Life Without Lack: Living in the Fullness of Psalm 23

I'm a bit tough on Christian books because most of them are so padded it's kind of sad. Not to say they're bad, anyway it's a genre I suppose. (Not really talking about more classical works) Now within that genre well what I would consider Christian and spiritual books there are always writers who stand out. In this case I think this was posthumously written by someone based on Dallas Willard's notes if I remember correctly. Dallas Willard was a professor of philosophy so the critical thinking is at a very high level which I think everyone can appreciate. This book is very accessible and I think that is an amazing job with the 23rd psalm, which is a small portion of scripture that you can unlock for the rest of your life. I recommend most of Dallas Willard stuff. The contemplative level of writing and thinking is very enjoyable.

Life Without Lack is a book to be savored. One could read straight through it quickly, as I did for the sake of reviewing it, but I wouldn't recommend that. I will definitely be rereading it and this time slowly, taking the time to meditate on the wisdom presented and to implement some of the ideas. For example, Dallas Willard started out by recommending that readers memorize and meditate on Psalm 23. I honestly wasn't sure I was interested in a book on Psalm 23. I felt overly familiar with that Psalm, but this book really has.a lot to offer whether you are a person who memorized the Psalm as a child or whether its your first time reading it. Dallas Willard's gentle wisdom is refreshing and encouraging. In chapter 8, Dallas helps the reader plan to spend a day with Jesus. But he isn't helping the reader plan a retreat. This is a day with Jesus in your very ordinary schedule, inviting Him along with you and spending the day together. These are just some of the ideas with which I would like to spend more time and actually implement in my life. I also had concern over whether I could offer this book to the men and women at the homeless shelter where I served. Their lives are filled with palpable lack. How would this book play there? Dallas is aware of these concerns for all of us who experience lack in one way or another in our lives and he addresses these concerns adeptly. From chapter 1, "Whereas King David wrote, The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want," Paul wrote, "not that I speak in regard to need." They both knew the provision of God that became for them a life without lack. "But how could Paul say that? This man has been dragged through every jailhouse in the Roman Empire. Several times we find him bobbing in the ocean, trying to survive shipwrecks. It makes me want to say, "What do you mean, you don't have any wants? Couldn't you use a boat?" He would respond, "Well sure I'll take a boat, but I don't really have to have it, you understand?"" I'm not there yet, but reading this makes me eager for the day when I can say that I'm living a life without lack. I'm looking forward to implementing Willard's suggestions for growth in this area of my life. *I received an advanced copy of this book from the publisher. (and then purchased a hard copy because I liked it so much)

Highly recommended book by Dallas Willard. Actually, this book was written at Dr. Willard's request to cover a series of lectures he gave but could not find enough time to convert them into a book form. Regardless, it is well written, organized and clear to understand. Chapter 5 is my favorite regarding faith as it develops through 3 levels plus the tie-in with Psalm 23.

Dallas does not disappoint in Life Without Lack by encouraging and helping us to see and know that the LORD is good.

It seems like people have lost confidence and hope in God and his word and part of that is because people have lost the ability to read well. Dr. Willard did an excellent job at looking at all the different ramifications behind the 23rd psalm from various different standpoints and shows how the text of the 23rd psalm is more than just poetry. he shows us how we can actually have grounded confidence in the truth claims found in the 23rd psalm as well as the rest of the scriptures. this book has deepened my faith and confidence and given me several tools to use in my daily quiet times with my father. I think this book will be an encouragement to you and your walk with your father as well.

When we become Christians, most of us believe and hope that the life that Jesus talked about is attainable by us regular mortals. Dallas Willard appears to have walked further down that path than many humans. This is a great -- accessible! -- book that started out as Dallas' teachings to a small-group on the subject of Psalm 23, that is, about what life IN God is, and how we get deeper and deeper into it... what we do and what God does and what the results look and feel like. Dallas Willard is also careful to affirm you, the reader, wherever you may be on the path. His invitation and directions are a helpful guide. This understandable book is also rich, though, and not a casual read. You may wish to read it like a rich dessert: a little bit at a time. You may find yourself returning to it, and gleaning more light from it on a second and third "pressing".

Life Without Lack: Living in the Fullness of Psalm 23, by Dallas Willard, is a wonderful, devotional that is worth regular revisits. I highly recommend it. Its goal is that you “may know increasingly, by joyful experience, a life abundant in rest, provision, and blessing—a life without lack.” The author provides practical insight in applying the principals and truths of Psalm 23. A few quotes to whet your appetite… “God is an ineffable reality so much greater than anything we ordinarily see around us or come to deal with in human life; he simply has no comparison. We are blessed to live in a world where there is a fully self-sufficient, generous God who wants to provide what is best for us and loves us more than we could ever imagine.” “…The most important thing about you is your mind, and the most important thing about your mind is what it is fixed upon. So the object is to have your mind always fixed on the Lord.” “As you practice living your days in the sufficiency of the Good Shepherd, you will make tremendous progress in experiencing the Psalm 23 life that Christ came to provide. You will see remarkable growth, and all the good things Jesus desires to give us—a rich life of joy and power, abundant in supernatural results, with a constant, clear vision of your never-ending life in God’s world and an abiding sense of your work day by day—will become the common, yet extraordinary, realities in your life.”

I have just finished reading Life Without Lack by Dallas Willard (I received an Advance Reader Copy from the publisher). Having been forever impacted by Dallas during his lifetime through his books as well as conferences and having talked with him a couple of times, when I saw that this book would be published posthumously, needless to say, I could not wait. What had struck me so, in my reading, but mostly as I observed him during his talks and in my private conversation with him, was that Dallas lived this life like no other person I know. It seemed as though the life that Jesus presented as being available in the kingdom of his heavenly Father, the one that seemed too good to be true, was resident in the life and manner of Dallas Willard. So you can understand why I was filled with anticipation at the opportunity to read him describe how to live this life as well. It did not disappoint. As with all of his writings (at least with me), Dallas takes you places that you would not have gone on your own, but as you find him unpacking his thoughts, my response has always been that “this is the greatest thing in the world!!” I would have thought that he would have taken us line by line through the 23rd Psalm, but instead Dallas goes to the source of life that undergirds and fills the 23rd Psalm type of life. As he unfolds this backdrop, he also shows you the way to follow Jesus into that life. Dallas does a great job of describing the seemingly indescribable. And as we listen to those who through the ages have taken Jesus’ words, ways and life to heart and put them into practice, we can also live that life that finds its rest in our all-sufficient Shepherd-Father.