Operation Actually Read Bible

Saturday, March 3, 2012

March 2012 Goals

It's the third of March, and, I don't have any *real* idea what my goals for March are in terms of Bible reading. True, in mid-February, I thought it might be a re-imagining of the Professor Horner system only made more to my liking. And that's what I've done the past two weeks, getting an "early" start on it. But. What I've learned is that this isn't really the way I like to read the Bible. Yes, it's fun to make lists sometimes. It's even fun to stick with lists. Sometimes. But I want more, I need more.

I do plan on finishing Psalms, Proverbs, Exodus, and John in the Living Insights Bible. (I'm undecided if I'll stick with Jeremiah in it. I'm not *that far* into it.) And I will probably go ahead and read Acts in it since that would be a complete New Testament reading in the NIV. But beyond that I'm not sure I want to commit to reading the whole Bible in that translation.

I am leaning towards trying Woodrow Kroll's system of reading books of the Bible in one sitting.

How does the plan work? It's embarrassingly simple. Just read one book of your Bible all the way through in one sitting. "You mean...?" Yes, read the whole book. Get the full story the writer intended you to get. Start at the beginning and don't quit until you reach the end. It sounds a little nutty, I know, but don't dismiss it until you've tried it. It's not really a novel idea, except as it applies to reading the Bible.

and

Nearly forty books of the Bible can be read in an hour or less. Half the books of the Bible can be read in less than thirty minutes. And twenty-six books can be read in fifteen minutes or less. That's pretty amazing for a book that many people think is too massive to read. When you think about it, time really isn't the problem when it comes to reading the Bible. It's a good excuse, but not good enough. How much we read of the only book God ever wrote depends mostly on how much of it we want to read. Reading God's Word is less dependent on our schedule and more dependent on our desire and discipline. (12-13)

and

Reading whole books of the Bible in one sitting sounds like a crazy idea, but it works...Sometimes the more unusual the idea, the more likely it is to work.

I am hoping that this will help me complete some of what I'm missing. Looking at January's and February's records...

1 Chronicles
2 Chronicles
Daniel
Joel
Amos
Obadiah
Jonah
Micah
Nahum
Habakkuk
Haggai
Zechariah
Malachi

Though I don't know if I'll really, really try to read 1 Chronicles or 2 Chronicles in just one sitting apiece!!!

While I think I've decided to "try" the Woodrow Kroll method for March, I'm still undecided *which* Bible(s) I'll be using. Here are the two that are tempting me...

and

Book Review: Holy Spirit Power

Holy Spirit Power. Charles Spurgeon. 1996. Whitaker House. 170 pages.

I read four Charles Spurgeon books in February. And I loved--in some cases, LOVED, LOVED, LOVED--each one of them. Though Power in the Blood and Grace: God's Unmerited Favor are the two I'd rate my favorite and my best. I don't know if it's all that surprising, but just reading a little Spurgeon makes me NEED or WANT more Spurgeon. Unfortunately, I'm finding it a little tricky to find more of his works in print. Still, I'll keep reading and reviewing whatever I can get my hands on!!!

So my newest Spurgeon read is Holy Spirit Power. And I did love it. I think Christians should be required to read at least one or two books on the Holy Spirit. I really do. (Though I might frame that so they read the right books on the Holy Spirit. I've also read/reviewed R.C. Sproul's The Mystery of the Holy Spirit.)

This one has six "chapters" or six essays:

The Comforter
The Power of the Holy Ghost
The Holy Spirit, the Great Teacher
The Withering Work of the Spirit
The Covenant Promise of the Spirit
Honey in the Mouth

I found all but the last chapter informative and relevant and wonderful. (Honey in the Mouth, to be honest, just CONFUSED me greatly.) I find Spurgeon's style to be lovely: very straightforward, very reader-friendly. He wanted to be understood by the masses, by you and me.

© Becky Laney of Operation Actually Read Bible

Book Review: Jesus Keep Me Near the Cross

Jesus Keep Me Near the Cross. Nancy Guthrie, editor. 2009. Crossway. 160 pages.

I decided to reread Jesus, Keep Me Near the Cross for Lent this year. It is a collection of essays edited by Nancy Guthrie and published by Crossway. This is just one of four essay collections available. And it probably isn't my favorite or best of the bunch. (One collection is for Advent--looking forward to the Savior's birth; one collection is about suffering; one collection is about death.) What I did like about this collection, about each of the collections, really, are the diversity of contributors. I love the blending. Readers are introduced to works by Martin Luther, Charles Spurgeon, John Owen, John Calvin, Jonathan Edwards, Saint Augustine, etc. AND works by contemporary teachers/preachers/theologians like John Piper, John MacArthur, J.I. Packer, C.J. Mahaney, Philip Graham Ryken, R.C. Sproul, etc. Her collections almost always include essays by my favorites--past and present. (I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE her inclusion of Martyn Lloyd-Jones, for example.)

If you're new to her essay collections, if you're new to Christian nonfiction in general, then I think you will really, really enjoy these books because it can serve as an introduction to some of the best authors out there.

I also love how each essay is three to four pages in length. These are not lengthy or long-winded. While some may be slightly easier to read than others--as far as language, vocabulary, and literary style--all are accessible. They're meant to be read and enjoyed.

True Contemplation of the Cross by Martin Luther
He Set His Face to Go to Jerusalem by John Piper
An Innocent Man Crushed by God by Alistair Begg
The Cup by C.J. Mahoney
Gethsemane by R. Kent Hughes
Betrayed, Denied, Deserted by J. Ligon Duncan III
Then Did They Spit In His Face by Charles Spurgeon
The Silence of the Lamb by Adrian Rogers
The Sufferings of Christ by J.C. Ryle
Father, Forgive Them by John MacArthur
With Loud Cries and Tears by John Owen
That He Might Destroy the Works of the Devil by Martyn Lloyd-Jones
I Am Thirsty by Joseph "Skip" Ryan
God-Forsaken by Philip Graham Ryken
Cursed by R.C. Sproul
Into Your Hands I Commit My Spirit by James Montgomery Boice
Blood and Water by John Calvin
He Descended Into Hell and Ascended Into Heaven by J.I. Packer
A Sweet-Smelling Savor to God by Jonathan Edwards
The Most Important Word in the Universe by Raymond C. Ortlund Jr.
Resurrection Preview by Francis Schaeffer
Peace Be Unto You by Saint Augustine
Knowing the Power of His Resurrection by Tim Keller
Sharing His Sufferings by Joni Eareckson Tada
Crucified with Christ by Stephen F. Olford

Here's a passage from one of my favorite essays in this collection, "The Most Important Word in the Universe."

The English language has about eight hundred thousand words. Most of us get by with around two thousand words. That means about 788,000 words are sitting on the shelves, just waiting to be dusted off and used. The top ten most frequently used English words "are," "the," "of," "and," "to," "a," "in," "that," "is," "I," and "it"--but not propitiation. When was the last time you heard that word? When was the last time you used it? We don't hear it on the radio or television, because we've lost the vocabulary of God. But it's the most important word in universe. We need to recover not only the Word of God but the words of God. His words define relevance.
The word "propitiation" comes from the Latin propitio, meaning "to render favorable, to appease, to conciliate." To propitiate God means to appease his anger. Propitiation is all about God's wrath.
God's wrath? Wait a minute. Is God a fuming, frustrated person? Does he have a temper? Is he subject to mood swings? Is biblical propitiation like the pagan concept of throwing a virgin into the volcano to placate the pineapple god? And what if God changes back to anger? After all, we keep sinning--in the same old ways, too.
The first thing to say is that the wrath of God is a part of the gospel. It's the part we tend to ignore. Yet we don't mind our own anger. There is a lot of anger in us, a lot of righteous indignation. Listen to talk radio. In our culture it's acceptable to vent our moral fervor at one another. We watch it on cable TV news every night. It's our entertainment. But the thought of God being angry--well, who does he think he is?
Great question. Who is God? He's the most balanced personality imaginable. He is normal. His wrath is not an irrational outburst. God's wrath is worthy of God. It is his morally appropriate, carefully considered, justly intense reaction to our evil demeaning his worth and destroying our own capacity to enjoy him....
The God you have offended doesn't demand your blood; he gives his own in Christ Jesus. He knows what you deserve, but he wants to give you what you don't deserve. He himself has opened the way. He took the initiative. ("The Most Important Word in the Universe," Raymond C. Ortlund Jr., Jesus Keep Me Near the Cross, 115-116, 117)

Book Review: Sarai

Sarai. Jill Eileen Smith. 2012. Revell. 320 pages.

Ur, 2051 BC
Sarai glanced across the courtyard, catching Abram's gaze. His half smile and the twinkle in his eye warmed her more than the wine she had tasted at the start of the ceremony. Music drifted around them as the bridal couple--their nephew Lot and his new wife, Melah--took their seats on the bench beneath the canopy and accepted rich foods from the hands of the servants.

I really LOVED Jill Eileen Smith's first trilogy (Wives of King David). While I didn't love, love, love Sarai as much as I loved, loved, loved some of her previous books, I definitely enjoyed it! (Bathsheba and Abigail were some of the best, best, best books in their genre--biblical fiction.)

I don't think it's a horrible thing that I didn't love and adore it. I really don't. Because I am not one of those readers that demand the same thing from each and every book I read. Some books wow, yes, but most are just satisfying and enjoyable.

Sarai spans decades. We first meet the hopeful wife in Ur many, many years (if not a decade) from Abram's first call to leave the land and his family behind him to go to a new land, a promised land. The book concludes with the long-awaited, much-hoped-for, much-prayed-for birth of the couple's son, Isaac. The book covers all the decades in between. All the highs and lows of this couple and their family. Readers are introduced to Lot, his wife, and in a very, very limited way their two daughters. Lot's wife is one of the characters that we spend quite a bit of time with. And her story parallels Sarai's in a way. Her choices--from the start--make her a very, very, very different kind of wife and mother. But both women are presented as all-too-human. Sarai is not presented as a saint, a flawless woman beyond temptation, doubt, despair, and anger.

I definitely liked the characters in this one. I liked the writing too. I think I just have always liked King David more than Abraham. So the novels about King David's wives have more appeal to me perhaps. But Sarai is a good book.

© Becky Laney of Operation Actually Read Bible

Book Review: Head in the Clouds

Head in the Clouds. Karen Witemeyer. 2010. Bethany House. 366 pages.

Tonight is the night. She could feel it. Adelaide Proctor stared at the man across from her, so many flutters dancing in her stomach she couldn't possibly eat a bite of the apple pie he'd just ordered for her. The secret smiles he'd sent her that morning over breakfast at the boardinghouse, his request to dine with her so they might discuss the future...

The jacket of this one reads (in part):

Adelaide Proctor longs to find a real-life storybook hero to claim as her own. But when a husband-hunting debacle leaves her humiliated, she interviews for a governess position on a remote Texas sheep ranch and vows to leave her silly romantic yearnings behind.

It just seemed like a novel that I'd really, really enjoy. Historical fiction set in Texas in the late nineteenth century with a heroine who is teacher-turned-governess to an ENGLISH gentleman and his child. I mean, with a description like this, how could I not love it?!

Did I love it? Not exactly love. But strong like. What I liked best about Head in the Clouds were the characters. I enjoyed Adelaide Proctor and Gideon Westcott. I really, really liked Gideon! I thought the way their relationship developed was great. While there was some melodramatic stuff going on in the background, these two were meant to be together. What I'm not saying very well is that even if the book had not thrown in a lot of "drama" and "melodrama" and "tension" and "obstacles" these two would have fallen in love, gotten married, and spent their lives together as a family. Sometimes I think romance authors fail to realize just how interesting ordinary real-life love is. Tension, obstacles, natural disasters, close calls with death, evil villains with evil schemes, well, these things are just distractions to the real story. Some writers may feel they are needed. Maybe publishers think they are needed too. But. I'm not sure that they really, truly are.

While I definitely enjoyed the characters, while I definitely kept reading because I liked the characters, I didn't love the plot exactly. I mean I kept reading because I loved the characters. But the villain and his sidekicks and his schemes, well, they were just silly to me. I mean, I think they were supposed to represent a great threat and a definite obstacle. The villain, I think, is meant to be feared--greatly feared because he's allegedly already killed a few times. But. To me. It was just in the way of a good story.

Read Head in the Clouds

If you like historical fiction set in Texas
If you like historical romance set in the 1880s
If you prefer sheep to cows in your ranching fiction
If you like governess-falling-in-love-with-her-employer stories
If you like heroines who wear only yellow

Friday, March 2, 2012

Book Review: The Great Awakening

The Great Awakening. A Brief History With Documents. Thomas S. Kidd. 2007. Bedford. (Bedford Series in History and Culture). 160 pages.

From the introduction: On March 7, 1743, James Davenport, one of the most influential leaders of the Great Awakening, removed his pants and cast them into a bonfire.

I have been looking for a book on The Great Awakening for a few years now. I've been wanting to know more about it, to learn more about the key figures. Jonathan Edwards and George Whitefield, of course, come to mind. And I've read a little about both men. (I've even read a rather thick and fascinating biography of George Whitefield...a book that left me wanting more, more, more). But I still felt there was more to learn. I still do, in a way, after reading this lovely little book.

What I enjoyed about this little book was how concise and how informative it was. It is short; it is straightforward. It gets to the point, and stays on the point. For twenty-five to thirty pages it has quite a narrative to share with readers. I was pleased with the presentation. Since this was not published by a Christian publisher, since it is one of many books in a series on history and culture in America, I worried that it might be secular and condescending. (You may or may not be surprised at how Christianity is "presented" in history and/or literature textbooks these days.) So I was pleasantly surprised at how well-rounded everything was. Meaning, there were conflicting ways of viewing the revivals from the very moment they started--on both sides of the Atlantic. There were men who definitely were "opposed" to the radical nature of the revivals, men who were skeptical that these conversions were genuine, men who were unhappy with the changes going on in the church--how tradition was being questioned, how ministers were being questioned and challenged. And there were men who saw things more realistically--the good and the bad; the strengths and weaknesses of the revivals, of the key preachers of the revival, etc. And, of course, there were people in complete support of the new way God was working. Kidd presents all possible sides to this story, to this exciting time in history. He doesn't just summarize either. Though, of course, he does summarize in the first part. No, he shares primary documents with his readers--these documents again cover all sides, all angles.

While I would love to still know more, while I would still like to take a longer fact-finding journey at some point, this simple book covers the basics. And I am glad I read it.

© Becky Laney of Operation Actually Read Bible

Book Review: Lord Teach Us To Pray

Lord, Teach Us To Pray. Alexander Whyte. 1922/1998. Regent College Publishing. 292 pages.

I would say that this is one of the best books on prayer I've ever read, but, since I haven't really read all that many books, that doesn't seem exactly fair. I can say that this book surprised me... in a good way. I can say that it was deep enough, relevant enough, that I read many chapters twice. I can say that I actually cared enough to take notes on at least half of the chapters. (Something I rarely do--even though it's something I probably should be doing as I read nonfiction.)

The book is a collection of sermons preached by Alexander Whyte. It is divided into three parts: part one, introductory and general; part two, some Bible types of prayers; part three, some aspects of the way of prayer.

Part one:

The Magnificence of Prayer
The Geometry of Prayer
The Heart of Man and the Heart of God

Part two:

Jacob--Wrestling
Moses--Making Haste
Elijah--Passionate in Prayer
Job--Groping
The Psalmist--Setting the LORD always Before Him
Habakkuk--On His Watchtower
Our Lord--Sanctifying Himself
Our Lord--In the Garden
One of Paul's Prayers
One of Paul's Thanksgivings
The Man Who Knocked At Midnight

Part three:

Prayer to the Most High
The Costliness of Prayer
Reverence in Prayer
The Pleading Note in Prayer
Concentration in Prayer
Imagination in Prayer
The Forgiving Spirit in Prayer
The Secret Burden
The Endless Quest

The book is practical, relevant, devotional, and yet thought-provoking. It surprised me in more than a few places. I didn't exactly agree with every single little thing in each chapter. I found his chapter on the imagination in Christian life to be interesting--not interesting bad or interesting good, just interesting. The way he urges his listeners, his readers, to become part of the Bible, to place themselves in the stories, to fully imagine themselves in the story, on the scene, to practice reading the gospels this way. Well, it was interesting, let's say.

Favorite quotes:

There is nothing in which we need to take so many lessons as in prayer. There is nothing of which we are so utterly ignorant when we first begin; there is nothing in which we are so helpless. And there is nothing else that we are so bad at all our days. We have an inborn, a constitutional, a habitual, and, indeed, an hereditary dislike of prayer, and of everything of the nature of prayer. We are not only ignorant here, and incapable: we are incorrigibly and unconquerably unwilling to learn. And when we begin to learn we need a lesson every day, almost every hour. (257)

Now it is necessary to know, and ever to keep in mind, that prayer is the all-comprehending name that is given to every step in our return to God. True prayer, the richest and the ripest prayer, the most acceptable and the most prevailing prayer, embraces many elements: it is made up of many operations of the mind, and many motions of the heart. (185)

Earth is at its very best, and heaven is at its very highest, when men and angels magnify their office of prayer and of praise before the throne of God. (5)

God himself speaks to us in the language of men, and not in the language of the Godhead. In our reason, and in our conscience, and in His Word and in His Son, God speaks to us in the language of men. (17)

Wherever in all the world there is a human heart, God also is there. And He is there in order to have that heart poured out before Him. (29)

We do not, properly speaking, pour out our hearts before God: we pour our hearts upon God. We do not pour out our hearts before His feet: we pour out our hearts upon His heart. (35)

Not only do God's saints pour out their hearts upon His heart: He pours out His heart upon their hearts. His son has come to us straight out of His Father's heart. (36)