Centré sur Dieu!

Ann L Beaulieu, Blogueuse, auteure et conférencière. Déterminée, expressive, colorée et persévérante dans la foi à cause de Dieu!

Archives de Catégorie: Christians


par 2 Commentaires

Book Review on Active Spirituality

 

81U8WSnf5qL._AA1500_

 

 

Book Review

Active Spirituality 

By

Brian Hedge

 

I actually do not know how or where to start my book review and I have done a few. So it’s not that I don’t know how there done! The thing is I’m overwhelmed in about what I need to say because almost all the Book is highlighted. This is an outstanding book to say the least! I am speechless or rather “wordless” about how I should bring forth to you my readers what is most important, because it seems that everything the author talks about is relevant. The thing is he touches on so many subjects and all of them are so brilliantly expressed in an articulate manner based on Sola Scriptura that it’s amazing and encouraging to read. It also reveals to the reader all that they may be struggling with and unsure of in certain issues in his or her life.

The format Hedges uses in the book is of writing as a pastor and answering back to a young man in letters, which makes for a wonderful read. The chapters are short and yet packed with insightful information all at once. I love how he blends his letters with some Puritan quotes along with Bible passages. It enriches the essence of our understanding of each subject, which encourages us to come to grips with them if we haven’t already understood them well.

This is a book that helps you be even more convicted of some biblical foundations and be rooted strongly in them more than ever. Or, it might just help you understand all your misconception if you have any, and nudge you to come to a clearer conviction based on the passages that he develops and then gives a clear explanation that is so well articulated. Nothing fancy just plain and simple!

I believe all Christians should read this book. Whether it is to reaffirm their faith or just to be encouraged in their spiritual walk. It would be a wonderful gift to offer a new Christian that’s for sure. He does admit to being a Reformed Baptist close to the end, yet somehow I found that this in no way came in contrast to my own personal biblical foundations or faith, and did not keep me from appreciating all the truths that Hedge so clearly exposed from the Scriptures. If we keep our minds focused on the truth of the Word then we can only be swayed from the Word! Putting aside the author and letting the Word speak is what is most important and that is what this author has been capable of doing in this book. I absolutely loved this book, really. So far I’d say it’s my number 1 of 2014 … but the year isn’t over yet!  But this is a really a GOOD one, REALLY!!!

Let’s see here are a few subjects he touches on that I really enjoyed:

– Grace verses works

Here’s a quote from the book that I loved.

« While grace is opposed to works in any kind of legalistic sense of earning favor, it isn’t opposed to our action and effort. Rather, grace produces our effort and sustains it.  »

Brian Hedges. « Active Spirituality.»

– Is salvation unconditional?

He also talks about how « our culture tends to equate love with tolerance. » « But true love is not always tolerant. »

Another subject he touches on is – the biblical metaphor of the Christian life being a fight and the need for us to put on God’s armor.

– Our need for developing a Spiritual Growth Plan

These are just a few things that are in the book and frankly these are only the just the ones you actually would expect to find. I keep the others silent leaving you to discover them for yourself!

I want to leave you with a quote from his book and I am overwhelmed as to which one because as I said the book is almost all highlighted. But I must make a choice…

« First-century athletes ran in the nude, so that clothing wouldn’t entangle their feet, and Christians must metaphorically strip from our lives anything that keeps us from Jesus. »

Brian Hedges. « Active Spirituality. »

Something to mediate one while your waiting for your book to arrive!

 

Here is an interview with Brian Hedge that you can listen to of a discussion on his book done by Shaun Tabatt at http://BibleGeekGoneWild.com/100 or just click here;

http://biblegeekgonewild.com/?powerpress_embed=9175-podcast&amp%3bpowerpress_player=mediaelement-audio

Enjoy!

Ann L Beaulieu

*I have received a free copy by Cross Focus. However I am under no obligation to write a positive review. These are entirely my own personal opinions and thoughts expressed according to my own discernment.


par 1 commentaire

Book Review

 

 

41LYoCBJKTL._SL500_AA300_

 

 

Book review

Memorial: The Mystery of Mary of Bethany

By

Dolores Kimball

I’ll be honest, when deciding whether to read this book I had to go beyond the title and read everything I could that was written about it and the author since the title in itself just didn’t bring it home for me. I even visited her blog. In essence it didn’t hook me in. But, after reading one paragraph into the introduction,  I was hooked, fish line and all.

Dolores Kimball is an excellent writer. It doesn’t take long before we quickly see how she makes the point of carefully delivering home the mystery behind the story of Mary of Bethany to us. She does so in a comprehensive fashion that is clear, precise and biblical. We clearly see that much research was done along with many serious hours of studying in order for us to be blessed and edified while reading. Her study is based mainly on these three passages in the Gospels that describe this incident about Mary of Bethany in; Matthew 26: 6-13, Mark 14: 3-9, and John 12: 2-8 each having different details and nuances.

She doesn’t deliver this to us in a messy tangle sort of way of course. Everything is just perfectly unified and thoughtfully planned out. She has thought out all her avenues before hand and graciously makes our reading plan easy. Thus making it smooth for us to understand the mystery. Every detail is important and revealed just at the right moment. The way she helps us to understand it and points us to them is wonderful. It puts everything into perspective. Of course I don’t plan on revealing all these things to you … the ideas is to read her book, which is awesome and worth the few dollars it cost! You’ll love it.  This book is solid in biblical theology and very encouraging.

I have read other books that talk of Mary of Bethany along with her dear sister Martha, and have enjoyed them greatly. Yet I must admit that this one has put many new things into perspective because of all the different aspects that were being brought into light. Kimball’s arguments are strong and mad me re think on many things that I thought I knew and believed. I love it when an author is able to do that with the Word of God, not her words. That’s powerful and changes my view because of the Word, not because of what she says!!!

What I also loved from the author is that she applies it to us as women today.

What and how can Mary’s actions inspire us today?

I mean really that is wonderful because isn’t that what we need as women, being practical in our lives. Learning from the women of the Bible. I don’t have expensive oil that I can spread on the feet of Jesus Christ and then whip it with my hair.

But yet, how can I in my life be or act like Mary of Bethany?

Can I really be like her somehow, and is that even possible?

Those are practical questions she looks at and I think that it’s something we are all really asking ourselves deep down.

I love this quote from her book “She understood that poverty of spirit means we come to Jesus with nothing of worth to offer him, needing everything from him.”

I greatly appreciated her Epilogue also because I fundamentally found encouragement to go back to the Word of God. As she says herself, read the passages and let the Bible interpret the Bible.

One word of caution in reading, I found that the author permitted herself at times to interpret on how Mary or Martha might have felt during certain moments, and even other characters. I find this delicate to do when writing since it is not in the text, but I understand that her point is to highlight a situation at hand. Although to give the author credit, she does specify it every time she does this that these are speculations on her part and are nowhere in the text. I believe this is very authentic of her, yet it still could be misleading for some readers.

A small remark that I did found somewhat annoying because it came up quite often was that she often repeated this phrase; “we will explore this in dept in a later chapter” or something like this.  This got tiresome when reading because I was always waiting or wondering if she got to it finally.  Maybe it’s just the writer in me!

Over all it’s an good book and you just might learn a couple of new things about a biblical character you thought you new very well but really didn’t know that well after all… who knows!

Ann L Beaulieu

*I have received a free copy Memorial: The Mystery of Mary of Bethany of by Cross Focus Media. However I am under no obligation to write a positive review. These are entirely my own personal opinions and thoughts expressed according to my own discernment.

 

Mon {mot} – My {word}

par 6 Commentaires

My One Word

 

Mon {mot} pour 2014

Je suis tellement contente de mon {mot} cette année! Je suis tout excitée, car je sais maintenant ce que l’Éternel produit dans ma vie avec juste un petit {mot}. Je dirais plutôt que c’est tout ce qui se travaille derrière le {mot}, dans les coulisses! C’est magnifique, dur, excitant et parfois épuisant, mais toujours bénissant puisque c’est de la main de notre Dieu.

Pour ceux d’entre vous qui ne sont pas au courant de ce que j’écris, je vous invite à lire ceci. L’an dernier, j’ai commencé une nouvelle tradition, si on peut dire, et j’ai tellement aimé que je n’ai pas l’intention d’arrêter de sitôt.

Par contre, ce n’est pas moi qui ai inventé cette belle initiative, je l’ai trouvé dans un livre qui s’intitule : «My One Word». C’est excellent et je vous le recommande si vous lisez l’anglais. Ce qui est fantastique, c’est qu’on peut commencer à tout moment de l’année et non seulement à la nouvelle année! Il s’agit tout simplement de choisir un mot pour l’année et se laisser transformer par l’Esprit-Saint.

Je l’ai relu avant de choisir mon nouveau {mot}, question de me remettre dans l’ambiance et de bien comprendre ce qu’il recommande. Je l’ai apprécié davantage à ma deuxième lecture, ce qui me prouve que c’est un excellent livre!

Durant l’année, je vais vous partager des passages de ce livre, d’une part, pour vous aider à comprendre pourquoi je fais cela et d’autre part pour vous inciter peut-être à faire pareil. Avec plus d’informations, cela vous donnera une meilleure vision du point de vue de l’auteur et vous aidera à mieux assimiler les bienfaits qu’on en retire.

D’ici là, je vous partage mon mot pour cette année :  {cœur}

En grec – « Kardia » kar-dee’-ah

 Le centre de toute vie physique et spirituelle

La vigueur et le sens de la vie physique

Le centre et le siège de la vie spirituelle

Âme ou esprit, la source et le siège de tous les désirs, envies, buts, efforts

Compréhension, faculté et siège de l’intelligence

De la volonté et du caractère

De l’âme affectée et mise en mouvement, dans un bon ou mauvais sens

L’âme, siège des sensibilités, affections, émotions, désirs, appétits, passions.

Mon verset est Psaumes 119 : 11 :

« Je serre ta parole dans mon cœur,

afin de ne pas pécher contre toi. »

Si, je me réfère à l’année 2013, je sais très bien que Dieu va me révéler bien des choses à travers ce petit mot {cœur} pour travailler et purifier ma vie selon ses voies. Voilà pourquoi j’ai choisi ce verset pour accompagner ma route… j’aurai besoin de serrer la parole de Dieu dans mon cœur plus que jamais!

En terminant, voici une traduction libre de quelques phrases tirer du livre que je vous laisse pour méditer.

« Ce livre vous donnera un plan simple, mais efficace pour effectuer des changements personnels (formation spirituelle) en permettant à un seul mot d‘être la lentille à travers laquelle vous examinerez votre cœur et votre vie pendant l’année entière.

Votre simple mot vous poussera à la clarté et vos efforts seront concentrés. Alors que vous focalisez sur votre mot sur une période prolongée, vous vous mettez ainsi en position pour que Dieu forme votre caractère à un niveau profond et substantiel. » 2

Ann L Beaulieu

2 My One Word, Mike Ashcraft & Rachel Olsen, pp. 23-24

My {word} for 2014

I am so pleased with my {word} this year! I’m excited because I know all the great things the Lord will produce just because of a tiny {word}. Well, let’s say its more all that’s happening behind the scenes because of this little {word}!  It’s wonderful, hard, exciting and sometimes exhausting, but always a blessing to see the hand of my mighty God.

For those of you that aren’t aware of what I am writing about last year I started this new tradition. If we can call it like that, and I loved it so much that I don’t have the intention of stopping soon.

However, I am not the one who invented this wonderful idea. I found this in a book called; “My One Word.” It’s excellent and I do recommend that you read it for yourself if you like this idea. What is fascination is that we can start at anytime of the year and not only at New Years. We need only to choose a {word} in prayer and let the Holy Spirit transform us.

I read the book again before choosing my {word}, matter of placing myself into the mood and making sure that I fully comprehended what the author recommends. I appreciated more my second reading of the book, only proving that this is an excellent book!

During this year my hope is to share with you some portions of this book. For one reasons this will help you understand why I do this and on the other hand this may also persuade you to do the same. With more information, it will give you a better vision and point of view of the author and will help you assimilate the benefits that we get from practicing this in our lives.

Till then, here is my one word for the year: {heart}

In Greek

kardia: heart

Original Word: καρδία, ας, ἡ

Part of Speech: Noun, Feminine

Transliteration: kardia

Phonetic Spelling: (kar-dee’-ah)

Short Definition: the heart, inner life, intention

Definition: lit: the heart; mind, character, inner self, will, intention, center.

2588 kardía – heart; « the affective center of our being » and the capacity of moral preference (volitional desire, choice; see P. Hughs, 2 Cor, 354); « desire-producer that makes us tick » (G. Archer), i.e our « desire-decisions » that establish who we really are.

[Heart (2588 /kardía) is mentioned over 800 times in Scripture, but never referring to the literal physical pump that drives the blood. That is, « heart » is only used figuratively (both in the OT and NT.]

My verse is Psalm 119: 11

I have hidden your word in my heart

that I might not sin against you.

If I think back on the year 2013 I know fully well that God will reveal many little things to me through this small {word} to work and purify my life according to his ways. That’s why I chose this verse to accompany my walk…I will need to place Gods Word in my heart more than ever!

I leave you with this quote from the book for you to ponder on.

“This book will give a simple but effective plan to effect personal change (spiritual formation) by allowing a single word to become the lens through which you examine your heart and life for an entire year.

Your single word will force clarity and concentrate your efforts. And as you focus on your word over an extended period of time, you position yourself for God to for your character at a deep, sustainable level”. 2

Ann L Beaulieu

2 My One Word, Mike Ashcraft & Rachel Olsen, pp. 23-24