”God wants me to try hard­er.” ​”God bless­es me when I’m good and pun­ish­es me when I’m bad.” ​”God is angry with me.”

We all have ideas that we tell our­selves about God and how he works in our lives. Some are true — but many are false. James Bryan Smith believes those thoughts deter­mine not only who we are, but how we live. In fact, Smith declares, the most impor­tant thing about a per­son is what they think about God. The path to spir­i­tu­al trans­for­ma­tion begins here.

Turn­ing to the Gospels, Smith invites you to put your ideas to the test to see if they match up with what Jesus him­self reveals about God. Once you’ve dis­cov­ered the truth in Scrip­ture, Smith leads you through a process of spir­i­tu­al for­ma­tion that includes spe­cif­ic activ­i­ties aimed at mak­ing these new nar­ra­tives real in your body and soul as well as your mind.

At the end of each chap­ter you’ll find an oppor­tu­ni­ty for soul train­ing, engag­ing in spir­i­tu­al prac­tices that rein­force the bib­li­cal mes­sages on your mind and heart. Because the best way to make a com­plete and last­ing change is to go through the mate­r­i­al in com­mu­ni­ty, small group dis­cus­sion ques­tions also accom­pa­ny each chap­ter. Those who are lead­ing appren­tice groups will also find addi­tion­al help and oppor­tu­ni­ties to inter­act with oth­er lead­ers at the Appren­tice web­site (www​.appren​tice​of​je​sus​.org).

This deep, lov­ing and trans­for­ma­tive book will help you dis­cov­er the nar­ra­tives that Jesus lived by — to know the Lord he knew and the king­dom he pro­claimed — and to prac­tice spir­i­tu­al exer­cis­es that will help you grow in the knowl­edge of our good and beau­ti­ful God.

2009