Let's Bust a Recap : Fervent

I was reading this book a solid year ago (from March to May), but we're finally getting this recap done because I finally re-watched War Room which I wanted to do before posting this. 

Fervent by Priscilla Shirer came out in the summer of 2015 just a month or two before War Room which is a faith-based film that Shirer had the starring role in. I'm pretty sure I went and saw War Room in the theater with my BFF Christina and we ended up buddy reading Fervent last year together too. 

I was aware at the time War Room came out that Fervent had recently been published as a sort of unofficial companion book to the movie, but I didn't have a copy and didn't make a point to get a copy either. However, in 2024 two of my other BFFs, Amy and Lyndsey (Christina was supposed to come too but got sick), drove up to meet me in Alpharetta, Georgia for a Living Proof Live event. As girlfriends do, we went shopping together at a massive Goodwill and I came across a copy of Fervent for a measly $2. I think Amy ended up buying a copy as well. Christina and I talked about buddy reading it that fall, but life being what it is, we ended up pushing it to after the new year. I'm glad we got to it because I needed this book. Honestly, I need all the books on prayer I can get. I'm putting Fervent and A Praying Life by Paul Miller into the regular rotation of my reading life. 

Shirer's emphasis in Fervent is making a prayer battle plan so that we are equipped to fight in the ongoing spiritual warfare that is happening all around us—whether we choose to acknowledge it or not. Something Shirer confronted right out of the gate is putting our enemy in his proper place. She says:

Whenever the conversation of demonic activity comes up in a book like this, most people scatter to one of two extremes. Either they overestimate Satan's influence and power, living with an inflated, erroneous perspective of his abilities. Or they underestimate him. They don't assign him any credit at all for the difficulties he's stirring up beneath the surface of their lives. One extreme leaves you saddled with undue fear and anxiety; the other just makes you stupid...unaware and completely open to every single attack. 

Full transparency: I tend to fall in the second category. As Shirer goes on to point out, God already defeated Satan once and for all and He didn't break a sweat to do it. The devil didn't and doesn't stand a chance against the Almighty God of the universe. But as Peter, inspired by the Holy Spirit, clearly warns us, the devil would still love to devour me if I let my guard down. The Scripture is clear about spiritual warfare: it's real and we have to take up arms.

So in Fervent, Shirer targets ten areas in our lives the devil is prone to attack and lays out strategies for the reader to pray about each one. And she's practical. She designed the book with prayer cards for the reader to tear out and fill in with their own prayers to post on the walls of their closets. She includes many Scripture references at the end of each chapter which was my favorite part. My copy is already well-highlighted and will continue to be for years to come. I've always appreciated Priscilla's no-holds-barred approach. She's not afraid to tell you the truth and to tell it to you plain. This book is a kick in the pants, get off your butt and on your knees, call to action, and we could all use a little more of that in our lives. 

As for the movie War Room, I'll also tell it to you straight: a movie star Priscilla Shirer is not. Bless her. The star of that film is little Miss Alena Pitts who is Shirer's second cousin in real life and who plays her daughter in the film. As a lot of faith-based films tend to be, the acting comes across a little cheesy, but the content is so powerful, I still found myself with tears running down my face as I sat on my couch watching it last week. 

I highly, highly recommend Fervent and if you can watch War Room afterwards, so much the better.