Thinking back to when I began reading Believing God I realized it has taken me a couple of years to get from start to finish. Yes, years. But I don't believe that to be without intention.
You see, the premise behind Beth Moore's Believing God is, as you might have guessed, learning how to believe God. I have to say when I picked up this book I didn't know I struggled with unbelief. Growing up in a Christian home and attending Christian school my whole life I was pretty certain I knew what I believed. But what I hadn't recognized was the difference between believing in God and actually believing God.
As I developed a deeper understanding and recognition of this truth, I became consciously aware of doubt in my life. All these promises the Lord has given me I'd heard but doubted I'd ever receive. Because I, much like the Israelites, did not believe the Lord would ever take me to my promised land. In order to kick my relationship with the Lord up a notch from believing in Him to believing Him, I needed to read this definition of what "promised land" actually means:
“Your personalized Promised Land is the abiding place where you get to see God keep the promise of a great harvest through your life ”
One of my most frequent prayers is that I would be able to get to know the Lord better. Understanding that the "promised land" for my life is not an actual receiving of physical blessings, but rather a harvest of spiritual returns deepened my relationship with the Lord in a new and profound way.
As I soaked in each chapter I could almost see literal, physical parallels going on in my life reflecting what I was learning. Almost like I was taking steps through my desert of unbelief, across my own Jordan River, to the edge of my own Promised Land. And this is why I believe it took me so long to complete this read. I needed to truly live it out so that the Lord's truth could change my heart.
To say I highly recommend this book would be an understatement. Believing God changed how I approach my relationship with God and strengthened my faith in a life-changing way.