Recently, I’ve been wondering---how can I lead people to be in God’s presence when I don’t know whether I’m filled with the Spirit? It’s like the blind trying to lead the blind, both will fall into a ditch.
The Spirit requires total surrender, death to the earthly nature. Am I ready for that?
---------------------
Change must come; get ready.
1. Learn to hold a pen correctly.
A correct pen grip would be loose and comfortable.
This grip can be done by putting your hand on the table, resting on the side of your hand, pinkie below. Let your hand relax. Put a pen/pencil in the middle of the three fingers that come together---the thumb, index and middle finger. Voila!
When writing with a correct pen grip, it must be loose enough for someone to grab the pen away from you.
2. Relax.
3. Slow down. Concentrate on the letter forms.
4. Using the fingers only to form the letters will cause cramped letters, and cramped hands. Ouch.
5. Use your whole arm to write, with the elbow as a pivot. The arm should rest on the table, with the elbow jutting out from the table a few inches.
6. Never let your hand be “anchored” on the table by the wrist. Instead, the three contact points of the hand to the table are: the pinkie, pen, and the fleshy part of the hand, below the pinkie.
7. A nice pen motivates nice writing.
8. Learn a style, if you wish, like italics or cursive.
9. Have a spacious place to write.
10. Move the paper, not the position of the arm. That is, move only from the elbow, don’t lift the entire arm to write on the right side of the page after writing on the left. Rather, move the book/page. Also, the paper should be slanted somewhat to the left, though not perpendicular to you.
11. A book that opens flat is great! No hindrances to writing :).
12. Enjoy it. Your handwriting may be the most beautiful ever, but if you don’t enjoy the writing or the act of writing it, it’ll be the most ugly to you.
Beautiful handwriting :). I hope these steps helped in achieving it. You may take some time getting used to them.
The Dad’s Bible (New Century Version) by Thomas Nelson Publishers is good for fathers, and fathers-to-be, as it provides many practical notes and commentaries to be applied in bringing up children to fear the Lord. It even provides a Q & A section at the back, providing answers to common questions like “can scientists prove that creation isn’t true?”. This Bible also provides a topical index, and a series of quotes from the Bible on things like contentment, discouragement…..
The Dad’s Bible is rather easy to use and read. Although, sometimes it can be a little confusing, as the commentaries mingle with the main text, without much contrast in terms of text color or having a border. Maybe it’s because I’m not used to a Bible with commentaries, but I get the impression of this Bible being a little too cramped. The margins are too narrow for my liking.
This Bible is very durable, with a hard cover. It is also well-bound, with thin but tough paper. Though, it’s not advisable to carry this Bible around, as it is heavy.
The study tools provides familiar scenes, whether at home or at work, illustrating the truths found in the Bible, vividly. They are quite helpful if you want to use the truths found in the Word in everyday life. But, the study tools doesn’t explain the customs and the background of the scriptures. So, this Bible shouldn’t be used alone.
I would certainly recommend the Dad’s Bible to other people, especially fathers-to-be.
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze.com <http://BookSneeze.com> book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
Of all these, love, love and love; love is the only reins that can keep the tongue in check, and where else can you get love apart from Love himself?
I used to think that having “childlike faith” means accepting whatever people say.
How far from the truth that is! Imagine this:-
Your five-year old niece. She sees a rainbow.
“What is that?” she says, pointing.
“It’s a rainbow,” you answer.
Not satisfied, she probes further, “Why is it there?”.
“Because God put it there,” the answer comes easily from you.
“Why?”
It goes on. Until she gets the answer that satisfies her.
and that is what it means to have a childlike faith---questioning yet trusting, innocent and pure. That doesn’t mean we’ve to be Naïve, however.
The full title is actually ‘Jesus Manifesto, restoring the Supremacy and Sovereignty of Jesus Christ’.
Nowadays, the Church is more interested in things like campaigns, events, causes, or even evangelizing, than Jesus Christ himself. Though the things stated above aren’t bad things, they are good things, they take the place of Jesus; they became the focus, instead of Jesus.
This should not be, as the entire Bible is just enamored by Jesus, so should we.
This book is intended to to bring back the full focus on which Jesus deserves. It also strives to correct wrong ideas or preconceptions about Christianity---like being ‘Christ-like’……
I found that this book is suited to the more… let’s say, mature Christians. It’s not exactly suitable for non-believers, or Christians who do not know much about Christianity, as the authors put out Christian terms and ideas and concepts without explaining them in detail. They also used metaphors and analogies that may or may not make much sense to everyone.
Nonetheless, it’s a good read. It has hundreds of references from the Bible and other sources, without overcrowding the reading space by putting all of the notes at the end of the book. It challenged me to think of Jesus in a new way. This book was written, they claim, to make its readers to fall deeper in love with Jesus. I say, they partly succeeded.
Giving this 4 stars, I would definitely recommend this book to others :).
Thomas Nelson provided a complimentary copy of this book for me to review. Many thanks to them.
