I’m posting about what it means that mankind is in God’s image over at Scripture Dig today! Hope you join us there! In the meantime…

Unshakeable Faith, an 8-session Bible study for women by Kathy Howard, has just been released by New Hope Publishers. I’ve worked through/taught Kathy’s other studies and they are excellent! I’ve also gotten to know her as a fellow writer over at Scripture Dig and can tell you that she is the real deal! What a privilege to know her and learn along with her in the Word. This study helps readers apply 8 key “faith traits” found in the life of Peter so they will be prepared to weather the harshest storms of life. Today we get to talk to Kathy about her new Bible study!

Kathy, what prompted you to write on this particular topic?

Over the last few years, many Christian women I love and admire have endured difficult circumstances such as life-threatening illness, divorce, death of a child, and financial hardship. The quality of their faith significantly affected how they endured these trials and how God worked in them for His glory. God strengthened and guided them through their close relationship with Jesus.

Their experiences made me wonder how I would do in the same circumstances. Like most women, I manage to juggle the everyday things of life – work, family, ministry, and home life – without too much difficulty. But sometimes, even in just a small crisis, my self-sufficiency is shaken. Would I stand firm in really hard times or would these trials knock me flat? I began to ask God to show me how my faith could be prepared.

So why Peter? Why is he a good example for us to study?

Peter was just an ordinary man, a fisherman. He worked hard. He had a family and friends. Peter was passionate and a natural leader, but he was also headstrong and impetuous. Peter had sworn to follow Jesus unconditionally, no matter the circumstances. Yet on the night Jesus was betrayed, his faith wavered and he denied His Lord. But then several decades later Peter willingly faced martyrdom rather than deny Him again. This study is about what made the difference in Peter’s faith. Unshakeable Faith looks closely at Peter’s life and teachings to discover some of the key characteristics God built into his faith that helped him stand firm in the face of death. That’s the kind of faith I want to have.

What’s unique about this study?

I love to study God’s Word. Learning about God, His ways, and what He desires for us is wonderful. But if we don’t apply what He teaches us, let it shape our lives, then we fall short of the full purpose of study. Unshakeable Faith not only leads readers into learning God’s Word, but it also purposefully helps readers apply it. In addition to each week’s application section, there is a “Faith Shaker” story that helps us see how that faith trait works in real life. These stories are about real women who have faced a life trial with which many readers will relate. Readers get to see how their faith keeps them standing firm. A strong faith in Jesus Christ does work in real life!

Where can readers get a copy of Unshakeable Faith?

The study is available at most online bookstores and many Christian bookstores. If your local bookstore does not carry it more than likely they can order it for you. You can also order it online from Amazon, New Hope/WMU Bookstore, Barnes & Noble, or Christian Book Distributors.

If you’ve been around this blog long, you know that I have a deep passion for the Word of God.  It is rich and full and deep and God will change our lives forever when we commit to spending time in it – His Word does not return void!  (Isaiah 55:10-11)

Sadly, over the years of talking with other believers and leading Bible studies in the church, I have often been amazed at the rampant Biblical illiteracy even within the church.  We tend to approach the Bible in a piecemeal fashion, nibbling on bits and pieces here and there rather than feasting on the whole counsel of God!  Because of that, people often have misconceptions about Scripture, misinterpret it because they do not understand the context, and are missing out on seeing the amazing picture God has laid out in His Word.

It’s all there for a reason.

So, I was thrilled to hear about The Bible in 90 Days program – an effort to encourage people to take the challenge of reading the Bible from cover to cover in only 3 months. 

Zondervan has published a special edition of the NIV thinline just for this program.  It is a hardback large-print Bible that includes the NIV text, headings which indicate the beginning/ending of each day of reading, and a check list in the back flyleaf to chart your progress through the readings.  [Bible in 90 Days recommends you purchase this edition, as it is specifically laid out to help you complete this challenge.  If you would like to read with your own Bible, you can download a free reading guide here.]

You can read the Bible in it’s entirety in 12 pages a day.  Anyone can read 12 pages a day!

In addition to the Bible itself, Bible in 90 Days also has a great reference book called The Essential Bible Companion which gives a brief two-page reference for each book of the Bible.  It is full color and includes photographs, timelines, maps, key terms, themes to look for, and all kinds of other information to make this journey through Scripture less overwhelming. 

Currently there are 48 bloggers who are participating in a challenge to start reading on January 1st in order to finish by Easter!  I was hoping to participate in this fully myself, but my plate is a bit full here at the beginning of 2010 with other Bible study prep I am committed to doing.

…but I cannot wait to do this as a women’s Bible study.  And I’d love our small group to do it together, as well.  And guess what?  There’s a DVD pack and participant guides with small group questions! 

I’m excited about this, if you can’t tell!!  :)

Want to do this?  I know it’s intimidating… but you can do it!  12 pages a day!!  If you’d like to take this great challenge and start in January, head over to Mom’s Toolbox and sign up if you’d like to join the excitement! You can also sign up here to receive a free daily email with encouragement and things to look for that day throughout the challenge.

If you can’t start on January 1st (like me), or if you aren’t able to finish in 90 days… please do it anyway!  It’s ok if it takes you 120 days, or if you start in March, or if you wait to do it with a group in June.  But I definitely want to encourage you to consider taking on the challenge in the near future – this should be on our “resolution” list for 2010! :)

If you cannot afford to purchase the official Bible but genuinely are interested in taking the Bible in 90 Days challenge, Ted Cooper (founder) is offering to provide a Bible free to anyone who cannot afford to purchase a Bible themselves.  Simply contact them here!  Scholarship Bibles are limited – if you can afford the $15 Bible, please reserve this supply for those who are in genuine need.

God’s Word is amazing!  Let’s get reading!

I was provided with a copy of these books for the purpose of reviewing them and participating in the 90 day challenge.  I was not compensated in any other way for this post.  I am an amazon affiliate and would receive a small percentage of any sales resulting from the links above.

Small groups are a big deal in our family. My parents have led them for years and my dad is a lay leader in the small group ministry at their church. My sister and I therefore were bitten with the bug, and we (and our husbands, of course) are both involved in small group ministry. My husband’s brother was the associate pastor over small groups in their church for a while, also. So, we tend to talk a lot about small groups. A lot.

Oddly enough, as common as small groups are becoming, we’ve had a hard time finding curriculums that we really like. Some are too dry without enough discussion, some are too shallow and have too much discussion and not enough study, some are too intense and the group loses interest… I’m sure they all are appropriate for certain groups, but we’ve had a challenge finding ones that really hit the “sweet spot” for our particular small group.

Because of that, I was glad to have a chance to take a closer look at a new group study that was put together by Christianity today on Faith and Pop Culture.

After reading through this book, I am excited to work through it with our group! Now, I will say that no matter how good a book looks when you read through it, it can have a completely different feel once you dig into it in a group. We’ve started some great looking studies in the past that fell flat and no one liked them. But from a reader’s perspective with some small group experience, here are my thoughts.

I so appreciated what the editors attempted to do in this study. This is a primarily discussion-based study that seeks to challenge Christians to examine how we are engaging and using the predominant “languages” of our culture that are expressed through movies, books, sports, television, video games, etc. This is not an easy, cut and dry subject, and I applaud them for taking it on.

Each chapter begins with an article taken from past issues of Christianity Today that provides a jumping off point for discussion throughout the session. I found these articles to be thought provoking – all of them are written by experts in their fields who have wrestled with how their Christian faith intersects with their work and play. The articles are well written and not simplistic. That being said, it is pretty much a guarantee that they will spark discussion in any group of serious believers – some will heartily agree, some will vehemently disagree. The interesting thing about this study is that it does not seek to draw clear-cut lines on these matters of “gray area,” but rather presents a topic in order to stimulate thoughtful discussion.

After the article, each chapter then has ice-breaker type activities. I thought many of these seemed a bit too youth-group-esque for an adult group. I don’t know about yours, but our group would look at us a bit strangely if we passed out glue and scissors and announced that we were going to cut pictures out of magazines and make a collage about the culture of Hollywood. To be fair, two options are always presented, with one being more discussion oriented and one more “hands on.” I think we would normally skip both and do our own thing!

My main objection to this study, being a person who deeply desires the Church to know the Word of God, is that the Scripture passages used in each session are not the primary focus. The primary focus is the article and people’s reactions to it. I think for this study to be more complete, the leader would have to invest some time in actually studying the passage and not just reading it for a few shallow discussion questions that follow. But again, this is a discussion-based application-dense study… perhaps instead of a “Bible study” it should be called a “How-to-live-out-what-you-already-know discussion group.” :)

This would be a great launching point for discussion amongst grounded, serious believers. For “seeker” type groups or groups full of very young believers, this topic would probably be appealing but I think the treatment of Scripture is far insufficient to give them a proper Biblical base for what they are discussing together. The discussion would very easily boil down to my opinion against yours, rather than looking at how Biblical Truth intersects with our daily lives.

We’ll see how it goes in our group… I’m anticipating some good discussion. It’s a nice light topic that will work well for summer. :)

**I was provided with a copy of this book in exchange for my review from Thomas Nelson Publishers. I am an amazon affiliate and would receive a small percentage of any sales resulting from the link above. The opinions expressed in this review are my unbiased thoughts as in keeping with my disclosure policy.  

I am always amazed at how God works. Back in January, I opened an account on Twitter. I happened to connect with Kathy Howard, and after we had sent messages back and forth a bit about the Bible studies we lead, etc, she asked if I would be willing to review a Bible study that she had recently authored and post something about it on my blog! I was thrilled for this contact with her and enthusiastically told her I would.

Well, when I pulled Before His Throne: Discovering the Wonder of Intimacy with a Holy God out of the mailing envelope later that week, I nearly fell over. Those of you who know me well or have been reading my blog for a while know that the topic of the fear of God is HUGE to me. I come back to it time and time again – it’s intriguing and compelling to me and I can’t get away from it. Guess what this study is all about? That’s right, the fear of God! Needless to say, I dove right in and have been trying to do two lessons a day during my quiet times.

I love this study. I LOVE it. In the author’s own words, “The purpose of this study is threefold: first, to show through Scriptures that fearing God is a positive attitude that God commands His children to have; second, to better understand the meaning of godly fear by studying the original language and considering biblical descriptions; and third, to encourage you to commit to a life of godly fear. If we want to live a life pleasing to God, the Scriptures teach that we must fear Him.” (149)

This is a very, very thorough study on this topic. The study is based in the book of Malachi, but draws on Scriptures throughout the entire canon. I am in total agreement with Kathy Howard that a proper understanding of Who God is will completely and utterly change our lives. Having a Scriptural perspective of His holiness (and our sinfulness) will cause us to fall on our face before our Supreme Creator and say, “Woe to me, I am unclean!” And then, as we grasp the reality and depth of His love for us as our Father and the extent to which He will go as our Savior, we can come into His presence and have intimacy with Him. Intimacy with a holy God. The idea should blow our minds!

This study is excellent and thorough. My biggest concern is that I think it would be overwhelming for someone who does not at least have a surface grasp of the overall story of Scripture – I could definitely see how a newer believer or someone who has not received comprehensive Bible teaching of some sort prior to this study would feel like she was drinking from a fire hose! Because of that, I would say that this would not be the best study for a first-time Bible study leader or participant.

That being said, I found it refreshing to see a truly challenging book-format study. It isn’t just challenging mentally – it is a challenge spiritually. You cannot truly study the idea of the holiness of God and the fear of God without having to do some examination of your life and soul!

Now, I want to see a sequel come about about the fear of God being the beginning of wisdom – every time I think I get a glimmer of understanding with that idea it gets bigger! Perhaps we will explore that a bit together as we journey through the wisdom literature in coming months…

If you’re interested in specifics, Before His Throne: Discovering the Wonder of Intimacy with a Holy God is published by New Hope Publishers. It is a 9 week study with 5 days of independent study per week, and there is a leader’s guide with discussion questions in the back of the book. And because I am a sucker for a nice cover, I must mention that I think the cover graphics are gorgeous!

Thank you, Kathy, for giving me the privilege of looking at your well-written study! And for my church ladies, heads up that I would like this study to be offered in the very near future! :)

**I was provided with a copy of this book in exchange for my review. I am an amazon associate and would receive a small percentage of any sales resulting from the link above.  The opinions expressed in this review are my unbiased thoughts as in keeping with my disclosure policy.