Personal Spiritual Growth

Become the exceptional person God has called you to be with these seven practices for living a fulfilled and plentiful life from Lakewood Church co-pastor and bestselling author Victoria Osteen. In her latest book, Exceptional You! Victoria Osteen shares seven ways to become the exceptional person God has called you to be. She says, "If you're going reach your highest potential in life, you're going to have to develop the ability to see beyond where you are right now."

When the storms of life blow in unexpectedly, wreaking havoc and leaving a trail of destruction, why does one person fall apart while another perseveres and even finds a deeper sense of purpose afterward? In Beyond the Storm, Debra Morton reveals why, providing the techniques and strategies that helped her and many others not only survive but also thrive, even in the most painful of circumstances.

A fresh approach to spiritual formation! In the past, church leaders have turned to small groups or other kinds of discipleship programs to encourage spiritual growth in their churches. Yet, despite good intentions, the deeper experiences of spiritual transformation they had hoped for remained elusive.

Pastor Choco, author of Move into More, knows what it feels like to want more from life. Raised by a single mother after his alcoholic father left, he grew up as a poor Puerto Rican kid in Humboldt Park, one of Chicago’s toughest neighborhoods. He grew up never having enough. However, God had so much more for him.

Most of us grow up believing it's more important to fit in than to stand out. But there's something different about you, and it matters. What if your weirdness was the key to changing everything? What if the outrageous, imaginative, crazy ideas that live inside your wildest dreams are actually there on purpose, divinely preinstalled to help others? Knowing what makes you weird is the best thing you can offer your art, your business, your friends, your family, and yourself.

Just as seismic shifts in the natural world have radical and far-reaching effects, there are seismic shifts in our personal lives that can transform our hearts, relationships, physical health, faith, and every aspect of our lives. These are the little changes that can make the big difference!

Is your life limited by labels the world and other people have used to define you? Labels you have internalized and apply to yourself every day? Labels like “Afraid” or “Addict” or “Orphan.” “Damaged Goods.” “Failure.” Maybe even “Religious.” These labels might be sewn into your life with such tight little stitches that they feel like a part of you. It feels like they define you. But that’s a lie. If you let him, Jesus can remove those old labels and tattoo new ones onto your soul. Then you’ll begin to see yourself as God the Father sees you.

Would you like to be happier? No matter who you are or how you feel, chances are you would answer yes. And Jennifer Dukes Lee was no different. For years, she wrestled with a constant nagging sense that she wasn't as happy as she could be. At the same time, she felt guilty for wanting something so "shallow". After all, doesn't God only care that we find joy in our circumstances? Or is it possible that God really does want us to be happy?

Igniting the fires of personal revival, seasoned revivalist and pastor Kim Owens shows that a heart on fire for Jesus is the antidote to apathy and complacency. Sharing vital revelations, biblical wisdom, and practical principles discovered in a ten-year-sustained revival, Pastor Kim equips you to transform a life of spiritual dryness into one with spiritual zeal; maintain a holy desperation for God; prioritize a passionate pursuit of Jesus; and experience a vibrant, contagious relationship with Christ.

Women's hearts are designed by God for relationships. But in this fractured world, the relationships we so deeply desire are often the sources of great pain. Drawing on the Bible's wisdom, counselor Sharon Hersh reveals the secret to enduring life's heartaches and still coming up living wholeheartedly, loving with abandon, and daring to hope and believe.

When Daniel Darling was fired as spokesperson for the National Religious Broadcasters Association, it wasn't his exit that made national news—it was the way he handled it. Daniel's charitable response to those he had worked with was so radical that it made headlines. But why has kindness among Christians become so startling? In Agents of Grace, Daniel explores practical ways we can follow the Bible's command to "strive actively for peace" even in a painfully divided church, country, and world.

Is it crazy to want a happy life? The host of Jesus Is Real Radio and Hillsong Channel’s Real with Daniel Fusco unlocks the happiness we long for in the most famous teachings of Jesus and the apostle Paul.

Author Michelle Van Loon weaves together personal stories and keen insights on the biblical themes of pilgrimage and exile. She will help you embrace your own pilgrim identity and reorient your heart toward the God who leads you home. Engaging and thoughtful, enhanced with practical suggestions, prayers, and questions, Born to Wander will teach how to trust God even when you don’t understand what’s happening around you and follow him even when it hurts. Embrace the purpose behind the wandering and discover the freedom and safety of resting in God alone.

Writer and Bible teacher Jen Wise knew that holistic faith is what brings grace and renewal. But she didn’t begin to live this truth until her world fractured. So as she searched Scripture for a better way, she discovered Jesus’ invitation for just that: small steps able to lead us into a bright new beginning. So to the woman who feels her all is never enough, The Bright Life is your invitation to a new start. You were created to be healthy, strong, vibrant, and to rest in the unforced rhythms of grace Jesus so lovingly makes available to us all.

It’s time to wake the sleeping giant in our world, in our communities, in our churches, and in our homes. There’s a revolution brewing, a sleeping giant coming out of a long slumber. For years, men have been sitting to the side, minding their own business, nursing their own wounds. But that time is reaching its end. Our wounds must surely be tended to, and our business must surely be minded. We are meant for greater things than these, and the world can no longer indulge our slumber.

Women are bombarded with ideas of perfection every day. The desire to be perfect, says author Kim Hyland, is actually a God-given urge. After all, we were made for Eden. But there is a difference between perfection and perfectionism, which is our attempt to achieve perfection on our own, by our own strength, and for our own purposes. In this freeing book, Hyland offers women a stirring manifesto for acknowledging their limitations and embracing the perfection of God through his grace.

The Psalms call it selah - the pause, rest, or interlude between the notes in a song. More than merely an empty space, selah is a chance to stop and resync with the story and song of God. For all the ways life keeps you running, this word and practice offers a way to re-center yourself on the One who holds all things together and makes all things beautiful. Stretched beyond her capacity in caring for a large family in the middle of Manhattan, Kristen Kill was exhausted, depressed, and desperate for a change. Then something sparked in her when she read the Psalms.

Christian faith isn't blind obedience to a set of rules and regulations; it is entering into a relationship with a God who pursues us - not to punish, but to love. As the leader of Central Christian Church in the self-proclaimed "Sin City, U.S.A.", Jud Wilhite has seen it all, and he knows that no matter how far someone has strayed from God, God always remains in passionate pursuit.

Have you convinced yourself the abundant life Jesus came to bring is out of reach? Have you developed an "if only" mentality, waiting for something or someone to turn things around? While you become more and more dependent on your excuses, you watch others get what you want to have, go where you want to go, and experience what you long to feel. It seems it's never your turn to experience the joy that comes from attaining all God has for you.

In a post-Christian, post-modern, post-truth society where Jesus followers aren't often well regarded, modern evangelism methods and efforts are eroding and increasingly ineffective. Christians often talk more than we listen, confront when we should converse, and demand that people believe before they belong.