The heart of the father

Extract from The Heart of a Father

The Heart of a Father is the culmination of a heart-felt longing to see fathers in the faith arise. Bill Thompson’s experience in working with Christian men has highlighted that many can come to faith, but few embark upon the adventure their Heavenly Father has in store for them.

In each chapter of the book it reveals different facets of the Father Heart of God, and how we can overtime look to embrace and even embody these. By doing so we can leave a lasting legacy.

Here is a preview of the book:

We have, at times, created an illusion that our relationship with the Lord will continue to grow if we maintain control over all our choices. It is not possible to call Him Lord whilst we are still on the throne of our lives! We will never know a deepening of the Father’s love in our hearts whilst we dictate the terms. The desire for control is motivated by fear; a fear that somehow in experiencing His embrace He might manipulate us to do something (or go somewhere) we have not been prepared for. Maybe we are worried that as we increasingly relinquish control of our lives to the Holy Spirit, we will not see the execution of our plans. I have some bad news. We might not!

Continual planning is a way we can use to assert control and if we are not careful this can become an idol. Even as I write this chapter, I am aware that this issue can be an Achilles heel for me. Excessive planning can reveal a distinct lack of trust. Before I am fully aware, I have mapped it all out, and then turn to Him to ask for His blessing upon it! Our surrender to His will must always be daily, inviting Him to exercise His Lordship over every aspect of our lives[1].

I was brought up to be a self-sufficient young man, something that is a core value largely embraced and valued by society today. As I continued on my way, by this time a believer, I started to see the cracks in this philosophy[2]. Even after I began to experience more of the freedom that His Holy Spirit brings, I was still trying to control what my relationship with God would be and look like. – Extract from Chapter 1, The Heart of a Father, Bill Thompson

[1] Proverbs 16:9

[2] 2 Corinthians 3:5 (Amplified Bible)

Interview

Check out his interview given on 28th November 2021 at his home church, Holy Trinity, Wester Hailes, Edinburgh.
Get your copy from our website or from Amazon https://www.amazon.co.uk/Heart-Father…/dp/1913247481/

Available to purchase now!

The 3 A's by D S Reynolds

Extract from The 3 A’s

The 3 A’s , Christian Life and Development by D. S Reynolds, is here to help individuals align with the Word of God. It is wonderful to know that whatever it is he wants us to do, he equips us with the necessary tools and resources that we need. However, this often needs to be coupled with us exercising obedience faith and trust in Him.

Here is an extract from her book:

CHAPTER ONE – Letting Go!

When you look at the life of Jesus Christ, He was often criticised for interacting with the rejects, undesirables and dysfunctional people in society. The pious people of the day could not comprehend why He wanted to mix with such individuals.

Matthew 9:10–13

Later, as Jesus and his disciples were eating dinner at Matthew’s house, there were many notorious swindlers there as guests.

The Pharisees were indignant. “Why does your teacher associate with men like that?”

“Because people who are well don’t need a doctor. It’s the sick people who do.” was Jesus’ reply. Then he added, “Now go away and learn the meaning of this verse of Scripture, “It isn’t your sacrifices and gifts I want – I want you to be merciful”. For I have come to urge sinners, not the self-righteous back to God.”

Jesus was saying He had come for those who are broken, hurting, wounded, dysfunctional and generally all those who recognise that they are in need of Him. In my view that is all of us, because we have all experienced some kind of hurt, pain, rejection and or exposure to some form of dysfunctional relationship in life whether intentionally or unintentionally.

However, there are others who are self-righteous, who see themselves as good and are judgmental towards others. These are the people who think they do not need to be forgiven because according to their standards, they have not offended God and they are okay.

Individuals who hold such opinions are missing out on the wonderful blessings God wants to give them. They are not in a place to humbly receive such blessings because they have everything sorted in their lives and therefore, have no need of Him.

I am not ashamed to say that the impact of my parent’s divorce affected me. I would also say, do not underestimate the impact of divorce on children. It is possible for a child to harbour bitterness towards a loved one as result of the words used by one parent to express their dissatisfaction with their former spouse. This can adversely impact a child and contribute to their misalignment later on in life. It could even impact upon their future relationships.

As I began to study the word of God, somehow bitterness and the Christian message of forgiveness and love your neighbor, seemed incompatible. Therefore, I knew I had problems. This is what the word of God does; it convicts you and helps you realise that something is not right in your life. It brings things to your attention that are out of alignment with the word of God. You choose how you respond to that conviction. Some people ignore it and continue to justify their behaviour. Others may acknowledge it but that is as far as it goes. Others may acknowledge it and maybe try to do something about it. The choice is ours, but we must also be prepared to accept the consequence of how we respond to our convictions. – Written by D S Reynolds

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Sweet Holy Spirit - christian books

Extract from Sweet Holy Spirit

This is a mind-blowing and inspirational memoir of a young boy from Africa, who had an encounter with the Person of the Holy Spirit in 2018. ‘Sweet Holy Spirit’ is written by Joshua Abraham. Here is an extract from his book:

He is our only Hope

All my life was full of sin, confusion and darkness when Jesus found me. There was nothing really about me worth anything good from him.

I lived my life in complete darkness, and gave all kinds of expressions to satisfy and gratify my fleshly desires. This world of mine was full of miseries and so much woe.

But Jesus placed his loving arms around me, that I could almost feel it in the physical that day.

He lighted darkness from every corner of my life, and brought me to such a wonderful realization of a possible walk I can start with Him. Indeed, no one has ever loved me like Him!

He washed me clean, forgave all my wickedness and gave me a new life entirely.

After Jesus saved me, He awakened within my inside, His Spirit (the Holy Spirit). It was like an unexplainable inner witness of His love and forgiveness, and as well, a distinguisher between Godly from ungodly and right from wrong.

His Spirit directed my life and strengthened me to live the exact kind of life He wanted for me. Divine purpose and destiny started becoming clearer and exciting.

Written by Joshua Abraham

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christian parallels

Extract from Christian Parallels

Trevor Summerlin’s book, Christian Parallels, Working Towards Spiritual Maturity Through the Medium of Skiing.

The book begins by assessing how essential it is for each person to develop a completely different approach to the way they see themselves, and everything around them. It then goes on to look at the various elements that contribute to a person’s experience as they progress into the world of skiing, including the development of specific skiing skills.

Here is an extract from the book:

I have always loved snow and have fond memories of building snowmen in our tiny back garden in Catharine Street, Cambridge, where I grew up.  Whenever there was a snowfall I would enjoy frequent snowball fights with the other kids in our street and we would often challenge each other in snow clearing races up and down the street until it was too dark to see.  One activity which always captivated us was making a long slide.  We did this by continually running at, and then skidding over a small patch of snow so that it became compressed and icy.  I think this was the precursor to snowboarding !

It was during the great ‘freeze’ of 1963 that I first saw the sea frozen.  My parents had taken me to visit an aunt in Hunstanton and I have vivid memories of staring in awe and amazement at the static sea and marveling at how whole trees had been covered with such a thick hoar frost that every twig and branch was highlighted in white.  The river Cam was frozen solid that year and I was able to witness cars being driven along it by some university students.  This prompted my mother to dig out her ice skates and persuade me to give this a try.  Her father had in the past competed in the ‘Champion of the Fens’ ice skating races so it seemed that there just might have been a winter sports gene in my family. – Extract from Christians Parallels

To read more about Trevor’s experiences get your copy now!

 

Reflections of my heart - christian books

Extract from Reflections of My Heart

Melanie Booth’s book is now available, which is poetry and reflections on her journey, that of having Bipolar. It is written with a Christian emphasis; God’s love has been her strength throughout. It details her times of depression, also elation, and how she found a way through both, with God’s help and other people’s.

It also has a chapter about the loves and friendships she has met along the way. She hopes and prays it will be a great encouragement that there is a way through Bipolar to greater wellbeing and happiness. Melanie’s faith has been her saving grace on many occasions.

The sayings reflect her loss of health, and subsequent loss of life itself. They touch upon love. But she hopes they also show a way forward; that there can be a richness of new life and gain from pain.

These poems and writings are personal to Melanie and she hopes they will bring others upliftment and strength through poetry and Gods love. She now practices Complementary therapies. All proceeds go to the Leprosy Mission.

 

Extract from her book:

A poem of God’s love and comfort through good times and bad.

 

THE LILY

 

As lovely as the lily of the valley

So gracious is the Lamb of God to me.

He gazes on me as His very own,

I am His child, so beautiful to Him.

He rocks to comfort me in everything,

He calms and stills my life within.

He is my morning star, He shines so bright,

He, My Father, thinks the world of me.

In all my tears, He comes to comfort me

Because I am His child, so special to Him.

 

To read more – Get your copy now!

love, god and relationships - christian books

Extract from Love, God and Relationships

 

Love, God & Relationships explores the reasons why it is important to put God first in your life and the different ways you are able to honour Him. This book encapsulates how living for God is not always easy but there are reasons why it is worth it.

 

Here is an extract from the book:

Chapter 3 – Why putting God first in your life and relationship is worth it

There are days when I question whether it is worth suffering for Christ as I try to live my life out for Him each day. Although it is hard to honour God during bad days and some can be easier than others, I always try to think of the positives and remember how blessed I am. I tend to wonder if the changes I make in my decisions show I am focused in following God and pleasing Him.

It can be easy to get distracted by challenges, issues and worries that life can bring. This can make us ask ourselves if God is really there and walking with us in our troubles and trials. We can have confidence in believing that God is always by our side and will never leave us nor forsake us (Deuteronomy 31:6).

It always reassures me to know that there are Bible verses about this which show that it is worth suffering for Christ and making the changes in our daily lives.

1 Corinthians 9:24

‘Do you not know that in a race

all the runners run, but only one

gets the prize? Run in such a

way as to get the prize.

Everyone who competes in the

games goes into strict training.

They do it to get a crown that

will not last; but we do it to get

a crown that will last for ever.’

As Christians, we are enduring the suffering through the race and straining so that when we eventually get to the end, we will receive a prize for all our hard work.

One of Satan’s schemes is to make us think it is pointless doing this as there is no healing or restoration which comes from it. The enemy tries to evoke the feeling of guilt and fear, so we do not reach the end of the race as we stop trusting God. His plans remain only to make us feel unworthy of God’s forgiveness and lead us astray. As believers, we must remind ourselves that grace can always be received no matter what position we are in the race.

Paul says we should run the race and not stop to consider any alternatives or fall into sin which so easily entangles us but follow Jesus wholeheartedly with everything we have. The prize we will receive will eternally remain with us compared to the other runners who are struggling for a crown which will not last. He also mentions how this reward is completely worth the suffering.

 

To read more – get your copy now!

The Year God Introduced Himself With A Prayer For Non-Believers

The Year God Introduced Himself With A Prayer For Non-Believers

Just published! Michael Flounders’ book The Year God Introduced Himself With A Prayer For Non-Believer.

As a child growing up in rural Suffolk, I was surrounded by the countryside, in awe of this amazing creation in which I lived. As a child every Sunday I would attend my village Sunday school. There the teachers would give us extracts from the Bible and the Scriptures and explain them to us, so that we would learn how our world was created and the importance of God in our lives. As I grew older, I attended secondary school. Here the education and the lessons were far more intense, none more so than science. Within the science lesson I was educated in the theory of evolution and how the world was created through the millions of years, which contradicted the stories in the Bible of how God created the world in seven days with one of rest. This is just one example of where I became totally confused and had so many questions in my mind about the balancing of science and my faith. In 2019, the start of that year, every single question I ever had was answered in such a spiritually connection way that it totally changed me and all I had been led to believe. I felt his presence and the answers to my questions flowed. – by Michael Flounders

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whatever next

Whatever Next?!?!

Just published! Whatever Next?!?! by Lilyanne Joy.

We are in the end times and so many people are not aware of it. In writing to my family, it occurred to me that maybe others would appreciate the simplifies message. The Book of Revelation is difficult to understand and this little book is an easy read in short bites. It explains what is happening now and will happen in the future – maybe very soon. My hope is that anyone reading it will ask Jesus into their heart and life. He will not only guide and comfort through turbulent times but He will ensure a future eternity with Him in heaven. As I say many times in the letters, if you have questions, find a Bible-based church near you and talk to the Minister. May the Lord bless you and stir your heart as you read. – by Lilyanne Joy

 

As an Missionary Kid Lilyanne Joy grew up with the sound of the gospel in her daily life. Both parents wrote and were published so grew to love word and books. She has written Gospel song lyrics for two Gospel groups, poetry and produced the works’ newsletters, plus there are other books which she has in the pipeline. Now retired from official work, Lilyanne still volunteers and one of her many hobbies is real letter-writing!

Get your copy now!

The 3 A's by D S Reynolds

The 3 A’s – Align, Assign, Accomplish

Just published! The 3 A’s , Christian Life and Development by D. S Reynolds.

The purpose of this book is to help individuals align with the Word of God. Once aligned and in the correct position, God can then assign us to undertake tasks on His behalf and finally empower us to accomplish whatever it it He wants us to do. Thus advancing the Kingdom on this earth. It is also wonderful to know that whatever it is he wants us to do, he equips us with the necessary tools and resources that we need. However, this often needs to be coupled with us exercising obedience faith and trust in Him. – D. S. Reynolds

Doreen has been involved in ministry for over 20 years in various capacities including being a pastor’s wife, Sunday school teacher, group leader and worship leader. As a former social worker, she has also seen brokenness in people’s lives. The hurt, pain addictions and abuse they have suffered and how this has impacted and shaped the outcome of their lives and the choices they have made. God loves all of us. Having the understanding that God created us and designed us and that we are loved and valued in His eyes, changed her life and that is what she wants others to know.

Get your copy now!

the plans i have for you - christian books

Extract from The Plans I Have For You

The Plans I Have For You draws from talks that he has given at his local church, sermons which Alan reworked as studies from the word of God that can be read, rather than merely listened to. The subject matter covers a range of topics from both Old and the New Testament, but the message of God’s Love and His Grace shines through it all. It is an unchanging message, as God is unchanging and it is a message that men and women today need to hear in a world that is uncertain and often, to many, frightening.

Here is an extract from Alan Batchelors’ book:

Chapter One – The Plans I Have For You

The message that God had for the people of Judah tells us much about the character of God. We are reminded of God’s love for his people as he reminds them of their first love for him.

Jeremiah 2:2,3 The word of the LORD came to me: “Go and proclaim in the hearing of Jerusalem: “This is what the LORD says: “’I remember the devotion of your youth, how as a bride you loved me and followed me through the wilderness, through a land not sown. Israel was holy to the LORD, the firstfruits of his harvest; all who devoured her were held guilty, and disaster overtook them,’” declares the LORD.

God had a plan of prosperity for his people, yet they rejected it to go their own way.

Jeremiah 2:7 I brought you into a fertile land to eat its fruit and rich produce. But you came and defiled my land and made my inheritance detestable.

Jeremiah 2:13 “My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water.

And the lord questions why.

Jeremiah 2:5 “What fault did your ancestors find in me, that they strayed so far from me?

Jeremiah 2:21 “I had planted you like a choice vine of sound and reliable stock. How then did you turn against me into a corrupt, wild vine?

Jeremiah 2;31 “Have I been a desert to Israel or a land of great darkness? Why do my people say, ‘We are free to roam; we will come to you no more’?

I’m sure you remember in Revelation the letter to the church in Ephesus:

Revelation 2:4,5 “Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first. Consider how far you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place.

Chapter two of the book of Jeremiah records some of the ways in which they have turned away from God. And the words of Jeremiah reflect the heartache of God for the people who have turned away from him. God reveals to Jeremiah some of the hurt that he feels towards his people. Even the example of the exile of the Northern Kingdom of Israel did nothing to stir the hearts of the people of Judah:

Jeremiah 3:6-10 “Have you seen what faithless Israel has done? She has gone up on every high hill and under every spreading tree and has committed adultery there. I thought that after she had done all this she would return to me but she did not, and her unfaithful sister Judah saw it.  I gave faithless Israel her certificate of divorce and sent her away because of all her adulteries. Yet I saw that her unfaithful sister Judah had no fear; she also went out and committed adultery. Because Israel’s immorality mattered so little to her, she defiled the land and committed adultery with stone and wood.  In spite of all this, her unfaithful sister Judah did not return to me with all her heart, but only in pretense,” declares the LORD.

And here’s a remarkable statement:

Jeremiah 3:11 “The LORD said to me, “Faithless Israel is more righteous than unfaithful Judah.

Yet God’s love is such that if they will turn away from their iniquity and turn back to Him, He is merciful and is willing to forgive and restore. The God whose word Jeremiah proclaims is a god of boundless grace and compassion.

Written by Alan Batchelor

Available now.