Well, I was not too thrilled with this book when the ladies chose it. I know we as Christians should obey God. Many of us do not all the time, and I knew that is where this book would take it. After receiving the book, the study questions seem very shallow and easily answered without even reading the book. I do not see much scripture just flipping through. To mean a book for a Bible study needs to cover scripture, not just someone's opinions on a topic. Many of the verses I did see, especially in the first section come from "The Message" which I do not believe is a real version of the Bible. (Being that it was not written as a translation but as a study to accompany the Bible).
Chapter 1: A Soul that Longs for More
So today, June 3, 2013, I started reading this book. The stories the author tells are inspiring and I can see her vision of how to tell others of Christ. I love the idea she had of giving away her Bible to a stranger who in turn gave it to someone else. She has since started passing out many Bibles and one day hopes to see one of her Bibles return to her. I feel this is a great idea. If you share who Christ is and what he has done for us all, isn't is appropriate to give them the Word so they can learn more. You cannot expect them to know anyone else who can answer questions, or even go and try to find more, but if you give them the Word, then they have all they need. Yes, they may still have questions that need answering, but they have what they need to learn more until they find someone else or even a church to join.
There is one point in this chapter where she asks, "How many times have I told you no, God?" I wonder this too. There is not telling how many times we, as Christians, look to God and say, "No, I won't or can't do that." Just think of how many times we have said, "no" and not even realize it! Though the passage that sticks out the most to me is this:
"Yes. Lord. I want Your patience to invade my desire to fly off the handle." "Yes. Lord. I want Your perspective to keep my emotions in check." "Yes. Lord. I want Your provision so things do not seem overwhelming." "Yes. Lord. I want Your courage to do what I feel you calling me to do." "Yes. Lord. I want and need more of You in every moment."I think this should be everyone's prayer, man or women.
Chapter 2: Hearing God's Voice
In this chapter, the author tells of five questions she asks herself when she believes she hears God's voice. If she can answer "yes" to all five questions, then she can be sure she is hearing from God and not reacting to her own thoughts and feelings. I really did not find anything in this chapter that stood out to me or gave me any "ah ha!" moments, but I was also distracted with a little one running around! Perhaps I'll have to reread this later to see if it speaks to me more.
Chapter 3: When Obedience Becomes Radical
The chapter begins with the author talking about a time when she made a radical decision to be obedient to what God wanted her to do. She also describes the manner in which one should be obedient to God. "God is not interested in half of our hearts. He wants is all, and He wants to remove the things that stand in the way of that." She also mentions about her husband's Bible study a little earlier that mentions, "sometimes we work so hard to make a heaven here on earth that our hearts are pulled away from our real home with God."
Chapter 4: You Never Know How God Will Use You Until You Let Him
This chapter begins with a letter from someone who described what radical obedience looked like in her life and how her life has changed. This chapter posses a question that isn't clearly answered, where did this change in heart come from? The answer is God. God changed her heart to allow her to become radically obedient to the faith and God is the only one who can put that change in someone's heart. We may long for and desire that kind of change in us, but only God can actually cause us to change that way. The chapter implies the answer with the verses used, but never outright says it.
Chapter 5: What Keeps Us From Saying Yes to God?
I can answer that... ourselves. We don't want to for whatever reason or something else seems more appealing. She begins the chapter by telling of people who discourage us from obeying God and to ignore them and continue to follow Christ. She portrays the struggle between godly obedience and fleshly desires as a battle she fights daily, as it should be for all of us. We should strive for the godly obedience and subdue and conquer the fleshly desires. One point she makes that sticks with me, though obvious, is something I never really thought about before: "Whatever we worship, we will obey." What we worship is what we care about the most and our life will revolve around that. All of our actions. All of our decisions. All of our thoughts. Who do we worship? If we want to follow and obey God they way we should, it better be him!
Chapter 6: If It Were Easy, It Wouldn't Be Worth Doing
She begins the chapter with an important message, when we say "yes" to God, we must do it out of love instead of duty. We must love God enough to want to do what he commands of us and not feel obligated because we made a promise. She also talks about removing the "I can'ts" from your life. Never tell your self I can't do something God has called me to do because of whatever. God would not tell you to do something you couldn't do. He gives you the proper equipment and skills for whatever task he assigns you.
Chapter 7: Keeping Our Vision Clear
This chapter focuses on how to keep our focus on God., how to keep him centered in our life and how that will affect our lives. Once quote that stood out to me in this chapter was:
"Women who say yes to God are as unique in their approach to the sold-out life for Christ as pebbles found in the creekside. We've all been tumbled and smoothed in different ways, but we know we rest in the mighty hand of God. Right now we may simply be an unsuspecting rock, but at anytime God could use us to slay the mightiest of giants."We must always be ready for what God has in store for us. Always keep him centered and focused so that when he needs us to be hurled at a giant, we can take the challenge head on and be fully confident that it is God who sends us on this mission.
Chapter 8: Giving Up What Was Never Ours
This chapter serves as a reminder to us that everything we have is from God. He owns everything and we take care of it. We use it for His glory and not for our own. This chapter focuses on sacrificial giving and the blessings that could come from that. Sacrificial giving is more than giving your tithe every Sunday. It is a giving of yourself, your whole self and all you have. If you realize that everything you have actually belongs to God, you will find it easier to give back to God the things/money he has graciously given to you.
Chapter 9: Radically Blessed
This chapter shares that those who are radically obedient are also radically blessed. Our blessings may not be material in nature, but may come in the form of spiritual peace and a surety of our place in heaven. The author also challenges each reader to take a stance. Say yes to God fully, or say no, not now. Whatever you choose, you must choose it fully. You can't half obey God. You must fully obey Him. I did like the Bible study part of this chapter the best. It made you think of how each of the verses tied into the book and specifically on how one is radically blesses by being radically obedient.
Final Conclusions:
Overall, the book was better than I expected it to be. It points out a lot of common biblical understandings in a new way and makes you rethink about notions that seem common and self explanatory in scripture. Though I wish the author had included more scripture in the body of the book, she does being out many scriptures in the study guide at the end. Most of the questions are simple, look at this passage and write what it says. There are a few critical thinking questions that have you expound on your own beliefs and how well they line with scripture, but overall the study questions do not go very deep into scripture or make you think very critically.
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