Living Close to God When You're Not Good At It - A Book Review

Have you ever opened the Bible and read something but felt nothing? No response. No real connection. Does your mind wander when you pray? Gene Edwards can relate. He calls himself spiritually handicapped because he didn’t feel the same things other people described when they spoke of their relationship with Christ. He couldn’t imagine himself spending an hour in prayer every day, even though he as a very successful speaker and author in the Christian realm.

Gene Edwards has written his quest for closeness with God in Living Close to God (When You're Not Good at It: A Spiritual Life That Takes You Deeper Than Daily Devotions. Edwards started out by researching the life stories of great Christians and read many books about prayer. He had a desire to have a consistent closer walk with Christ, but couldn’t make the connection needed to make it happen. His first breakthrough came when he realized that he could break out of the traditional way others defined their spiritual walk and come up with creative ways to read God’s word and pray.

When he decided to memorize Psalm 23, it changed everything. That progressed to walking and talking with the Lord and from there, his spiritual life changed to the point where he now would describe a vibrant Christian life. His journey involved slowing down and listening to God.

This book describes Edwards’ process of learning to fellowship with God all day long and he says it’s the key to stop feeling like a failure at daily devotions and start walking with God. The book is a great reminder for the busy person and the one who struggles with establishing time with God. This is a fairly quick read, with about 130 pages plus about 45 more for discussion and end notes.

The one negative about this book is that I think he draws it out to make it book length, when much of Edwards’ discovery could be easily communicated in an article. After a while, it seemed repetitive. However the study guide in the back is helpful for discussion with a group, with a friend, or for deeper personal reflection.

Kindle Edition for $9.99
Nook Edition for $9.99

I received a copy of this book from Waterbook Multnomah for review purposes.