Sun Stand Still by Steven Furtick

Being the pastor of one of the fastest growing churches in America, Steven Furtick knows what he's talking about when it comes to walking in faith.  I have been listening to his podcasts for months and he is a great preacher!  This book highlights the biblical account in Joshua 10 when Joshua asks God to stop the sun from going down for an entire day so he can have complete victory...and God does it!  Pastor Steven says that we too can have the confidence (or "audacity" as he likes to call it) to ask God for seemingly impossible things when they are in line with God's desires.  He reminds us that God is great, God is good, and God is very much at work in our world today. 

For those who have done much reading about faith and prayer, I can't say that the information presented in the book is entirely new.  But I can say that it is presented with a fresh perspective, different vocabulary, and current examples of lives changed through audacious faith.  Pastor Steven answers common questions such as what happens when we make mistakes, and how do we deal with the sun going down (or in other words...with our prayers not being answered the way we had hoped).  One of my favorite chapters was Push While You Pray which talks about our need to act.  He writes "Prayer is rarely all we can do.  We can pray and we can prepare.  We can ask God to intervene and we can initiate changes in our lives to make it happen.  We can ask the Lord to fight for us and we can pull out our swords and start fighting in his strength.  Sun Stand Still prayers are integrated prayers: They join our faith-filled prayer with our faith-filled action." 

While it is mentioned in the book that this message applies to everyone, not just church leaders, I would have liked to hear more real-life examples.  I'm still trying to figure out what having audacious faith would look like for a stay-at-home mom like myself.  Maybe his wife Holly could write a follow-up book to add a female perspective :)  Overall, there is something for everyone in this book. It would be hard to read it and not be inspired by Pastor Steven's passion and ministry.