Awakening

My friend has been reading and reviewing tons of books. I enjoy reading and finally decided to review too. When I read the book list, I selected Awakening: 21 Days That Will Revolutionize Your Walk With God by Stovall Weems. I have not fasted much before and was interested in learning more. But I left the book on my shelf until James asked if I was planning on doing the fast that our church was doing. He said Awakening and I thought that sounded familiar. Turns out it was the fast described in this book.

I really enjoyed this book. I thought I would breeze through the early chapters and hurry to the how to part of fasting. Instead I enjoyed each chapter. Stovall’s premise is that most people have bought into the lie that we can’t always have newness and excitement in our relationship with God. He says “we’re constantly bombarded with images, sounds, and counterfeit experiences that demand our attention … and we settle for these cheap substitutes.” In part one, Stovall describes four steps of awakening- experience surrender, experience passion for God, experience God’s goodness, and create space for God to fill. As he describes those steps, he includes scripture to reinforce the importance of fasting and life stories to show God’s work in people’s lives when they fast.
One of my favorite chapters was “God is a Filler, not a Forcer.” This was a great reminder of how although God does pursue and woe us, He does not force us. We must carve out quiet time so that we may hear Him. Fasting is one of God’s ways to do that. With those thoughts, Stovall leads into Part Two- the Awakening Lifestyle. After an excellent chapter on unlocking the secrets of prayer, he outlines the differences between OT and NT fasting and how that understanding is very important in how we relate to God. With scriptural support, he also explains that fasting is a command from God. I love his statement that fasting disconnects us from the distractions of the world and prayer connects us with God.
Stovall completes the book with the 21 day Awakening plan which includes some specifics on fasting such as acceptable and unacceptable foods, different types of fasts, and a 21 day devotional. I loved the devotional which was scripturally based and included motivation for times you may struggle during the fast and help focusing your time with God. I loved when he discussed the importance of disconnecting and how you can nourish our souls through talking, socializing, playing, and entertainment. He says “When our souls are full of those things, we don’t often hunger for God.” How true!
I thought this was a great book on fasting and how it can help “awaken” your relationship with God. Stovall did a good job of explaining the steps of awakening, backing everything up with scripture, and describing different ways to fast. He concludes the book with a daily devotional for the 21 day fast. For anyone seeking to improve their relationship with God, I recommend reading this book and fasting.

I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review