Just Do Something: A Liberating Approach to Finding God's Will

by Kevin DeYoung

Book Overview

Hyper-spiritual approaches to finding God's will don't work. It's time to try something new: "Give up."Pastor and bestselling 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,...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0802458386
• ISBN13: 9780802458384
• Release Date: April 2009
• Publisher: Moody Publishers
• Length: 128 Pages
• Weight: 0.30 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 5.0" x 6.8"

Customer Reviews

Everyone should read this

First off, the price is unmatched. My book was great quality and I think I had only selected "good," so that was a plus. Most importantly, though, this book is packed with scripture. DeYoung does not try to feed you unrealistic encouragement to get you through a tough time in your life and help you make a rash decision. He points the reader back to Jesus. This book reminded me that I am trying to figure out what God's will is for my life for my own sake, not for God's sake. DeYoung gives so many answers in the form of giving very few explicit answers. It is written in a style that is very clear and gets straight to the point. I have bought multiple copies to give to friends to read, as it is just loaded with truth and scripture that not only young people need to hear, but everyone in a time where they need to make decisions -- so, everyone. Can't recommend it enough.

Short, succinct, and right on target.

This would be a great book to give a Christian teen. But I am in my early 60s and it was right on target for me, too. There is a lot of good advice packed into this little volume and I will read and use it again and again.

Condition not as described

I received a copy that in my opinion is far below the "very good" rating. The volume of writing, notes, highlights, and scribbles go beyond what seems reasonable for "very good." It appears lightly used on the outside, but there ought not be so much marked up inside at this rating. I also removed the prior owner's food stained receipts and other unrelated things stuffed inside.

Excellent!!!

The best book I've ever read on this subject!

I purchased this book based on a review I read at discerningreader.com. It is, hands down, the best book I've ever read on discerning the will of God (and I've read several!). It's views are thoroughly based in Scripture and it is written in an engaging and easy to read style. I've purchased several more for our church.

I was suprised and challenged

I purchased this book hoping that I could use it to give to friends who I felt were a little off the deep end. Those friends that want God to write a bulleted list of instructions for them in Alphabet soup before they make any big life decisions. I was in for a surprise. After reading the first few chapters I started to feel convicted myself. I realized that my "far superior" methods of determining the will of God were based just as much off of fairy tails and pixy dust as my friends I considered a little nuts. I was convicted over my lack of desire to grow in Godly wisdom which then guides and directs our decisions. Instead of growing in wisdom I myself have depended on the "open door" "shut door" method of "finding" God's will. God does have a plan for your life, but it's not your job to sneak into his back office and try to find your file that lets you in on all the "secrets". God's not hiding something from you! This book just joined the list of top 5 favorite books. I am giving the copy I have away and buying a couple more copies. 1 for me and one to loan out to friends. Oh and kudos to Josh Harris on the forward. He really had me going the first paragraph, I thought he had lost it. Shout out to all of my Sovereign Grace Ministries peeps! Follow my Twitter at www.twitter.com/djeror

Buy One For Yourself and One to Give Away

To be honest, I don't know that we really need another book--yet another book--on guidance and the will of God. Having said that, there is probably no genre of book I recommend more often than this simply because experience shows that many Christians, too many Christians, do not understand how God expects us to know his will and how we may expect him to guide us to those things that please him. We are blessed to have some excellent resources at our disposal. The best known of these is Garry Friesen's Decision Making and the Will of God, a book that many of the others depend on, but one that is perhaps a little intimidating due to its size (528 pages in the most recent edition). Dave Swavely's Decisions, Decisions is the one I recommend most often as it serves as a useful condensed version of Friesen's work. Similar titles have been written by John MacArthur, Bruce Waltke, J.I. Packer, Phillip Jensen and many, many others. The author who seeks to add something to this genre is entering into a very crowded field and is going to need a unique angle. Kevin DeYoung takes on this challenge and succeeds admirably, crafting a short but powerful book that really packs a punch. His unique angle is reflected in the title: Just Do Something! "My goal," he says, "is not as much to tell you how to hear God's voice in making decisions as it is to hear God telling you to get off the long road to nowhere and finally make a decision, get a job, and perhaps, get married." He fears that many Christians, because of their unbliblical understanding of knowing and doing the will of God, are wasting their lives doing nothing when they should just be doing, well, something! "I'd like us to consider that maybe we have difficulty discovering Gods wonderful plan for our lives because, if the truth be told, He doesn't really intend to tell us what it is. And maybe we're wrong to expect Him to." DeYoung's understanding of the will of God and God's guidance is very consistent with Friesen and Swavely and a whole host of others. He distinguishes between God's secret will (or will of decree), God's revealed will (will of desire) and God's will for our lives (will of direction). God's will of decree is his secret will, ordained from all of time--a will that is going to come to pass and that no man can thwart. God's will of desire is his will as revealed in Scripture--a will we sometimes obey and at other times disobey. God's will of direction is the one that answers those questions we have about jobs and spouses and houses and all the rest. Here's the real heart of the matter, according to DeYoung. "Does God have a secret will of direction that He expects us to figure out before we do anything? And the answer is no." Though we are free to ask for his direction and though we ought to be devoted to prayer in all matters, God does not burden us with seeking his will of direction ahead of our decisions. "God does have a specific plan for our lives, but it is not one that He expects