Be ye strong therefore, and let not your hands be weak: for your work shall be rewarded. (2 Chronicles 15:7)
God had done great things for King Asa and Judah, but yet they were a feeble folk. Their feet were very tottering in the ways of the Lord, and their hearts very hesitating, so that they had to be warned that the Lord would be with them while they were with Him, but that if they forsook Him He would leave them. They were also reminded of the sister kingdom, how ill it fared in its rebellion and how the Lord was gracious to it when repentance was shown. The Lord’s design was to confirm them in His way and make them strong in righteousness. So ought it to be with us. God deserves to be served with all the energy of which we are capable.
If the service of God is worth anything, it is worth everything. We shall find our best reward in the Lord’s work if we do it with determined diligence. Our labor is not in vain in the Lord, and we know it. Halfhearted work will bring no reward; but when we throw our whole soul into the cause, we shall see prosperity. This text was sent to the author of these notes in a day of terrible storm, and it suggested to him to put on all steam, with the assurance of reaching port in safety with a glorious freight.
About the Author:
Charles Haddon Spurgeon (June 19th 1834 – January 31st 1892) was an English Particular Baptist preacher. Spurgeon remains highly influential among Christians of various denominations, to some of whom he is known as the “Prince of Preachers.” He was a strong figure in the Reformed Baptist tradition, defending the 1689 London Baptist Confession of Faith, and opposing the liberal and pragmatic theological tendencies in the Church of his day.
Psalm 100:3 Acknowledge that the LORD is God! He made us, and we are his. We are his people, the sheep of his pasture.
To acknowledge that the Lord is God is to recognize and accept that God is in control of all things. He is actively ruling over all creation. He is beyond our comprehension or understanding. He is absolute goodness in all things which are good. He is absolute holiness incapable of having sin in His presence. He is unchangeable and eternal. He is capable of doing all things He has revealed He has done. He is not limited in His knowledge and power. He is love personified and has taken an invested interest in us. He created us with a need for fellowship with Him that can only be fulfilled by Him. The Lord, He is God!
We are not who we are by some random act of nature. The Lord has made us who we are–a people capable of having a spiritual relationship with Him. He has made us differently than any other created life on earth. We are spiritual beings encased in fleshly bodies who will live eternally. We are made in the image of God.
We are His when we accept the life we have been created to have in Him. Sin prevents us from being who we were created to be, but the Lord does away with sin. We become His people when we submit to Him, confess our sin to Him, acknowledge Him as the only one who can take away our sin, and commit ourselves to living in relationship with Him. We become His people, a people who reflect His character in all that we do.
We are the sheep of His pasture, a people who rely on Him for guidance and our daily food. We are a people who are content to rest in His loving care and trust Him to always treat us well.
Is the Lord God for you today? Can you say with joy in your heart that you are His? Are you resting in His care for you, trusting in His goodness and love? Are you?
About the Author:
Spending his formative years in Fort Wayne, Indiana, Jim followed the love of his life to southeast Iowa where they married and have spent the majority of their lives. Jim has pastored several churches throughout his life and has worked many years in local factories to help support his family. The father of two married adult children and one son still at home, Jim is a first-time author.
C Through Marriage came into being through many years of pastoral and life experiences. The book first took on a life of its own over 20 years ago when I sought to address the much publicized moral failures of prominent leaders in the church. In the chapter on Chasity, I include the guideliness that I developed then to protect one’s self from such failures.
I am a firm believer in order to make sense out of life you have to use much common sense. We need to get back to the basics of what has worked for many, many generations. If it isn’t broke, why try to fix it? I strive to return to the basics of what really works in all my writings.
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One of the really, totally cool things about hanging out with God is how often He brings multiple pieces from varying places together so that you KNOW He’s talking right to you. That actually happens to me a lot. I think many times people don’t “hear” God talking because they seem to think that He’s supposed to have a voice that speaks to you. Yes, sometimes that happens too, but far more often (for me at least) it’s a series of pieces that fit too well together for it to be anything but God trying to tell me something.
That was the case this weekend.
The theme of the pieces could be summed up in three words: faith and works.
Now we all know there is great discussion in the church about those two words—one without the other, the other without the one, in what order, how much, which is more important, which first and which second? I’ve felt for a long time that I understood the proper relationship, but I could never put it into words that expressed it very well. And then God started putting the pieces into place.
First came a short talk that I gave on Luke 8:48. Then Jesus said, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace.” I pointed out that in this verse, there are four words that crystallize the message. Faith, more specifically YOUR faith. To begin the process, God requires a very small amount of faith on your part. That faith may only be the size of a mustard seed, but YOU have to act on it. You have to take the first step to Him by applying that faith.
The next word is healed. When we come to Jesus through our miniscule amount of faith, He will bring us healing—emotional, mental, spiritual, and sometimes physical healing. When the healing has come, we are then at peace. Peace and healing go together. You do not have one without the other. If you are still in pain, it is nearly impossible to be at total peace. However, once you are completely healed, peace is the natural bi-product of that healing.
Finally, “Go.” When we find God’s healing and peace, it is natural for us to want to go out to our world and tell everyone about this wonderful thing He has done for us.
So that was the first piece.
Then at Mass this morning, the sermon centered around “stewardship” or how are you giving back to your Church and your world? The priest said this, “The loudest testimony we have is not spoken but LIVED!”
Too often we know the talk backward and forward, but our walk is stumbling and hesitant. We proclaim one thing at the altar, but live something diametrically different when we walk out the door. In short, we have the faith part down, but our actions don’t follow the faith we profess.
Add to these pieces Dr. Lee A. Simpson this morning. He said that our Christian works should never be defined by “and”; our works should be defined by “because.”
We are not saved by Jesus dying on the cross AND our reading the Bible AND our good works AND our prayer life. We are saved by Jesus dying on the cross, and BECAUSE of that, we read the Bible and do good works and have a strong prayer life. Our works are a result of what Jesus did, not somehow a necessary addition to what He did.
This is a point I could really have used when I was younger. Back then, I was firmly in the AND column. I was doing, doing, doing because I had heard, “A tree is known by the fruit it produces” and “if a vine does not produce, it shall be cut away and thrown into the fire.” Man, I wanted to be known as a GOOD tree, and I did not want to be thrown into the fire. So I put A LOT of effort into producing good fruit so that I could prove to God I was worthy of Heaven.
Oh, how wrong I was. Wrong and EXHAUSTED.
I worked, and I worked, and I worked, and mostly all I felt was frustrated and tired and overwhelmed. I was trying to live the testimony of my Christian walk based on “and” not based on “because.”
I’m guessing by now, you’re starting to see the pieces fit together the way I did. This is not some random thing. No, God is showing me something truly incredible and meaningful, and He’s allowing me to pass what I’m learning on to you. Through this process, God is speaking to directly to me from many different sources—all with a unique angle on the same topic and then producing that fruit in my life so it can be used in yours.
All of this was great. Then my sister called. (You’ve really got to love God!) She was reading this book about leadership in the church, and one part she read to me said, “When our lives are all talk and no action, what our world hears from us is: blah, blah, blah, blah, blah…” (Maybe it’s me, but I think that’s another way to say: “The loudest testimony we have is not spoken but LIVED!”)
And then she finished with this question: “What would the world be like if we really lived the Gospel instead of just talking about it?”
Huh. Good question.
Maybe if we did learn to orient our works around because rather than and, and start living the Gospel we say we believe in… Maybe, just maybe, our world would hear more than blah, blah, blah, blah.
About the Author:
A stay-at-home mom with a husband, three kids and a writing addiction on the side, Staci Stallings has numerous titles for readers to choose from. Not content to stay in one genre and write it to death, Staci’s stories run the gamut from young adult to adult, from motivational and inspirational to full-out Christian and back again. Every title is a new adventure! That’s what keeps Staci writing and you reading. Although she lives in Amarillo, Texas and her main career right now is her family, Staci touches the lives of people across the globe with her various Internet and writing endeavors.
One scandal, one season, one shy baron, and a heart that doesn’t want to follow the plan.
With her family insisting that she have a season to find a husband, Veronica Smith has one mission: restore her family’s reputation with a match that dazzles society. After her sister’s scandalous elopement with a dockworker, Veronica convinces her parents to send her to Bath instead of London. Determined to secure a husband of rank and refinement to offset the scandal, she navigates the glittering assemblies with grace and charm. But her plans begin to unravel when she meets Baron Andrew Westley, a man of quiet strength and the lowest title in the aristocracy. He’s everything she wanted to avoid but can’t seem to forget. Can she stay true to her goal? Will her head or her heart win in the end?
Some miracles aren’t meant to be seen.
They’re meant to be remembered.
In 1925, a violent storm tore through Brooklyn, leaving a small parish church in ruins.
From the wreckage emerged a nameless carpenter.
For seven days, he worked in silence.
And on the seventh, he carved a door unlike any other.
A door that seemed to breathe.
To heal.
To console.
The townspeople called it The Seventh Door.
But wonder has a way of unsettling those who fear what they cannot explain.
Quietly, the door was sealed.
Plastered over.
Hidden—not lost, but buried.
A century later, architect Maria Lucenti returns to her family’s parish.
And with her comes a feeling her grandmother, Emmy, once knew well:
The hum of grace.
The scent of lilac and cedar.
The echo of hammer on wood.
As past and present begin to intertwine, Maria must confront what was hidden—and why.
The Seventh Door of the Carpenter is a quiet, faith-infused story of legacy, redemption, and divine craftsmanship. A novel about belief that lingers, love passed down through generations, and the truth that even the doors we seal in fear still remember the way back to light.
Chasing Hearts
A Contemporary Christian Romance Novel
(The Perspectives Series Book 1)
by Staci Stallings
Justin Caradon is all about becoming a success in life. He has moved away to college, gotten a job, and has made it to junior year. In fact, life is looking pretty under control. But sometimes life has other plans…
Anna Murphy has one goal in life–to not let anyone down. Unfortunately, life isn’t exactly playing fair. When she’s in an accident, the life she thought she was building begins to twist and turn in ways she cannot get a hold on. Worse, her no-nonsense manager at work, Mr. Caradon, keeps showing up to rescue her at the most inopportune times. For someone who is so together, why does it always feel like everything is falling apart?
The Perspectives Series by USAToday Best-Selling Contemporary Christian Romance Author, Staci Stallings takes readers on a journey through the lives of the Caradon siblings that readers met in The Love Series. These siblings, the nephews and niece of Pete Caradon, are striking out on their own–finding love and the challenges life can bring. Come along on this journey of faith, grace, hope, and love. God’s got a plan if you will just learn to let Him lead..
Click Above to Read and/or Listen to the Devotional
When God called Moses to lead His people out of Egypt and into the Promised Land, he hesitated. He didn’t want to because he couldn’t speak well. In response, God appointed Moses’ brother Aaron to stand beside him.
Aaron, along with Moses, watched the power of God confront Pharaoh. They witnessed the plagues that effected the Egyptians but not the Israelites. They led their people through the Red Sea on dry ground.
In other words, Aaron did not serve on the fringes of God’s work; he lived right in the center of it. He heard God’s commands, witnessed God’s miracles, and daily benefited from God’s presence.
And yet, while Moses met with the Lord on the mountain, Aaron led the people into one of the darkest moments in Israel’s history. When Moses returned and confronted him, he asked a piercing question.
“What did these people do to you to make you bring such terrible sin upon them?” Exodus 32:21
Moses did not ask what the people demanded. He asked why Aaron gave in to them.
That Question Still Matters
From a human standpoint, Aaron’s actions confuse us. Some suggest fear drove him. The people grew impatient and pressured him. Perhaps Aaron feared losing influence—or even his life.
“Don’t get so upset, my lord,” Aaron replied. “You yourself know how evil these people are. They said to me, ‘Make us gods who will lead us. We don’t know what happened to this fellow Moses, who brought us here from the land of Egypt.’ Exodus 32:22-23
His explanation, though, fell short. Aaron did not flinch when they boldly stood before Pharaoh. He trusted God’s word and watched Him act with unmistakable power.
So why did he crumble here? The answer reaches deeper than his fear of the people. Aaron allowed his circumstances to outweigh his confidence in God.
He knew who God and understood His history concerning Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Yet, he still chose a substitute. He substituted the unseen glory of God for a golden calf—a man-made object shaped by human hands and inspired by human fear.
That is the danger of compromised worship. It rarely begins with outright rebellion. It begins when pressure replaces trust and urgency replaces obedience.
Aaron did not wake up that day planning to betray God. He responded to the moment instead of anchoring himself in what he already knew to be true.
We can also be guilty of the same thing. When God seems silent, we feel tempted to create substitutes. When our patience grows thin, we lean toward what feels manageable.
We shape our own “golden calves” out of approval, security, routines, or control—things that promise relief but are void of life.
This passage warns us that proximity to spiritual things does not guarantee spiritual faithfulness. Aaron stood near holiness, but in that moment, he failed to cling to it.
Knowledge alone did not keep him steady. Only an unwavering trust in God could have done that. The Israelites paid a price for their sin, but Moses stepped in to intercede for the people.
So Moses returned to the Lord and said, “Oh, what a terrible sin these people have committed. They have made gods of gold for themselves. But now, if you will only forgive their sin—but if not, erase my name from the record you have written!” Exodus 32:31-32
Judgment came, but mercy followed, and even though they had some detours, God led them to the promised land. Just like Moses became a mediator between God and His people, we have a mediator, too.
Jesus stands between God and us with a plan of redemption. We can call on Him, our faithful mediator, who has never compromised and never traded truth for comfort.
After seeing how easily Aaron turned his back on the Lord, maybe we ought to cover ourselves by consistently praying the following prayer. Lord, after all I have seen and experienced, help me never turn my back on You.
About the Author:
Robin, with his wife Cindy, became children’s evangelists early in their ministry. They ministered to children full time for 8 years. During that time they developed several children’s stories which were told with visuals and puppets.
Robin recently turned two of those stories into children’s books. One is called “The Contest,” a book about the Fruit of the Spirit, and the other is called “Twas the Night of Christmas”. He has also authored 5 volumes of devotional books called, 3 Minutes Alone with God. Each entry is a product of his personal biblical Journaling.
These and his other writings are available on his website called Christian Perspectives at www.ramckinley.com. When you visit this site, you can sign-up for newly written devotions as they come out which will be emailed to you.
Presently Robin is the pastor of Calvary Christian Center in Pottstown, PA. He is an ordained minister with the Assemblies of God. He and his wife make their home in Birdsboro, Pa. He also serves as the president of the local ministerium. He and Cindy have two married sons and four grandchildren.
It really wasn’t too difficult to stay home in bad weather for almost two weeks. At least not for me. I love home and after spending many years working, it is still a real treasure to be retired. That being said, I am not sure God wants hermits. Once I got out I realized how wonderful it is to spend time in the sun, getting natural Vitamin D, and visiting with people again.
Yesterday a woman in a clothing store in the nearby town started up a conversation with me about blouses. And as we talked she said she was older than me. I responded that I didn’t think so. She said she was 65. I told her I was 70. And then the golden of the conversation began. “Oh no way you don’t look 70 at all!” I replied thank you and said, she didn’t look 65 either (she didn’t!) and I thought she was maybe 55. As we parted smiling, I said look, we both had been convinced we were “old” but now we know that was a lie! That conversation of encouragement couldn’t have happened if we were hermits.
Oh beloved, God speaks to my heart and yours. No matter your age, there are people to see, encourage, laugh with and enjoy. It’s Kingdom business. God wants to use you and me to give others a lift up in their spirits. Both of us women walked away lighter and happier. Such a small thing, but God is in the small things. A God bless you here and there, a praying for you, a helping hand- these are gifts of the Spirit for the world. You aren’t too old, too used up, too finished to be God’s hands and feet and voice to whomever you cross paths with. Your life doesn’t have to be perfect, for you are being perfect in Christ as you go and share.
God loves you and He wants you to know that. Jesus made the way for you to be productive and joyful and loving all the days of your life. Somebody needs you to come out of hermit life and share the Gospel and God’s love along the way.
John 20:21 Again Jesus said to them, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent Me, so also I am sending you.”
Psalm 96:3 Declare His glory among the nations, His wonders among all peoples.
I Thessalonians 5:11 Therefore encourage and comfort one another and build up one another, just as you are doing.
About the Author:
In a Christian Women’s meeting in 1983, Rebekah was given a prophetic message that she would write books. Several years ago she began writing stories about special holiday memories and travels, sharing God’s love and care through each story. God has gifted Rebekah with the ability to look at the natural and see the supernatural. Both Rebekah and her husband Danny have a heart to share the Gospel and the riches of life in Christ to everyone they meet. They have served in the local church and in ministry to motorcyclists. Danny is an ordained minister and they both have been Bible study teachers for many years. Rebekah also speaks at women’s retreats and conferences. Her tag line says it all “God loves you and He’s for you”.
Although there are a lot of careers in this life that could teach someone to let go, I think that writing has to be near the top of that list. Maybe that’s because I write, or maybe that’s because it really is. Whatever the case, this understanding was made clear recently when a writer friend of mine asked the question, “How could I not see the holes in my manuscript that my critique partners caught and pointed out? They were so glaring.”
As a writer, I completely understand the frustration in this statement. If you are a high school writer only, you may not. While teaching I saw plenty of high school writers. They wait until the last conceivable moment to start, write down everything they can think of on the topic at hand in no particular order, then race to the teacher’s desk to fling the paper at her, hoping it’s good enough for passing. These people are not the writers of which I speak.
I’m speaking about the writers who think all the way through every word they put down, who cross out, delete, rewrite, re-think, edit, re-edit, and hone every inch of a manuscript before they let anyone else so much as hear the idea presented in it. These are the writers who research until their eyes bleed, think until their brain hurts, and generally torture themselves over every single word because it doesn’t just need to be “good,” it needs to be “perfect.”
Then after they can see no other place in the entire work of oh, say 80,000 words, they heave a sigh of relief and acquiescence and place it into the hands of someone else to read. In high school, these are the kids who have been finished with the first draft of their 250-word essay 40 minutes before the bell rings, but who are still crossing things out and rewriting them even as they slide toward the teacher who’s saying, “That’s it. Turn in your papers.”
It’s painful for them to turn their work over to someone else. It’s like a mother leaving her first baby with a sitter for the very first time. They hope and pray the reader will be gentle. They hope that when the paper is returned, there are very few red marks if any at all. And above all, they hope they haven’t made any grievous errors that will make the reader think they are a complete imbecile who should never have been given a pen and paper in the first place.
This is the kind of writer my friend was and then came the shocker. She had missed something, and not just something but a huge gaping hole in the story and how she told it. When that happens to a writer of this ilk, devastation sets in like a hurricane across a soul. Even the mildest criticism is like a knife to the gut. Immediately after the devastation blows through, the rains of doubt begin to pour. “Maybe I’m not supposed to be a writer. Maybe I just don’t have what it takes to do this.”
To some extent there might not be a way around this feeling totally; however, I don’t think it is completely inevitable. You see, I have found a way (not foolproof but pretty close) to weather this storm and let the manuscript grow as God intended it to. It’s called, “Let Go.”
That’s the short version of having a “Leave Everything To God Opportunity.” These types of opportunities are all around us. They are in the panic of a mother when her child is sick. They are in the stress of a business owner who just placed a major bid and then realizes or suspects he missed something. They are in the quiet reaches of our own souls every time we feel that maybe we haven’t quite done enough in a given situation.
Here is what I told my author friend, and here is my advice to you. When you have a “Leave Everything To God Opportunity,” realize that if you could do it alone, God wouldn’t have made everyone else. Each of us has our own, unique experience that we bring to a situation. In short, each of us has a piece of the puzzle to fill in. As writers, we must realize that just because we couldn’t see the piece that someone else lays before us that doesn’t mean we don’t have skill, talent or desire, it just means that they have a different perspective, a different piece to fit into the mosaic of the work.
Instead of abhorring the pieces that someone else fills in, bless them. They just made your puzzle make more sense than it ever could have without that piece. Then thank God for bringing that piece into your life. When you begin to do that, you can then begin to slowly let go earlier and earlier in the process, and the puzzle can come together while you are building it rather than you having to knock it all apart and rebuild it later.
It’s not easy for any of us to do, but when you think in terms of “Leave Everything To God Opportunities,” the storms of life begin to look less frightening and more manageable than ever before. So try it today. Let Go, and see if He doesn’t hand you a piece that on your own you couldn’t have known or found but one that makes the whole puzzle fit in a way that it never could have without it. Then celebrate because you have now found the key to how God intended all of us to live, and that key will unlock doors you never imagined could open to you.
Let Go. Let God, and enjoy every “Leave Everything To God Opportunity” that comes your way.
About the Author:
Now a #1 Best Selling Christian and Inspirational Romance author, Staci Stallings, astay-at-home mom with a husband, three kids and a writing addiction on the side, has numerous titles for readers to choose from. Not content to stay in one genre and write it to death, Staci’s stories run the gamut from young adult to adult, from motivational and inspirational to full-out Christian and back again. Every title is a new adventure! That’s what keeps Staci writing and you reading. Although she lives in Amarillo, Texas and her main career right now is her family, Staci touches the lives of people across the globe with her various Internet and writing endeavors
How far will teen spy Hadassah Michelman go to free kids from modern slavery? Will she stake out all night in a West African Jungle?
Swim through a polluted river in The Philippines?
Climb through abandoned sewers in Rome?
At least the organization she wants to work for, RSO, supplies handy espionage gadgets. She hopes they’re enough to get her out of a thousand impossible situations.
She never imagined anyone from her team would encounter dinosaurs. Terrorists with biochemical weapons. Earthquakes in every corner of the globe.
Will she still rescue kids from traffickers when disasters surround?
Will she have strength enough to be the elite of the weak?
Dreams might break, but with God, all things are made new.
Carmen Torres is determined to become a singer and sing in grand places. However, to do this, she runs away from home, disobeys her parents and ends up in a difficult situation after refusing to compromise her values.
Frederick Willingford has another meeting in Savannah two years after hearing the glorious voice of his ‘songbird’, only to discover she is no longer singing at the upscale restaurant where she once sang. A woman’s screams, two men hustle out of an alley, the woman has been raped. He takes the poor woman to the hospital and pays for her hospital stay.
Unable to understand Frederick’s altruism, Carmen questions his motives. He offers her a chance to recover at his home in Maryland. Reluctantly, but forced into needing to accept the stranger’s benevolence, she agrees to recover at his home, with a nurse attending her as they travel.
Will Carmen ever see who Frederick truly is, or will the events of her past keep her guarded against Frederick, her parents and even God?
Fresh Out of The Baptismal Pool
A Guide for New Christians Ensuring Growth in Jesus Christ
by Brandon Dusanic
Churches and pastors in the local church do a fantastic job of getting people to accept Christ and be saved, but when it comes to practical steps after the immersion, we as a church could do much better. In my own experience, I was left alone to figure it all out. I thought I had won life. I had no guidance after I was saved and baptized. This book is intended to be a roadmap for you to detour around all the mess the enemy puts in front of you and keep your eyes on Jesus. In the Bible, Ephesians 6:11 talks about putting on the armor of God, and believe me, you will need every bit of armor to withstand the daily onslaught that Satan throws at you. Each chapter of my book has an opening scripture for you to read and meditate on. It also has a “Halftime Scripture” to read and meditate on halfway through each chapter. At the end of the chapters are “Keep it simple steps,” a proverb to read, and a verse about baptism to look up and write on the blank line on the next page if you want to. My goal is for you to get the most out of this book! Congratulations on your decision to follow Christ. Now, it is time for you to grow and advance His kingdom!
2025 International Impact Book Award Winner
2025 Christlit Book Award Winner
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