While the Bible has everything we need to tackle all of life’s ups and downs, sometimes it’s nice to read some spiritual books to help us along the way.
Spiritual books are an amazing resource we can use to couple our daily Bible readings and help us grow in our application of the Scriptures. Spiritual books should not become the overriding authority in our lives that we trust to help us more than the Bible—but if we use them with the Bible, we can grow and deepen our walk with God.
There are a ton of spiritual books out there that we enjoy, but we wanted to compile a list of 5 spiritual books that we believe will strengthen any woman’s walk with God, regardless of where she is at spiritually.
1. Twelve Extraordinary Women: How God Shaped Women of the Bible and What He Wants to Do With You by John MacArthur
Twelve Extraordinary Women highlights the life stories of twelve amazing women in the Bible and what we can learn from their lives.
What I appreciate most about this book is that it chooses twelve women who are vastly different, so we can all find ourselves in at least one of them. As a young Christian, I found this book to be inspiring, and it was eye opening to learn about some of the “lesser known” (but very influential!) women of the Bible. There’s faithful prayer warriors like Anna and boss ladies like Lydia, all of whom had godly qualities I wanted to imitate.
I recommend reading this book as a great introduction to the women in the Bible. What’s awesome is that this book also includes study guide questions at the end which can help guide your times with God and help you find ways to apply the Scriptures to your life.
2. Secure in Heart: Overcoming Insecurity in a Woman’s Life by Robin Weidner
For me, this book was one of the most life changing books out of this entire list.
I think as women, we can all struggle with insecurity to some degree. I used to think insecurities were more materialistic or vain in nature—like being insecure about not having designer clothes or being insecure about a part of your body. Secure in Heart helped me to see that insecurity goes much deeper than that…
Secure in Heart sets out to tackle some of the deepest questions that can plague our thoughts as women:
- Am I enough?
- Will I be rescued?
- Who will protect me?
- Will I be successful
- What do others think of me?
- Who can I count on?
- Will I be alone?
It’s because of these very questions that we can find ourselves putting our trust and hope into other people or things, and we come up with our own ways of dealing with insecurity rather than turning to God.
Out of all of the books on this short list, I recommend that you choose this one. Secure in Heart will make you feel heard and understood, and it will change the way you view yourself and God. It’s really the beginning of fighting off your insecurities and being secure in God.
3. Victory of Surrender by Gordon Fergueson
“Surrender” is one of those words we commonly associate with defeat, not victory. We can cringe a bit when we hear it because we don’t like to give up control or we think it makes us look weak. But as Fergueson points out in the title of his first chapter, surrender is actually another word for faith.
I admittedly haven’t read through Victory of Surrender in its entirety just yet, but the first few chapters have totally changed my perspective on surrender. I thought surrender meant that we just had to “let go and let God” as if it were some type of theology we should live by but could never attain. After only a few chapters, I now see that surrender is so much more than that, and if we’re to live out a Christian life, we need to make surrender just as much a part of it as faith.
4. Pleasing People: How Not to Be an Approval Junkie by Lou Priolo
Before being a Christian, I admittedly was an approval junkie. I used to say that I didn’t care about what people thought of me, but the truth was, I cared about what everyone thought of me—my parents, my friends, my professors, my dog (okay, maybe not my dog)…
Once I became a Christian, I still used to say that I didn’t care what people thought of me because I knew that only God’s opinion mattered—but it took me years to actually understand that at a heart level.
Reading through Pleasing People helped me to see what people pleasing actually was—idolatry of people. For years I defined myself by what other people thought and valued their opinions over the Word of God. This book changed my perspective of myself and others, and helped me learn how to break free from the idolatry that was holding me back in my relationship with God.
If you feel the need to search for compliments, give in to peer pressure rather than stand up for the truth, avoid conflicts, don’t share your faith because you hate rejection, or care what people think of you (just to name a few characteristics of people pleasers from the book), then I wholeheartedly recommend you read this book. It will change your walk with God.
5. The Guilty Soul’s Guide to Grace: Opening the Door to Freedom in Christ by Sam Laing
“Grace” has become one of those Christian buzzwords that we hear all the time, but we may not actually know what it means. It sounds like a beautiful, positive word, and we can either take it for granted or simply have a superficial understanding of it.
As a young Christian, I had a super guilty soul because I struggled with perfectionism. I placed so much pressure on myself to “be a good Christian” that anytime I fell short, I got unnecessarily downcast about it. We do have to live according to the Bible, but we can’t punish ourselves more than God would—that’s called worldly sorrow (2 Corinthians 7:10) and it’s really brought on by pride (and as a side note, I would totally recommend Prideful Souls Guide to Humility as well).
If you struggle with feeling like you’re just not good enough for God or like you’ve blown it too much, this is the book you have to read. It will totally change your perspective on grace and will help you live the life in Christ that God intended.
There’s many other Christian books out there that didn’t make the list. Do you have a Christian book that has changed your life? Feel free to share what it is in the comments!
