The Way to God and How to Find It
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This book offers timeless, scriptural guidance for anyone seeking a deeper understanding of salvation, assurance, and the loving heart of God.
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Book Summary
D. L. Moody's classic devotional work presents the way to God through Jesus Christ, emphasizing God's love, the necessity of the new birth, true repentance, and faith. It offers practical counsel for seekers, assurance for believers, and a loving call for backsliders to return, grounding all in Scripture and the grace of God.
Moody opens by declaring that God's love, though beyond human comprehension, is the foundation of salvation, and he contrasts it with human love. He then explains that the gateway into God's kingdom is the new birth—a spiritual regeneration that cannot be achieved by human effort but is a work of the Spirit. He categorizes seekers into the self-righteous and the convicted, urging both to exercise faith in Christ, which involves knowledge, assent, and personal appropriation. Practical counsel addresses doubts about sudden conversion, assurance, and the fear of falling, directing readers to the Word of God. Moody argues for the divinity of Christ, presenting evidence that He is God incarnate, and clarifies that true repentance is a complete change of mind and direction, leading to restitution. He emphasizes that believers can and should have assurance of salvation, using tests from 1 John, and that Christ is all in all—the way, the light, and the guide through life's wilderness. Finally, he addresses backsliding, distinguishing between those who never truly converted and those who have fallen away, and extends God's loving invitation to return and be restored.
Reading guide
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Narrative arc
Story tension across the book.
- Setup
- Escalation
- Breaking point
The emotional/psychological peak occurs in the stark diagnosis of the backslider’s condition—their ear is “unc…
Full beat labels and climax notes unlock in the reader.
Follow the arc while readingTheme heatmap
How major themes rise and fall across the book — a preview of the full map that sits beside the text as you read.
Jesus Christ
Moody's central figure is not a distant doctrine but a living person to be known intimately, the way a man knows a friend of years rather than a name overheard. The tension he resolves is the gap between a sinner's fear of a hating God and the truth that Christ came to save his people from their sins, not in them. Everything in the book's argument runs through him: he is the new and living way, the deliverer who does not leave rescued souls still enslaved to temper and lust.
Unknown Narrator
This voice opens the book 'To the Reader,' explaining that these pages began as addresses preached in Great Britain and America and are now sent out with prayer that the reader be established in faith. It moves easily between the pulpit and the pew, telling stories like the prodigal who saw 'God is Love' in gas-jets and returned weeping, then turning to ask you directly whether you know Christ only by hearsay. Its urgency shapes the whole arc, from the love of God to the final plea addressed to backsliders.
Peter
Peter stands in the book as the disciple who knew Christ personally yet stumbled, the very pattern of a believer whose acquaintance with Jesus must deepen into something sturdier. His story carries the tension between bold confession and cowardly collapse, and Moody uses that arc to insist that Christ delivers from besetting sin rather than leaving his people in prison. For readers wrestling with their own inconsistency, Peter matters because his restoration keeps the way to God open after failure.
Paul
Paul appears as the standard of intimate knowledge, the man who would not be content with a historical Christ or a slight personal acquaintance. His famous longing to 'know Him and the power of His resurrection' becomes Moody's measuring rod for every reader, the desire that separates a nominal churchgoer from a disciple. He matters to the book's middle arc because his teachings on grace and salvation keep pressing the question of how a man can be just with God.
Gotthold
Gotthold surfaces as a meditative presence, the kind of voice that turns doctrine into inward reflection rather than argument. Where Moody preaches, Gotthold ponders — weighing what it means to know Christ intimately and to be delivered from sin rather than merely forgiven for it. His reflections give the book's middle chapters their quieter register, inviting readers who hesitate at the door to consider the love of God at their own pace.
Nicodemus
Pharisee who came to Jesus by night; example of seeking spiritual truth.
The Love of God
The book emphasizes that God's love is the foundation of salvation and that many people mistakenly believe God hates them, which keeps them from coming to Him.
The Necessity of the New Birth
Moody stresses that being 'born again' is essential for entering the kingdom of God, and that this spiritual regeneration is a work of God, not human effort.
True Repentance
The book clarifies that repentance is not merely feeling sorry, fasting, or breaking one sin, but a complete turning around—a change of mind and direction away from sin toward God.
Faith and Belief in Christ
Salvation is presented as coming through believing in Jesus Christ as the Son of God and personal Saviour, not through works or religious rituals.
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