The Beautiful Fight: Surrendering to the Transforming Presence of God Every Day of Your Life

By Gary Thomas and Gary L. Thomas

Book Overview

True Christian faith is a profoundly transformational experience in which every part of our being is marked by God's change and energized by his presence. This transformation takes us far beyond mere sin avoidance to a robust "full-bodied" holiness in which we make ourselves "holy available" to God every minute of the day. From Starbucks, to the office, to the soccer fields, to the boardroom, believers have the opportunity to carry the presence of Christ wherever they go. God offers the reader more than mere forgiveness; he wants to radically change and fill them with his presence, so they can experience an entirely different kind of life based not just on what they do or don't do but on who they are.Yet while many Christians today profess belief, their Christianity has no pulse. Holy Available is a manifesto of fully alive faith. Gary Thomas issues a compelling call for readers to see with Christ's eyes, feel with Christ's heart, and serve with Christ's hands. We make ourselves available to become "God oases," places of spiritual refuge where God can bring the hurting and lost to enjoy his presence and ministry. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0310272734
• ISBN13: 9780310272731
• Release Date: October 2007
• Publisher: Zondervan Publishing Company
• Length: 268 Pages
• Weight: 0.97 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 5.7" x 8.8"

Customer Reviews

The inspiration to live a compelling life.

I really enjoyed this book. The book started off a little slow for me, but after two chapters I found it very engaging. The second section was particularly practical. It helped me to reconsider how I look at spiritual growth. To often my Christian life has been more talk than walk. This book encouraged me to live a more compelling life.

Beautiful Spirituality

This newest book from one of Evangelicalism's finest authors on spiritual formation, Gary Thomas, is excellent - one of the best books I've read this year. Thomas takes a fresh look at living a God-empowered life that is grounded in the doctrine of Christ's bodily ascension. Drawing on insights from Evangelical, Reformed, Orthodox, and Catholic traditions, Thomas shows how God's presence can change the way we use our eyes...

A Beautiful Way to Live

My heart beat with passion as I associated so clearly with Thomas' teaching in "The Beautiful Fight!" This is how Christians--new and seasoned--including me, need to see our life. With vulnerable examples from his own experiences to hit me between the eyes, I was reminded as I absorbed the teachings he illustrated, that it is a fight. We're in a battle to let go of "self" and allow the Spirit to work through us. Yet this battle,...

This new book should become a classic, but don't wait to read it!

I've been reading The Beautiful Fight in pieces every night. It is too good to read quickly. The book is packed with wisdom from numerous spiritual leaders of old, as well as the author's own compelling insights from his life and passion for running "the only race worth running" or in this case, fighting "the beautiful fight". The author is well-studied, real and vulnerable. Everything in this book rings true and yet there...

Substantive to the End!

Although this book has a common theme (our constant struggle for personal holiness), every page contains book-dropping principles that I wanted to stop and ponder at the implications for my life. Unlike so many popular Christian books that have only one or two great precepts surounded by a tremendous amount of page-filling fluff, "The Beautiful Fight" is substantive to the end. It will challenge new Christians in their faith...