Renovation of the Heart in Daily Practice: Experiments in Spiritual Transformation
Overview
Spiritual director Jan Johnson guides you through 61 carefully-chosen selections from renowned author Dallas Willard’s best-selling book Renovation of the Heart. With each selection, you’ll progress through Dr. Willard’s plan for renovating the complete person. You’ll find fresh illumination for your journey as you enjoy the adventure of Jan Johnson’s experiments in spiritual transformation.
Ideal for personal meditation or for use as a transformational retreat book, this book will guide you deeper into the heart of God while renewing your own.
The Logos Bible Software edition of this volume is designed to encourage and stimulate your study and understanding of spiritual disciplines. Scripture passages link directly to your English translations and to the original language texts, and important concepts link to dictionaries, encyclopedias, and a wealth of other resources in your digital library. In addition, you can perform powerful searches by topic and find what other authors, scholars, and theologians have to say about faith, meditation, and Christlikeness.
- Seeks to assist the reader in interacting with Renovation of the Heart
- Explores Dallas Willard’s teachings while offering additional study material
- Includes “Today’s Experiment” for each entry in the book with exercises and questions
Top Highlights
“The thought of a sin is not sin, and it is not even a temptation. Temptation is the thought plus the inclination to sin, possibly manifested by lingering over the thought or seeking it out. Without the inner yes, there is no sin. But sin itself is when we inwardly say yes to the temptation, when we would do the deed, even though we may not actually get to carry it out.” (Page 27)
“‘Knowledge’ in biblical language never refers to head knowledge but always to experiential involvement.” (Page 37)
“But Christlikeness in the inner being is not a human attainment. It is, finally, a gift of grace.” (Page 18)
“The kingdom of God is the range of God’s effective will, where what God wants done is done.3” (Page 57)
“Those who speak articulately about the Bible may draw our attention more than those who live a transformed life.” (Page 10)
No one has impacted my life like Dallas Willard. But for most of us, it helps to break his thoughts into bite-sized portions and then actually do something with them. So this is a feast!
—John Ortberg, senior pastor, Menlo Park Presbyterian Church, Menlo Park, CA
What a great team! A master craftsman and veteran interior designer join forces to help with the most important renovation project ever—our own hearts. This wonderful lab manual includes devotion-sized quotes and daily experiments that will help you be with God through daily interactions with his power and presence.
—Gary W. Moon, director, Martin Family Institute and Dallas Willard Center for Spiritual Formation, Westmont College
Beware! If you are content with a superficial walk with God, this book will be a nagging irritant. But if you long to go deeper with him—not to memorize Scripture out of duty or to practice your faith out of routine or obligation—read this book! Dallas Willard’s theological expertise, combined with Jan Johnson’s daily experiments and the Holy Spirit’s renewal of your heart, will result in the Christian life you’ve always wanted.
—Carol Kent, author and speaker
No one on the contemporary scene articulates the concepts of spiritual formation and discipleship to Jesus more accurately or more biblically than does Dallas Willard, and no one translates these concepts into everyday experience and practices more helpfully than Jan Johnson. Dare to combine these two, and you have an explosive transforming power—nitroglycerin for the spirit. I see no way to work through these experiments without being radically changed from the inside out.
—Howard Baker, instructor of Christian formation, Denver Seminary
- Title: Renovation of the Heart in Daily Practice: Experiments in Spiritual Transformation
- Authors: Dallas Willard and Jan Johnson
- Publisher: NavPress
- Publication Date: 2006
- Pages: 183
Dallas Willard is a professor and former director of the School of Philosophy at The University of Southern California. He is the best-selling author of more than 30 publications, including The Divine Conspiracy, The Spirit of the Disciplines, and Hearing God.
Jan Johnson enjoys speaking at retreats and conferences, hoping to ignite within listeners a burning desire to know God in an authentic way and to live out a kingdom life in the daily companionship of Jesus. Unwilling to minimize the mystery of God or the human struggle, Jan presents biblical principles and characters in down-to-earth ways so that people can connect with God and become more thirsty for God. Her observations about life’s dilemmas give listeners a lot to study, ponder, and laugh about. As an author and spiritual director, Jan holds degrees in Christian education and spiritual direction, which along with many years of Bible teaching, have equipped her to write hundreds of published Bible study sessions. She is also the author of 16 books and more than one thousand newspaper and magazine articles. Jan is the author of 13 books and more than one thousand Bible studies.
