“Living in Christ’s Presence,” Dallas Willard

Image courtesy of InterVarsity Press

I find it difficult to fully express my appreciation for this wonderful book. It’s a summary of a series of talks that Willard gave in his final conference before his death in 2013 and features a number of conversations with John Ortberg who participated in that particular conference.

Willard (and Ortberg) always leave the reader with much to stew on. Ortberg describes Willard’s way of communicating the Gospel so aptly when he writes: “… every word is used with a precision that most of us don’t have.”

The authors cover a number of different topics about how to live experiencing the Kingdom including: the power of the Trinity, the importance of knowledge and how spiritual disciplines equip us with power. I particularly enjoyed the discussion around spiritual disciplines. They outlined the difference between “training” and “trying” re: adopting spiritual disciplines in our lives. Many of us think we “try” to incorporate them when we should more think it’s about “training” in running the race of life. We need to train so we gain the power to live well in the Kingdom.

This relatively small book left me wanting more of Willard’s teaching. I doubt it will be long before I start another one of his much loved books.

Highly recommended.