Below are three (3) books I highly recommend every New Believer read, study, and implement into their life. Aside from the Holy Scriptures, these three books will have the most positive and powerful impact on a person’s spiritual journey.

📘 Book #1: Strengthening Your Grip: How to Be Grounded in a Chaotic World
Author: Charles Swindoll

Why This Book:

This is by far the best book I have ever read on Christian living. It covers the most important areas for the growth and spiritual maturity for New Believers. In short—if you want to learn how to live a life that pleases God, this is your book!

Chapters Include:

• Strengthening Your Grip on Priorities

• Strengthening Your Grip on Involvement

• Strengthening Your Grip on Encouragement

• Strengthening Your Grip on Purity

• Strengthening Your Grip on Money

• Strengthening Your Grip on Integrity

• Strengthening Your Grip on Discipleship

• Strengthening Your Grip on Aging

• Strengthening Your Grip on Prayer

• Strengthening Your Grip on Leisure

• Strengthening Your Grip on Missions

• Strengthening Your Grip on Godliness

• Strengthening Your Grip on Attitudes

• Strengthening Your Grip on Evangelism

• Strengthening Your Grip on Authority

• Strengthening Your Grip on the Family

📗 Book #2: Heaven: A Comprehensive Guide to Everything the Bible Says About Our Eternal Home (Clear Answers to 44 Real Questions About the Afterlife, Angels, Resurrection, and the Kingdom of God)
Author: Randy Alcorn

Why This Book:

You don’t often hear pastors or teachers preach deeply on this subject—but I believe every New Believer should know more about one of the places they’ll spend eternity after their life on this corrupt planet.

Note: Did you know the Scriptures mention four (4) Heavens and two (2) Earths? If not, you definitely need to read this book!

Chapters Include:

Part I: A Theology of Heaven

Section One: Realizing Our Destiny

1. Are You Looking Forward to Heaven?
2. Is Heaven Beyond Our Imagination?
3. Is Heaven Our Default Destination... or Is Hell?
4. Can You Know You’re Going to Heaven?

Section Two: Understanding the Intermediate Heaven

5. What Is the Nature of the Intermediate Heaven?
6. Is the Intermediate Heaven a Physical Place?
7. What Is Life Like in the Intermediate Heaven?

Section Three: Grasping Redemption’s Far Reach

8. This World Is Not Our Home... or Is It?
9. Why Is Earth’s Redemption Essential to God’s Plan?
10. What Will It Mean for the Curse to Be Lifted?

Section Four: Anticipating Resurrection

11. Why Is Resurrection So Important?
12. Why Does All Creation Await Our Resurrection?
13. How Far-Reaching Is the Resurrection?

Part II: Questions and Answers About Heaven

Section Five: Seeing the Earth Restored

14. Where and When Will Our Deliverance Come?
15. Will the Old Earth Be Destroyed... or Renewed?
16. Will the New Earth Be Familiar... like Home?

Section Six: Celebrating Our Relationship with God

17. What Will It Mean to See God?
18. What Will It Mean for God to Dwell Among Us?
19. How Will We Worship God?

Section Seven: Ruling on the New Earth

20. What Does God’s Eternal Kingdom Involve?
21. Will We Actually Rule with Christ?
22. How Will We Rule God’s Kingdom?

Section Eight: What Will the Resurrected Earth Be Like?

23. Will the New Earth Be an Edenic Paradise?
24. What Is the New Jerusalem?
25. What Will the Great City Be Like?
26. Will There Be Space and Time?
27. Will the New Earth Have a Sun, Moon, Oceans, and Weather?

Section Nine: What Will Our Lives Be Like?

28. Will We Be Ourselves?
29. What Will Our Bodies Be Like?
30. Will We Eat and Drink on the New Earth?
31. Will We Be Capable of Sinning?
32. What Will We Know and Learn?
33. What Will Our Daily Lives Be Like?

Section Ten: What Will Our Relationships Be Like?

34. Will We Desire Relationships with Anyone Except God?
35. Will There Be Marriage, Families, and Friendships?
36. Whom Will We Meet, and What Will We Experience Together?
37. How Will We Relate to Each Other?
38. What Will New Earth Society Be Like?

Section Eleven: What About Animals?

39. Will Animals Inhabit the New Earth?
40. Will Animals, Including Our Pets, Live Again?

Section Twelve: What Will We Do in Heaven?

41. Will Heaven Ever Be Boring?
42. Will There Be Arts, Entertainment, and Sports?
43. Will Our Dreams Be Fulfilled and Missed Opportunities Regained?
44. Will We Design Crafts, Technology, and New Modes of Travel?

Part III: Living in Light of Heaven

Reorienting Ourselves to Heaven as Our Home

Anticipating the Great Adventure

📙 Book #3: Money, Possessions, and Eternity
Author: Randy Alcorn

Why This Book:

Two of the most essential—and often most complicated—areas of Christian living are dealing with money and possessions. Our Lord spoke extensively on these topics during His time on Earth. This book covers them in depth, more thoroughly than any other I’ve read.

Chapters Include:

Part One: The Challenge of Money and Possessions

Money: Why Is It So Important to God?
The Weakness of Asceticism
The Nature of Materialism
The Dangers of Materialism
Materialism in the Church
Prosperity Theology: The Gospel of Wealth<

Part Two: Seeing Money and Possessions in Eternity’s Light

Two Treasuries, Two Perspectives, Two Masters
The Steward’s Eternal Destiny
The Steward’s Eternal Rewards
The Steward and the Master
The Pilgrim Mentality

Part Three: Giving and Sharing Our Money and Possessions

Tithing: The Training Wheels of Giving
Giving: Reciprocating God’s Grace
Helping the Poor and Reaching the Lost
Ministry Finances and Fund-Raising: Special Ethical Concerns

Part Four: Handling Our Money and Possessions

Making Money, Owning Possessions, and Choosing a Lifestyle
Debt: Borrowing and Lending
Saving, Retiring, and Insuring
Gambling, Investing, and Leaving Money
Battling Materialism in the Christian Family
Teaching Children about Money and Possessions

Conclusion: Where Do We Go from Here?

Final Thoughts

Reading all three of these books might take you several months to a year—and that’s okay. Combine them with regular Scripture reading, and be willing to do the work. If you do, God’s Spirit will begin working in your life in a way unlike any you’ve ever experienced.

If you have questions or comments, email me here.

In His Name,

Roy