Kingdom Promises devotionals – Ken Hemphill

©2005-2006, B&H (Broadman & Holman Publishers), Nashville

This is a collection of four small books filled with two-page devotionals based on what Hemphill calls “Kingdom Promises.” They are included in the EKG resources. There are several things that make this collection appealing:

1. Size—each volume is small enough to carry around in your pocket.
2. Time—each selection will take no more than a few minutes to read, absorb, and often challenge the reader to Kingdom Living.
   
3. Basis—the devotional thoughts included in each of the books springboards from a biblical statement of faith.
4. Evangelism—each volume includes a short plan of salvation that can speak to the heart of unbelieving friends.
5. Price—each book is priced at under four dollars, which makes them great tools both for Christians wanting to enhance their own walk or to use as witnessing tools—if you give it away you’re not out a fortune and someone may find the Way within the pages.

The books themselves are divided into different promise statements and gathered to illuminate different aspects of Christian living. The best order to read them may be the following: “We Are;” “We Can;” “But God;” “He Is.” The progression is most natural that way. At the same time, each one speaks to different places in the journey of the faithful and can be purchased separately to meet the needs of the individual devotion reader.

If you don’t miss any days and take one promise per day, you should be able to tackle all four books in about six to eight m

onths. If you just wanted to be inspired, you can read all four in the time it normally takes you to read an engaging novel. My advice, decide what part of the journey you are on—whether finding out about God’s promises about Himself or His people, and take a moment each day chewing over that day’s thought. Some of the thoughts are deeper, others more inviting.

Personally, I was really impressed with the concept and the design of the readings. I was also most inspired by the “He Is” volume (admittedly, I read it first). The other texts seemed less promises than statements, and flowed less freely from the passages highlighted. While the author and publishers want to be able to apply evangelism to the books (doing so by including an “A, B, C approach to the gospel message) the books are best suited for people who already have an on-going relationship with Christ, and therefore a bent toward wanting to find out more about what God has to say about Himself and His people.

Rating the books separately, I’m afraid I would be less than kind, but the fourth volume is more than worth the price of buying the entire set. So I will give Hemphill three and one-half reading glasses to average the lot out.

—Benjamin Potter, September 2, 2008