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You Were Born For This


I should have known what I was getting myself into when I agreed to blog on Bruce Wilkinson's new book You Were Born For This. After all, I had read The Prayer of Jabez. Yeah, I'll admit it. I read it. I loved it. I prayed the prayer for about 3 months before I felt stupid about it. Whether right or wrong, I decided it was a little too prosperity-gospel-esque for my tastes.

So what was I doing reading another book by Bruce? Good question.

Even though judging a book by its cover is considered taboo, I fell for the title. The idea of destiny seemed laced right into this book. By the end of chapter one I knew I was already entrenched in a philosophical debate that hasn't ended in my mind just yet. Perhaps that's ok.

Bruce doesn't start out slowly to allow you to get our feet wet. He begins by welcoming the reader to Everyday Miracle Territory, a place he believes God intends for all of us. He wows us with a few stories of miracles and then offers us his definition of a miracle. A personal miracle is one that God does in a person's heart. It is something that only God can do, but that you and I can deliver. Got that? It's almost as if doubters are given a red carpet to come strolling in on.

Don't be confused. Bruce isn't trying to differentiate between physical miracles and emotional miracles. He simply believes that we are meant to deliver miracles everyday. If we avail ourselves to God and use our own faith, we'll see it happen. Perhaps that would be the real miracle.

The rest of the book includes keys and steps to know how to be God's miracle-delivery guy. There's signals and cues and basic preparedness, which, no matter what you believe, are good tools for sharing God's love. Bruce gets real specific in the last section when he talks about 3 specific miracles he believes we are to be delivering everyday; meeting financial needs, restoring hope in others and leading people in the ability to forgive and be forgiven.

I happen to agree with him on those 3 big needs in people's lives. Actually, I agree with most o what he says. I'm a bit leery of being sensationalistic about it. But in the end we are only left with so many options on a topic like this. Either we believe God has the power to do miracles or we don't. Either we believe God can do these miracles today or we don't. And either we believe that God wants to use us or we don't. It's this last either/or that I think most of us get stuck on.

I choose to believe. I choose to live this way. I believe that puts the God-size work, or the miracles, back in the hands of God to perform.

I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review. You can click here for an excerpt of chapter 1. Oh, it would also be a favor to me if you reviewed my review by clicking here.
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