Although I consider myself something of a moderate charismatic, or ‘charismatic with a seat-belt’ as Driscoll calls it, one of the things that freaks me out in a lot of charismatic circles is the wacky things that get done to ‘discern’ God’s will. It’s really not just a pet-peeve on my side, it actually comes more from seeing people badly damaged pastorally through terrible advice on this subject. Keeping this in mind I was extremely excited to discover that Kevin DeYoung’s new book will directly address this issue. His book is entitled “Just Do Something: How to Make a Decision Without Dreams, Visions, Fleeces, Open Doors, Random Bible Verses, Casting Lots, Liver Shivers, Writing in the Sky, etc.” -what a fantastic title.
Here’s the Amazon blurb:
Hyper-spiritual approaches to finding God’s will don’t work. It’s time to try something new: Give up.
Pastor and author Kevin DeYoung counsels Christians to settle down, make choices, and do the hard work of seeing those choices through. Too often, he writes, God’s people tinker around with churches, jobs, and relationships, worrying that they haven’t found God’s perfect will for their lives. Or—even worse—they do absolutely nothing, stuck in a frustrated state of paralyzed indecision, waiting . . . waiting . . . waiting for clear, direct, unmistakable direction.
But God doesn’t need to tell us what to do at each fork in the road. He’s already revealed his plan for our lives: to love him with our whole hearts, to obey His Word, and after that, to do what we like.
No need for hocus-pocus. No reason to be directionally challenged. Just do something.
Now here’s the fascinating and extremely encouraging part – get this: The forward is written by Joshua Harris, a well known charismatic leader. Not only that but DeYoung will be speaking at NEXT 2009, a charismatic conference. I’m loving the way in which charismatics and conservatives are slowly beginning to come together and make the gospel central and not particular emphases. In the process they’re both learning from each other – epic.
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