Book Writing & a Message for Life's Pathway

A GREAT COMPELLING 

The Beauty of Writing: God Gives the Message to the Messenger.

Coming soon ...

Sometimes we look back to see where we've come from. Other times we look forward to see where we're headed. And then there's reality, where we're at this point in time. For some of us, we never quite arrive at that place where we want to be. If we let this stop us then it will impede our progress. Looking forward is critical to our success. A plan is needful, too.

Introspection is helpful but it also can be crippling. All depends. It can keep us stationery and immobile--if we're stuck looking backwards or inward. Action is necessary to start a movement forward, the snowball effect. It helps to have a purposed approach. It has been this way for me in my various writings. I have a target audience. The Christian community is where I focus my creative energies. There is something I have found in my walk with God that has made a change-around in my life. So much so, that I want to give my readers a taste of what I have learned and received so they will want it for themselves. My desire to share these thoughts come in the form of something I term, "A Great Compelling." It would be wrong of me to keep quiet. So, I speak and write.

~I want my readers to know the Lord Jesus Christ for in him truth is found.
     ~I want my readers to grow closer to their heavenly Father in the richness of relationship.
         ~ I want my readers to let go of their anger, pain, bondage, sin, problems, and insecurities.
                ~ I want my readers to find and experience greater joy, contentment, peace, hope and love.
                         ~I desire for my readers renewal, revival, rejuvenation, restoration, revitalizing.
                 ~I wish for my readers a hunger for spiritual life that is never satiated or boring.
          ~I wish for my readers an intimate walk with God that is rich and satisfying, delightful.
     ~I wish for my readers a hope that never dies, a belief that keeps on believing, and life that is real.
~I wish for my readers a deeper faith that is not uprooted by the trials of living but is steadfast. 

In some small way, I am invested in the lives of my readership. My writing reflects the call I have on my life. A call I feel called to enact and complete for the remaining years of my life be they many or few. I love God and I love his Word, it spills out of me and cannot be contained. He has done so much for me that words fail to express how dear he has become to me. Life is joy when one lives close to God. He has a way of changing even the smallest of encounters into causes for celebration. A smile, a handshake, a lovely flower, a blade of grass, a soft baby blanket, the aroma of baking bread, the embrace of a friend--a healed heart and a forgiven soul. Everything is important when God is in control. He is a kind friend. Father God makes beauty from ashes and joy which comes in the morning.


#book #BlogRadio #Spirituality #Intimacy with God

Is God into Book Marketing?

I am a person of many theories. I notice a trend and then I try to make sense of it, what it could mean. I guess it is the part of me that is part philosopher. Blend that with my desire for spiritual truth, an awareness of God at work, and you get an interesting dynamic. The Christian  and religious book genre is something I have been tracking over the years. Some books rise to the top and get lots of attention. Is it just beginner's luck, good timing, or something else?

A few years ago I was teaching an adult Sunday school class about ways to go deeper with God. I made a statement then that got a little traction in the group. I mentioned that I have noticed certain books in the "Christian/Religious" genre that have literally flown off the bookstore shelf and into peoples homes around the globe. Some of these have been a phenomenal success (and unexpected) from the marketing analysis point of view. Their amazing success has seemed almost uncanny.

I don't think the book selling success is strictly of the author's doing or writing skill. No, I think not. There is another dynamic at play, at least I think there is. I think it has a lot to do with God. How so? My theory is this: I believe that God uses certain author's books to spread his message around the world. He multiplies the effort. I find it interesting what people are chosen for this way of being used. Their backgrounds vary and their books are widely divergent. But, the message inside their books, have a similarity. Redemption finds its way into their books' pages. Life, truth, and forgiveness are part of the message as well as overcoming and healing. Purpose is given to life, and a pursuit of greater understanding bleeds through the pages. I do not minimize the talents of the writers nor their effort in getting their books to press. Without their commitment to the process, we would be the losers.

~ 3 BOOKS ~

I will name three books that I believe that are this way.  Books written and delivered through the tools of believers in Christ in this present day. The books they have written have impacted lives around the globe. Even some of the people I know.

The Shack by Wm. Paul Young
 
Amazon link--The Shack 

The Shack  is a fiction book by Paul Young, through the yskills found in a natural born storyteller. The reader is placed in the mind of a man hurt by life and then haunted by the memory of the death of his young daughter. He cannot escape the punishment that comes with the joining of his father's tyrannical behavior with the losing of his innocent sweet child. God is presented in the form of three persons using surprising imagery. The book is both feared and embraced by the faith community. I find it delightful. It is obvious that this book is written to show the way God loves, heals, and revives people in the church whom have been injured in their emotions. The truths have a way of touching the inner person.

                                             Prayer of Jabez by Bruce Wilkinson

Amazon Link - Prayer of Jabez 

I heard about Prayer of Jabez soon after it was released. Members in my church were talking about it. They were asking each other what to make of it. Did it work? How to apply it to their lives. This book takes a passage in the Bible, nestled in a book in the Old Testament, and explains its application to today. It explains that God wants to bless us and to expand our influence within the sphere of our influence. I remember the day I bought my first copy. I was in Walmart. A young woman took it off the shelf and told her male friend, "If you do what this books says you're supposed to get what you want." Of course, that was an abuse of the concept in the book. One has to be tied closely to the Source, God himself, and yielded to his way of living life. Many pray the prayer Jabez prayed as part of their devotional life.

The Purpose Drive Life by Rick Warren
 
Amazon link - The Purpose Driven Life 

Rick Warren lays out a forty week process in his book, The Purpose Driven Life, for helping people find out their purpose in life. Then he gives tools for living it out. It is an easy book to read for it is written for the layman who just wants to live a life that has substantive purpose. A plan for sharing this book and its content with others is encouraged through video sessions and lessons that are implemented within homes and churches, with neighbors and friends. My sister's family participated in a neighborhood study. It was a blessing in many ways and brought people together in a non-threatening way to discuss spiritual truths. A friendship developed between the people and a sharing of areas of faith with acceptance a part of this dynamic.

Prayer that speaks, a consolation text.

Meditation at a Monastery: Contemplative prayer. Prayerful thoughts that speak.

CONSOLATION

Why am I here, dear God? Why a monastery? Why do I have this desire to be here? I am not catholic. It does not make sense.

My dear child, it is not for you as much as it is for others, my people. Some have closed minds. They think I only work one way. But that is a falsity. I work in people’s lives, to change them, to bring them closer to myself. Some resist this thinking. They have to have neat little boxes with human parameters. 
Why is it that way? Why do people become rigid?

They don’t understand.

What don’t they understand?

My ways are complex yet simple. So simple that they stumble upon them. My grace is for all people, to all people, loving and kind, a sweet, sweet savor.

What is complex about it?

I am complex, as you well know. You can never know all there is to know about me. My ways are infinite. My truths, unsearchable, unknowable, in their fullness. Some day you will know more of my ways, my truths. That is what Heaven is for. We become family in the here-after, a beautiful loving family. There will be no denominations in heaven, no separation or boundaries of thought. We will be of one mind and one spirit, the Spirit of the living God.

Praises? I can’t wait for that beautiful day.

#prayer #monastery #God

Praying that Makes the Grade, Why or Why Not?

SPEAKING OF PRAYER                            Meridian Minute no. 20

“Two men went...to pray. ... The Pharisee stood and was praying this... ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other people: swindlers, unjust adulterers or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week...’ but the tax collector standing some distance away, was even unwilling to lift up his eyes to heaven, but was beating his breast, saying, ‘God be merciful to me, the sinner!’” Luke 18:11, 12 NIV

Prayer. What is prayer? For the people of faith, prayer is the game changer, the life-blood, the MO, the power. The way we get God’s attention to gain audience with him. God tells us to pray and that our prayers are of value to him. We would not get far without prayer, nor would we want to. Do you believe in miracles? Prayer is asking for miracles in the everyday and the wished-for.  It is activated through faith that views prayer as a gateway to heaven, God, by means of supplication.

There are prayers and then there is praying. Scripted prayers are formal in nature. Simple ordinary prayers are spoken in random phrases. Not all prayers are alike. What does God look at when we pray? How are our prayers received? We get a glimpse into the heart of the matter in the passage of the pharisee and publican (tax collector). The pharisee prayed a prayer filled with pious words and self-congratulation on his whiteness and purity of behavior. The penitent tax collector, on the other hand, spoke from a humbled attitude, aware of his unworthy state. Both spoke from their hearts. Their words fully exposed the truth found within their souls.

The pharisee spoke with an attitude of pride or arrogance. Self-righteous glorying is a falsity, a show of religion and, in reality, empty words and vain glory. The tax collector’s heart reveals a different sort of attitude. He is truthful, honest about his failures. Admitting his shame, taking ownership of the true state of affairs within himself, speaking out of his brokenness. He is in need of mercy from God. One person’s was for show, prideful, and the other person’s was sincere, repentant. Each one's motivation is obvious.

In Christendom, we find traces of both types of prayers and many in between. Some prayers are requests. Others are desires. Most have an expectant action. When God pulls off a  miracle, another type of prayer comes as a result. Praises in worship are prayers that honor God from a heart of thankfulness. There is another kind of prayer that originates from deep inside, voiced more as a plea for help than as a worshipful interlude. During suffering and sorrow, desperate and despairing people pray with great passion. Pretense is left behind. God becomes especially real during the difficulty. All the external conditions of life mean little as we pour our heart and soul out to God. Seeking him to meet us during the crisis of faith.

I have experienced God’s tender graces during heart-wrenching times. It is when I pray my most unaffected prayers as I seek God for hope, help, and answers. “God be merciful to me, the sinner,” is asking God to extend grace even though it is undeserved. That is honest talk. Prayer, when it is that way, is stripped away of all fluff and pontificating. It is raw, open, contrite, pleasing to the heart of God. The Scripture passage says that the tax collector went away justified. God listened to his prayer and acted in response to this plea. It was a miracle of grace. Prayers of a humble person seek audience with God, and, in so doing, touch the heart of God.

* * * * *

#God, #prayer #spiritual

---