A Heart Ablaze <i>igniting A Passion For God</i>

Rating:
Summary: Don't read this if you don't want to change!
Review: DO NOT READ THIS BOOK if you wish to remain lukewarm, satisfied with your walk with God, and outwardly acceptable. This book challenges those may have slipped into "acceptable" Christianity for whatever reason. John Bevere offers an unadulterated treatise on drawing near to God with pure hands and a pure heart. If you want to be a man or woman after God's own heart, I strongly urge you to devour this book, then re-read it again! You WILL BE CHANGED, and you will want to draw even closer to God. I know that I only want to know God more intimately as a result.

Rating:
Summary: This Is It-God's Will
Review: God's Will for our lives is not necessarily to be a part of a great ministry or pastor a church or even lead others to Him. It is just that we get to know Him. He calls us to "be Holy for I am Holy!" John Bevere is giving you the way. USE IT. Time is running out!

Rating:
Summary: YOU HAVE TO READ THIS BOOK!
Review: I am so thankful for this book. John Bevere has taken a bold stand for holiness! This book will be like a mirror to your soul--take a deep look inside! Jesus has never changed, but we sure have! This book will encourage a deep passion for Jesus to burn within your heart! Read it and pray that the Holy Spirit will ignite you heart! I appreciate John Bevere's honesty. The Lord is setting us apart from this world! If you are longing for a deeper relationship with the Lord, then READ THIS BOOK!

Rating:
Summary: Worst thing for me.
Review: I don't know I don't want to say that this book is "wrong" but it made me seriously doubt christianity and made it into a religion like any other religion,where you must work to ge tinto heaven or to know God.And while I believe this is what God want and we really should strive to be more like Him,I believe we are saved by Christs death and if we believe in Him and repent our sins and cast them at his feet that is what gets us into heaven.I'm young and this book made me afraid of God (AFRAID,afraid) and it hurt my sleep it made me feel horrible inside and I really don't agree with the book,if it's right and I'm wrong than I guess I'll go to Hell because as much as I love God and thank him for sending Jesus,I'm not perfect,in fact I'm pretty selfish but I'm trying to change but I'll never,never be perfect.and I'll never do enough good works to warrent entering the pearly gates.I think the one scripture that healed me is one my faveorite passages in the Bible,It's when God says to the guy on the cross beside him that he will be with Him in paradise,that's grace!the guy led a terrible life and was redeemed in one instant!it's gorgeous and it helped me though my fear of these teachings,that God will forgive me if i repent,and believe in Him and that's all I need to do,the rest happens through the Holy Spirit in us.

Rating:
Summary: Worst thing for me.
Review: I don't know I don't want to say that this book is "wrong" but it made me seriously doubt christianity and made it into a religion like any other religion,where you must work to ge tinto heaven or to know God.And while I believe this is what God want and we really should strive to be more like Him,I believe we are saved by Christs death and if we believe in Him and repent our sins and cast them at his feet that is what gets us into heaven.I'm young and this book made me afraid of God (AFRAID,afraid) and it hurt my sleep it made me feel horrible inside and I really don't agree with the book,if it's right and I'm wrong than I guess I'll go to Hell because as much as I love God and thank him for sending Jesus,I'm not perfect,in fact I'm pretty selfish but I'm trying to change but I'll never,never be perfect.and I'll never do enough good works to warrent entering the pearly gates.I think the one scripture that healed me is one my faveorite passages in the Bible,It's when God says to the guy on the cross beside him that he will be with Him in paradise,that's grace!the guy led a terrible life and was redeemed in one instant!it's gorgeous and it helped me though my fear of these teachings,that God will forgive me if i repent,and believe in Him and that's all I need to do,the rest happens through the Holy Spirit in us.

Rating:
Summary: 90% Holy Spirit and 10% John Bevere
Review: This book carries a strong message. But for those able to bear it is the call of a holy God for His people to come out of the world and seek Him.

Are there points that I could criticize? Absolutley; John Bevere is a spirit-filled servant of the Lord, but he's still a man.

Does A Heart Ablaze have the answer (read quick fix) to all your spiritual woes? Absolutley not. But if we heed it's message we will seek the one who has all answers in sincere repentance. In that we have the sure promise of God that if we draw near to Him He will draw near to us.

On the subject of works versus grace which came up in another review, this is probably the main area that could cause confusion or disagreement. Jesus said, "By their fruit you shall know them . . ."

If you plant an apple seed in the due course of time (assuming the soil is good and there is sufficient water) you will get an apple seedling. There is no fruit, but it is still an apple tree. Seasons pass, with sun and wind and rain; the seedling grows to a young tree, still no fruit. Is it an apple tree or not? To those of you who have ever planted fruit trees you know that it can take many frustrating years before you get anything to show for your effort.
Finally, one spring day flowers appear, shortly thereafter the flowers drop away and you have swellings on the ends of the flower stems. Is it an apple tree? Afterall, there is still no fruit.
The swellings grow in size becoming round firm and green while you patiently wait. At last, you can't wait any longer, you pluck a green fruit, bite into it and find that you have a very healthy persimmon tree.
What is the moral here? Did my apple tree turn into a persimmon tree? If I could have somehow grafted apples onto it, would it have become an apple tree? The obvious answer is no. The persimmon tree produced persimmons instead of apples because that was its nature, it bore fruit out of the heart of its being. Bearing fruit did not make it a persimmon tree, but it let me know that I had mistaken it for an apple to my loss in time, space and effort. In the same way, works are the fruit of a regenerated christian heart. They don't save us or make us what we are, but if we don't have them (especially if we are producing persimmons right and left)we should question whether we have really received the word and spirit of grace.

The Lord says, examine yourselves whether ye be in the faith. If you see persimmons hanging from your branches where there should be apples the question of works or grace is a moot point, you probably have neither.

Rating:
Summary: 90% Holy Spirit and 10% John Bevere
Review: This book carries a strong message. But for those able to bear it is the call of a holy God for His people to come out of the world and seek Him.

Are there points that I could criticize? Absolutley; John Bevere is a spirit-filled servant of the Lord, but he's still a man.

Does A Heart Ablaze have the answer (read quick fix) to all your spiritual woes? Absolutley not. But if we heed it's message we will seek the one who has all answers in sincere repentance. In that we have the sure promise of God that if we draw near to Him He will draw near to us.

On the subject of works versus grace which came up in another review, this is probably the main area that could cause confusion or disagreement. Jesus said, "By their fruit you shall know them . . ."

If you plant an apple seed in the due course of time (assuming the soil is good and there is sufficient water) you will get an apple seedling. There is no fruit, but it is still an apple tree. Seasons pass, with sun and wind and rain; the seedling grows to a young tree, still no fruit. Is it an apple tree or not? To those of you who have ever planted fruit trees you know that it can take many frustrating years before you get anything to show for your effort.
Finally, one spring day flowers appear, shortly thereafter the flowers drop away and you have swellings on the ends of the flower stems. Is it an apple tree? Afterall, there is still no fruit.
The swellings grow in size becoming round firm and green while you patiently wait. At last, you can't wait any longer, you pluck a green fruit, bite into it and find that you have a very healthy persimmon tree.
What is the moral here? Did my apple tree turn into a persimmon tree? If I could have somehow grafted apples onto it, would it have become an apple tree? The obvious answer is no. The persimmon tree produced persimmons instead of apples because that was its nature, it bore fruit out of the heart of its being. Bearing fruit did not make it a persimmon tree, but it let me know that I had mistaken it for an apple to my loss in time, space and effort. In the same way, works are the fruit of a regenerated christian heart. They don't save us or make us what we are, but if we don't have them (especially if we are producing persimmons right and left)we should question whether we have really received the word and spirit of grace.

The Lord says, examine yourselves whether ye be in the faith. If you see persimmons hanging from your branches where there should be apples the question of works or grace is a moot point, you probably have neither.

Rating:
Summary: Challenging the lukewarm Church.
Review: This book has a powerful message. This is not a book just to intellectually please you. It has a message that will stir and challenge your heart to go after God. What do I mean to go after God? I mean to know Him personally in an intimate way and to conform to be more like Him. We need to understand who God is by His character. We need to understand the fear of God (not the type of fear that causes you to be afraid of Him) and the compassion of God. With these two, we will walk on the road of holiness. Without holiness, no one shall see the Lord.

Just to let you know, this is not a book on how find a easy way to get the anointing. We as the church can get caught up too quickly about seeking the anointing or the spirtual gifts that we loose our focus in knowing Him personally and becoming like Him (of course I do not discourage anyone not to desire spiritual gifts). I heard John Bevere say that you are not spiritual because you work in the spiritual gifts but you are considered spiritual by the fruits of the Holy Spirit in your life.

Rating:
Summary: Kicked My Bottom!!!
Review: This book kicked my bottom. It was like being awaken by having someone throw ice cold water at me. There were times where my flesh was recoiling - I almost stopped reading half way through because I was soooo uncomfortable. Yet I pressed on and realized that I had to hear what John was saying because lukewarm was the way I had been living my life then realizing that the Lord will vomit out those who are lukewarm. I didn't want to be spit out. There is now a new confidence about who God is and how I am to serve him with my life. If you don't want to be challanged and be changed don't even think about reading the introduction. But if you truly are seeking God, He will meet you amidst the pages of A Heart Ablaze. In a nutshell - this book is transforming.

Rating:
Summary: A Heart Ablaze: Igniting a Passion for God
Review: What an excellent book. John will challenge you to come up higher in your walk with God. He warns against the dangers of lukewarmness in Christianity; being a Christian is a calling to be holy even as He is holy. This book has helped me to be more conscious of my relationship with the Lord. It has helped me to think more of being a servant for the Lord. When I keep in mind that whatever I do, I do it for the Lord, then my personal happiness in this life is secondary. My Sunday school class has been using this book as our study for the year & I look forward to studying out of more of his books. John is excellent. If you want to have a closer walk with the Lord & live a life of holiness (without holiness, no man shall see the Lord) read all of John's books.