Waking the Dead

The Secret to a Heart Fully Alive

by John Eldredge

**Summary**

Eldredge explains that there is a very real spiritual war going on around us, but it is one that we cannot see and often pretend does not exist. God treasures the human heart, so the Enemy has made it one of his main targets. Among his most effective strategies, he has gotten us to agree that our hearts are evil at the core and cannot be trusted.
But our God is engaged in a battle to free and win our hearts. And Jesus’s life on earth can be viewed as an epic invasion, God coming to earth to forgive and heal and fill His children with His love.
Eldredge argues that we must realize we are engaged in a spiritual battle and that any movement we make toward life and healing and love will be opposed. Thus, it is pivotal to be part of a close-knit fellowship, a small band of brothers and sisters who will fight for each other. For we are in a battle and we cannot fight it alone.
**Author’s Website:** Waking the Dead - Book by John Eldredge

Favorite Quotes

“The story of your life is the story of the long and brutal assault on your heart by the one who knows what you could be and fears it.”

“A life filled with loving is a life most like the one that God lives, which is life as it was meant to be… Somewhere down inside we know it’s true; we know love is the point. We know if we could truly love, and be loved, and never lose love, we would finally be happy.”

“Of course your heart would be the object of a great and fierce battle. It is your most precious possession. Without your heart you cannot have God. Without your heart you cannot have love. Without your heart you cannot have faith. Without your heart you cannot find the work that you were meant to do. In other words, without your heart you cannot have life.”

“Christ came not only to pardon us but also to heal us. He wants the glory restored.”

“A true community is something you’ll have to fight for. You’ll have to fight to get one, and you’ll have to fight to keep it afloat. But you fight for it as you bail out a life raft during a storm at sea. You want this thing to work. You need this thing to work…This is the church; this is all you have. Without it, you’ll go down. Or back to captivity. This is the reason those small house fellowships thrive in other countries: they need each other. There are no other options.”