Hurry Up and Pray…Not Really

Posted on July 20, 2011 by admin

Prayer changes things…we have all heard that phrase, but have we personally seen change take place in our lives as a result of praying to God? If not, why? Are we missing something…are we praying for the wrong things? So much uncertainty seems to be centered on prayer…are we doing it right, asking the right things, having the right motives, etc. In our culture of fast-paced living, is effective prayer a “process” that takes too long for our short attention spans? Perhaps. So why is prayer so difficult for us, and why don’t we see the change we seek?

A portion of the answer has already been revealed. Our culture is fast-paced, with limited time to slow down and enjoy the Lord’s presence. None of us like that fact, but it doesn’t make it untrue just because we don’t like it. We want everything NOW, and anything that takes time becomes neglected. Instead of spending time praying and building our relationship with Christ, we give Him short one-liners, or repetitious coveralls to cover our bases. Great, we’ve spent 5 minutes in prayer today, awesome! Am I trying to belittle these prayers, no. Am I just pointing out things other people do, no, because I do them also.

The point is, God really does desire a deeper relationship with us through our prayer time with Him, and He wants to reveal things to us that He will only do when we slow down our lives and take the time to listen to Him. I am not saying you need to lock yourself in a room for 5 hours a day…that would be great, but it is very impractical for most of us. And let’s be honest, most of us would fall asleep within the first 15 minutes anyway. The answer lies in spending time with Him regularly in prayer where we share our heart with Him. We should choose to go deeper with Him, sharing our hearts…not just the “be with” and “bless…” prayers. Genuine prayer is definitely not a “process,” some formula that states “as long as we say the right things in a certain way, God will rain down his blessing and approval.” God is definitely interested in our heart, and what is genuine. That takes time. Maybe that is 5, 15, 30 minutes a day, or hours a day. We can certainly draw near to Him throughout the day with several short prayer times…nothing wrong with that. The main point is, we need to spend time talking to Him in prayer, and being still and quiet to let Him speak to us…that will change our lives. The fact that many of us don’t see great results from God is because we choose to spend so little time getting to know Him and seeking His direction. We spend far too much time trying to “find our way” in a myriad of other things that take up our time, and we know it.
So how do we learn to pray? One great way is to look into the lives of believers who accomplished great things through their prayer lives. We can learn what concerns touch the heart of God, and what moves His Spirit in response. We can learn how prayer can bring real change to our lives. There are many things in life that truly can ONLY be changed through prayer. A couple of eBooks that address these concerns and can help all of us grow closer to the Lord through prayer are: The 21 Most Effective Prayers of the Bible, Lord, Please Help Me to Change, E.M. Bounds: Man of Prayer, Let God Talk to You, and Pray Big. There are some great tools and insights within these resources to help focus your prayer life, to discover real change and purpose, and to experience a deeper relationship with your Savior.

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Don’t Read This if Life is Perfect

Posted on June 20, 2011 by admin

There are so many variables in life today that continually make it a challenge to stay focused, positive, and many times, growing in our relationship with Christ. In the first 6 months of this year, we have seen incredible natural disasters around the world and many here in America. The slow economy, housing market crash, job losses, and national debt all remind us that things are difficult…for others and for ourselves. We live in the culture of wealth, but many of us don’t feel wealthy, and many of us don’t feel like God is there for us…at least on some level.

We often wonder what God is doing in, or with, our lives? We are not sure what direction to move with our future because we are unsure if it is “God’s will.” So, instead of moving at all, we stand still as time passes us by. We wonder if we have somehow “missed” God’s opportunity for us? Like the Apostle Paul said, we shouldn’t focus on the past and what “might have been”. We should, however, look to the future and what God will accomplish through us. The place to start is by looking toward Christ. Get to know Him, let God change your life. Obviously, there are some great resources available to help us know God, starting with the Bible, and continuing on with a myriad of books by Christian authors. We have compiled just a few here to help you to seek to know God through these difficult times that face us and our nation. (Click titles below to view more detail)

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Talk to us through our Facebook page and let us, and others, know what books have helped you, changed you, gave you a different perspective, etc.??? Whatever your response, we want to hear about it. Let’s talk about the books that help make our lives better and the things that bring us closer to Christ in our everyday experiences, whether good or challenging. Find more resources to help with difficult times on NOVO Ink.

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Dive In and Read Up!

Posted on June 6, 2011 by Jon Hirst

If you are involved in youth ministry, you might be asking the question, “Who reads anymore anyway?” Most of us are surfing, skimming and grabbing tidbits of information from a million places. But if you ask those people who are going deep and really thinking through new ideas, you will find they are reading. Not just the Christian-light books that you can breeze through in an hour or so . . . they are reading some of the heavier stuff that is defining their outreach and grounding their discipleship.

But how do you find these resources? Well, our team at Novo Ink has assembled a list of current books designed to help you dig in and break through some of the challenges you are facing in your ministry. Take a minute to visit our Read Up page designed specifically for youth ministry staff and volunteers.

You will also find 10 simple ways to use eBooks for youth ministry, free discussion starter videos and reviews of the books we are recommending. We look forward to diving in with you and reading up together!

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Reason Ten to Discover Your E

Posted on May 3, 2011 by admin

Today, we’re giving you the tenth and final reason to Discover Your E.  Reason #10: lighter backpacks!

We are a learning culture.  And as most students will tell you, learning means that you also have to read quite a few books.  With traditional books, this means carting around a heavy backpack.  But with eBooks, you can load as many eBooks as you’d like, and the weight will never go up.

Thanks for following us through all ten reasons to Discover Your E.  If you’ve forgotten them, they are:

  1. Mobility
  2. Storage
  3. Social sharing
  4. Be green
  5. Searchable
  6. Having a bookstore everywhere
  7. No guilt
  8. Read in small, dark places
  9. Read a greater variety
  10. Lighter backpacks

Feeling ready to Discover Your E?  Check out our “History and Biography” section to get started on your eBook journey!

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Reasons Eight and Nine to Discover Your E

Posted on April 26, 2011 by admin

It’s time to reveal two more reasons to Discover Your E.  Reason #8 – the ability to read in small, dark places.  Reason #9 – having the opportunity to read a greater variety of content.

We love to take books everywhere – that’s why reason #1 to Discover Your E was mobility.  But, sometimes the places we go are cramped, or dark, with little to no reading light available.  A great feature of eBooks is that, because they’re backlit, you can read them even without a separate light source.  Plus, because they require no physical page flipping, they take up less space and are less awkward than traditional books can be.

Another feature of eBooks actually comes from the publishers.  Because eBooks are new and exciting, publishers are bringing you more types of content than ever before.  Books can be shorter, longer, include creative content, or bundled in creative ways, so you discover new things to love about eBooks.

Next week, we’ll bring you reason #10 to Discover Your E.  Until then, take a look at our new content in the Christian Living and Christian Fiction sections.  Plus, feel free to discuss the books in the comment boxes!

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Reasons Six and Seven to Discover Your E

Posted on April 19, 2011 by admin

Today, we’re giving you two more reasons to Discover Your E.  Reason #6 – having a bookstore with you wherever you go, and the ability to read a book, then throw it away without guilt is reason #7.

We’ve all heard our friends or family say, “Oh, you have to read this book!”  But how often do we actually remember the name of the book when we get to a bookstore?  With eBooks, you have a bookstore with you wherever you go.  So when a friend or family member recommends a book, you can buy it, download it, and start reading within minutes.

Another great thing about eBooks is the ability to dispose of a book, completely guilt-free.  If you go through lots of books in a short amount of time, it’s easy to simply delete the books that you don’t want on your device.  No mess, no fuss, and no guilt of throwing away a physical book.

We have three reasons left in our “10 Reasons to Discover Your E” countdown.  What do you think they’ll be?  Keep reading the blog in the next few weeks for the final reasons.  Until then, take a look at our “Popular Issues” and “Children and Youth” sections.

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Ad’ing to Your Reading Experience

Posted on April 14, 2011 by Jon Hirst

We knew it was coming, but now it is here . . . ads incorporated into the eReading experience. Amazon announced that they will sell a new version of their Kindle devise that shows ads on each page and has an advertisement screen saver. 

The big question here is about the reading experience. Amazon staff in the Huffington Post article we linked to above are talking about the benefits of special deals. They are also talking about how ads make the devices more accessible because of the lower price. But they are not really dealing with the issue of the reader’s experience.

But is it really a big issue? We are accustomed to reading online and dodging countless ads to get the content we want. Ads have become part of our content environment. The challenge is that reading a book and reading an article are very different experiences.

You can skim an article for some key information, but when you read a book you immerse yourself in the plot, topic or lesson to be learned. Books take more concentration to get any value from the effort. It is very possible that ads will make book reading more like online news reading is today. That would be tragic.

What is a better way to include advertising? Well, it is more work but why shouldn’t we promote and advertise things that are directly related to the focus of the book. There are creative ways through text links to provide readers with new resources, services and opportunities that don’t detract as much from the reading experience. Let’s hope that we see some more intentional approaches to advertising than Kindle is producing in the coming months.

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Reasons Four and Five to Discover Your E

Posted on April 12, 2011 by admin

We’ve already given you three great reasons to Discover Your E: mobility, storage, and social sharing.  Today, we’re bringing you the fourth and fifth reasons to Discover Your E – the ability to be green, and the ability to search within books.

Most of us are trying to be more careful with natural resources, and eBooks are an easy way to get involved with conserving natural resources.  Because eBooks are electronic, they help reduce deforestation around the world.  It’s a small way to help make a big change.

“I wish there were an easier way to search inside this book.”  Have you ever thought that?  With eBooks, searching the text for a passage, quote, or topic is quick and simple.

Keep watching for more reasons to Discover Your E, and take a look at our “History & Biography”, and “Bibles & Reference” sections below.

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Reasons Two and Three to Discover Your E

Posted on April 5, 2011 by admin


Today we’re bringing you the next two reasons to Discover Your E.  Reason number two: storage.  Think about it for a second.  How many shelves of books do you have?  At some point, most of us run out of room for books.  However, eBooks provide a simple solution.  With eBooks, you can store hundreds, or even thousands, of books digitally in one convenient place.

Reason three: social sharing.  Sometimes it’s really wonderful to be able to share what you’re reading with your friends.  Now, if you find a sentence or paragraph that you like, you can easily share it on social networks with your friends, or send it via email.

Have you discovered your “e” yet?  We’ll keep bringing you more reasons to love eReading.  In the meantime, check out the great resources in our “Marriage and Family” and “Christian Fiction” sections.

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Reason One for Discovering Your E

Posted on March 31, 2011 by admin

At Novo Ink, we want to help you discover reasons to love eBooks.  That’s why, for the next few weeks, we’ll be bringing you 10 Reasons to Discover Your “e”.  Today’s reason?  Mobility.

We’ve all been there.  Waiting in line, sitting in a plane, or waiting at soccer practice.  Or on vacation, carrying around a bag of books that seems to get heavier every time you pick it up. eBooks make it possible for your entire library to be at your fingertips – any time, anywhere.

Next week, we’ll bring you more reasons to love eBooks.  Until then, take a look at our “Christian Living” section.

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