There are at least three important forces to overcome to begin to live a better life--what I am calling The Jesus Life!First, living The Jesus Life is counter-cultural.  Our culture has gone wild and the mainstream of the cultural flow has almost nothing to do with Judeo-Christian heritage.  Everything is permissible but not everything is advantageous to our spiritual lives. We have to remember this premise and we must be on guard about the fact that culture is perhaps shaping our minds and hearts more than Jesus Christ. To live the Jesus Life requires an upstream effort to swim against the cultural tides and ebbs and to simply attempt to live differently. You can’t live like the world does and expect to reap the fruits of the spiritual life. It’s just that simple.Second, the Jesus Life is counter-intuitive.  Shaped by the world, our tendencies are these: to live life alone; to pursue wealth at the expense of everyone and everything; to cram our lives full of events, meetings and obligations that we have no time to pause, slow down and live out of a healthy center of our souls. We live frayed lives not whole ones. We live divided, now satisfied and we live empty rather than fulfilled. To change this deadly pattern, we must learn to practice some spiritual exercises that will get our hearts and souls back into shape.  I can’t run a marathon right now even if I wanted to. I’m not in shape for such a thing. But if I wanted to, then I’d need to practice and build up new reserves and muscles to be able to complete the task. The Jesus Life works in exactly the same way. We can’t live like Jesus without the practice of doing what he did. This is why in the book, The Jesus Life, I go into detail about living life differently in eight specific ways. We nourish the Jesus Life by doing simple things that foster the life to grow within us.Third, the Jesus life seems counter productive in a world that constantly shouts at us this sick mantra:  “Achieve, Acquire and Do!” Doug, a friend of mine said these three words are the haunting whispers he hears every single day and every single  year of his 60 year old life. He wants a different life now. The first life didn’t work. This is how many of us feel these days. But to life the Jesus life, we must understand that the world has a different standard of productivity than Jesus did. For Jesus, his standard was a healthy, whole and fulfilling life---all adjectives trying to wrap their proverbial arms around Jesus’ best expression for life—the abundant life.The abundant life is not the busy life. It is not the Baptist life and it is not the American life. We have to strip down our understanding of what Jesus truly meant when he said, “I came that you might have life.”  Jesus wants us to live—and to live before we die—right here and right now.I’m excited that The Jesus Life is now ready for release. You’re invited to live a new life—the life God wants for us—The Jesus Life.____________________________________________________________________________________________________BREAKING NEWSHere's a link from AMAZON to "look inside" the book and even pre-order! We'll be offering a great deal through Potter's Inn regarding getting your copy of The Jesus Life. Potter's Inn will give you a FREE copy of Embracing Soul Care by Stephen W. Smith when you order The Jesus Life. This will only be able for people who order through the blog! Keep looking because the offer will be up and running--maybe later this week!Amazon Link, click here: http://amzn.to/wVfMUj“The Jesus Life stands to become the trusted primer on following Jesus well. It’s a rich meal, well prepared. Give yourself to this book and you’ll feel like you’ve got a hand to hold, a cheerleader, and a reliable guide on the only path that really matters.”

Paula Rinehart, author of Strong Women, Soft Hearts and Better Than My Dreams