By God’s grace, and an abundance of time He has given me, I have been able to be used by Him to self-publish a variety of books encompassing my own writings as well as the updated writings of many others.
It is my hope and prayer that I am faithfully used by God to drive readers to an ever-deepening relationship with God, rooted in the practical application of the truths He has communicated through His word, through my efforts, and those of scores of other saints who have gone to be with Him in Heaven.
I am opposed to simply being a busy Christian, but rather one whose efforts are the natural outflow of a deep, abiding intimacy with Christ so that His life is the live that is lived in and through me. I trust that each of these books are helpful in challenging you to wrestle with your own motivations, rationale, and purposes for what it is you do with Christ and in the name of Christ.
“Being” is always the first and most essential phase for all believers. “Doing” what God wants and what He expects will always flow correctly, by faith, from a vibrant relationship with Him. We grow deeper not by our activity, but by our attention, like Mary at the feet of Jesus—compared to Martha busy with her activities (see Luke 10:38-42).
If you want to live by faith, abide in Christ, be well-pleasing to Him, and be assured of hearing, “Well done, good and faithful servant,” then I urge you to spend time with digesting and utilizing publications.
Heart Vitamins: One Year of Daily Prescriptions for
Understanding and Knowing the Heart of God
This is a daily devotional with one-page readings for each day of the year.
Drawing from some of the material found in a couple of my other books, plus a vast amount of writing from the books of a twenty five “Christian mystics” from the 1600’s through the early 1900’s, the material within will encourage, convict, challenge, and motivate you to know the Lord better and better each and every day of your life.
The Extreme Teachings of Jesus, Volumes 1 and 2
An individual workbook. A personal journal. A group study. The format is constructed to help a person or a group of people encounter and contemplate The Extreme Teachings of Jesus. God is Love...absolutely! Jesus is the perfect model of love...certainly! But did you know that Jesus made some very extreme statements about who He is, who God is, what God requires, and what Jesus demands of those who believe in and follow Him? These books present many of the distinct teachings that Jesus gave to humankind that revealed His heart and that of God the Father. Throughout, you will be challenged, encouraged, amazed, convicted, and enlightened. May the Lord reveal Himself to you in ways you have yet to experience!
Click here for more about Extreme Teachings, volume 1 and Extreme Teachings, volume 2
One Hundred Days With Christian Mystics Series
Patience: Synchronizing Your Heart With God’s Heart
Everybody wants it, but nobody wants to learn it. While teaching, I have often heard people say: “I am just not a patient person,” “Never ask the Lord for patience because He is sure to bring trouble!” “I know I need to be more patient, but…” And many, many other similar comments. Patience is this thing that everyone recognizes that they need, but few are willing to go to the Lord and ask Him to make them patient. The men and women whose works are featured in this book were people who understood waiting upon God, persevering through hardships, enduring difficulties and learning the invaluable quality of patience in all things.
Suffering: Pain That Bonds Your Heart With God’s Heart
Jesus told His friends that “in this world you will have trouble” (John 16:33). And it is certainly no less true for His disciples today. Jesus was without sin, was perfect and did nothing wrong. Yet He cried, shed tears, “shrank from the horrors,” and “learned obedience through what He suffered.” He moved through suffering in perfect submission as a pattern of what our lives should look like when He, living in us, is allowed to live that perfect life of obedience through the suffering allowed by our Heavenly Father. This book uses the writings of those who have lived before us and have experienced suffering and victory through their own lives because of Christ in them, the hope of glory.
Missions: Uniting With God’s Heart for His Lost World
The nineteenth century was when the Church was mobilized to launch into global missions at an unprecedented scale. Men and women were moved by the Holy Spirit in relatively large numbers to literally “go and die” on a foreign field of God’s choosing. Once they left home, it was expected that they would never return. Sermons about the call to be a missionary, to be involved in missions in the churches, to pray for missions, and to give generously were far more common than are heard in our churches today. It is my belief, hope and prayer that through these sermons, you, the reader, will be reawakened, moved profoundly and will synchronize with the beating of God’s heart in a fresh way, and that you will, as a result, give Him your all to do with as He pleases. If you have already surrendered your heart and life to the Lord, then be encouraged, fed and stirred to a new commitment to what the Lord is doing all around you, in His Church and for His Kingdom throughout the world.
Faith: Living With God on His Terms
Faith is a word that has been applied, misapplied, exaggerated, underutilized and, far too often, only guessed at regarding its true meaning and value. Three verses triangulate the imperative nature of faith as it relates to our interaction with God: 1.“The just (righteous) shall live by faith” (Galatians 3:11b from Habakkuk 2:4); 2.“Without faith it is impossible to please [God]…” (Hebrews 11:6a); and 3.“Everything that does not come from faith is sin” [Romans 14:23b). Faith for living. Faith for pleasing God. Faith for everything—or it is sin. Wow! Not much wiggle room, is there? That is why it is so completely indispensable that we get to know what faith is and isn’t; what faith in action looks like or doesn’t; and when faith is truly faith or just some other pretender. I believe that by the time you finish this book, you will know what faith is and whether you are a person committed to actually living by faith, or someone who hopes that you have enough faith only when it is needed for some major need.
An Undivided Heart
An undivided heart. Wouldn’t that be a marvelous thing to have? No more erratic behaviors, no more doubts, no more fears, no more self-centeredness! Only one person has ever enjoyed that while living upon this planet, and that is Jesus. A whole heart without divided loyalties is God’s desire for each of us. He can and will work that in us. That is, in essence, what growing mature in the Lord actually means. Gaining an undivided heart is the process of growing in the Lord, of becoming a mature Christian who lives by faith and trust in God alone. It is the desire that the Lord implants in us from His own heart that creates in us the hunger for Him alone, that compels us to yield ourselves to His working so that we, too, may have a heart whose divisions of loyalty are always being undone and a heart that is being brought into submission to God’s all-encompassing and all-filling abundance. Ultimately, an undivided heart is the desire of God for us that He alone can work in us. All He asks is that we yield to His desire so that our will can be conformed to His will. And that, my brothers and sisters, is how an undivided heart can become a reality for each of us. “Yet, O Lord, You are our Father. We are the clay, You are the Potter; we are all the work of Your hands” (Isaiah 64:8).
Un Corazón Indiviso
“Conozco los movimientos febriles de nuestro tiempo, la inquietud del deseo infructuoso, los inquietantes presagios de ansiedad, el ajetreo del diablo, la actividad desveladora y transpirante de la riqueza [el demonio de la codicia], la prisa por ser rica, la carrera por ser feliz, el anhelando la sensación, el ímpetu y la velocidad inmensos que caracterizan cada interés en nuestra vida variada, y agregado a todos, el vertimiento impulsivo y rápido de formas y de ropas antiguas, y la re-ropa de los pensamientos de hombres en traje moderno y más agradable. El fragmento que acabas de leer fue escrito hace más de 100 años por John Henry Jowett, quien vivió 1863-1923. Pero estas pocas frases suenan como una descripción de hoy, ¿no? En un mundo que se ahoga en la información, enloquecido por el estrés, se aferra al miedo y se vuelve cada vez más egocéntrico, cada uno de nosotros necesita tomarse un tiempo para aprender de los que se han ido antes que nosotros. Tenemos hermanos y hermanas en Jesucristo que, a su manera y tiempo, sintieron lo que sentimos, lucharon con lo que luchamos, y esperaron por lo que esperamos, una vida que es agradable a Dios y cumple sus deseos y planes más profundos para nosotros , en nosotros y a través de nosotros. Porque los escritos en este libro son el resultado del relleno y fluir del Espíritu Santo, lo que se presenta en estas páginas es absolutamente atemporal.
In the Stream, Volume One:
Being a Disciple of Jesus Christ
Scriptures that are thousands of years old; sermons and writings that are hundreds of years old; and current essays: All of these combine to be completely relevant for us today. Jeremiah 6:16 admonishes Israel to look for the ancient paths and then walk in them. We would do well to follow that command.
Bryan has devoted the past two decades of his life reading and digesting the works of men and women from the 19th, 18th and 17th centuries and beyond. In this volume of a two-volume series, he brings us advice from the past on Christian discipleship, trust, radical surrender, and abandonment, woven together with his own observations and lessons, into a book of depth rarely seen these days.
In the Stream, Volume Two:
Living in the Flow of God
Part of an ongoing series of essays, sermons, poems and other content that all focuses upon growing in an ever-deepening, intimate relationship with God. By salvation through Jesus Christ alone, any individual may come to know our Heavenly Father through His Word, the Bible, and our guide into all Truth, the Holy Spirit.
Click here for more about In the Stream Volume Two.
Travelers on the Ancient Paths: Ageless Wisdom for an Anxious World
“Why don't I have the abundant, full, free life of joy Jesus promised those who follow Him?” Travelers on the Ancient Paths thoroughly explores the answer to that question.
This anthology is comprised of excerpts from the writings and sermons of a dozen persons who lived intimately and deeply with God. The chapters present the many and varied paths of a relationship with God that all find their origination and destination in Christ alone. Some may call the writers who were selected for this book "mystics"—persons who lived by faith, and encountered struggles, sadness, joy, hardships, triumphs, victories and even much that remained a mystery—such are lives that are being led by the Holy Spirit.
The authors from whom these writings are taken lived as early as the 1600's and a few were in this world into the early 20th century. The authors of these chapters are eleven men and one woman, individuals who worshiped the Lord passionately and wholeheartedly, and were from varied denominational backgrounds including Quakers, Congregationalists, Puritans, Pentecostals, Baptists and Dutch Reformed. The subjects they address encompass Surrender, Abiding, Suffering, Persecution, Prayer, Waiting, Patience, Contentment, Stillness, Perseverance, Love, Joy, Grace, Sovereignty, Control, Transformation and much, much more. The book follows a loose progression of the Christian life beginning with a desire for a deeper, more intimate relationship with God, ending with writings on finding that complete fulfillment from Him and Him alone.
To see a sample or to order, either electronically or in print, please click here.
Against the Stream: A Business Professional’s Journey as a Disciple and Friend of God
What does being a disciple of Jesus Christ and a friend of God look like in the 21st century? This book reveals one man's journey into a deeper relationship with God; the struggles to die to self and trust the Lord completely; learning to live by faith as a business professional; and how to discern the hand of God in every aspect of life. Sometimes brutally honest and at all times thoughtful, Against the Stream reveals the real-life struggles individuals encounter when they are surrendering their own control of their lives to the control of God.
Oftentimes referred to as “death to self,” Dietrich Bonhoeffer, in his classic book, The Cost of Discipleship, made this statement about becoming a disciple: “When Christ calls a man, He bids him come and die.” In a world that demands that you make your own happiness the priority of life, a decision to be like Jesus Christ, Who said, “For I seek not to please Myself but Him Who sent Me” (John 5:30b), is a decision to go Against the Stream of all the pressures inside and outside one’s natural self. Truly, a disciple must “give up everything one has, or that person cannot be My disciple” (Luke 14:33). This book explores what answering Jesus’ call to be His disciple feels like, looks like and must be like in order to finish this life and hear Jesus say, "Well done, good and faithful servant.”
To see a sample or order, either in print or electronically, please click here.