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Living Close to God (When You're Not Good at It): A Spiritual Life That Takes You Deeper Than Daily Devotions

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Have you tried harder to have a consistent time with the Lord—but failed?Does your mind wander during prayer, and do you run out of things to say?Do you question why it is so hard to fellowship with the Lord?Stop feeling like a failure at daily devotions and start walking every day with the Lord who loves you.Gene Edwards faced these same questions and struggles. And he found a better way to walk with the Lord than merely trying harder to pray and read the Bible.In Living Close to God (When You're Not Good at It) you will discover that loving God means much more than doing your best to serve Him. You will find ways to start your day with Christ, beginning with your first conscious thought in the morning. You will learn how to fellowship with Him during even the most demanding days. And when you go to the Scriptures, you will talk with Him in a two-way conversation—just as His first followers did.

Includes a small-group discussion guide and a guidefor your own relationship with God.

 

194 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 4, 2011

118 people are currently reading
241 people want to read

About the author

Gene Edwards

133 books275 followers
Gene Edwards is one of America's most beloved Christian authors. He has published over 25 best-selling books, and his signature work, "The Divine Romance," has been called a masterpiece of Christian literature. He has written biblical fiction covering nearly the entire Bible, with titles that include the following: "The Beginning," "The Escape," "The Birth," "The Divine Romance," "The Triumph," "Revolution," "The Silas Diary," "The Titus Diary," "The Timothy Diary," "The Priscilla Diary," "The Gaius Diary," and "The Return."

Gene grew up in the East Texas oil fields and entered college at the age of 15. He graduated from East Texas State University at 18 with a bachelor's degree in English history and received his M.Div. from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. Gene is part of the house-church movement, and he travels extensively to aid Christians as they begin meeting in homes rather than in church buildings. He also conducts conferences on living the deeper Christian life.

Gene and his wife, Helen, reside in Jacksonville, Florida, and have two grown children.

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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
Profile Image for Mehaul Lawlor.
1 review
January 31, 2015
A great way to use Gods word to still and position your heart for fellowship with Jesus in the midst of a busy and hectic world.looking forward to exploring this further to deepen my relationship with Jesus.A writer with great revelation.His other book "The divine romance " is already a classic.
Profile Image for Colleen.
327 reviews32 followers
April 14, 2012
This book is good for those who are just learning to worship. Very practical day to day applications on your journey to a closer relationship with Christ. This is a good book to start with.
Profile Image for Amy Riccio.
710 reviews9 followers
February 17, 2015
The book gripped me immediately as I find i very much relate to the author. Toward the middle I did get a bit disinterested as the author was very repetitive. I did take many of his suggestions to heart though and I'm going to try and make a habit of just slowing down in general, in thought, in spirit in order to find that secret place where Jesus waits for me.
661 reviews10 followers
December 3, 2018
This was a new author for me but a very significant book for anyone that wants to live closer to our Savior. This book can best be summed up in this statement. "None of us can walk around all day carrying a Bible and reading it. Our walk with the Lord needs to be portable. We need to take the Lord, who dwells in us, into the pressures, responsibilities, and crises of everyday life. It is necessary to find a walk with Christ that is intimate and also enters into the pressure cooker of life." I did like this book.
Profile Image for Karl Ingersoll.
26 reviews
July 26, 2018
Over Generalized?

I love this author. This book was a bit of a disappointment, to be honest. By God’s grace I see my flaws and inadequacies but I don’t consider myself a spiritual failure. I am in love with Christ. This does not make me a spiritual success or an anomaly. It just means that God is good … so very good.
Profile Image for antony .
359 reviews8 followers
May 17, 2019
More than scratches the surface, it digs a mine shaft

If you have read praying the bible by Whitney then you will enjoy this book because the first half it helps you get a much better feeling for what what praying the scriptures is like.

Whitneys book is short and sweet and sends you in the right direction, but this one digs a mine shaft into the thing.
Profile Image for KD.
90 reviews3 followers
December 24, 2019
Honest and thought provoking.

A very helpful and practical book. Now the hard work begins re-Reading and putting the truth revealed into daily practice. I am very grateful for the lessons on each chapter at the end of the book. Brings the book of the shelf and into the heart so good habits become habitual good habits. Life changing if responded too.
Profile Image for Aggie.
177 reviews21 followers
April 6, 2020
I liked this book but I feel like it could've been written in half the amount of pages. Seeing how it's already a short book, I guess he needed to add the fluff and repetition. Nonetheless, I am grateful for the practical advice and the author's honesty.
Profile Image for Michael.
14 reviews2 followers
August 18, 2012
“Living Close to God When You’re Not Good At It” offers the promise to help you experience a “spiritual life that takes you deeper than daily devotions”. Through several best practices, Edwards offers a handful of basic steps to encounter God on a daily basis.

Edwards begins by sharing about his own frustrating search for a deeper Christian life. He begins in the second chapter saying that he did not find help by reading of the lives of great Christian leaders (John Wesley, Adoniram Judson, Charles Finney, Hudson Taylor, etc). I have to question how deeply he read of their lives because there are wonderful spiritual disciplines to learn from men such as these. Anyway, he decided that the search did not end there.

So still on a quest, he shares that he struggled to maintain a consistent quiet time, to keep his mind from wandering when he came before the Lord, of not having anything to say to God, experiencing one-way conversations with God, and also forgetting about God through the day. And so Edwards seeks to establish himself as “one of us” who has struggled with a deeper Christian life.
But as Edwards closes “The Search” chapter, he suggests that the reason our devotional lives ought to be simple is because “God is simple”. While the premise that we do not have to come before the Lord with programmed and difficult times of Bible study and prayer, I do not believe most would agree with the idea that the God of the Universe is “simple”. In fact, one can study about Him for a lifetime and just begin to grasp the great God of Scripture!

That being said, Edwards uses this idea of a “simple God” to pitch the idea that a deeper Christian life is as simple as reading the Bible. Thus, he offers a method of reading/praying to accomplish this goal of reading the Bible with a purpose. The method is essentially reading Scripture slowly, praying and contemplating each verse as you read. In all likelihood, most readers will not find this practice as a revolutionary and innovative new approach.

Edwards then challenges the reader to build upon this Bible reading with the practice of loving God in a new way. He suggests that the reader must go beyond doing by simply loving. For Edwards, the practice of loving is described as simply “breathing” words of affirmation to the Lord. He offers an example of speaking a repetitious phrase of love to God.

As Edwards moves towards the daily application of this practice of encountering the Lord, he urges the reader to, as some may suggest, essentially lower the bar by not striving for extended daily devotions, but focusing on shorter breath prayers and times with God. But for his intended audience of discouraged and frustrated followers of Christ, this more focused and shortened time will be a welcomed relief. The focus is the quality of the time, not a legalistic quantity of time.

As Edwards moves forward in the day, what expands on these shorter times is the encouragement to seek out opportunities throughout the day – in down times in the day. So what Edwards is calling for is not a once a day token time with God, but a day long encounter with God.
As a summary, the core of the book focuses on four core “handles” for spiritual growth:
1. Praying through the Psalms. 2. Taking walks to talk with God. 3. Focusing on short times with God in the morning. 4. Look for times throughout the day to talk with God.
Edwards offers an insightful chapter on the “dangers” of growing close to Christ. From conflicts with other Christian friends to conflicts in the church, a maturing believer certainly can face opposition.

Summary: Overall, I believe this book offers some helpful insights for busy believers to begin finding time and making time to encounter God daily. At the same time, I see this book as a “beginner’s guide” which will lead the maturing believer to seek out longer times with God, a more developed prayer life, and more inductive-style Bible studies. Edwards offers hope to those discouraged by their current relationship with God by using Scriptural principles and practices. In my opinion, some church-goers would benefit from this book using the methods that he encourages, but many will be left looking for something much more in depth.

"I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review."
Profile Image for Seekingmylord.
24 reviews4 followers
July 12, 2012
Living Close to God (When You're Not Good At It) is a good introductory book for those who want to get past religion and find God. The first part of the book describes the author's journey starting with his own lack of spiritually. Then it engages you to try what he did. Using Psalm 23 as his foundation, he simply asks that you pause, wait, and slow down as you say the words as God would say them to you and you back to Him. It was the beginning of his spiritual awakening. I felt it was powerfully moving also. He suggested taking 30 minutes to go through this exercise; I found I had taken an hour and most of it was in tears.

The author suggests not to spend quantity time with the Lord but highly quality time. This is not to replace prayer, devotions, or scripture reading if these are part of your routine, although I suspect it will enrich them. It is about connecting with God even if you do not have a devotional routine. It is also about giving God a loving hug without asking for anything for just a few moments at a time. Just saying "I love you" in a still and quieted mind a few times a day. It is a spiritual-life changing book.

That said, it was the last chapter, "Getting to Know Christ Can Be Dangerous," that grabbed me because it is both illogical and profoundly true:

"Many believers who have come to a deeper relationship with Christ get into trouble. There are reasons for this.

First, they get into trouble with other Christians, even friends, who no longer understand them.

Second, they get into trouble with the church, because a deeper relationship with Christ conflicts with church as it is practiced in their generation.

Third, they may cause trouble, which in turn means they get into trouble.

Most Christians do not want to accept that growing closer to Christ would put them at odds with the church....It is even possible you might lose friends and become a byword among believers."


In the last part of the book is a seven-session small group study guide and also a seven-week personal guide. Both basically question the reader and reiterate the information. Some may find these parts of the book redundant and some might find them very helpful in supporting the few and very simple principles presented. This book is definitely worthwhile to give you ideas about how and when to take special moments with the Lord and just love Him.

I received this book from WaterBrook Press in exchange for my honest review.
Profile Image for Joel Jackson.
148 reviews6 followers
January 3, 2012
Gene Edwards offers a concise guide to the spiritual life, a guide that seeks to help each Christian who is bogged down in this busy world to find the moments to commune with the Savior. In this guide, Edwards offers many practical suggestions. One such suggestion is to designate certain patterns or signals throughout the day in order to remind you to spend some time in conversation with the Lord. A particularly helpful aspect of this text was the author's consistent reminder that he himself is not a "spiritual person." In reminding us of this, the reader can feel a companionship with Gene Edwards as he struggles alongside the reader to discover how to grow closer to God. He also offers a great brief chapter on the fact that we cannot pursue God alone, we must do so within community. Unfortunately, there were a few aspects of this book that did not appeal. Consistently, it appears that Gene Edwards supports a spiritual life of moments. It is ok to pray for ten seconds in the morning or to offer a single breath prayer when starting the car. This seems to limit the time the disciple of Christ can spend in fellowship. Paul teaches that we should pray constantly--this is a life attitude of fellowshipping with our Lord in each and every moment. Edwards also uses much of his own biography and seems to declare that one person's method of spiritual fellowship with God will work for everyone. While he offers great insight into the spiritual life, GOd created each of us as unique individuals who can discover GOd in our uniqueness. There is no single way to fellowship with God. While taking Scripture and rewording it for one's self is a great suggestions, some people may not find this effective based on their own personality and gifts. The discussion guides at the end of the book are really helpful for small groups and individuals if each person keeps in mind that God designed us to uniquely encounter Him within community.
Profile Image for Chris.
21 reviews2 followers
September 25, 2012
This book’s title is correct, it’s about living close to God, not learning how to relate to Him intimately. After completing the 120 or so pages of widely spaced text I felt as empty as a college math teacher playing soduku with a third grader.

I'm not trying to degrade Gene Edward’s book. For the person who isn't interested in wading through the messy baggage of personal relationships this book is for you. It starts and ends without any narrative context. Why would you desire to live closely with God? Well, it's just what we are to do, right? How do we get drawn closer to God? We gut it out through the years. Appealing.

The brevity, lack of scholarship and disconnect with any real story to drive home points left me wondering why I enjoyed his earlier work, A Tale of Three Kings, so much. It was also a short read with large margins. Within those margins, however, I contemplated the narrative unfolding from scripture. I looked for hints of it in my life and I felt driven. In this book I could not do the same. Possibly because being relational is not something this author is good at.

I'm glad to know Gene Edwards desires to sit closer to God. If you want a quick nuts and bolts overview as a new believer this book may be for you. For a deeper read full of narrative I highly recommend Greg Paul's, Close Enough to Hear God Breathe.

Paul brings impressive and unsettling bits of personal story into the fray to drive us forward. In writing it is imperative you write what you know. I'm not sure Gene Edwards followed that credo. I think he should have.

This book was provided at no cost from its publisher in exchange for this review.
Profile Image for David Santos.
Author 12 books64 followers
January 2, 2012
This book annoyed me. I was very excited when I received it in the mail. Because I, at times feel like I lack that relationship with God. I wanted to read this book in hopes to find the answer to the question "How do I live closer to God?" What I got were "sermons" about things I don't understand. Again I have A.D.D so if the book isn't straight to the point, I get bored easily.

This book should be titled "How I Lived Closer to God" because it just talks about the authors relationship with God and how he discovered it, but doesn't give much tips or advice on how we can achieve it.

There are instances where the author does give sensible advice. For example Chapter 11 perfectly entitled "It Starts in the Morning" tells you how to start your day off with Christ. However, these suggestions are rare. I would have advised the author to start off the book giving this kind of advice and save his story for the end.

I say that because he makes some good points. For example, every prayer should not be a request asking God for something. Sadly, readers like can get frustrated with his "bio" I discovered that chapter by skipping many others!

In conclusion. For a religious book its a good one. For a book to help you discover a relationship with God, it needed a little more "Oomph."
Profile Image for Jeff Randleman.
49 reviews42 followers
May 14, 2012
Book Review - Living Close To God by Gene Edwards


Gene Edwards has recently released a new book that is described as a way to grow into a spiritual life that takes you deeper than daily devotions.

Edwards is a self-proclaimed doer. As such, he has always had a tough time with the various methods of "being" a Christian. In order to deepen his relationship with Christ, he had to figure out a way to do this that matched his personality.

In Living Close To God (When You're Not Good At It), Edwards describes just how he has done this.

While there was much in this book that was excellent, very little of his strategy resonated with me. I'm quite content to sit with my Bible and read for hours; and gain much from it. I'm probably the exact opposite of who he wrote this book for.

But the strategies that he describes look to be something that would work well for those who has a similar disposition as Edwards. He has also included two study guides, one for groups, and another for individuals to utilize to help them familiarize themselves with the practices outlined here.

All in all, Living Close To God (When You're Not Good At It) seems to be a great resource for deepening the spiritual life, and one I'm glad to have on my shelf.

Do you have trouble living close to God on a daily basis? You can leave your thoughts in the comments section below.
Profile Image for Laverne Ombadykow.
43 reviews9 followers
June 4, 2012
During all of my Christian life I have often felt that I fell short of where I should have been in my relationship with God. So, when I saw this book offered by WaterBrook Multnomah for review, I agreed to read it and write a review.

Gene Edwards, the author, openly admitted that he wasn't good at drawing close to God. He wrote about putting aside the legalistic rules about how long to pray and how much to read every day and how long to spend in quiet time. What he offered was a guide to what he found worked for him. He also offered encouragement to those who have gotten discouraged and failed and quit when trying to spend time in God's presence.

It was comforting to be reminded that many of the first Christians could not read and write and yet were able to have meaningful relationships with God. A deep, continuous relationship with God is attainable for all of us.

Some of the suggestions the author made were things I already had been doing, and this was a comfort to me. He also mentioned some books that had helped him in his pursuit of a deeper relationship with God and I am planning to read them. He suggested putting reminders by the bedside, on the starter of the car, in the office, etc. - just something that triggers one to stop and says I Love you, God or a similar phrase.

I received this book free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review
Profile Image for Molly.
90 reviews11 followers
January 22, 2012
I love the idea of this book, it's perfect for people like me who can't sit still for one minute, let alone fifteen minutes of quiet time. I thought it would give me practical, step-by-step solutions, but it didn't. That was a bit of a disappointment, since I was looking for some sort of paracetamol for my spiritual headache. But I realized there might not be an easy, over-the-counter prescription for what ails me.

The book is a lot about the author's own experience, which made me realize my spiritual ADHD didn't make me such a freak of nature after all. It made me stop flogging myself for what I perceived to be bad discipleship traits. Instead, I started thinking of how I can live close to God according to how He designed me.

So now I understand why this book doesn't give me a panacea--there's no such thing. We're all probably wired in different ways, and cultivate our relationship with Christ through different means. I'll just have to keep plodding on, discovering new things about myself and God as I go along, with helpful books such as this.
Profile Image for Jennifer.
48 reviews
September 17, 2012

This book was kind of a slow read. It had some good content (how to stay close to God throughout the day) but kind of lacked at keeping my attention. My mind wandered a few times, and I was hoping that something would jump out and pull me back, but sadly it was just an average book. There was one of two things I picked up as reminders to talk to God, cover your ignition key slot, but other than that, I didn’t get a lot out of it.


Profile Image for Gail.
1,545 reviews
September 8, 2011
I won this book in a goodreads first reads giveaway. It's an amazing book and makes you think about what is important in life.
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