I Praise You, O God: Experiencing His Power in Your Private Worship

Fulsome ritual praise is the centerpiece of a warm, even passionate relationship with God, according to this slender Christian devotional tract. Youssef, who is head of a broadcast ministry and founding rector of the Church of the Apostles, draws primarily on scriptural readings, but also on the religious writings of C. S. Lewis and his own experiences in the wake of his wife's cancer diagnosis to argue the benefits of verbally dwelling on the character of God. Praise of God, he asserts, reinforces faith, takes our minds off the bleakness of everyday life and is""the best medicine for spiritual exhaustion."" By focusing our thoughts on the goodness and majesty of the Heavenly paragon, praise impresses on us the shortcomings of our own sinful nature and reassures us of Divine assistance in overcoming them. In earnest, readable but not scintillating prose, Youssef urges Christians to cast aside the subdued, self-conscious rhetorical style of the West in favor of a more ardent kind of worship that gives God the credit He is due.