Ordering Your Private World by Gordon MacDonald

Non-fiction. Hardcover from Thomas Nelson Publishers. First published 1984. Updated and republished 2003. Purchased from amazon.com.

This book is ultimately about the practice of spiritual disciplines. MacDonald shares his experiences as a pastor and how in time he came to realize that he could not do the job on his own power but needed the power of God to keep him going. Then he takes the reader through what he considers the essentials and gives some guidance as to how to go about each "discipline". He also adds a couple of ideas I've not seen in other books I've read about the spiritual disciplines, including an admonition to read, keep your brain active, learn to listen to others, and cultivate a christian world view.

It took me a couple of months to get this book read, but it was mostly because I had too many other books going at the same time. This recently published edition has a study guide included and I am planning to work my way through the questions. There is a lot of sound advise in this book that I hope to be able to integrate into my life.

Publisher's summary:
We have schedule planners, computerized calendars, and self-stick notes to help us organize our business and social lives every day. But what about organizing the other side of our lives – the spiritual side?

One of the great battlegrounds of the new century is within the private world of the individual. The values of our Western culture incline us to believe that the busy, publicly-active person in ministry is also the most spiritual.

Tempted to give imbalanced attention to the public world at the expense of the private, we become involved in more programs, more meetings. Our massive responsibilities at home, work and church have resulted in a lot of good people on the verge of collapse.

In this timely update to his classic Ordering Your Private World, Gordon MacDonald equips a new generation to live life from the inside out, cultivating the inner victory necessary for public effectiveness.

To buy from amazon, click here: Ordering Your Private World