Totally Forgiving Ourselves

Hello,

So sorry it's been a while, just lots of "life and doings" happening all at once. However, that did not mean that we haven't been reading. We recently finished reading "Totally Forgiving Ourselves" by R T Kendall.



What a book!

Initially, I struggled to break into this book, and found the first couple of chapters a bit dry. However, I focused and pressed on and I sure am glad I did. I started enjoying the book and there was a lot of advice and information to take in page after page.

Totally Forgiving Ourselves (TFO) gave me a fresh insight about forgiveness, guilt (false and real), self pity, self righteousness and judging others and myself. God spoke to me through this book and now, when I think about some of the challenges I am currently going through, I feel I might be able to make decisions without feeling guilty. It made me reflect on past trials and tribulations and how I handled them.
TFO made me reflect on past trials and tribulations and how I handled them. As I cannot do much about the past but to ask God for forgiveness, I certainly will be applying what I learnt from reading it to certain areas of my life.

If you have read “Totally Forgiving Ourselves”, you are welcome to share your views. Leave a comment.

God bless.

Ope

and the Shofar Blew by Francine Rivers

Hello,

It's summer time and lots of you are on holiday or plan on having a holiday.
A "must have" for the holiday is a good book to read. Look no further as our next read is guaranteed to stir your heart and make you remember the need to put God first in every moment of your life...

Happy reading

Ope

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Synopsis

When Paul Hudson eagerly accepted the call to pastor the struggling church, he had no idea what to expect. He only hoped he could please the Lord with his plans and hard work. Together, Paul, his wife Eunice, and their son Tim packed up and moved halfway across the country to do the Lord’s work.
It didn’t take long for Paul to turn Centerville Christian Church around. Attendance was up–way up. People came to hear the charismatic Paul Hudson preach. The choir added members, and the children’s program was at an all-time high. A building program was in the works. Everything was going so well. If only his wife could see it his way. Still, he tried not to let her quiet presence disturb him.


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..... So what is a Shofar?

Shofar, the Hebrew word for trumpet is mentioned over 70 times in the bible. It is an ancient musical instrument made from the horn of a Ram.

The shofar was used in biblical times for various occasions ranging from calling the armies together, calling people to Worship and spiritual awakening. It is specially used for the call to repentance.

The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis

Hi there,

Hope you are all well and in good health. I should have posted this a while back.

I am sure you have all heard the saying........."Variety, is the spice of life"!


In Activate, the idea of members choosing the reading books gives us all the opportunity to read a “variety” of books and hence broaden our horizons. Our next read is interesting and challenging in lots of ways.

So enjoy!

Yours,

Ope

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Synopsis

"The Screwtape Letters" is fiction. But only fiction in the sense that the characters and the dialogue sprang from the imagination of one of the greatest modern Christian writers. Yet in our terrestrial reality the issues confronted in this book play out in our lives every day.
The book contains thirty-one letters from Screwtape (an experienced devil) to his nephew, Wormwood, just beginning his demonic career and has been assigned to secure the damnation of a young man who has just become a Christian.
We get the letters only from one side of the correspondence (Screwtape's), yet the story of the meanderings of the Christian "patient's" soul is clearly read between the lines. The letters begin with Wormwood's failure to keep his subject from becoming a Christian. The urbane Screwtape informs him that, although this is an alarming development, his patient is by no means lost to the dark forces of evil.
Each letter addresses various aspects of the travails of the human soul and how the devil tempts that soul away from goodness and toward evil - not evil on a grand scale, but evil on a petty scale. They show how evil can seep into a Christian's relationships with friends and family, in his views on the church, even in his practice of prayer.
Through this wonderful tale, the reader emerges with a better understanding of what it means to live a faithful life.
"The Screwtape Letters" is a book that entertains while it instructs. It is a book to be treasured and studied.

Velvet Elvis - Share your thoughts.....

I found Velvet Elvis very thought provoking. It’s given me the boldness to ask questions and dig deeper into certain areas of Christianity that I do not understand.

I commend Rob on some areas of Velvet Elvis, his honesty and the research he carried out to back up his views. I liked how he brought abstract to life in the early chapters of the book.

However, there are some areas where I do question and challenge his views and opinion, especially where he doesn't have a scripture or fact to back up his views. One thing for sure is that everyone’s opinion of the bible is essentially his or her own opinion. The Holy Spirit brings about revelation and understanding of the scriptures we read in the bible.

I think we would all agree that Christianity is a journey, not a destination and the bible is not just about historical events but is true of how we live our lives today. The stories in the bible are our stories, as we can identify with them to date.

One thing Rob said is 'As a Christian--we are free to claim the good, true and holy whenever we find it...because the world is God's and everything in it.’
I found this comment full of meaning. It applies to everything but can also be easily misinterpreted. For guidance, in 1 peter 2 vs. 16, we are told to "live as free men BUT we should not use our freedom as a cover up for evil; we should live as servants of the living God."
We must be careful at what we claim as good, true and holy.

On a closing note, I felt there were some words of wisdom and discernment in Rob’s Velvet Elvis. However, there were parts of the book that I didn’t quite agree with.

God bless.

Ope

Activates BBM and VE

Activates’ BBM was the place to be on Saturday night (13/06/09) . We gathered together to discuss Velvet Elvis (VE); we shared our views on how it ministered to us and what we gained from reading it.

As we did not get the opportunity to celebrate our one year anniversary in February 2009, we shared a big celebration cake together and had a great time socializing.

So far we have read a variety of inspirational and uplifting books in Activate. These books have certainly broadened my knowledge and horizon. They have helped to increase my level of faith, increase my spiritual growth and expanded my knowledge of God. We can never know too much about God. Knowledge is power, so get reading.....

Activate is open to all women.

Stay blessed!

Ope

"VELVET ELVIS"

Our current read, chosen by one of Activates member is:

"VELVET ELVIS" by ROB BELL.

I bet you are thinking, what a title! Well, rest assured, the book is not about Elvis.

Velvet Elvis is a thought provoking book on Christianity. What is Christianity really about? What do YOU think Christianity is about? Be warned, you will either like this book or dislike it. It has had lots of mixed reviews. I will let you decide for yourself.

Book Description:

"God never changes, nor do the central truths of Christianity. But our understanding of those truths is in constant flux. Christians will always be exploring and discovering what it means to live in harmony with God and each other. Velvet Elvis offers original and refreshingly personal perspectives on what Christianity is really about."

If you haven't yet got your copy, please do so and get reading. The book is available at kerith bookshop.

Happy reading!

Ope

Get Out Of That Pit - My Review...

Hello there,

I should have posted this a while back.

I was a little bit disappointed with "Get out of that pit".
The title sounded so WOW! and the synopsis was quite impressive. I was expecting a great deal out of the book but instead I found it just ok. I was hoping to get more out of it than I actually did.
I felt Beth Moore “beat around the bush” a lot before getting to the point she was trying to make. Some of the points she made were basically known things, but having said that, there were some encouraging and uplifting words to reflect on. There were a couple of situations she mentioned that I could identify with.
One thing though I admired about this book was the fact that Beth Moore had done her homework well and had all the helpful scriptures to back up her points.


Psalm 40 was brought to life in this book, which has given me a deeper insight to this psalm.

We must therefore be responsible for our own life, but also help other people to carry their burdens.
In a nutshell, there are several ways of getting into a pit, but ultimately it is God that can totally and completely get us out.

Regards,

Ope

Blood and Fire Revisited

Hello everyone. Well I have to hold my hand up and say that I chose the last book, and I had not read it so sorry to give you all a very long and slightly academic read-but then a reading group does expand our horizons and enable us to travel together along new pathways.

I chose this book because I wanted to read about the Booth family who started the Salvation Army. I feel that they were one of the first modern church movements that demonstrated the need to be inclusive in an age where there was a huge divide between rich and poor, educated and uneducated, men and women. We can watch Dickens' adaptation on the TV and see what a work house may have been like and read of a rags to riches story but I found that a new light was shed on the conditions of the working and lower classes of Victorian England and also the prejudice and values of those who were Christians or even slightly more privileged.

William Booth was painted warts and all, and although I felt he accomplished so much-I could also see his foibles and limitations on every page. Catherine Booth also came through strongly as a woman of great courage, determination and one who ruled her family with a little kindness but mostly with a great need for discipline and devotion to the cause.

They were a whirlwind and raised a movement that is still active today-if you go to Oxford Street in London there are Salvation Army people serving-they run the biggest agency in the world for finding missing persons, and are an example of how evangelism and social action can be combined to change lives from the inside out.

I was very encouraged too by their work of raising public awareness to the slum conditions, the terrible abuses of cheap labour and the everyday lives of those caught in poverty without the means to escape it. This family changed the face of Christian service a hundred years ago without much money, by using the printing press, by mobilising believers to live a life of devotion and worship and by giving people the opportunity to find dignity and spiritual, economic and social well being.

That inspires me that if God could use them at that time and place then he can use you and me to also help people to encounter Jesus in a way that will make an impact on their own lives and our communities that may well be remarked upon in a hundred years time. Let's believe that this could be true as perhaps one of the biggest challenges for us in the UK and developed world is the crisis in the banking world, and how debt is making slaves again of free people. I see those who are working in CAP as modern day examples of how practical and spiritual help can make a difference to families and restoration can begin.

Get out of that pit

Our current read, chosen by Rosely Powell is "Get out of that pit" by Beth Moore.

In this book, Beth Moore talks about what she learned in being delivered by God from the pit of muck and darkness and about the healing to be found in Jesus.
This is a great book and there are lessons for us to learn from it. Rest assured, it is nothing like "Blood and Fire". So if you haven't yet got your copy, please do so and get reading. The book is not available at kerith bookshop. You can purchase this online from Amazon.

Happy Reading! Ope




Synopsis
For everyone who has ever been in a pit-or is in one now, Beth Moore urges readers of this book not to believe for one second that God has forgotten them. It was a truth she could pass to them from her years of pit-dwelling.

Beth Moore wants readers to know if God could lift her out of the pit, He can get ANYONE out! She admits she wasn't just a visitor; this former pit-dweller had to be delivered from acres of life-accumulated dirt, bone-chilling darkness, spirit-deadening anger, heart-breaking desperation and mind-numbing confusion. The permanent lessons she learned in her desperation-shared in this very personal book-are lessons of hope for all of us. While she deeply empathizes with the hows and whys of life in the "pit," she continually points readers to the deliverance that awaits. Deliverance is for everyone, she proclaims-no matter how you got stuck, no matter how long you've been down, whether you think you deserve it or not. And in her straight-talking but loving style, she reminds readers that deliverance can begin for them this very day.

Review of “Blood and Fire”

Hello Everyone,

I am very curious to know just how many finished reading "Blood and Fire".

In my group, three of us finished reading the book. We had ample time for a thorough discussion and we were also able to chat about other things. It turned out to be a very pleasant and relaxing evening.

Looking back with hindsight, I must have really enjoyed the book. I certainly remembered everything during the discussions, which in itself was quite amazing, considering it was a real sweat to finish. It was pleasing to hear from those who were neither able to read or complete the book they felt that they benefited immensely from the discussions we had.

I found the book very enlightening and I felt it gave me a good background and mental picture of the Victorian era. Some of the challenges they faced in taking the gospel to people in those days haven't particularly changed today. One thing I admired about William Booth was that he had a fighting spirit. He didn't give up despite the challenges and stumbling blocks he constantly had to face. There was a lot of poverty around back then and he seem determined to eradicate it. He persevered and fought for good causes, some of which we still enjoy today. It's amazing to discover that the Salvation Army has been around for over a century. I was a little disappointed that nothing was mentioned about the modern day Salvation Army and how different it has become.

After I finished the book, I was curious to find more current information about the Salvation Army, this lead me to their website where I found the mission statement below.

The Salvation Army, an international movement, is an evangelical part of the universal Christian Church. Its message is based on the Bible. Its ministry is motivated by the love of God. Its mission is to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ and to meet human needs in His name without discrimination.

In addition, the Salvation Army has moved away from autocracy to democracy, and now elect their General. The first female general was William Booth's daughter, the dynamic Evangeline Booth, who served from 1934 to 1939.

On a closing note, if you are interested in history then you will find it to be a very good book. However, Roy Hattersley's writing style makes it quite difficult to read. Getting past that hurdle, I think there is a lot to be gained from reading "Blood and Fire".

Best Regards,
Ope