To Love Is To Read #LeadersAreReaders May 2024

 

When asked what the greatest commandment was, Jesus said to love the LORD your God. He was quoting Deuteronomy 6:5. If you read the passage in Deuteronomy, you will notice a difference in how Jesus stated it. In Deuteronomy, it says: "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might." When Jesus says it in Matthew 22:37, instead of "might," He says "mind" or understanding. Jesus made it clear that we are to love the Lord with all of our mind as well.

What you believe determines how you live. Your thoughts dictate everything you pursue. It is imperative, then, that we train our minds. This means we are to think deeply and venture out of the shallows. We are to discuss theology (or the things of God and His Word) and its practical implications. At the very minimum, it means we must read. You must read. Have you resolved to love God with all your mind by reading?

THINK BIG. START SMALL. GO DEEP

Reading Releases a Trapped Mind #LeadersAreReaders December 2022

There was a little girl who was dealt a bad hand in life. When she was one and a half years old, a childhood illness took away her sight and hearing. The poor girl was trapped inside her mind. She hadn't learned to speak, so she uttered gibberish and animal-like sounds. She always went into unprovoked fits of rage, smashing dishes and physically attacking anyone in the room with her. Many doctors diagnosed her as mentally ill. They recommended putting her into an asylum for the rest of her life. But, thankfully, her parents refused.

When she was 7, the family hired a young woman to tutor her. For weeks the tutor tried to communicate with her by spelling words into her hand. She could feel the tutor's fingers on her palm, but the symbols or gestures didn't have any meaning to her. She was still trapped... Then one day, she was holding a cup under a gusting water spout. The tutor kept spelling the word W-A-T-E-R into her hand. Suddenly, the little girl understood the letters represented an object! In that flash of recognition, the door to the world flew wide open for her. She ran around the room, grabbing objects at random, begging the tutor to spell the name into her palm. As a grown-up girl years later, she wrote, "Spark after spark of meaning flew from hand to hand." That day and beyond, she was free and no longer trapped inside her mind. She became a voracious learner!

The rest, as any good story has to end, is history. Her name is Helen Keller and her amazing tutor is Anne Sullivan (read Keller's The Story of My Life). Like Keller's breakthrough, reading can help us to break out from our mental prison. Reading - and writing too - has the power to transform us by connecting the dots of information, imagination, and possibilities. At times when we felt trapped inside our minds, unable to understand or express our thoughts and feelings, reading and writing are great ways to a breakthrough. Victor Hugo once said: "To learn to read is to light a fire; every syllable that is spelled out is a spark" ✨

#ServeToLead #ReadersAreReaders #FreeYourMind #ThePowerOfReading #HelenKeller #AnneSullivan #Breakthrough #LetsMakeReadingCoolAgain

To read other articles on reading and book reviews, CLICK HERE
All things media: https://linktr.ee/LEGASI.tv    

THINK BIG. START SMALL. GO DEEP.

Tortured for Christ (1967) by Richard Wurmbrand, Book Review

 Tortured for Christ (1967) by Richard Wurmbrand

I've read this book many times, on many occasions in my life, and have written a brief review years ago (in my blog). It still impacted me very much, the privilege of preaching the Word on social media, campuses, and small churches, the comfort (so far) of being a Christ follower in Malaysia, and the freedom to own as many Bibles as I want. God, through Mr. and Mrs. Wurmbrand, reminds me to: "Don't complain, pray"; "Rest is for the hard laborers in the Gospel"; "Win souls for Christ by all God-honoring means"; "Don't ask for persecution but always be ready"; and "The Father is on the move!" When I read the Book of Acts and John Foxe's Book of Martyrs alongside this one, I can hear the Spirit says, "Be strong and courageous" (Deuteronomy 31:6, Joshua 1, 1 Chronicle 28:20, 2 Chronicles 32:7, Daniel 10:19, Ephesians 6:10).

Let me share just two short stories from this book: #1 STORY: "A brother* [I suspect that this is the author himself, writing from a third person] was preaching to the other prisoners when the guards suddenly burst in, surprising him halfway through a phrase. They hauled him down the corridor to their 'beating room.' After what seemed an endless beating, they brought him back and threw him - bloody and bruised - on the prison floor. Slowly, he picked his battered body up, painfully straightened his clothing, and said, 'Now, brethren, where did I leave off when I was interrupted?' He continues his Gospel message!"

#2 STORY: "A Christian was sentenced to death. Before being executed, he was allowed to see his wife. His last words to his wife were, 'You must know that I die loving those who kill me. They don't know what they do and my last request of you is to love them, too. Don't have bitterness in your heart because they kill your beloved one. We will meet in heaven.' These words impressed the officer of the secret police who attended the discussion between the two. Afterward, he told me the story in prison, where he had been put for becoming a Christian."

These stories and more. Inspiring and challenging. Good endings, bad endings. But all for the glory of the living God YHWH!

#ServeToLead #PreachTheWord #RichardWurmbrand #TorturedForChrist #BeStrongAndCourageous #LeadersAreReaders #LetsMakeReadingCoolAgain

To read other articles on reading and book reviews, CLICK HERE
All things media: https://linktr.ee/LEGASI.tv    

THINK BIG. START SMALL. GO DEEP.

#1Book1Week Lists May 2020

Jorge Luis Borges imagines hope for me, "I have always imagined that paradise will be a kind of library." Three of God's most important creations: humanity, coffee, and books. I praise Him for books! Here are my #1Book1Week Booklists for May 2020 📖😉⚡

1) Coronavirus and Christ (2020) by John Piper. Here Piper offers six biblical answers to the question, "What is God doing through the coronavirus?" He draws us back to the sovereignty of God. You can download eBooks and audiobooks for FREE. Visit the webpage Desiring God.

2) No Excuses!: The Power of Self-Discipline (2010) by Brian Tracy. What we need to do to achieve self-success is self-discipline. But our enemies are within - laziness and immediate gratification. So, Brian says, "No excuses!" This book is a bit cliché and old school... and yet, gold.

3) The Essence of The Law of Success: 17 Magic Principles to Get What You Want In Life (2009) by Napoleon Hill. This book presents - in a greatly condensed form - the entire seventeen factors out of which the Hill's Law of Success philosophy was evolved. Read with discernment.

4) One Minute Mentoring: How to Find and Work With a Mentor--And Why You'll Benefit from Being One (2017) by Ken Blanchard & Claire Diaz-Ortiz. Using their own mentor/mentee relationship insights, this book provides a good guide into the power and influence of mentoring and encourages readers to pursue their own mentoring relationships. Why, What, and How mentoring in the form of a parable.

5) Tortured For Christ (1987) by Richard Wurmbrand. After years of imprisonment and solitary confinement, enduring inhumane torture, Wurmbrand emerges with a powerful testimony of courageous faith. Even today, believers are suffering and dying for Christ, yet their faith will not falter under the most unthinkable persecutions. At the end of my reading, I asked myself, "Have I been persecuted for Christ?

To see previous month lists, go to > https://instagram.com/legasi.tv/

#ServeToLead #LeadersAreReaders #GrowingLeader #LetsMakeReadingCoolAgain #CoronavirusAndChrist #PersecutedForChrist #BrianTracy #KenBlanchard #NapoleonHill

FB Page: https://facebook.com/LEGASI.tv/   

Podcast: https://anchor.fm/LEGASI.tv/  

IG: https://instagram.com/legasi.tv/  

YouTube: http://bit.ly/LEGASItv  

THINK BIG. START SMALL. GO DEEP.

Tortured For Christ (1967) by Richard Wurmbrand

People have called me "Satan", " Worker of Satan", "Liar!", " Fool!", "stupid man writing about dead God", etc. My blog has been spammed, FB Page reported many times, savage comments on IG, etc. But when I read this book - for the third time - all of these are like mosquito bites in comparison with the persecutions that this man and other faithful Christians experienced.

Months of solitary confinement, years of periodic physical torture, constant suffering from hunger (like a piece of bread a week! Even none for months. Some ate rats in the prison) and cold, the torturous seven hours or more every day of brainwashing and mental cruelty. And other inhumane activities. What was his crime? Faith in Jesus Christ - and for witnessing to public. "God will judge us not according to how much we endured, but how much we could love," writes Wurmbrand.

This part is soo touching: "It was strictly forbidden to preach to other prisoners. It was understood that whoever was caught doing this received a severe beating. A number of us decided to pay the price for the privilege of preaching, so we accepted their [the communists'] terms. It was a deal; we preached and they beat us. We were happy preaching. They were happy beating us, so everyone was happy." To know the rest of the story, read this book. I think the ebook is available on the internet... 😉

Do you suffer for Christ? What are the things that if you do will glorify God but it will cost you something dear to you if you do it? Are you willing to do it? Are you comfortable with your brand of Christianity? Remember, true discipleship will offend the world 📖⚡💪 #ServeToLead #LeadersAreReaders #1Book1Week #LetsMakeReadingCoolAgain

FB Page: https://facebook.com/LEGASI.tv/   

Podcast: https://anchor.fm/LEGASI.tv/  

IG: https://instagram.com/legasi.tv/  

YouTube: http://bit.ly/LEGASItv  

THINK BIG. START SMALL. GO DEEP.