If you're carrying hidden pain and secrets, I know first hand your struggle. I too had a hidden pain of being raped and drug experiences. Journey with me thru my true life experiences, with guiding instructions that are essential for the Christian, to remain focus in the study of God's word. Yet equipping them to be dressed correctly and realistically for warfare as they face painful trials and situations in life, and never having to give up in praising God or compromising their faith in the promises of God for their present and eternal life to come.

"Chain Breakers" is a timely inspiration to the body of Christ. The words of this book will tear through the heart and soul of the reader, with specific scriptural passages. Thought provoking and informative, this book shows how the deliverance will come forth and restore faith and joy in our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ!

Tens of thousands of Christians have gotten up and gone to bed with Charles Spurgeon's devotional Morning and Evening. Seven hundred and thirty two devotions. One for each morning and each evening. These devotions will guide you in a closer walk with God, helping you find a focus for each day.

The Edinburgh Lectures on Mental Science are required reading for anyone wishing to understand and control the power of the mind. Without these lectures the New Thought Movement and The Science of Mind might never have been born. Thomas Troward was an early New Thought writer who had an immense impact on those who would follow. Ernest Holmes, Frederick Bailes, Joseph Murphy, and Emmett Fox cited him as a major influence, and Genevieve Behrend was his student. It is impossible to over estimate his importance to the New Thought movement. His intense fusion of Eastern and Western philosophy is unmatched.

Each of us resides in two kingdoms, states Ralph Waldo Trine in The Higher Powers of Mind and Spirit, an inner kingdom, consisting of the mind and the spirit, and an outer kingdom made up of the body and the physical universe around it. It is achieving the balance between these two worlds that Trine addresses in this 1917 work. One cannot force change in the outer kingdom, argues Trine-one of the most influential thinkers in the early New Age philosopher of "New Thought"-without first changing the "silent, subtle forces" that make up the inner kingdom, the "kingdom of the unseen." Learn how the soul, mind, and body interrelate; how the mind can be used to build the body (and vice versa); how thought can be used as a force in everyday life, and much more. American mystic and bestselling author RALPH WALDO TRINE (1866-1958) wrote more than a dozen books, including The World's Balance Wheel (1917), In the Hollow of His Hand (1915), In Tune with the Infinite (1897), and The Greatest Thing Ever Known (1898).

With characteristic eloquence and insight, Buechner presents a three-part series of reflections that probe, through the course of one day, the innermost mysteries of life. Blending an artist's eye for natureal beauty, the true meaning of human encounters, and the significance of occurances (momentous or seemly trival), with a wealth of personal, literacy, biblical, and spiritual insights, he offers a matchless opportunity for readers to discover the hidden wisdom that can be gleaned through a heightened experience of daily life.

THE BOOK OF ASHES, (originally called Little Job, or Pety Job) is a meditative fifteenth century verse paraphrase of excerpts from the Book of Job; a passionate penitential monologue that uses as its meditative base the liturgical text intoned daily for the souls of the dead. The original author is unknown. Early manuscripts describe the work as follows: The nine lessons of the Dirge, which Job made in his tribulation lying on the dunghill, declaring more clearly to our understanding, in a solemn and worthy manner, that which will suffice to steer sinners towards compunction. This edition follows a middle English text edited by Susanna Greer Fein and then rendered into modern English by Jabez L. Van Cleef. It consists of 57 parts, each part a 12 line poem. Inasmuch as possible the content, form and meter of the original Middle English has been kept.

This book challenges scholars' assumption, without any explicit evidence, of institutionalized public prayer with fixed contents and times in the Qumran community. As the book observes, this assumption rests in part on a failure to distinguish between voluntary supplication prayers and biblically mandated blessings and thanks. The book closely examines the three Qumran writings assumed to typify prayer and critiques scholars' attempts to deduce the existence of public prayer from these and other sources, which are most likely pious expressions of individual authors. The lack of indispensable instructions for institutionalized prayer offers circumstantial evidence that such prayer was not practiced at Qumran. This study also explores the assumption that Qumran prayer was intended as a substitute for sacrifices after the group's separation from the temple cult and discusses relevant rabbinic statements. The innovative character of rabbinic fixed prayer is discussed and identified as an element of the fundamental transformation of Jewish theology and practice from worship founded on sacrificial rituals performed by priests at the Jerusalem Temple to abstract, unmediated, direct approaches to God by every Jew in any location. The book also examines Samaritan prayer and detects a variety of attitudes, rules, and customs similar to those found at Qumran that are incompatible with their rabbinic counterparts. This opens the door for investigating religious belief and practice at a crucial period in the history of Western civilization, namely, before the vast rabbinic reform of Judaism after 70 CE.

There's nothing like seeing a rainbow after a particularly stormy time. It reminds us of the promises of God, and of his steadfast love -- even for harried moms. To be a mother often means being able to see through the clouds of life that threaten to overshadow God's abundant grace and mercy, and beholding the promise of God's rainbow. The devotions in Through the Clouds, each accompanied by a scripture verse and a prayer, are a perfect resource for busy moms who need to take a few quiet moments each day with the Lord. These brief meditations will encourage them to see the rainbows and remember God's promises -- no matter how much laundry is waiting!

During a train trip from Chicago in the late 1940s, A.W. Tozer began to work on The Pursuit of God. He wrote all night long, the words coming to him as fast as he could put them down. By the next morning, when the train pulled into McAllen, Texas, the rough draft was done.

Although written in such a remarkably short period of time, the depth, clarity and completeness of Tozer's message has made The Pursuit of God an enduring favorite -- about 1.7 million copies in print in 15 languages.

Prepare yourself for a deeply meaningful and enjoyable experience.

Pastors, business men and women, teachers, and administrators need encouragement and inspiration as they seek to effectively lead others with Christian wisdom and gentleness. But finding the time to read an entire book or search for a quick word of inspiration and advice isn't always possible. E-couragement provides short e-mail-sized essays of affirmation and encouragement for Christian professionals to use and meditate on as problems and issues arise. It's divided into 11 chapters, which address a wide variety of topics such as pursuing one's dreams; proven keys for success; where Christian leaders get their resources; how to handle the challenges and difficulties leaders typically face; and more. These practical and stimulating essays include biblical principles for Christian leadership as well as motivational quotes and advice from well-known leaders, both past and present. Readers may choose to browse through topics, looking for essays that address an issue for a particular moment or day. Some may read it as a daily devotional. Others may use it as a focusing and inspirational tool for staff meetings and conferences. Teachers and pastors will find its illustrations helpful when preparing lessons, sermons, or Bible studies. Wherever people live, work, worship, and play, E-couragement offers a Christian perspective to problem solving and valuable affirmation and encouragement to help leaders meet the demands they encounter each day.

Each page of this new devotional by David Teems is charged with originality, beauty and the richness of our common language, as well as necessary and timely spiritual content. Each day illuminates one subject, Love. Each entry puts Christ at the center of that love, whether it's love for your husband or wife, for you neighbor, for the stranger, for God. It's all centered in Him and in 365 lovely treatments. The language is lyrical, speaking the way love speaks, sounding the way devotion is supposed to sound. Each day also closes with a benediction, such as, "May Christ be the template by which love shapes itself in you." It's about true Christianity, about worship, about devotion, about ourselves, and much much more. An incredibly generous book, you could say it's the little book with the big heart. And finally, as it says in the Prologue, offering us perhaps the clearest description of itself, "This is a book of love. It only thinks it's a devotional."

Life is full of subtle, unsuspected, hidden perks, ready to make their presence known at the turn of a corner to cheer us, to lift us, to change our attitudes, to give our souls a reason to celebrate. Don't miss them. Don't let them pass by unnoticed. Celebrate those perks one by one, day after day. Celebrate living. Throw thou a party and invite me. Come with a joyful heart, ready to have the time of your life. I'll bring the streamers―"You Bring the Confetti "

We have a choice, says Luci Swindoll. We can trudge through our lives, shoulder to the wheel, worried and stressed and hassled. Or we can choose to really live―to celebrate life's richness, its beauty, its pleasures and perks. In this delightful book, Luci challenges us to choose the second option. She urges us to be on the lookout for reasons to celebrate, and she assures us that those reasons are everywhere to be found. With wise insight, droll wit, and an irresistable sense of fun, she invites us to:

• savor the wonder of the present moment
• appreciate our milestones (even birthdays )
• relish our mealtimes
• cherish our friendships
• rejoice in our reunions
• widen our knowledge
• find purpose in our work
• revel in our accomplishments
• enjoy our imaginations
• seek out beauty everywhere
• cherish our American heritage
• and above all, give thanks to the reason and source of all our celebrations

More than just a reminder to celebrate, this book itself is a celeration of life's infinite and joyful possibilities. It's a wisdom-filled, enthusiastic exploration of what it means to live fully and appreciatively―and it comes with a promise that if you bring the confetti . . .God brings the joy

The clear font, clean graphic layout and elegant design of The Koren Classic Yom Kippur Machzor evoke one of the main themes of the holiest day of the Jewish year purity. The machzor's comfortable size and light weight allow you to concentrate on what is in your heart. It is a machzor that will deepen your Yom Kippur experience year after year.

Description: For about the last fifteen years of his life, Thomas A. Langford pondered how grace is central to Christian theology. This book records his reflections and provides numerous gems of mature Christian insight. From beginning to end, the book is christologically focused. Grace is not something that God gives us; rather, it is the way God gives us himself. Grace is a person--God present to human beings. Grace is not a gift but rather a giver. Grace is Jesus Christ. The central contribution of this work is its personalization of grace, its sharp focus on God present in Jesus Christ. Because its focus on grace gives the reader such a clear and thematically developed entry point, this work is a great introduction to theology and the life of the church, the kind that pastors and parishioners would certainly benefit from confronting. Endorsements: ""Who better to teach us grace than one who so genially embodied, personified, and incarnated grace? . . . Langford] taught Christian grace in the manner of the great classical philosophers whom he so admired by embodying in his life that which he professed in his books, in the classroom, and in the pulpit. How appropriate that this manuscript was lying upon his desk when he died. What grace that we have it now. Grace, pure grace."" --from the foreword by William H. Willimon ""Reflections on Grace looks at grace from every facet of systematic theology. Methodists and Wesleyans will want to read and ponder these pages carefully, but the work reaches out to all Christian communions--Catholic, Orthodox, and evangelical. This grace-filled book can help any faithful and thoughtful Christian think deeper about and live more boldly in the constant grace of the Triune God."" --Alan G. Padgett, Methodist minister and Professor of Systematic Theology, Luther Seminary ""Tommy Langford exemplified what Methodism at its best should be. We can celebrate the publication of these last thoughts, as they demonstrate that Tommy was unafraid to change. May we learn from his example."" --Stanley Hauerwas, Gilbert T. Rowe Professor of Theological Ethics, Duke Divinity School About the Contributor(s): Thomas A. Langford (1929-2000) served the United Methodist Church and Duke University throughout his adult life. Langford was ordained a Methodist minister in 1952. He was the primary author of the United Methodist Church's ""Our Theological Task"" (1988) and a member of the World Methodist Council bilateral theological discussions with the Roman Catholic Church, the World Lutheran Federation, and the World Reformed Alliance. He was the author or editor of fourteen books including Intellect and Hope (on the thought of Michael Polanyi), In Search of Foundations (on English theology and culture), and the widely read Practical Divinity (theology in the Wesleyan tradition). This current book, Reflections on Grace, is the work that he had been writing during the last years of his life. Philip A. Rolnick is Professor of Theology at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, MN. He is the author of Analogical Possibilities: How Words Refer to God and Person, Grace, and God (2007) Jonathan R. Wilson is Pioneer McDonald Professor of Theology at Carey Theological College. He completed his PhD at Duke in 1989 under the supervision of Thomas Langford.

The Bible speaks to this deep longing when it affirms that indeed God created man and woman in His image And at the heart of that image is a God-shaped vacuum waiting to be filled by the presence of the Creator. Built into our very heartbeat is a yearning to know, to have contact with, the One who made us. This "breath of God" infused into humankind at the creation (and into each of us at our personal creation) expands to form this vacuum that only God can fill. This vacuum is revealed to each of us through the basic needs which tug at our hearts. The longing for fulfillment of these needs drives our hunger for something more than simple satisfaction of our animal instincts. We are empty, as Saint Augustine articulated, until the vacuum is filled with the presence of God himself. The pull of these needs tugs us toward our Creator. We are "restless" until these needs finds true fulfillment in a relationship with God. This vacuum tugs us toward God, striving as a vacuum always does, to be filled. Hobbled by darkness, so much of it of our own making, we can only grope for the light. But I can only believe that our yearnings after the light must be a pleasure for God to watch. I can see him saying as we grope, "Come on, move toward that crack of light there. Reach for it. Put out your hand. I am waiting to pull you to me your Creator, your God, your Father."

At one time or another, every Christian goes through a period which is referred to as a "desert experience"-a time when they feel forsaken by God, in doubt about what God would have them do, a period of darkness of the soul. Many, during those times, feel they are alone in this experience, but this thought-provoking book shows readers that they are not alone-that in fact, many well-known Christians have been there also. Featuring personal testimonies from each contributor, "The Desert Experience" offers readers encouragement and valuable lessons from those who have made it through the "desert"-lessons of hope, humility, goodwill, and the sovereignty of God -all lessons necessary for the maturing of a Christian.

There is no better place in all of Scripture than the Psalms to learn to be with God and see with the eyes of faith the face of the One who longs to form us fully in his image. The psalms often stretch and perplex as they teach, but they open a divine window on prayer. How could it be otherwise? The Psalms are God's prayer book, and they teach us to talk to God in his own language.
Features meditations for more than 75 psalms, arranged in numerical order, Scripture and topical indexes. Each devotional includes the complete text of the Psalm(s) from the New Living Translation, a "devotional window" (brief meditative thoughts and/or background on the Psalm), a prayer route (one or more key phrases or verses from the Psalm, followed by suggested ways to use the Psalm in prayer).

Music and liturgy seem inseparable, yet we seldom pause to ponder their relationship in depth. In this volume, Kathleen Harmon offers her own insights by creatively exploring the complex interplay between congregational singing and the liturgical celebration of the paschal mystery: ' Harmon asserts that liturgical music, in the form of communal singing, is a vehicle through which the ritual reenactment of the paschal mystery is effected. ' She addresses concrete and practical pastoral applications of the relationship between music and liturgy. She focuses on how the liturgical singing of the assembly creates the collective consciousness of church as the Body of Christ. ' Music, then, is much more than just a component of liturgy; it is, in Harmon's view, absolutely constitutive both of liturgy's deepest essence and its fullest realization. Professional music scholars, graduate students, music directors, and anyone else seeking a sophisticated analysis of liturgical music will find this volume a rich sourcebook of new ideas. Kathleen Harmon, SNDdeN, is the music director for programs of the Institute for Liturgical Ministry in Dayton, Ohio and contributor to Living Liturgy: Spirituality, Celebration, and Catechesis for Sundays and Solemnities, an annual resource published by Liturgical Press. She is also a columnist for Liturgical Ministry and serves as director of music for St. Paul Parish in Englewood, Ohio.

CROOK IN THE LOT ''Consider the work of God, for who can make that straight which He has made crooked'' (Ecclesiastes 7:3) One's lot consists of all the things in life that God has allotted to a person. So if one sees rough and painful happenings in life, looking to second causes first will but stir up fretting and fuming. But a look at the first cause will remind us that it is God that has caused the crook in our lot, If He is to work all things to our good, He at times must put a kink in our plans. ''A man's heart plans his way, but Jehovah fixes his step'' (Pro. 16:9). Observe: 1. Whatever crook there is in our lot, it is of God's making. He has decreed all things in our lives, else how could He make all things work to our good? Each one has been allotted certain things, each of us differently; yet so as to make them work together. If between two saints, good for both of them. If between an unbeliever and a believer, the unbeliever's life works to the good of the believer. 2. What God sees fit to mar, no one will be able to mend his lot. When the course of events cross our plans, and God has done it, then only God can unloose the knot in our plans. 3. Everyone's lot in this world has some crook in it. Complainers are apt to make odious comparisons. Everyone feels for himself, when he is pinched, though others do not see it. Only God knows the pain allotted to each. 4. The crook in the lot came into the world by sin. It is owing to the Fall that sin entered the world. This crook in our lot inseparably follows our sinful condition, till dropping this body of sin we enter Heaven's gates. There was no personal sin in Christ, yet He was humiliated and suffered for the sins of others. Allthis was decreed of Him. Why not in our lives also? Boston (1676-1732) was a Scottish Presbyterian minister and author.

I pray earnestly that our gracious Lord may be pleased to bless this little book, to help those who seek to know Him fully. I pray still more earnestly that He would, by whatever means, make the multitudes of His dear children who are still living divided lives see how He claims them wholly for Himself, and how the wholehearted surrender to Him alone brings unspeakable joy and glory.

The Pursuit of God: This book is a modest attempt to aid God's hungry children so to find Him. Nothing here is new except in the sense that it is a discovery which my own heart has made of spiritual realities most delightful and wonderful to me. Others before me have gone much farther into these holy mysteries than I have done, but if my fire is not large it is yet real, and there may be those who can light their candle at its flame.-A. W. Tozer

Heartbreaking losses can steal the cheer from anyone's life. But here's a way to overcome the tribulations that threaten your happiness and shadow your days. In this clever and inspirational book, experienced counselor and popular speaker Marilyn Meberg shows you how to triumph and choose to laugh instead of cry.

With warm encouragement, contagious enthusiasm, and a dash of mischievous humor, she shares the powerful medicine of God's Word. As the light of His love courses through your heart, you'll soon find yourself agreeing: "I'd Rather Be Laughing "

This book is the sequel to Frances Havergal's wonderful devotional gem for children which we have published, called LITTLE PILLOWS & MORNING BELLS. This was the last book she wrote before her death. In fact, she had hoped to write a companion to this volume entitled EVENING STARS, or Promises for the Little Ones. This book takes little children by the hand and points out to them in simple, biblical language 31 of the Names of Christ scattered throughout Scripture.

The essence of the Christian life is Jesus-and when everything you do is aimed at glorifying Him, the life-changing consequences are limitless

In this new trade paper edition, best-selling author Franklin Graham and Ross Rhoads offer thirty compassionate yet uncompromising devotionals that will inspire and challenge readers to embrace a life devoted to Jesus. Insightful and personal, "All For Jesus" helps readers develop the qualities of focused, wholehearted discipleship, while showing how to fully embrace a life lived all for Jesus.