Bible Promises To Life By by Dave Earley

Bible Promises to Live By by Dave Early is an easy-reading, highly encouraging journey through 21 promises the God gives us in his Word.  Each chapter is 5-8 pages and loaded with Scripture, making the work good for devotional reading.  Take a chapter a day and read the book in a month or a chapter a week and read the book through a season.  

Before I go any further, I should say that Dave is a friend.  He started as my professor but then became a mentor after I worked and trained with him while he was church-planting in Las Vegas.  I have greatly enjoyed Dave's many other books and this one was no different.  

In general, Dave writes in three categories.  He writes textbooks like Spiritual Formation Is. . . : How to Grow in Jesus with Passion and Confidence.  He writes popular-level informative books like Prayer: The Timeless Secret of High Impact Leaders (one of my favorites).  And then there are the "21" books, that is, books that look at the prayers of the Bible or truths about heaven, for example.  These books look at a good list (usually 21) but it's not an exhaustive list.   Bible Promises to Live By is one of the latter category.  

Each chapter has a teaching on a specific promise found in Scripture that includes illustrations and stories.  The format makes it easy to read as you start the day, but before you've got enough coffee going for more complicated thinking.  In addition, Dave writes in such a way that promotes additional thought throughout the day and an easy way to explain the promise to others in need.  Every chapter also includes a final encouragement, which is a succinct thought to drive the ideas of the chapter into a life application.  

If I would have been involved in the editing or publishing of this book, I would have suggested Dave use a different opening illustration in the introduction.   It's a good illustration of a checkbook, but it's dated.  Many younger readers have never used checks and have a limited understanding of how a checkbook works and was a financial reality for many year years.  Today, however, when we think of check we often think of the sign that says, "Sorry, we don't accept checks."   I noticed some of the stories and illustrations from Dave's life happened in the 90s.  They were still relevant and relatable (like getting the flu) but I found myself curious if this book was written in the 90s and shelved until now.   This is minor and doesn't change the point of the book.  

If you're looking for encouragement or a good devotional reading, I highly recommend Bible Promises to Live By by Dave Early.  

Also, it's our hope to get Dave on Salty Believer Unscripted to talk about his book, among other things, so subscribe to the podcast and be on the lookout for more on that soon.