1)
What led you to write I Want God?
I wrote I Want God at a time when I was really sick
of my struggles, my fears, myself, basically – I call it the heartcry of the
sick of me life. It was at a point of desperation and wanting to quit the
ministry that my heart just cried out for God to consume me more than my life
currently was and what started out as a blog post turned into an anthem for
many of my readers who wanted God in that way, too. (That blog post, by the
way, is included as a little bonus in the back of the book.) I remembered that
the only way I’ve ever gotten better about anything in life is to focus on God
harder, and that is really what I Want God was and is for me.
2)
What’s different about I Want God, compared to the other books like it out
there?
You know, there are so many great
books out there. Truly. I think what makes I Want God so beneficial is that it
is very bottom line, simple even, and tells the reader specifics rather than a
lot of fluff they have to figure out. Maybe it’s because I’m basic and straight
forward, but I just think people crave some core truth in a world where there
is so much information out there it causes us to be on overload. I Want God is
a book I still pick up for myself to see where I am off when I find myself in a
place I don’t pursue God like I should.
3) Your
book is filled with Scriptural truth. Can you share a favorite Scripture from
the book and a unique perspective God gave you about it?
Wow. That’s tough. I love the
passage in Haggai (1:3-6) that God gave me for the book because it shows how
other things we chase have failed us…I love the Revelation passage in chapter 6
that shows us how to have a soul revival from Jesus’ own red letter words…I
love John 1 where Jesus asks the question, “what do you want?” because I have
realized it is maybe the most important question He ever asked. A favorite is
the verse I share in the intro, Psalm 142:5, “Then
I pray to you, O Lord. I say, “You are my place of refuge. You are all I really
want in life.” It’s
really my heart’s cry and my prayer for the readers of the book.
4) Who
did you write your book for? Who can benefit from its message?
I wrote it for the person in a place
of lack – starving, desperate,
need-God-to-consume-them-more-than-what-is-currently-consuming-their-life. I
wrote it for the person who lives in a place of plenty but it’s still not
enough. I wrote it for the searcher and for the one on the spiritual roller
coaster – wanting God one minute then not as much, the next. I wrote it for the
spiritually dead – the believer who is stifled in their relationship with God
and can’t figure out why.
5) What
was your goal when you started writing I Want God? Was it achieved?
My goal for this book is that it
would be a guide for years to come to help readers see where they are when they
find themselves spiritually off course.
I wanted it to convict, inspire, and most of all, help the reader
remember their God. My biggest hope is that someone will read it and need to
stop and put it down and get on their face before God. To hear that it has done
those things for early readers means a great deal. One of those early readers,
Jill, calls I Want God “a wrecking and a revival and a resurrection, all at
once.”
6) What
was the most personally meaningful thing to you in the book? How has God used
it in your life?
Again, this is a tough one – it’s
like asking me to pick between my kids when I love them all! J God spoke to me so loudly in the writing of
this book I actually mourned it when I was through. (Usually, I’m honestly just
grateful to have met my book deadline!) I think chapter one will always hold a
special place for me because it still convicts me just as powerfully everytime
I read it. Several of the stories – the
one of my tattoo is meaningful to me in a big way. 
But I probably cry the most when I read the beginning and end of chapter 6. Chapter 6 opens with a huge vulnerable story from me and ends with a story of my dear friend, Jennifer, who passed away. It reminds me that no matter what, God is Who I always want most.
7) What
do you feel is the greatest obstacle people must overcome in order to make a
deep desire for God a priority?
You know, that’s a good question. My
first instinct is to say that everyone has different obstacles. For me, it is
my desire for comfort. For others, it may be a desire to have people’s
approval. So to a degree, we all have a different “issue” we face that most
keeps us from God. But as I think about it, probably it can boiled down to a
universal issue of self. Self is our greatest obstacle and most often keeps us
from God.
8) What
is your prayer for anyone who reads I Want God?
Absolutely,
that God will use it to change them in some way. We have enough stirred
believers, and that is a spiritual waste because it doesn’t have lasting
impact. I pray that their prayer will become that of David’s in Psalm
142:5. That right in their living room,
on the beach, wherever they read it, a soul revival will begin. I’m trusting
God for that to happen!
9) What
are some practical ways your readers can implement the principles found in I
Want God?
I
think daily choice is super important. So if they will first find out what they
struggle with the most (I have questions in the back of each chapter to help
them identify this for themselves.), go into every day with that awareness and
just be honest about it, and then choose that day – each day – to do something
that lessens that grip, I believe over time they will see change. And of course, prayer. I mean, prayer is
everything, and that will always be the most important.
10) Is a
soul revival really possible? How does that happen?
Yes.
For sure it is. Jesus talks about this soul revival – which is really just a
renewed passion for God, in Revelation 2, which I explain in the last chapter
of the book. I believe all revival happens first in individual hearts. I
believe it can happen in your office at work, carpool line, in the middle of
Starbucks…that place where you know God is messing with you and you stop
telling Him no and giving excuses and finally let Him. And yet I believe that a
soul revival is ongoing. I don’t believe we have a quick moment, are stirred
and then it’s over. Many believers swing
from one high spiritual experience to another but never see their life change.
The kind of soul revival I’m talking about is the one where be become aware of
God again, our life is altered, we confess the places that need to change, and
then we stay with God daily to see the revival fires continue to be fanned.
To learn more about Lisa Whittle, her book, and her ministry, click on the links below:
To read more about I Want God: www.IWantGod.me
Link to Blog: www.lisawhittle.com
Link to Instagram: http://instagram.
Link to Twitter: https://twitter.com/
Link to Facebook: https://www.
Link to Pinterest: http://www.
No comments:
Post a Comment