Tuesday 22 September 2015

Living Water in the Desert

Living Water in the Desert: True stories of God at Work in Iran is the latest book in the Hidden Heroes series written by Rebecca Davis and published by Christian Focus. This book is about God's work in Iran.

The book starts with the work  of Henry Martyn back at the beginning of the nineteenth century and then follows through the succeeding years with mini-stories of Kurdish and Iranian Christians. The major struggles of people coming to faith in the Lord Jesus are described as well as the clear witness of the lives of Christians. There a remarkable testimonies: the chief who purchased a Bible from a missionary and was converted through reading it. Twenty years later, when he was well known as a Christian chief, the missionary who had sold him the Bible found out what had happened and rejoiced at how God had used an apparently barren time in his life.

Living Water in the Desert continues with modern day testimonies including believers who have lost their homes and lives for the sake of the Gospel. I hadn't been aware of the large number of people who have turned from Islam to the Lord Jesus, in Iran, since the Iranian Revolution in 1979.

This book is a challenge to pray for believers in Iran. They are an example to us with their willingness to suffer and even die for the sake of the Lord Jesus. Yes, they do often seem poorly taught-there are frequent mentions of dreams/visions and lack of clarity around believers not marrying unbelievers. This is all the more reason for us to pray for them. It is encouraging to hear that many people have turned to the Lord Jesus even in a land which seems so against the Good News of the Lord Jesus.

Like other books in this series, Living Waters in the Desert finishes with some background information about the sources of the stories. Finally, there are questions for each chapter. These are useful but it would be useful to have added some about the authority of Scripture and thinking through the reliability or otherwise of dreams. 

The age range of the book is said to be 6-7 for reading aloud and 8-14 for reading independently. I think that this book is probably best suited for the older end of this age range and as an easy read for adults.

Overall, this is a book which encourages us to give thanks for God's work and urges us to pray for His people in Iran.

Disclaimer: I received a copy of Living Water in the Desert for review purposes. The views are my own. I was not required to write a positive review.

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6 comments:

  1. We pray for the persecuted church together in the mornings, so I think this is a book we would be interested in. Thank you for sharing your review Sarah.

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    1. Yes, it would fit well. We also loved the book in the series about the Karen People in Myanmar called the Return of the White Book.

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  2. This book looks great. We know an Iranian Christian woman and her dear family, she and her sisters in turn all had to flee Iran after meeting Christ. Amazing. Thanks for sharing. xx

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    1. I guess that is a common experience of these persecuted believers. My surprise was that there are so many of them. God works in places which we don't expect.

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  3. Oh, thank you for the review. I haven't even heard of the series, but I love reading about how God is working throughout the world. We are always looking for books like this for my older children to show them that life is so much bigger than themselves. Thank you again. I will definitely be looking into this series.

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    1. Claire, your older children are they ideal age for these books. Definitely worth looking them out.

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