Book Summary: Crushing, by T.D. Jakes
The author: T.D. Jakes
T.D. Jakes is the senior pastor of The Potter's House Church, a large non-denominational church in Dallas. He’s written over 30 books, including his latest, “The Crushing.”
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Book overview
Trials and suffering.
None of us get through life avoiding them, though not for lack of trying.
In this book, Jakes takes us through the reasons behind our trials—which he calls the crushing—and the good that God brings out of our challenges.
Jakes compares our trials to the wine-making process, which includes these phases:
Planting in dark places
Pruning
Bearing fruit
Crushing the fruit
Fermentation
Reaping the spoils / the eternal pairing
Pastor Steven Furtick shared a nearly two-hour interview with Jakes, discussing the book’s ideas in depth:
Or, grab the Apple Podcast version here.
Summary of key ideas
God uses everything for his good—and ours.
“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose” (Romans 8:28).
The trials of our lives are used as a catalyst for growth, for the betterment of the gifts we have been given.
Now more than ever it’s crucial that we begin seeing that the plans we have imagined for our lives cannot compare to God’s strategy for fulfilling our divine purpose.
Jakes challenges us to reframe our trials, to take a wider view of our lives and to believe that God has a larger plan than we can see in our suffering:
On the vine
Since Jesus is both seed and vine, we are the promised fruit-bearing branches that spring forth from Him.
Seed / cultivation
God isloates us in quiet and dark processes to begin new growth, just like a seed sits in the dark earth and begins to sprout.
Pruning
Pruning is not punishment—it’s the pathway to God’s power in your life.
Crushing
We question, and even resist, the calling God places on our lives.
Fermenting
We have to relinquish control
You can get your copy of Crushing, by T.D. Jakes at Amazon.