Reformed Reading Guide · 14 books
The Best Books on Spiritual Growth
The Christian life is the daily outworking of salvation, the lifelong process by which a believer grows in holiness, obedience, and communion with God through the gospel. It covers practical godliness, spiritual disciplines, mortifying sin, and learning to live every ordinary day out of union with Christ. Confessional Reformed writers stress that this growth is both God's gracious work in us and our responsible, Spirit-empowered effort.
Growing as a Christian is not a mystery reserved for spiritual elites, but a path walked one ordinary day at a time in the strength God supplies. The books below gather trusted confessional Reformed and evangelical voices on discipleship, holiness, prayer, and living by the gospel. They are sorted into basic, intermediate, and advanced tiers so you can start where you are and keep going. Every title listed is currently in print and verified by title, author, edition, and ISBN.
Basic
5 books
The Pursuit of Holiness
Jerry Bridges · 2016
A gentle, clear classic that shows how holiness is both God's gift and our responsibility, making it the ideal first book on the Christian life.
The Hole in Our Holiness
Kevin DeYoung · 2014
DeYoung recovers the neglected call to personal godliness without losing the gospel, writing in a brisk and readable style for everyday believers.
You Can Change
Tim Chester · 2020
A practical, gospel-centered guide to real heart change that gives readers concrete steps for battling sin and growing in Christ.
Because He Loves Me
Elyse M. Fitzpatrick · 2010
Fitzpatrick shows how resting in our identity as God's beloved children transforms ordinary daily living from the inside out.
Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life
Donald S. Whitney · 2014
The standard evangelical primer on Bible intake, prayer, worship, and other disciplines that God uses as means of growth in godliness.
Intermediate
5 books
The Discipline of Grace
Jerry Bridges · 2018
Bridges explains how the same grace that saves us also sanctifies us, resolving the tension many feel between grace and effort in the pursuit of holiness.
A Praying Life
Paul E. Miller · 2017
A warm, honest reorientation of prayer as childlike dependence that has helped hundreds of thousands actually pray amid a distracting world.
The Christian Life: A Doctrinal Introduction
Sinclair B. Ferguson · 2013
Ferguson grounds daily discipleship in solid doctrine, tracing grace, faith, repentance, new birth, and assurance for the thoughtful believer.
Keep in Step with the Spirit
J. I. Packer · 2005
Packer offers a mature, balanced theology of the Holy Spirit's work in holiness, weighing rival views of the deeper life with pastoral wisdom.
Holiness
J. C. Ryle · 2014
Ryle's searching Victorian classic on the nature, hindrances, and roots of holiness remains one of the most convicting calls to godliness ever written.
Advanced
4 books
Overcoming Sin and Temptation
John Owen, edited by Kelly M. Kapic and Justin Taylor · 2015
This carefully updated edition of Owen's three great treatises on mortification, temptation, and indwelling sin is the definitive Puritan work on killing sin.
The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment
Jeremiah Burroughs · 2021
Burroughs anatomizes contentment as a learned spiritual art, offering rich Puritan remedies for the discontented heart in every season.
Precious Remedies Against Satan's Devices
Thomas Brooks · 2021
Brooks catalogs Satan's schemes and the biblical remedies against them, giving the seasoned believer a field manual for spiritual warfare.
The Religious Affections
Jonathan Edwards · 1986
Edwards' magnum opus distinguishes true saving religion from counterfeit experience, probing the affections that mark a genuine work of grace.
Where to read next
As an Amazon Associate this site earns from qualifying purchases. Book links are affiliate links.
← All reading-guide topics