Name
The Power of Small by Jennifer Kennedy Dean

Prayer Category
meditation/inspiration

Description

The book The Power of Small published by New Hope Publishers is subtitled “Think Small to Live Large.” In this book Jennifer invites the reader on an intimate 28 day journey of meditations that are small steps toward following God’s bigger vision for our lives and the part we play in His Kingdom. Each day starts with a scripture, then focuses on what happens when we “lean” our lives into the scripture and allow God to begin a process of changing our thoughts, attitudes, desires and dreams. She shares true experience stories of others who have taken faith journeys and ends each chapter with “Small Change” that gives us a one or two sentence action to try to gain more intimacy with God. This section ends with a suggested prayer and these are notable for their profound brevity that allows the Holy Spirit to fill in the details. For instance, Day 1 deals with how God formed us and breathed life into us. The suggested prayer is one word – Breathe.

On each 7th day there are a series of questions to ponder of what you are learning along the way and in the back of the book is a section where you can keep notes. Jennifer suggests that we do this journey with others, whether it be a prayer partner or a small group so that we might be challenged to articulate what we are learning and what God seems to be doing in our lives.

Jennifer Kennedy Dean has written many works on prayer, including Live a Praying Life and she is executive director of the Praying Life Foundation.

Purchase Link
prayinglife.org

Review

I have just finished 7 days of doing the Power of Small by Jennifer Kennedy Dean during my morning meditation time and I highly recommend it as a way to apply the Bible to your life in a deep and personal way. The author starts each devotional with a Bible passage that helps us see the life of those in the Bible in light of some small aspect of their experiences that we can apply it to our own lives. Examples include how Abraham was defined in the Bible by what he lacked – a son. Yet God made of him a mighty nation. The author uses this to show us that the although right now our lives may be defined by what we lack, these could become the very places God is about to show his power. Then she invites us to pray at the end one word “Yours.”

These daily devotionals are the perfect size – 3 to 5 pages – to read during quiet time and her prayer thoughts are wonderful to carry around in the back of your mind during the rest of the day. And the author always seems to offer a fresh insight into stories you may know by heart.

This makes for a great quiet time read that takes you to a new personal destination with God daily. I have found it particularly useful in the big projects I tackle running a new non profit ministry for which I may not have the experiences and skills. How refreshing to be able to pray, “Yours!” and then watch God work.

Added by Karen Barber on August 25, 2011