Saturday, December 24, 2011

Live Reflectively by Lenya Heitzig

Heitzig helps us dive into the life of Moses in Live Reflectively. She writes, “It is my prayer that as you gaze into the watershed moments of Moses you will experience life-changing encounters with God.” (11)
Heitzig divides Moses' life into three segments: forty years being somebody, forty years becoming nobody, and forty years leading everybody. She notes how the life of Moses mirrors that of the Messiah.

Each week of the study is divided into five days for your personal time with God. Each day's lesson has five elements.
First is “lift up.” You are encouraged to lift up prayers to God, asking for spiritual insight for the day. (These prayers are written out.)
Second is “look at.” You are asked to look at a portion of Scripture. Inductive questions are provided to help you understand the facts and other basic aspects of the passage.
Third is “learn about.” Sidebars are correlated to particular questions to help you understand what the text means. These sidebars might be a cultural insight, a definition, or a commentary.
Fourth is “live out.” Questions and exercises help you investigate how this passage is to change your life. You are challenged to live out the principles in the Word.
Fifth is “listen to.” The day's section finishes with inspiring quotes, sharing the wisdom gleaned from the lives of others.
Heitzig encourages you to journal. “By writing your insights from God day to day, you'll have a record of your relationship with Him that you can look back on when you need a faith boost.” (15)

This book would work well for personal or small group study. Heitzig has provided suggestions for both. The oversize book has plenty of room for writing.

The “look at” questions (to help understand the facts of the passage), are very simple. Here are the questions for Exodus 17:11-13:
  1. What action did Moses perform that caused Israel to prevail?
  2. What caused Amalek to prevail?
  3. What happened to Moses' hands? What was the first thing others did to assist him?
  4. How did Aaron and Hur help Moses?
  5. How long did the battle last?
  6. How did the battle end?
Someone who was in Sunday School as a child would already know all the answers to these questions on this well-known story. So there is nothing new there.
The strength in this lesson (and the others) comes in the “live out” section. The questions for this section deal with writing down a way you can come alongside your own leader.

This is not a “deep” study. Each day's study can easily be done within the twenty minute suggestion. The most important part of each day is the “live out” section. Since we can easily fool ourselves, I think this study should be done in a group setting. The daily work could be done at home but the “live out” section should be discussed with others. I think the accountability found in a study group would bring greater value to this book.

Lenya Heitzig is an author and Bible teacher. She and her husband founded Calvary Church of Albuquerque. She oversees weekly bible studies and yearly retreats. She and her husband live in Albuquerque.

David C Cook, 276 pages.  Product information.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher for the purpose of this review.

No comments: