Friday, July 25, 2014
Unplugging
Wednesday, July 23, 2014
Book Review: Arms Open Wide
by Sherri Gragg
The subtitle conveys the whole story: A Call To Linger in the Savior’s Presence. Sherri Gragg has taken
Biblical accounts from the Old and NewTestaments and set them into scenes through the
lens of first Century culture. She provides these stories as devotions, giving
the reader at least one scriptural reference to read before each story.
Each devotion has a title page with an Old Testament
scripture printed out. At the end of each devotion Ms. Gragg has placed a
prayer, each one being the cry of her heart.
Ms. Gragg has spent a vast amount of time in research to
bring this collection of stories together. My favorite one is the story of what
took place in Gethsemane. It is told in first person, from the point of view of
Simon Peter.
A feature I like is the glossary at the back. In the text of
the book, she uses terms from the first Century. These words are followed by an
asterisk.
I would recommend this book to:
·
Parents who desire their children learn more of
God.
·
Children’s workers and children’s pastors,
·
People who give devotions at meetings of their
ministry group, be it a laity member or a pastor.
·
And to
small group leaders.
The price of this book, a hardback, could hold back those on
a fixed income
I was given a copy of this book by Thomas Nelson Publishers
through the Book Look Bloggers program. All they ask me to do was give an
honest review.
Monday, July 21, 2014
Because He Cares for You
“Cast all your
anxiety on him because he cares for you” 1 Peter 5:7 (NIV)
Peter gives good advice here. He tells his 1st Century
readers and us, reading in the 21st, to cast all our fears—anything
that makes us uneasy—on God.
He tells us to do this because God cares for us. Also, God
can handle any hardship, problem, stressor, or issue we have to give Him. It’s
when we think we can keep things to ourselves that we begin to have those fears
grow into major problems for us or for those around us.
When our anxieties kick in, we should say a quick prayer as
soon as we can, even while the circumstance is before us. When we give those
trials over to Jesus:
•We save ourselves
from loss of sleep.
When we keep things to ourselves, we
find it difficult to relax. Our minds don’t want to shut down.
• We learn that God is with us.
Some
of the best conversations we can have with the LORD happen when we tell Him we
can’t handle things without His help.
·We
keep ourselves healthy.
Succumbing to stress can lead to ulcers,
high blood pressure, and various other disorders.
We have a Savior who shed His blood for us sp that we could find freedom in Him.
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