Loved Indeed (Paperback) by

"Do I love God as I should?"

"Does he love me?"

"Does he really declare me righteous and fit to meet him even though I still sin?"

"How can I be sure?"

For Dan Cruver these are not abstract questions. He's wrestled with them all his life, often to the point of despair and exhaustion. Through the trauma of losing his much-loved son Daniel and witnessing the plight of destitute orphans on several continents, he has further battled with his thoughts.

This unique book takes us to a place of deep assurance. We can know that whatever happens, our faith doesn't depend on fickle feelings but is underpinned by the words of our omnipotent God himself. Secure in our heavenly Father's unconditional love, we relax in his warm embrace. Sharing in Christ's status, we enjoy the astonishing privilege, through the Holy Spirit, of crying, "Abba, Father."

Endorsements

Dan Cruver has given us solid ground to stand on when the waves of life make everything feel unstable. A vulnerable, vivid, honest, biblical, comforting, and hopeful vision of life in a painful world.”

Tony Reinke, author, 12 Ways Your Phone Is Changing You

“Every pastor, counsellor, and individual who has struggled with knowing and experiencing the love of God should read this book!”

Jason Kovacs, Executive Director of Gospel Care Collective

“Dan Cruver has given us a balm for the aching soul.”

Catherine Claire Larson, author, As We Forgive: Stories of Reconciliation from Rwanda

“Whether you have been following Christ for five days or fifty years, this book will bring comfort to your heart because it reminds you of how amazing God’s love is towards you.”

Jon Moffitt, Pastor, Grace Reformed Church

Title

Loved Indeed
Author(s)

Dan Cruver
Series

Union
ISBN

9781738432400
Format

Paperback
Publisher

Union Publishing
Audience

Adults
Pages

160
Published

01/07/2024

Download a sample

Overall rating

5.0 based on 3 reviews

A much-needed healing balm for those who are struggling to know that they are loved by God.

The assurance of faith is needed by all true Christians, there are times in our lives when God can seem distant. As we go through a personal trial or tragedy, or even when facing death at the end of our life, these events in life can cause us to question our salvation

In this comforting book, Dan Cruver with refreshing vulnerability and honesty, opens up about his own struggles of assurance and how God met with him in his own personal tragedy. Focusing on the promises in Ephesians, the author applies it to us in our own struggles for assurance and helps us to see how these promises really are true for us.

The book itself consists of six chapters divided up into two main sections, part one focuses on us “Our battle and our strength” whilst part two focuses on Christ “Our foundations and our fortifications.”

There is great comfort to be found in knowing that many other Christians struggle with an ongoing and at times debilitating struggle to know whether we really loved by God. This is where the author helpfully reminds us through a deeper study of the promises of Scripture, that this battle can be won by holding on to these great truths that are true for us, but we need to know how to find these promises in Scripture and how to hold on to them.

I particularly loved the final chapter, which calls the reader (in the words of Robert Murray McCheyne) “for every look at yourself, take ten looks at Christ” and to gaze on the beauty of Christ and in Him we will see the heart of the Father for us.

In conclusion, written with pastoral warm, vulnerability and honesty, “Loved Indeed” is a much-needed healing balm for those who are struggling to know that they are loved by God.

Gareth Dicks @biblebookstheology

Outstanding

This is a simply outstanding book. It is written by someone who has struggled with introspection and needs to continually apply the truths of the Gospel to his life. The reflections on the early chapters of Ephesians are hugely helpful. The first read is a quick on as it is written in a compelling fashion, but it rewards a slower more reflective second reading. A really pastorally helpful little book.

Malcolm

Loved!

This short book is written out of experience of tragedy and doubt, that Cruver shares with the reader. It's an easy and accessible read, that engages with reformers and puritans likes of Edwards, Luther and Goodwin, but brings their old words into easy understanding. I found that I could zip through the sparky and compelling pages hungry to hear more, and yet I kept finding myself going back to re-read and meditate on the profound truths that the author put into his own words. I think there is help here for the doubting and suspicious, as the subtitle promises, and indeed for any of us who could do with seeing again how loved we are. For a book that presses into how we can each know God's love for us, I also appreciated a gentle thread of how gathering with church fits with that, rather than leaving things at a merely individual level.