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Thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness . (Romans 6:17-18 ESV) Lesson: The gospel ofJesus does not merely inform us, it reforms us. Jesus is the ultimate transformer. He changes lives. If you are not being changed to become more and more like Jesus, then you are not truly His. In areas where you still need change, you must keep trusting Jesus to continue changing you.

5. Reforming the Unreformable by Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala (2012, Politics / Economics) - Nigeria's current Finance Minister shares some thoughts and lessons about the reforms she presided over during the Obasanjo administration. 4. Science, Religion, and the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence by David Wilkinson (General, 2013) - deals with an often overlooked question - what are the theological implications of the possibility of life on other planets? A very engaging and helpful book! 3. Why Nations Fail by James Robinson and Daron Acemoglu (Economics, 2013) discusses precisely what it says on the tin. It offers an "institutions" based explanation for underdevelopment, but clearly a little short on solutions 2. Practising Affirmation by Sam Crabtree (2012, Theology) - explores the role affirmation in spiritual growth. He shows that it is both biblically sound and necessary. He shows the benefit of affirmation, as well how we can become better at affirmi

Over Christmas I read Nik Ripken’s challenging book ‘The Insanity of God’ . It is built around his experiences with Christians in persecution, as he sought to understand how their faith has survived under intense evil. The book is writter a pseudo name to protect the identity of many followers of Jesus around the world suffering under severe persecution. Here is one quote from the book: I asked the question this evening: “If I were to visit your home communities and talk with the nonbelieving families, friends, and neighbors of the members of your house churches—and if I would point out your church members and ask, ‘Who are those people? What can you tell me about them?’—what answer would I get?” Many people started to answer at once. The response that jumped out at me, though, was the answer of a man who told me that his church’s neighbors would probably say, “Those are the people who raise the dead!” “REALLY!” I blurted out involuntarily. Several of the men in the room, especially

We know that we are from God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one. (1 John 5:19 ESV) Lesson : Lucifer is a serious explanatory variable in world events. Therefore any analysis that excludes him from the equation gives incomplete answers. Copyright © Chola Mukanga 2013

Our home group has been memorising Psalm 91. This is a step up from Psalm 23. My memorisation app says there are 273 words in Psalm 91.  I can now recite all of it! That's a lot of words to remember in precisely the order they appear! What has struck me as I have been memorising these psalms is two things : First, words come alive . I have found that the words I struggle to memorise are words that I miss easily when reading the passage. Words that unlock the mean of passages or even the entire psalm. For example as I have read psalm 91 I kept missing a key word in these two verses : "Because you have made the Lord your dwelling place— the Most High, who is my refuge— no evil shall be allowed to befall you, no plague come near your tent" (v9, 10 ESV). The word I missed repeatedly was "allowed". It speaks to the sovereignty of God over all that comes near him! And once you focus on that word the entire psalm fits into place. For example, because God is th

Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand. (Proverbs 19:21 ESV) Lesson: There is no need for us to panic or worry. God is in control. We know that He is working all things together for His glory and for the good of those who love Him (Romans 8:28). Copyright © Chola Mukanga 2013