NIV Discover God's Heart Devotional Bible

The Bible is full of insight into God’s heart and it is easy to miss it. Here is a great tool to help: The NIV Discover God’s Heart Devotional Bible (Zondervan).

Containing the complete NIV text, the Discover God’s Heart Devotional Bible highlights many passages and Scriptures that point to God’s heart and help us tuck into it. Brief devotionals are divided into three key sections: God’s Story, The King’s Heart and Insight.

The 365 sections provide an overall picture of various aspects of God’s character and show how Scriptures reveal Him, and how they are continually relevant to our lives today.

This hard-back Bible with an attractive glossy cover is a handy size – not too big, not too small – and is easy to read. A special Reading Schedule is placed at the beginning—an outline to help the reader work through reading the entire NIV Discover God’s Heart Devotional Bible.

The Tour of the Bible Reading Plan at the end of the book is another great feature to guide the reader in reading the Bible. And for those wanting to explore a particular theme in God’s Word in a shorter time period, there are several 30-day reading plans at the end—including one called “Thirty Stories You’ve Probably Never Heard.”

Great Bible, especially for those hungry to learn more about God’s heart.

This story will also appear in Assist News Service. 

Janey DeMeo M.A.

Copyright © January 2015

www.orphansfirst.org

www.twitter.com/JaneyDeMeo

http://janey-demeo.blogspot.com

www.janeydemeo.com

NIV Once-A-Day Bible for Leaders

The NIV Once-A-Day Bible for Leaders (Zondervan)

The NIV Once-A-Day Bible for Leaders (Zondervan) is just the thing for those wanting a daily Scripture reading plan made easy and with an added plus: an inspirational thought on leadership from a key leader.

The 365 daily reading sections taken from the NIV are conducive for reading the entire Bible in one year, or to go at a faster or slower pace. The sections are conveniently numbered (1-365) rather than dated so that the reader can stretch out or speed up the reading pace of those 365 readings as they so choose. You can read the entire Bible in a year, less than a year or over several years—as suits your lifestyle.

Similar to other daily reading Bibles, each of the 365 sections provides selections from the Old Testament and the New Testament as well as portions from the Psalms and Proverbs. But what sets the NIV Once-A-Day Bible for Leaders apart are the insightful leadership blurbs shared from renowned influencers such as: Bill Hybels, Blaise Pascal, Ann Voskamp, Chuck Swindoll, J. Oswald Sanders, David Platt, Teddy Roosevelt, Matthew Henry, Madam Guyon… (Ah, the list alone is inspiring.)

The NIV Once-A-Day Bible for Leaders comes in an attractive glossy-and-matt-mix soft cover. An index at the back provides short descriptions of what can be found under each of the 365 reading sections. An alphabetically ordered index providing a brief bio on each author included in the leadership sections is also placed towards the end of the book. This section also gives the page numbers where each leader’s portion can be found making it easy to just look up the sections of a preferred author.

The NIV Once-A-Day Bible for Leaders makes a great Bible for leaders or potential leaders. Think: stocking stuffer.

This article will also appear in Assist News Service.

Janey DeMeo M.A.

Copyright © September 2014

www.orphansfirst.org

www.twitter.com/JaneyDeMeo

http://janey-demeo.blogspot.com

JaneyDeMeo.com

The NIV Essentials Study Bible

I love reading the Bible, but sometimes it is hard to understand without studying it more deeply. You need to grasp context and literary nuances to get the full picture, but where do you start?  There are so many good tools out there; how do you know which one to choose? How about choosing six bestselling NIV resources fused into one awesome Bible: The NIV Essentials Study Bible!

The NIV Essentials Study Bible (Zondervan) combines key articles, study notes, in-text charts, archeology photos, question & answer sections, cut-out, guided tour clarifications, and meditations from six top NIV sources to facilitate understanding the fundamentals of Scripture:

·      NIV Study Bible

·      NIV Quest Study Bible

·      NIV Archeological Study Bible

·      NIV Student Bible

·      The Great Rescue Bible

·      The Essential Bible Companion

Each biblical resource within this one Bible helps you explore God’s Word using a variety of study methods and probes, as well as photos and charts.

This large hardback Bible comes in an enticing format that makes you want to delve in immediately. The layout is clean and easy to read. The study component insertions within the NIV text don’t pop out as an interruption to the scriptural text but, rather, they stand out just enough without being a distraction. 

The beauty of the NIV Essentials Study Bible is that, within one Bible, you can quickly and easily understand and apply God’s Word to your life. The Q & A and response sections also help you to consider the relevance of the text and how it personally affects you today.

Well worth the $ 50 price tag, this Bible makes a great gift or an investment for your own spiritual growth.

This review will also appear in Assist News Service.

Janey DeMeo M.A.

Copyright © August 2014

www.orphansfirst.org

www.twitter.com/JaneyDeMeo

JaneyDeMeo.com

A Lady's Honor - a cliffs of Cornwall novel (Zondervan)

If you like 19^th Century romances set in England, you might enjoy A Lady’s Honor - A Cliffs of Cornwall Novel by Laurie Alice Eakes, published by Zondervan. But if you’re looking for a story that is easy-to-read as in well written, this book falls short—a pity as it detracts from an otherwise decent plot. 

For example, at the beginning of the novel (page 3), as the reader is being lured into the drama, an annoying little French phrase pops up, “Souvenez vous qui vous etes.” The phrase is apparently the protagonist’s family motto—“remember who you are”—but the French is incorrect; it should be “Souvenez-vous qui vous êtes” or “rappelez-vous qui vous êtes.” The phrase is repeated once again in French a little further into the novel but we still don’t know why a Trelawney would speak French—especially incorrect French. Is it supposed to clue us into the fact that she’s well educated? If so—and one can only guess as no explanation is given—wouldn’t the French be accurate?  Sigh!

Ok, fair enough, so you might not get the French. But take a look at this sentence: “…Her grip would surely crush his fingers. Her cries would surely deafen them…” (page 284). Hmm. Deafened fingers? Oh yeah, she obviously means deafened people, but why should the reader have to do be stumbled by ambiguity? It interrupts the flow.

And there are many more mistakes. But what about the narrative?

A Lady’s Honor tells the story of a young girl, Elizabeth Trelawney, whose struggle to win approval and to live up to what she thinks others expect from her in order to merit their love keeps her from pursuing her own heart. She especially values the endorsement of her beloved grandparents who require more from her than just good behavior.  In order to inherit Bastion Point, the only place she ever felt was home, Elizabeth must discover some kind of treasure.

With smugglers doing their dirty business and killing people who get in their way, Cornwall is not a safe place. After the death of a friend, Conan, Elizabeth and her female cousins may be in danger. And the man who has set his heart on helping them, Rowan Curnow, has also set his heart on Elizabeth. But his is not a match for Elizabeth Trelawney—not if she is to keep in good standing with the grandparents.

A Lady’s Honor is a Christian novel and, on that level, it presents a clear message about God’s unconditional love.  

A link to this story also appears in Assist News Service.

Janey DeMeo M.A.

Copyright © May 2014

www.orphansfirst.org

www.twitter.com/JaneyDeMeo