts off his book by talking about laying new groundwork for what defines authentic faith, which is a life centered around God and not ourselves. Authentic faith developed by "authentic disciplines" such as contentment, suffering, persecution, waiting, mourning, humility and forgiveness. These disciplines are different than traditional disciplines such as fasting, praying, studying the Bible etc., because they are not initiated by us but rather by God. Whereas on the other hand, traditional disciplines are initiated by us to help build our faith. Although, they are worthy of our initiation they can sometimes foster religiosity, pride and self sufficiency.

One of... read more

Very powerful, convicting devotional

By B. Melton - November 14, 2009

I'm reading this with a group of women as a devotional for a Mops leadership group and we all recommend it! Gary talks about a host of areas in our lives that we don't frequently dwell on, areas that can be hard to think about much less discuss. There are chapters on selflessness, waiting, suffering, persecution, social mercy, forgiveness, mourning, contentment, sacrifice and hope and fear. Lest that sounds too depressing, take heart! Using many real life examples, he discusses how each of these areas can draw us closer to God. As he says, "what if life isn't meant to be perfect, but we are meant to trust the One who is?" As any human being knows, life isn't perfect but our experiences can help shape our faith, if we allow God to let them. I also highly recommend going on his website [...] for a free study guide to go along with the book. You can also download free chapters of other books as well as study guides to go along with them. This book isn't a light read, but if you... read more

Awesome book!

By V. Ly "VLovesBooks" - April 17, 2006

This is one of the best books I've ever read! Thomas address areas of faith that most people never talk about (the difficulties that we can't control). I recommended it to all my friends. We even used it for our women's study bible stuy. Every one of my friends who've read this book has also loved it. It's challenging, and it makes you uncomfortable with the comforts of your own faith. This book is convicting, but it also helps to transform your thinking and test your faith.