Best Books
Have you ever felt “less than”? Are you seeking to discover or further define the unique calling God has for your life? Reading the scripture based blessings and word studies found in Don Ankenbrandt’s new book, Your True Reflection, Trade in What You See for What God Sees, could be the game changer you are looking for.
Ankenbrandt founded Alliance Ministries nearly 20 years ago to coach people to discover their unique Kingdom calling, and his book seems to be a clear extension of that. In fact, he says the book came out of his conversations over the years with thousands of people. “I felt like it was time to probably write this,” adding that the concept for the book came some 30 years ago when he took what he calls a “day of solitude” to be with God.
At that point in his life, Ankenbrandt admits he felt God was disappointed in him. “I was very works oriented. I just felt like I always had to perform.” And Ankenbrandt found his performance- less than. “I felt like my quiet times hadn’t been consistent. I had little kids, and I was on the run and I just felt disconnected from God most of the time.” That day Ankenbrandt sat and read the entire New Testament. “I was looking for what disappointed Jesus with his followers, not the Pharisees. And I couldn’t find a lot.”
“The only thing that Jesus kept saying to them is, ‘Don’t you know who I am? Where’s your faith?’ That was the main theme that I found in reading all the Gospels. And then I run into this verse Ephesians 1:3. ‘Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every’– every is the key word- ‘spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.’ And I thought, what is that, Lord? What’s a spiritual blessing? So I began to read. There’s over 30 just in the book of Ephesians.”
Ankenbrandt found over 140 different terms in the New Testament that describe the very specific things that God has done for us. “I walked out of that day looking at this long list of terms and going, ‘This is who I am.’” Ankenbrandt chose 60 blessings, 60 biblically based truths about our God-given identity to focus on in his book. Each devotion breaks down the definition of the key word in each of the 60 blessings and then provides a deeper dive into that word as it appears in other parts of Scripture. “I think most people, if they’re honest, would probably say, ‘I think God’s disappointed with me a lot.’ And that’s just not true,” says Ankenbrandt adding, “God loves you and look at what else He thinks of you…That’s the whole point of this book and the study.”
Learn more about Your True Reflection and Alliance Ministries at www.alliance-ministries.com.
-Laurie Franklin
Watch the video below to learn more about what inspired Ankenbrandt to write Your True Reflection.
