5 Of the Best Christian Books That Will Change Your Life
October 4, 2021** I have updated this post to include another amazing book I have read, so though the title will not change there are now 6 books included on this list.**
I love Christian books. It doesn’t matter if they are fiction or fact I can’t get enough of well written, inspiring Christian stories.
We all need some hope, especially these days, that God has a plan and that He is in fact for us and not against us. Whenever I feel afraid or like my hope is slipping I turn to these 5 books to remind me of the faithfulness of God and the hope we have in Jesus as our saviour.
Unlike my last post on Christian books that was specifically about Christian Biographies (you can read it here) this list is a mixture of biography, fiction and study. It wouldn’t be overdramatic for me to say that these books changed my life. How I view God, my part in His story and plan for this world, and how He is using all of us and our specific gifting and talents in His kingdom.
5 Inspiring Christian Books that will change your life – Pin for later
Why read Christian Books?
I know a lot of people who prefer to only read their Bible (and don’t get me wrong, we should be reading our Bibles) and do not like to add on any extra reading especially of the Christian variety.
I like to encourage anyone I can to read Christian books whether fact or fiction because not only do they teach us something new, or show us a view of God we may not have known prior to reading them (even if we don’t always agree), they also inspire us and encourage us in our Christian walk.
If you aren’t yet a Christian I highly recommend reading these 5 books as a great way to get to know God and His Church.
In choosing these particular books I went through my bookshelves and thought, what are the top 5 books that actually changed my life. By that I mean they drastically altered what I thought I knew about God, how He works and also made me think about my life and calling.
6 of the Best Christian Books that will change your life
* I have updated this post to include another amazing book I have read, so though the title will not change there are now 6 books included on this list.**
I have titled this post the 5 best christian books, these are just my favourites. And I haven’t even scraped the surface of all the amazing Christian books out there.
- Peace Like a River by Leif Enger
- The Jesus I never knew by Philip Yancey
- L’Abri by Edith Schaeffer
- The Magnolia Story by Chip & Joanna Gaines
- Hinds Feet on High Places byHannah Hupnard
- Garden City by John Mark Comer
My top 6 Christian Books
I have chosen these five as my absolute favourites for a number of reasons. All five are actually very diverse in the types of people they are written about and the topics they cover. From a new take on reading through the Gospels to discover a Jesus we may be shocked to find, to a current media sensation that everyone is talking about, these books may all be from a Christian perspective but they definitely prove the point that you can’t put God in a box.
All five of my top picks are very well written. This isn’t the case for a lot of CB’s but these five are so well written they just draw you in.
As I read each of these I was blown away by the intricate working of God displayed in these five stories. Of course you see Him in every Christian Book but these five gave me chills when reading them.
Lets dive into each book and what I personally loved about it. I hope from this list you find some that you absolutely love and share with the people around you as well.
Garden City
Garden City by John Mark Comer
I never thought this blog post would take off or make the front page of Google. I honestly thought no one would read it. It’s not what I usually share about, so it seemed kinda funny to post, but I did it anyways. Now that it’s one of my most viewed posts, which is shocking to me, I am constantly wishing I could add more and more books that I have loved and not just loved but affected my life so much so that I would say they changed it. But I usually refrain, because the list would never end hah. But this book. This book was too good to leave off the list and so I have added just one more, making my 5 life changing Christian books into 6.
John Mark Comer has written about a topic that pretty much sums up what I think about for the majority of the day. I come from a generation that completely separated the spiritual and secular and that left most Christians with a distorted view of what it means to be a follower of Jesus and how that plays into their everyday life.
I love this book and how John Mark Comer simply explains why we are here on Earth, and what we should do about it! It’s a must read.
You’ve heard people say “Who you are matters more than what you do”. Does the Bible really teach that?
In Garden City, popular pastor and speaker John Mark Comer gives a fresh take on our calling and our purpose, with a surprisingly counter-culture take. Through his creative and conversational style, Comer takes a good look at Genesis and the story of a man, a woman, and a garden. He unpacks God’s creation and his original intent for how we are meant to spend our time. Here, you’ll find answers to questions like “Does God care where I work?” “What about what I do with my free time or how much rest I get?” “Does he have a clear direction for me?”
Practical and theologically rich, Garden City speaks to twenty and thirty-somethings who are figuring out next steps and direction in their lives.
Garden City is the Purpose Driven Life for the next generation—the book that helps us answer why we are here and what should we do about it.
The Jesus I Never Knew
The Jesus I never knew is my most recent read on this list and obviously I loved it. It was recommended to me by Sarah Clarkson in her book ” Book Girls” and is an amazing book full of wonderful book lists, many of which I have bought and are in my “to be read” pile.
The Jesus I never knew is written by Philip Yancey who does an incredible job at going through there gospel and peeling off our “North American” googles and helping us to see a Jesus that, at least for me, was truly transformational.
Although this book is new to me, it is in fact not new but has been around for a while and highly recommended as a must read about Jesus and Christianity by many.
The Jesus I Never Knew – by Philip Yancey
L’ABRI
I read L’abri a couple years ago and have never been the same since. This book is written by one of the founders of L’abri, Edith Schaeffer, and it’s a great read to see how God uses us in many different ways to not only bring truth to the world but also how we can change culture!
This was one of the first books I read about the transforming of culture through Kingdom principles and I loved it. This is written more in a biography style and included much about the authors life and family as well as this incredible school.
Peace Like a River
Peace like a River, out of all 5 books, is my favourite. Its a fictional book that changed everything for me. I read it during a time in my life when, although I was a Christian, I was longing for a more “Real” relationship with the living God, and this book written by the incredible Leif Enger opened my eyes to God in a new way.
Put it at the top of your reading list and buy copies for all your friends and family. This book is so well written and the story is beautiful, full of hope for desperate times.
Peace Like a River – by Leif Enger
The Magnolia Story
Who hasn’t heard of Chip and Joanna Gaines by now. But have you read their biography and heard their story of how they got to where they are now!
If you know me personally then I am sure you have heard my rave about this book and their story. Of course I love Chip and Jo just like most everyone else, but what I love most about this book is how beautifully we see God weaving their lives together with a plan that would literally change culture as we know it.
This book was the first place I learned about “Dead Dreams” and what God can do when doors we thought were locked for forever can be unlocked in time. How when we trust God with our dreams he will take them places we never imagined. And most of all I learned more about the amazing God I follow and how intricate His stories are. His stories are our stories and this one will leave you awe struck and inspired about how Big our God is.
The Magnolia Story- by Chip & Joanna Gaines
Hinds’ Feet on High Places
And last but not least Hinds’ feet on High Places. This is a beautiful Christian allegory written by the incredible Hannah Hupnard.
This is the older book of them all, but even though it was written many many years ago it still stands the test of time and is truly transformational.
This edition is stunning and, though its only October, if your like me and already looking ahead to Christmas this book would make a wonderful gift under your loved ones tree!
Hinds’ Feet on High Places – by Hannah Hupnard
Top 6 Of the Best Christian Books That Will Change Your Life – Book List
You’ve heard people say “Who you are matters more than what you do”. Does the Bible really teach that?
In Garden City, popular pastor and speaker John Mark Comer gives a fresh take on our calling and our purpose, with a surprisingly counter-culture take. Through his creative and conversational style, Comer takes a good look at Genesis and the story of a man, a woman, and a garden. He unpacks God’s creation and his original intent for how we are meant to spend our time. Here, you’ll find answers to questions like “Does God care where I work?” “What about what I do with my free time or how much rest I get?” “Does he have a clear direction for me?”
Practical and theologically rich, Garden City speaks to twenty and thirty-somethings who are figuring out next steps and direction in their lives.
Garden City is the Purpose Driven Life for the next generation—the book that helps us answer why we are here and what should we do about it.
This honest book will help you discover a different Jesus from the flannel graph Sunday school figure, the sweetly smiling Victorian Saviour, and all the cultural clichés that have tamed Jesus and kept him in comfortable religious boxes.
Philip Yancey cuts through existing views and preconceptions of Jesus–citing opinions from church history, modern history, and popular culture; discussing how different people and cultures view Jesus; dissecting popular quotes about Jesus; and much more–and he offers a more accurate perspective by pointing us back to the Bible.
From the manger in Bethlehem to the cross in Jerusalem, Yancey presents a complex character who generates questions as well as answers, a disturbing and exhilarating Jesus who wants to radically transform your life and stretch your faith.
The Jesus I Never Knew engages your heart, your mind, your emotions, and your senses, preparing you for a new, life-changing encounter with the real Jesus described in the Gospels.
In 1955 an American family moved into a chalet on the side of a steep Swiss alp. They did not know exactly why God had brought them there, what He wanted them to do, or even where the money to live on would come from. But He began opening doors, and people with questions about life’s meaning began finding the way to their home.
Edith Schaeffer, wife of Dr. Francis Schaeffer, tells the remarkable story of how God led them step by step, as that one small chalet grew into a whole community. It took the name L’Abri (French for shelter). Day by day, God faithfully provided for their family, and eventually for the entire community.
The Schaeffers believed that truth must be demonstrated as well as debated. They wanted to show the world through the transformed lifestyle of a believing community that the personal-infinite God is really here in our generation. In a society losing the ability to distinguish between Christian and non-Christian values, truth and untruth, good and evil, L’Abri equipped people to make that distinction.
Young Reuben Land has little doubt that miracles happen all around us, suspecting that his own father is touched by God. When his older brother flees a controversial murder charge, Reuben, along with his older sister and father, set off on a journey that will take them to the Badlands and through a landscape more extraordinary than they could have anticipated. Enger’s novel is at once a heroic quest and a haunting meditation on the possibility of magic in the everyday world.
These famous words are now synonymous with the dynamic husband-and-wife team Chip and Joanna Gaines, stars of HGTV’s Fixer Upper. As this question fills the airwaves with anticipation, their legions of fans continue to multiply and ask a different series of questions, like—Who are these people?What’s the secret to their success? And is Chip actually that funny in real life? By renovating homes in Waco, Texas, and changing lives in such a winsome and engaging way, Chip and Joanna have become more than just the stars of Fixer Upper, they have become America’s new best friends.
The Magnolia Story is the first book from Chip and Joanna, offering their fans a detailed look at their life together. From the very first renovation project they ever tackled together, to the project that nearly cost them everything; from the childhood memories that shaped them, to the twists and turns that led them to the life they share on the farm today.
They both attended Baylor University in Waco. However, their paths did not cross until Chip checked his car into the local Firestone tire shop where Joanna worked behind the counter. Even back then Chip was a serial entrepreneur who, among other things, ran a lawn care company, sold fireworks, and flipped houses. Soon they were married and living in their first fixer upper. Four children and countless renovations later, Joanna garners the attention of a television producer who notices her work on a blog one day.
In The Magnolia Story fans will finally get to join the Gaines behind the scenes and discover:
- The time Chip ran to the grocery store and forgot to take their new, sleeping baby
- Joanna’s agonizing decision to close her dream business to focus on raising their children
- When Chip buys a houseboat, sight-unseen, and it turns out to be a leaky wreck
- Joanna’s breakthrough moment of discovering the secret to creating a beautiful home
- Harrowing stories of the financial ups and downs as an entrepreneurial couple
- Memories and photos from Chip and Jo’s wedding
- The significance of the word magnolia and why it permeates everything they do
- The way the couple pays the popularity of Fixer Upper forward, sharing the success with others, and bolstering the city of Waco along the way
And yet there is still one lingering question for fans of the show: Is Chip really that funny? “Oh yeah,” says Joanna. “He was, and still is, my first fixer upper.”
For the first time, this beloved Christian allegory is a mixed-media special edition complete with charming watercolor paintings, antique tinted photography, meditative hand-lettered Scripture, journaling and doodling space, and designs to color. As you read and connect with the story of Much-Afraid and her trials, the pages of this book become a canvas on which to chronicle your own story, struggles, and personal triumphs.
Hinds’ Feet on High Places, with more than 2,000,000 copies sold, is a story of endurance, persistence, and reliance on God. This book has inspired millions of people to become sure-footed in their faith even when facing the rockiest of life’s terrain. The story of Much-Afraid is based on Psalm 18:33: “He makes me as surefooted as a deer, enabling me to stand on mountain heights.”
The complete Hinds’ Feet story is accented by 80 full-color paintings, photography, and hand-lettered Scripture.
I hope you enjoyed this list, I would love to hear of your favourite Christian Books in the comments below!
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