It's Thursday Number 1

We are pleased to introduce a new weekly post; It's Thursday. The series is penned by award winning author Howard Webber, Christianity Magazine's Book of the Year 2010. You'll find more about his book, Meeting Jesus, below by reading the reviews and also how to order the book.

Howard's It's Thursday will be a weekly feature.
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NUMBER 1

November 6, 2014

'Do not be afraid Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward,' Genesis 15:1

Fear is the greatest enemy of faith. Despite what we claim we are so often reluctant to leave our well-being and welfare in God's hands. We waste a lot of mental energy worrying and a lot of time trying to prove ourselves, justify ourselves, protect ourselves or our reputation.

His command to, 'not be afraid,' is followed by a wonderful assurance. 'I am your shield.' What a huge promise that is. The God who commands and controls the universe is not so preoccupied with the enormity of it all that he will fail to keep his little chick, Howard Webber, protected under his wings. We are safe all the time we remain in him and don't go running off on paths of our own choosing. Even when we do he often protects us from what might have been the results of our foolishness.

Finally, he not only rewards us, but he himself is our very great (or exceedingly great AV), reward.

Why do so many Christians chase what the world chases when what God offers is so much better and satisfying, his very self? May we all learn to delight in God himself, rather than merely finding delight in the things we receive from him.

God bless you all.

Howard Webber
SA Officer, retired

Bournemouth, England

Christianity Magazine's Book of the Year 2010, Meeting Jesus, is now available for your Kindle!

Extraordinary moving stories of evangelism on the hard side of life. 

By A UK Reviewer

Fred is high on drugs and doesn't want Howard Webber, the then Salvation Army captain, to come round to his flat because it is in chaos, rather like Fred himself. They meet, instead, in the cafe at a supermarket in a nearby town. But the road isn't straight and we follow the twists and turns of Howard and Fred's relationship - through missed promises, desperate heartache and self-destruction and final redemption.

This book is perhaps the most extraordinary one I've reviewed since writing for Christianity. It is a series of stories of evangelism on the hard side of life. It is painfully honest and lists as many failures as successes, as many deaths as new lives. Documenting Webber's spiritual battles too, it is possibly the most moving set of accounts I've ever read, and the most hopeful. It is all too easy to see the role of being God's ambassadors as reduced to preaching, or set among those who we love and are safe. But this book challenges us to be where Jesus would be, with the down-and-outs, with the hopeless and the broken. It looks the cost of such ministry square in the eye and carries on just the same. Please buy this book.

Steve Morris

Christianity magazine (UK), October 2010

AMAZON COMMENT

5.0 out of 5 stars

This is an inspiration! 
By Fairlee E. Winfield VINE VOICE


I grew up as a Salvationist and this modest, small book makes me proud of that heritage. I am reading and rereading a chapter daily. Major Howard Webber is honest. His sincerity shines through in each chapter. He relates not only the trophies of grace won for Jesus, but the painful failures. There is a real sense of warmth that the reader can touch.

TO ORDER: AMAZON