Book Review - A Holy Pursuit - Write Them On My Heart

Book Review – A Holy Pursuit

September 2

~ Today’s Scripture Art and Book Review on A Holy Pursuit were designed to help you navigate your hopes and dreams biblically. ~

*This post may contain affiliate links. To learn more, click here.

New Here?
Click to snag 7 Welcome Gifts!

Before you start reading today’s post I want you to take a minute and think of something you are hoping and dreaming about.

It can be big or small. It can be a hope for today or a hope for 10 years from now.

Got it?

Okay, keep that hope/dream in your mind while you read this.

That’s what I did while I read this book: A Holy Pursuit by Dianne Jago.

I won’t beat around the bush – this is the best book I have read so far this year and I can’t wait to share it with you.

My Book Review – A Holy Pursuit

Book Review - A Holy Pursuit by Dianne Jago

While reading A Holy Pursuit, I said “Amen!” so many times that I’m pretty confident if I ever get the pleasure to meet Dianne in real life, we will become fast friends.

The book’s subtitle gives you the scoop …

How the Gospel frees us to follow and lay down our dreams.

Two words caught my eye and made me pick up the book:

HOW – If you’ve been around here for any length of time, you know how much we love to dig around and find out how the Bible wants us to do things.
AND – I was curious to find out how the gospel can free us to follow and lay down our dreams.

At the same time? Follow and lay down?

Yep!

2 Timothy 3:16-17 Scripture Calligraphy — *Shop this ^ botanical printable HERE.

Dianne begins with questions that we, as Christians, have probably asked ourselves at some point …

“So how do we know if we should pursue a dream? Is dreaming at all a totally selfish endeavor, or is it okay in certain situations? How do we navigate whether or not we should move forward with an idea that we just can’t seem to shake?”

She has a whole chapter titled “Does Dying to Self Mean Dying to Our Dreams?” and another one titled “When God Becomes Your Genie.” If you like only-biblical answers like I do, then you will eat those chapters up.

There’s so much solid, biblically-based information in this book that I can’t possibly share it all here, so I decided to pull out one point to share with you today – one that blends well with the theme of this blog.

Hopes and Dreams and the Bible

Dianne says, “We can’t talk about our dreams without talking about the Bible. To do so would be like trying to make a solid plan for healthy eating or exercise with absolutely no overarching knowledge of how the human body works. And so we must read our Bibles well to do dreaming well.”

I told ya we would be friends! {grin}

2 Timothy 3:16-17 Botanical Scripture Art

Then she reads our minds when she adds …

“While God’s Word may not address your dream specifically, there’s one thing we can be sure of in this dream-chasing world: Scripture does provide trustworthy wisdom to help the Christian navigate when to move forward or not. This is the beauty of the Bible: its wisdom is timeless and is 100% relevant despite the changing norms, values, expectations, and trends of every type of culture. The answers to our questions are indeed found within its pages.”

Indeed.

Here’s proof …

2 Timothy 3:16-17 (ESV): All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

We usually think of this verse in terms of daily life in general. But take a minute and think about it in terms of the questions we asked above …

How do we know if we should pursue a dream? Scripture will teach us.
Is dreaming a selfish endeavor, or is it okay in certain situations? Scripture will correct us.
How do we navigate whether or not we should move forward with an idea? Scripture will thoroughly and completely equip us.

Completely.

Hello – that means we need not look anywhere else.

Dianne agrees, “In other words, if we are Christians, any and every idea we have (which includes our ambitions and dreams), and any and every plan we make about an idea (which includes our strategies for accomplishing those dreams) should be informed by what God says about Himself, about reality, about the world, and about ourselves. And these things are found in the Bible.”

2 Timothy 3:16-17 for my book review of A Holy Pursuit

For example, the psalmist throughout Psalm 119 exemplifies what it looks like to live guided and directed by the truth of God’s Word.

Psalm 119:14-16 (ESV): In the way of your testimonies I delight as much as in all riches. I will meditate on your precepts and fix my eyes on your ways. I will delight in your statutes; I will not forget your word.

Dianne admits, “There was a season in my Christian walk where I grew inconsistent with my Scripture reading. I became so upset with myself because I had the head knowledge of what I should do but had no inward desire to do it. I decided to turn to Psalm 119 as a reminder of Scripture’s value, but rather than just read why it is profitable, it revealed that even my very desire for it comes from Him.”

The psalmist’s desire to stay rooted in God’s Word came from God!

How do we know?

Each statement he made was preceded with a request for God to help him stay in His Word …

Psalm 119:33-37 (ESV): Teach me, O Lord, the way of your statutes; and I will keep it to the end. Give me understanding, that I may keep your law and observe it with my whole heart. Lead me in the path of your commandments, for I delight in it. Incline my heart to your testimonies, and not to selfish gain! Turn my eyes from looking at worthless things; and give me life in your ways.

Dianne explains, “That verse was a mirror of my own heart. I was consumed with worthless things, but I need not stay there. The psalmist asked God to give him life – to pull him out of the muck and mire and set him upon the path of life. And so, I prayed through this psalm with fresh eyes. There is a clear plea from the psalmist to God, acknowledging in utter humility how much he needs God in the process of keeping His commands, attaining blessing or happiness, and keeping away from sin.”

What an encouragement that our ability to serve God does not rest in our own strength!

Dianne states, “This is the theme of all Scripture, and the very heart of the gospel! He created us, He chose us, He saved us, He sustains us, He sanctifies us, and it’s all for His glory. It’s all from him, for Him, to Him, and if we want to live a life for His glory, we must humble ourselves and recognize just how much we need Him to help us.”

Colossians 1:16 Scripture Art — *Shop this ^ printable HERE.

Now would be a good time to ask ourselves:

How often do we pray for God to give us the desire to read His Word every day?

One of my favorite pieces of advice from the book: “When we neglect the Word, we become spiritually parched and malnourished. And similar to my experience with actual water, symptoms inevitably show up when we fail to “drink our water” for the day. We get foggy, tired, and out of sorts, spiritually speaking. Our souls become lethargic and sluggish and irritable. We know there’s a well of water sitting right there, waiting for us to drink as much as we need, but we siphon off a teaspoon every now and then and wonder why we feel spiritually disoriented, discontent, or distant.”

That is why I encourage every-single-day 365 Scripture writing!

Dianne wisely notes, “The dreamer who remains rooted in the Word understands that a neglect of the Word is essentially a neglect of God. She does not want to be tossed back and forth between her dreams and what she thinks may be God’s will. She knows she cannot know His will for herself if she doesn’t know Him, how He works, and what He desires of His people. The dreamer knows the Bible gives us an account of all those things.”

She continues, “Our gauge for determining whether or not something is biblical requires an intimate knowledge of our Bibles. If biblical truth does not permeate our minds, then our own version of truth or what culture projects will have the greater influence in our decisions, and if this happens, we will head down a path of compromise.”

At the end of the book Dianne offers 7 filters that are extremely helpful to determine whether or not you should lay down, press pause, or move forward with a dream.

I recommend you get her book so you can thoughtfully process your hopes and dreams through each filter – while you are soaking in Scripture every day, of course.

I think you will find her book and 7 filters practical as well as beneficial.

In closing, I will leave you with one last quote – just in case you need another reason to stay in the Word every day …

“Consider that there is nothing that God does that is without purpose. This includes His intentionally leaving out the specific details in the blueprint that is your life. He wants you to turn to Him, depend on Him, press into Him, and seek Him. And where He hasn’t provided step-by-step directions for specific situations, He has laid out His overarching will for all believers in Scripture.”

See the list of ALL my Book Reviews