“Sun Stand Still,” is about discovering what Steven Furtick calls, “AUDACIOUS FAITH.” He defines audacity as, “regular people behaving with boldness or daring… especially with confident disregard for personal comfort {or} conventional thought.”
The book’s title is taken from Joshua chapter 10 where God tells Joshua that He has delivered the Amorites into his hands. Joshua then marches his men all night and engages the Amorite army in faith. Then God actually fights for them by throwing down huge hailstones, but as the sun was about to set, Joshua faced a huge decision. The victory wasn’t complete and yet if the sun set, the rest of the Amorites would slip away. So Joshua prayed one of the most audacious prayer ever spoken… He asked God to make the sun stand still and God literally made the sun stand still to give him a couple more hours of daylight!
This is NOT a PROSPERITY BOOK. I can understand how some people might think so based on the title of the book. Praying audacious prayers has largely to do with understanding what God is doing around you. In the case of Joshua, God specifically told him that he would deliver the Amorites into his hands and yet it wasn’t going to happen if the sun went down. So Joshua, had the courage to ask something audacious that was in line with what God had promised him.
Furtick defines “Sun Stand Still,” as a metaphor for the seemingly impossible things God wants to do in and through your life. He qualifies that by saying that the “Sun Stand Still,” prayer is appropriate for any area of your life that is in alignment with God’s will. In other words, the prayer is not for selfish purposes. It’s important to locate the pulse of God’s will in your life.
He gives examples of “Sun Stand Still,” prayers: broken relationships, financial provision, career aspirations, spiritual breakthroughs, physical and emotional healing, loved ones who are far from God, standing strong against temptation, achieving important goals, finding and embracing purpose, ministry resources and momentum, etc.
This is NOT a WORD OF FAITH book. Furtick does not teach that if you have enough faith that you can manipulate God to do anything you want, but rather he teaches that even if things don’t go your way; God can bring something good out of it. He writes,“Sometimes God lets the sun go down so that He can be our only light.”
There were a lot of “write me downs,” throughout the book.
- “If you ever encounter a theology that doesn’t directly connect the greatness of God with your potential to do great things on His behalf, it’s not Biblical theology… it’s HERESY,” he goes on in the same paragraph to say, “I’ll take that further: if you’re not daring to believe God for the impossible, you’re sleeping through some of the best parts of your Christian live,” and he takes it further yet by saying, “If the size of your vision for life isn’t intimidating to you, there’s a good chance it’s insulting to God.”
- “Confident disregard for the status quo is the essence of the gospel.”
- “Our view of God is the most important thing about us.”
- “Extraordinary moves of Go begin with ordinary acts of obedience.”
- “God has never been nervous about His ability to live up to our faith in Him.”
- “You can’t claim God’s promises if you don’t know them. To really pray with power and to trust Jesus radically, you need to consume as much of God’s Word as you possibly can.”
- “Sometimes we get to see the miracle; other times we get to be the miracle.”
- “God doesn’t need an opt-out clause,” referring to our tendency to prequalify our big prayers by praying, “God, if it be Thy will…”
- “We need to pray prayers worthy of the God we’re praying to.”
- “Between the promise and the payoff there’s always a process.” (Joshua marched all night!)
Overall, the book was worth reading. It woke me up to how wimpy my prayers can sometimes be and encouraged me to be audacious in my prayers.
I received this book free from Multnomah Books as part of their book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”