Happy Monday! Can you believe we’re halfway through April? This year is going crazy fast already! I’m back for another what-I-read post. Today I’ll be sharing all the faith books I read in 2023. Of course, a lot of books fit into this category, but these were specifically focused on God, the church, and how we are supposed to live as Christians.
Read: 15 books
Average Rating: 4 stars
Average Page Count Per Book: 290 pages
Best: The Bible
Worst: Reflections on the Psalms by C.S. Lewis
Re-reads are in italics and audiobooks have an asterisk beside them.
The Bible ESV – 5 Stars
I read the Bible all the way through, but I was horribly distracted for most of the time. I’d read ten or fifteen minutes a night while thinking about other stuff. It wasn’t until January 2024 that I really, truly read the whole Bible for the first time and goodness, it was incredible. I’d been practically screaming at God for answers to so many questions. I was begging Him to show me what truth was. Did I turn to the Bible? No, because a part of me thought that there was no way there would be the real answers in such an old book. But guess what? Once I really read the Bible, once I was truly searching for God and for truth, I found it. All the answers were there, so clearly. I was shocked that I’d never seen them before. It is so true that until God opens our eyes, we are utterly blind. I’d been reading the Bible all my life, but most of it just went in one ear and out the other. Praise God for all that He has done in opening my eyes and changing my path. (That’s another post for another time!)
That Sounds Fun by Annie F Downs* – 3 Stars
A few years ago, I went through an Annie Downs phase. I bought all her books and read them over and over again. I still enjoy her writing, but…this book was more selfish, therapy, looking-inward-to-find-happiness than her others. It’s a nice idea – looking for the things that you enjoy and not being stressed about becoming professional or super skilled, but enjoying them as an amature. But it ended up feeling choppy and therapy focused (I’m not a fan of therapy – and I’ll write a whole different post on the reasons why. I’ll just say that I am so excited to read Abigail Shrier’s new book Bad Therapy).
Blessed Are the Misfits by Brant Hansen* – 3 Stars
Brant Hansen is autistic. He’s never fit in anywhere. In this book he shares how Jesus went to the outcasts, the misfits, and the broken. These are the ones who will be in the Kingdom of Heaven.
Again, it was a great concept. But it turned out to be a lot of him complaining about all the ways people misunderstand him and how he deserves to have better treatment than normal people because of his disability.
Land of the Free by Nicholas E Canuso – 4 Stars
This book is a prayer for the end of human trafficking and abuse. It has many different examples of ways that people are exploited all over the world, things that we can do, and ways that we can pray. It was very eye opening.
Church of Cowards by Matt Walsh* – 4 Stars
Matt Walsh is an interesting man. He’s very blunt and doesn’t care if he hurts people’s feelings. I think he enjoys it. 😂 Church of Cowards was about all the ways that the American church has failed in recent years, and how we need to turn back to God, and pray for the awakening of the church. It was a good but painful book.
Encouragement for the Depressed by Charles Spurgeon* – 4 Stars
Charles Spurgeon is so tender, so encouraging, and so convicting all at once. This was a very short little book, and very easy to read.
No Greater Love by Mother Teresa* – 5 Stars
Mother Teresa was such a beautiful, humble little woman. Every page is a love song to Jesus. It’s a very moving little book.
Defeated Enemies by Corrie Ten Boom* – 5 Stars
Corrie Ten Boom is one of my heroes. If I could be like anyone, I’d be like her. Her faith was so strong and her love for Jesus radiated in every word she wrote. Defeated Enemies is about the spiritual battle going on all around us. Some of the stories she tells are crazy, creepy, and awe-inspiring.
I remember as a kid, I was terrified of demons. I’d always skip any Bible story that had to do with them. I’d curl up at night, terrified that they were going to come inside of me. Somewhere along the line, that terror faded into…not disbelief, but just an idea that demons are there and affecting people, but not really something to be worried about.
This book made me realize that I need to take spiritual warfare seriously. It isn’t something to be laughed at, ignored, or treated like it’s no big deal. We don’t have to fear, if we are in Christ, but the power and darkness of Satan is very, very real.
The Abolition of Man by C.S. Lewis* – 4 Stars
I…don’t remember much of this book, lol. I was distracted when I was listening to it. (Yes, Jehosheba, okay, fine, you win. You can’t always pay the best attention to audiobooks).
Reflections on the Psalms by C.S. Lewis* – 2 Stars
In general, I love C.S. Lewis’s writing. But his thoughts on the psalms? Ugh. He spent a good long while berating David for the psalms of distress. He talked about all the things that the people of Israel didn’t understand about God and how we are now very enlightened. It wasn’t his normal style and had a lot of unbiblical speculation.
What Christians Believe by C.S. Lewis* – 5 Stars
C.S. Lewis laid out very plainly the basic doctrines of Christianity, and, as the title says, what it is exactly that Christians believe. As someone who was very confused about Christianity at the time, I latched onto this little book and found it very helpful.
What if Jesus Was Serious? By Skye Jethani *– 4 Stars
Skye Jethani challenges his readers to take Jesus’s words in the Sermon on the Mount seriously. Ouch. What if all those things that we like to say are figurative or just for the people of old times, what if those were meant to apply to us?
On Grace and Free Will by Saint Augustine *– 5 Stars
St. Augustine is fascinating. I didn’t understand much of this little book, lol, but what I did was very interesting and thought provoking. His opinions on whether we have free will or not were well thought out and backed up with Scripture.
Around the Wicket Gate by Charles Spurgeon* – 5 Stars
Charles Spurgeon gently but firmly explains the gospel and what it means to truly believe in Jesus. He demolishes the idea that you’re saved just because you prayed a prayer, and encourages Christians to search their hearts and not stop in their pursuit of God.
The Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren *– 4 Stars
How do we live a life full of purpose? What does it mean to live with intent? This book is a classic and I’m glad that I finally read it.
~Hattush
Have you read any of these? What are your thoughts on spiritual warfare? Who is your hero and why? Let’s chat!
Daughter of the Light 
I’m so happy to hear that you sought for truth and found Him! I’m praising God with you that He opened your eyes!
I’ve read the Bible, which I agree is amazing and totally relevant for us still today! I also read Purpose Driven Life once and liked it. I’ve read some of the other authors, but not those particular titles.
On the topic of spiritual warfare, the Bible says that we are to be circumspect, which comes from a form of the word circle, basically cautiously on the lookout for the evil one who prowls like a lion seeking whom he may devour. Lions try to catch their prey off guard, which is why we need to constantly be on guard. But the most important thing is to also be aware of the presence and power of God, the commander of hosts, who is much stronger than the evil one. I’m so glad that you had some of your questions answered in this book! I believe that we need to prepare daily for the battle, keeping God’s word in the forefront of our minds, keeping our thoughts firmly planted on God’s presence and love and the power of His name.
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Thank you so much for your comment, and for your wisdom!
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Np! Just jumping in to answer your questions and chat! 😄
I read Corrie Ten Boom’s books, The Hiding Place, and Tramp for the Lord, when I was a teenager. I didn’t even know she had written this one on spiritual warfare. You said some of her stories were creepy. Is that because they are stories from her time in the concentration camp? Or does she tell stories about before and after the war?
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Awesome! 😊
The stories in the Defeated Enemies are mainly from after her time in the concentration camp, and about the various demon possessed people she met in her travels.
What did you think of The Hiding Place?
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I’ll have to get a copy of Defeated Enemies and read it! It sounds good!
I really liked The Hiding Place as a teen; I also watched the movie and liked that. As I’ve gotten older, I have found the Injustices prepared in the concentration camps to be so abhorrent that I can’t even watch documentaries on it anymore. I did read The Hiding Place a second time several years back when my daughter read it. I still liked it, aside from the mentions of Injustice that I just mentioned. The story of God’s presence and the miraculous were still amazing!
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Autocorrect, ugh🙄 *perpetrated, prepared!
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NOT prepared
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Yes, it is crazy how much pain people can inflict on others without cause. 😭
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😭 Yes 💔
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Ya know the חכמה how the Torah itself proves that JeZeus & Muhammad, as false prophets? Moshe commanded that later in the future would come prophets like himself. The Torah commands משנה תורה, common law. All the NaCH prophets teach משנה תורה mussar. The false prophets JeZeus & Muhammad do not teach משנה תורה\common law mussar.
Jewish worship of avoda zarah defined through assimilation and intermarriage with Goyim, who never accepted the revelation of the Torah at Sinai – the Prime First Cause which defines the k’vanna of the Torah curse known as the Amalek antisemitism. Which plagues Jews in all generations.
Xtian & Muslim revisionist history/’Evil Eye’- I believe theology – sucks. Today, as it has for 2000+ years. God is not a Man, anymore than JeZeus or Muhammad T’NaCH prophets. Justice does not depend upon what persons personally believes, concerning speculation attempts to define the Gods. The gospel metaphor of “Father” just as false as prayer directed to God in Heaven. Tefillah a matter of the heart; just that simple. Throw your new-testament or koran revisionist history upon the dung heaps of false history.
Xtian religious revisionist history as meritorious, as tits on a boar hog. The Genocide slander of Israel made by post-Apartheid South Africa, compares to the Xtian ‘Blood Libels, and follow-up Pogroms’, committed every Easter – throughout the Middle Ages of European criminal barbarism.
The absolute and complete ignorance of Goyim living in faraway distant countries, coupled with their arrogant presumed superiority of Israeli politics – a bad joke. Why? Their disgraceful sophomoric biblical translations unto foreign languages, falsely assumes that translations possess the power to define key terms, from one language to the next.
Alas, covenant does not define brit. The koran abomination never once refers to the “Brit Faith”. Their bible & koran idols, fail to discern the difference between translating words from language to language. To comprehending the prophetic mussar rebukes. The defining “k’vanna” which all tohor time-oriented commandment most fundamentally require.
The Book of בראשית commands tohor time oriented commandments. This opening Book of the Torah contains few Torah commandments, like as expressed in the other 4 Books of the Torah. Time oriented commandments center on some time of national crisis. Jewish laws of kashrut require the Gid Hanasheh/sciatic nerve, based upon the crisis of Yaacov meeting Esau who travelled with an Army at his back. Hence the mitzva to remove the gid Hanasheh remembers this National crisis on par with the Akadah of Yitzak. Neither new testament nor koran teach the Av mitzva of all Torah commandments – the dedication of tohor time-oriented commandments during times of National distress.
Scratch a Goy and expose the Satan barbarian that possesses their Souls; never in their entire lives has a single Goy ever contemplated the concept of Torah time-oriented commandments. Amazing! Because all other Torah commandments qualify as toldoth/off-spring\ of these Most Holy of Holies Av/Father Torah commandments.
How could Goyim theology so horribly fail? How could the best alien Goyim minds, in Ages past to present fall?! In their inability to grasp the essential primacy of tohor time-oriented commandments which define not only the Book of בראשית but the Siddur as well?
Answer: Flawed from the first word of the Torah; their translations of “tefillah to prayer”, totally fails to grasp that בראשית holds within its 6 letters: ברית אש, ראש בית, ב’ ראשית. These forever “outsiders” deny the existence of the פרדס Oral Torah revelation at Horev!
Post WWII Shoah European guilt, expressed through the rebuke made against false prophets to their eternal condemnation as CURSED: “By their fruits you shall know them.”
Their Evil Eye/I believe theology speculations of the Gods, abhors the Primacy – the pursuit of justice between Man & Man, as the definition of Torah faith. Their replacement theology: “I am saved”, belief in false Universal God(s), an utter total abomination; like unto the Oct 7th Abomination War.
Muhammad falsely presumed that JeZeus qualifies, comparable to his bloated Ego-self, as a T’NaCH prophet. His pie in the sky koran avoda-zarah did not know how the T’NaCH defines the word “Prophet”.
The avoda-zarah name: Allah, it profanes the 1st Sinai commandment. Therefore (A concealed sworn Torah oath implied by this legal common law language of Torah.), Allah just another “Sin of the Golden Calf”, abomination of avoda zarah – the k’vanna of the 2nd Sinai Commandment.
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