Sources of Strength: Meditations on Scripture for a Living Faith

This is a series of simple lessons by Jimmy Carter that reflects on his life and Christian behaviors. A good devotional book with no surprises.

This is a great devotional that draws on a wide range of scripture and also on President Carter's long, interesting, diverse, and meaningful life. Not only is Carter a good exegete of scripture, but his genuine faith comes through in every page. He writes in a very personal style that makes you feel like you're studying the scriptures with a favorite uncle...who happened to be the leader of the free world some years back. The book is divided into 52 short sermonettes, I suppose so you can read one a week for a year (though you will almost certainly want to read it faster than that). These sections are further subdivided into 9 sections: The Word Became Flesh, His Healing Touch, Who is my Neighbor?, What We Believe, Christians in the World, To Know and Worship, God's Riches at Christ's Expense, When the Road is Rough, and God's Call. The messages are broad enough that you can likely find a word of hope or encouragement or challenge somewhere in here, depending on what it is that you need to hear. The meditations are intellectually stimulating, yet simple enough that I have used some of them as reading for my youth group. In his life, Jimmy Carter has shown what is means to live out your faith. In this book, he reflects on what that can look like for us.

I gained a respect for Jimmy Carter that until now was only a fair assessment of the man. I know he wrote this with the intention of being a once a week reading, but I have just about finished it in just under two weeks with intentions to reread it many many more times. His style of writing has left me with the desire to read many more of his works. One cannot help but to find ones faith taken to a higher level after reading his Bible Teachings.

President Carter impressed me with his Biblical knowledge and being able to tie it back into today's world. His personal stories made this book all the more great because we got to see glimpses of the President's life. He has an awesome faith in God and is an inspiration to us all.

This is without a doubt one of the finest books that President Carter has written. It is clear and very easy to read. I had the great fortune of being able to briefly chat with President Carter about "Sources of Strength", and he told me that these are synopsis of his Sunday School classes that he teaches. He also told me that he has over 1600 more of them. All I can say is, I pray to God that he publishes all of them!

Starting gently, the reader is drawn into discussions of text from the Bible. Masterfully drawn along a well thought out path, more decisive conclusions are simply a matter of fact. Faith, courage and understanding become but simple tools to reach out and live life to the fullness God encourages.This experience is shattering in simplicity and the reality of the messages of the Bible. Jesus was sitting over Jimmy Carter's shoulder saying "you have the message, son".