By Faith: Strength and Hope for Life's Challenges

by Chris Morris

Whatever your present struggle, know you can trust that God’s plans, purposes, and promises for you are good and true, now and forever. By Strength and Hope for Life's Challenges is a 40-day devotional that helps you discover how to cultivate an enduring faith, no matter your trials or hardships. Learn from the examples of the men and women listed in Hebrews 11—those recognized for holding fast to God’s promises despite living in a world of not-yets, what-ifs, and in-betweens. With its uplifting readings, guided journaling exercises, blessings, and prayers, this book makes a fantastic gift for You’ll find this devotional is strong enough to buoy you in the face of life’s relentless challenges and disappointments, giving you courage, peace, and lasting joy.

184 pages, Paperback

Published March 5, 2024

About the author

Welcome to my Christian mental health website. This is a safe place for followers of Jesus dealing with depression, anxiety, and every mental illness under the sun. If you’ve asked yourself, “if I’m a Christian, why am I depressed?“ or, “where is God when my life is falling apart?“, or “How do I overcome depression biblically“, you’re in the right place. Everything here is written as Christian help for those in the mental illness community as we redefine normal and rediscover hope together.

Let’s talk about these two things for just a moment. What does it mean to redefine normal? It means that nobody but you gets to tell you what’s normal and what’s abnormal. You are the arbiter of your own life, and you get to decide that.

For you, maybe a normal day is not getting out of bed until noon because of chronic pain, and having to carefully calculate where you spend your limited energy. If so, I honor your normal here. How about rediscovering hope? So many of us struggle to fell there’s any objective reason for hope in our lives, because, to be honest, our lives stink a lot of the time. It’s full of difficulty and complexity, hard conversations and unmet expectations.

But we can find the keys to having hope despite all these setbacks. I spend a lot of time talking the nuts and bolts of hope from a biblical perspective, so it’s more tangible, meaningful, and applicable to real life.

Reviews

[Gino · Rating 5 out of 5]

Full disclosure, the author is a friend of mine.

I’m not a big devotional reader but I found the format and topic of this one to be enjoyable. The readings and prayers are short and meaningful. I was surprised at how much timely encouragement and healthy challenge I found journeying through this 40 day reading.

This is a wonderful devotional for someone newer in the faith and for those willing to dig deeper to explore the well worn path of their faith journey.

[Jessica Seale · Rating 5 out of 5]

By Faith by Chris Morris is both a compelling and thought-provoking 40-day devotional on Hebrews 11. The author invites the reader into the triumphs and struggles of the characters in this passage, all the while inviting the reader to examine their own life and find encouragement in the passage. Chapter 1 talks about what faith is and how to have it - by recognizing what God is already doing. Chapter 2 provides a brief discussion of the life of Abraham and how he believed God for the impossible. I found chapter three very thought-provoking. It discusses how God made creation perfectly and continues to maintain it. There is a layer I would love to see added to this discussion, perhaps in a later edition. It involves the fact that while God does maintain this fallen world, it is still fallen. Yes, gravity still works and bananas continue to grow. But things do go wrong. We have diseases and genetic mutations. Oftentimes gravity can be fatal if someone falls from a great distance. God is still faithful though, and as we continue to trust him, we can find hope in the tension between God's maintenance and a fallen world.
The next 37 chapters continue along the line of featuring a verse from Hebrews 11 and bringing the reader into the story of that passage. What I appreciate most about these chapters is that in chapters 27 through 35, the author digs into scripture to fill in the gaps so to speak in Hebrews 11:32. Throughout these nine chapter, the lives of Gideon, Barak, Jephthah, Samuel and David are examined in some depth, as relates to the passage and the theme.
This devotional really speaks to me at this time in my life because it helps build my faith in God and helps me express my faith as well as my struggles in the journaling prompts. The blessings at the end of each chapter was one of my favorite parts of the book. Here is an example from chapter 24: 'May your "God moment" become the knot at the end of your faith rope to which you can cling, whatever your external circumstances.'
I really enjoyed this book and would love to see other devotionals and read other books by this author.

[Deryn Tang · Rating 5 out of 5]

REVIEW “BY FAITH” by Chris Morris

 

Hebrews Eleven is one of my favorite chapters in the Bible regarding the ‘dance of faith,’ receiving, or not yet receiving, the things promised by God. Chris Morris has captured the essence of this chapter and, in everyday language, has made the journeys of Biblical heroes of faith accessible to the modern generation. Each chapter explores the mentioned 'heroes', their interactions with God, and their journey of faith or doubt. The chapter on Jacob's blessing motivated the author to bless others, and I found it touching how he included a blessing for the readers at the end of each chapter.

I appreciated the book's accessible writing style, which began with relevant biblical passages for meditation and then provided explanations. At the end were questions and suggestions to journal for our current circumstances or walk. There was space to journal, a prayer, and a blessing. 

This book is a lovely gift to either yourself or someone you would like to encourage in their faith walk, helping you to hold the paradox of living in faith, but not yet receiving the promise.

[Stacey E. · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm not normally a fan of devotionals, however, this one sounded very interesting so I thought I would give it a go. Each day was started with one verse from Hebrews 11 and accompanied by a short devotional breaking down what that verse was about and how it can apply to our daily lives. There were guided prayers at the beginning and end of each devotional as well as an attached blessing from the author. After each reading were guided questions for reflecting what was read and how to apply faith in your struggles and strongholds. This devotional was sprinkled with scripture throughout apart from the daily verse from Hebrews, which encouraged readers to dig deeper into their bibles. Although any Christian could benefit from strengthening their faith, I feel this would be most beneficial to those who are new in their walk with the Lord.
Thank you NetGalley, and The Daily Bread for the opportunity to read and review this advanced copy.

[Laura Robb · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed the depth and care Chris Morris put into By Faith, a devotional on Hebrews 11. I appreciated the invitation to savor a chapter of Scripture. I felt invited to sit with people’s stories a bit longer and to think about my own history with God. The daily reflection questions Chris includes stretched my perspective and helped me to remember God's presence and faithfulness in the midst of all the challenges life brings. The blessings Chris offers after every devotion encouraged my heart. I also loved the holistic nature of the book. Chris reminds readers of the importance of the intersection between our physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual health. This is a book I'd give to friends going through a hard season or who simply need to revisit and reflect on their faith walks with God.

Thank you to NetGalley and Our Daily Bread for access to read By Faith early!

[Psusan · Rating 5 out of 5]

As Hebrews 11 as its focus By Faith, Strength and Hope for Life's Challenges by Chris Morris provides forty devotionals to encourage the reader through life’s struggles and complexities. Many of the first devotionals are concerning Abraham and then it moves on in later devotional to other examples of men and women from the Old Testament ending with Jesus (Hebrews 12: 1-3). I loved the name of that last chapter, “Jesus, Our Champion.”

Included are verses, short thought-provoking devotional, a reader response, and a lovely blessing. Looking at those who came before and seeing God’s faithfulness, mercy and grace will certainly increase any reader’s faith as it has done mine. I highly recommend this devotional to any and all.

[Bibliohiker · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for letting me review this book. Each chapter focuses on a certain hero of the Bible-Moses,David,etc…. Each chapter has several verses along with the author’s short blurb under each chapter title. I like that the author gives questions to ponder over along with space to write your thoughts out. There’s also a blessing at the end of each chapter. Each chapter is only a few pages in length.

[Cheryl · Rating 5 out of 5]

A series of 40 timely reflections on faith for our times. Includes space and prompts for journaling that I (not a journaler) often found valuable. I may go through it again right now, and will make a note to do so again next Lent. Would also make a good gift!

[Susanna Van · Rating 5 out of 5]

excellent read to put into practice. about the lives of the witnesses in the hall of faith.

[Georgette Beck · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love my devotionals and this one was a gem with 40 devotions from Hebrews 11.