In Christ, you are made part of a new family

One of my favorite weeks on our family's yearly calendar typically falls on the last week of July. During that week, my family goes camping with our siblings and their families. There's even a couple other families that join us that we aren't technically related to, but at this point, we've been camping together long enough that we feel like we're family.

Most evenings, we end the day around a campfire. We make a big circle of chairs, and all the adults and children sit around, talk, and eat snacks. It's so nice having almost all of our family together in one place at the same time, but without fail, it occurs to me every year that the majority of people in that circle, including my wife, my children, my in-laws, and all my nieces and nephews, I didn't even know just a couple short decades ago. They are the people I call my closest family, but I've only known them for a segment of my life.

Paul's letter to the Ephesians begins by explaining to us that in Christ, we have been made part of a new family. It's a great way to begin this letter, and it's a helpful perspective to hold on to every day of our lives.

When Paul wrote this letter, he was under house arrest in Rome. It's very likely this imprisonment lasted at least two years, but he made great use of the time. Not only did Paul write the letter to the Ephesians during this incarceration, he also wrote his letters to the Philippians, Colossians, and Philemon.

This letter to the church in the city of Ephesus is a little different from some of his other letters. It's widely believe that this epistle was intended to be circulated all around to various cities where believers had gathered. It's a doctrinal book that the Holy Spirit inspired Paul to write in order to help the church understand many foundational doctrines of our faith, as well as how those concepts were to be applied to daily living.

We typically divide the letter into six chapters, and a simple way to outline the book in your mind is to think of the first three chapters as a summary of what God has done for us, and the second three chapters as a summary of how we should respond.

God's eternal purpose for the church is explained in this brief book, and as we already mentioned, this book begins by helping us to see that through Christ, we have been made part of a new, eternal family, that allows us to enjoy eternal blessings that are far greater than we may naturally realize.

I. The benefits of being part of our new family

““Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.”  (Ephesians 1:3-6)”

— Ephesians 1:3-6

When I was a small child, I thought it was the coolest thing that my family owned a grocery store. I loved seeing our last name on the outside of the building, and I thought it was pretty special to be known as the owner's son when I worked or walked around that store. I also knew that, whenever I wanted, I could go behind the deli counter and make myself a delicious sandwich. I could slice the lunch meat paper thin, then pile it high with whatever toppings I liked. It was an obvious benefit of being part of our family, and it felt special to me. But being part of the family of God has even greater benefits.

Through faith in Jesus Christ, we are made part of the family of God forever. As members of His family, we are blessed with every spiritual blessing imaginable. These blessings aren't earthly in nature. They're beyond earthly and material things. In Christ, the Father has graced us with spiritual benefits and has lavished eternal blessings upon us that are quite significant.

Paul reveals some of those blessings in this passage. He tells us that we have been chosen in Christ to be part of the family of God, even before the world was formed. He tells us that we have been set apart as holy and blameless in God's sight. He also reveals that we have been adopted into God's eternal family through Jesus.

These are eternally significant blessings that outweigh the kind of material blessings many of the people living in the city of Ephesus would have naturally valued or desired. The culture of that city was very earthly minded. In that city, there was a massive temple to the goddess Artemis. The temple took 220 years to build, and people would travel from many places to visit it. Artemis was a fertility goddess, so people would typically worship her with the desire to prosper with earthly abundance.

Isn't it sad to consider how most people prefer earthly prosperity over heavenly blessings? Many people wrap their whole sense of identity around worldly titles, accolades, and wealth. And that's just as much of an issue today as it was during Paul's time.

But for those who have come to faith in Jesus, we don't need to tie our sense of identity to worldly and temporary things. In Christ, we have been chosen. In Christ, we have been adopted into God's family. In Christ, we are holy and blameless. And these blessings remain true of you regardless of how your present-day circumstances may change.

Don't wrap your sense of identity around anything that won't be true of you forever. Understand who you are in Christ, and let your new identity as a member of His family become the dominant way in which you understand and perceive yourself.

II. The highest price was paid to purchase your freedom

““In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ 10 as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.””

— Ephesians 1:7-10

This past month has been an expensive month for our family, more so than I anticipated. We paid our property taxes this month. We also paid for our upcoming vacation, car inspections, school shoes for the kids, airfare, tuition for our kids to attend summer camp, college fees, and insurance. Then, just a few days ago, our hot water heater called it quits and had to be replaced. I'm grateful we had the funds to pay for it all, but I'm also grateful that most months aren't anywhere near as expensive as this month was.

But then I look at the words Paul shared in this passage of Scripture and I realize that the price I paid during my most expensive month is nothing compared to the price God paid to redeem me from my sin and condemnation.

Scripture tells us that we have redemption through the blood of Christ. Jesus redeemed us from sin. He paid for our freedom with His own blood. Through Him, we are released or delivered from our slavery to sin, Satan, and death. That means God was willing to pay the highest price imaginable to secure our freedom.

Now, through Jesus, we are forgiven of our sins and no longer chained to our rebellion. We've been graced with a new life and a new way of thinking. The wisdom and insight of God has been lavished upon us. We've been made capable to see things from God's perspective and to operate with divinely empowered insight into God's perfect will.

And just as we have been brought under Christ's authority, so too will all creation. Heaven and earth will forever be brought under the headship of Jesus Christ. All things will be united under His leadership. The impact of sin and the division it has caused will be forever eradicated by Jesus.

III. Our eternal inheritance will bring God glory

“In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory.  In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.””

— Ephesians 1:11-14

Have you ever been given something that you didn't know what to do with? I am not someone who prefers to have a lot of things. If I don't have a use for something, I typically give it away. That becomes particularly tricky when someone leaves you something in their will. What are you supposed to do with it if you don't need or want it? Admittedly, I may have bruised some feelings in my extended family by choosing not to take a few things that were given to me as an inheritance. Instead of accepting them and then allowing them to gather dust in an attic, I gave them to other family members who actually needed them.

But in Christ, we have an inheritance that we would never want to give up. We have a place in His eternal kingdom, and we have the internal presence of the Holy Spirit who seals us and guarantees that inheritance. I may not get very excited about furniture, dishes, or other items that are left to me on this earth, but I get very excited about the incorruptible inheritance that has been divinely promised to me.

““Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.  For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.””

— Matthew 6:19-21

But I have to say that as much as I'm looking forward to my heavenly inheritance, there's something about it that the Lord is teaching me to value even more. I love the fact that Scripture tells us that our inheritance, the way it was obtained, and the manner in which it is guaranteed, brings glory to God. Glorifying Him is the chief reason we were created, and I'm grateful to know that even the blessings He bestows upon us, right now and in eternity, have the capacity to bring Him the honor and the glory He deserves.

It isn't a trivial thing to become part of the family of God. Is that something you've developed a deep appreciation for, and are you living with the certainty that you're part of His family?

Accept His invitation to be part of His family through faith in Jesus Christ today.

© John Stange, 2021

Dedicate your life

For the past bunch of years, I have spent one week every August teaching classes to new pastors. I do this in conjunction with several other pastors who have been serving in ministry for several decades. In those classes, we try to cover as much ground as we can. We teach theology, practical ministry, marriage and family counseling, missions, evangelism, and personal finance.

One of the professors this year was a man named Bill who has a very interesting life story. His father had been a pastor so he grew up in the church, but he didn't really get serious about his faith until he was almost an adult. When he finished high school, he went to college and took a German class because he was interested in learning languages. He failed that class, but his interest in studying languages didn't diminish. Eventually, he became proficient in several languages, and the Lord called him to serve as a missionary to the country of Guatemala.

The primary language spoken in Guatemala is Spanish, but there are also many Mayan languages spoken in the country. Of the Mayan languages, Kʼicheʼ is the language most commonly spoken, but speakers of that language didn't have a Bible they could read in their native tongue, so Bill decided to give them one. He started by translating the New Testament, then he translated the Old Testament. This was in addition to all the other work he was doing in the country.

The translation process took years, but eventually, he was able to present a completed Bible to the people of Guatemala who speak Kʼicheʼ. I was very impressed with his story, and it amazed me to see what the Lord has done through him since he dedicated his life toward answering this calling.

Dedicating your life to the calling God has placed upon it is wise to do, but it doesn't always get off to a smooth start. A great example of that can be found in Acts 9:19b-31.

I. A dedicated life uses the voice it's given

“For some days he was with the disciples at Damascus.  And immediately he proclaimed Jesus in the synagogues, saying, “He is the Son of God.” And all who heard him were amazed and said, “Is not this the man who made havoc in Jerusalem of those who called upon this name? And has he not come here for this purpose, to bring them bound before the chief priests?” But Saul increased all the more in strength, and confounded the Jews who lived in Damascus by proving that Jesus was the Christ. ”

— Acts 9:19b-22

Acts 9 tells us about the miraculous conversion of Saul who was later called Paul. I consider his life, conversion, and subsequent ministry both inspiring and fascinating. I don't know what you did right after you came to faith in Jesus, but Saul didn't waste any time when it came to the work of evangelism. Once Saul became convinced that Jesus was alive, the Messiah, and Lord over all creation, he wanted to tell people about Jesus immediately.

Saul was someone who knew the Scriptures, but until he came to faith in Jesus, he didn't fully understand what he was reading. Once he came to the understanding of who Jesus is, and how all Scripture is pointing us to Jesus, Saul didn't want to waste a minute. His life that had been dedicated to persecuting Christians was now going to be dedicated to telling people about Jesus. And because Saul knew the Scriptures as well as he did, I believe he began utilizing the prophetic portions of the Old Testament to prove to others that Jesus was the Christ.

Saul came to terms with the voice he had been given and he made great use of that voice. His example makes me wonder about you and me. Do we have a full appreciation of the voice we've been given? What has the Lord equipped you to do that could also become the primary way you introduce others to Him?

In recent years, the Lord has convinced me that my hobbies aren't just hobbies. They have a greater purpose. I used to consider myself someone who wrote books and blog posts and recorded podcasts as a hobby, but now those mediums have become the primary way I'm telling others about Him. In the process, people who don't share my faith in Jesus have started to ask me more about writing and recording which I find very exciting because in the process I'm always given an opportunity to speak about Christ, and that's what I honestly care about most.

Are you using your voice? What has the Lord made you good at that can become the primary way you're able to testify about Him? I'm certain there's something, so don't let self-doubt or personal insecurities creep into your mind to keep you from speaking up.

II. A dedicated life is unstoppable

“When many days had passed, the Jews plotted to kill him, but their plot became known to Saul. They were watching the gates day and night in order to kill him, but his disciples took him by night and let him down through an opening in the wall, lowering him in a basket. ”

— Acts 9:23-25

When I was working as a camp director, it was very common for people to donate furniture, tools, and other items to the ministry once they no longer wanted them. If their donations still had some life in them, we'd use them. I'll never forget using a lawn tractor that was donated to us one summer.

I was pleased to see that it started up nicely and seemed to do a good job cutting the grass, but I learned the hard way that it had one fatal flaw. If you used it on a hill, you were in trouble. It had no brakes (which is probably why it was donated). Once you picked up some momentum going down a hill, there was absolutely no way you were going to stop. You just had to hold on and steer until you reached level ground.

When Saul dedicated his live to the calling Christ had given him, there was no stopping him. Saul was so faithful to his mission that the Jewish leaders he had once partnered with, put together a plot to kill him. But God made sure Saul heard about it ahead of time, and with the help of the people in Damascus that Saul had been teaching, he was secretly let out of the city by placing him in a basket that was attached to ropes, then lowered over the city wall.

When I read a story like this, it reminds me that a dedicated life is literally unstoppable if the Lord is directing the steps that are being taken. No plot against Saul could successfully take his life one day earlier than the Lord had planned. Everything the Lord wanted Saul to accomplish would be accomplished before his time on earth was complete.

The same is true for you and me. If we're in the center of God's will, fully submitted to His timing and His plan, we are unstoppable. The Lord goes before us and the Lord protects us along the way. There is nothing in this world to be afraid of because the Lord will surround you with the help you need. And if necessary, He will make sure there's a basket big enough to fit you, and friends who are strong enough to lower you down a city wall. You'll have what you need.

III. A dedicated life develops a reputation

“And when he had come to Jerusalem, he attempted to join the disciples. And they were all afraid of him, for they did not believe that he was a disciple.  But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles and declared to them how on the road he had seen the Lord, who spoke to him, and how at Damascus he had preached boldly in the name of Jesus.  So he went in and out among them at Jerusalem, preaching boldly in the name of the Lord.  And he spoke and disputed against the Hellenists. But they were seeking to kill him.  And when the brothers learned this, they brought him down to Caesarea and sent him off to Tarsus. ”

— Acts 9:26-30

When you're reading this passage, it could be easy to think Verse 26 describes something that took place days or minutes after Verse 25, but as far as I can tell, there's at least a three year time span between Saul being snuck out of Damascus and visiting Jerusalem. How do we know that, and what was Saul doing during that three year period?

The answer to that is given to us in the book of Galatians where Saul/Paul says...

"But when he who had set me apart before I was born, and who called me by his grace, 16 was pleased to reveal his Son to me, in order that I might preach him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with anyone; 17 nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me, but I went away into Arabia, and returned again to Damascus.

Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to visit Cephas and remained with him fifteen days". (Galatians 1:15-18)

Three years is a decent amount of time to commit to learning, and Jesus made certain Saul had the training he needed for the rest of his task. But Saul still had an old reputation to overcome. There were some people that still viewed him through the lens of the life he once led and they were very hesitant to let him anywhere near them. Does that sound familiar to you? Are there people in your life that treat you that way too?

By this time, Saul had developed a track record of faithfulness that others were able to attest to. Barnabas spoke well of Saul and calmed the fears of the early church. Then Saul continued to make the gospel known, which confirmed the kind words Barnabas had said of him.

Your reputation will follow your dedication.

IV. A dedicated life has a unique walk

“So the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria had peace and was being built up. And walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it multiplied. ”

— Acts 9:31

Recently, I was told a story about a man who was trying to hide his identity. He went to great lengths to do so including putting a pebble in his shoe. When asked why he had done that, he admitted that it forced him to walk with a very convincing limp, and since he walked differently, he was able to mask his real identity for a time.

In Christ, we've been given a new identity. In Him, we walk differently. The early church was learning more about this walk by observing the miraculous work the Lord had been doing in Saul's life. He was a changed man. He was a dedicated man, and they learned more about what it means to follow Jesus because of him.

In the process, the church continued to grow in faith. They learned the importance of walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit. And their faith in the midst of pressure and persecution was attractive to many others who eventually became part of the family of God as well.

If your life has been dedicated to Christ, and committed to the calling He has placed on it, you'll learn to walk differently, and I believe the Lord will providentially direct your steps.

© John Stange, 2021

Where is God when I need Him most?

““Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have tried you in the furnace of affliction. For my own sake, for my own sake, I do it, for how should my name be profaned? My glory I will not give to another.””

— Isaiah 48:10-11, ESV

Stephen Colbert gave an interview a few years ago to Anderson Cooper in which the two men shared their experiences with grief. Many people don’t know this about the comedian, but at the age of ten he lost his father and two brothers closest to him in age in a plane crash in 1974. Colbert is the youngest of eleven siblings. At the time, all of them were already out of the house, so he and his mother were left to cope and make sense of the tragedy. When asked how he got through that dark time, Colbert credited his mother’s love for God and the example of her faith. “Even in those days of unremitting grief, she drew on her faith that the only way to not be swallowed by our sorrow, in fact, recognize that our sorrow is inseparable from our joy, is to always understand our suffering, ourselves, in the light of eternity. “ Colbert explained to Cooper that he “learned to love the thing that [he] most wished had not happened.” Quoting J.R.R. Tolkien, he continued, “What punishments of God are not gifts?” 1 An incredulous Cooper, emotional from his much more recent loss, asked, “Do you really believe that?” Colbert, very simply, says, “Yes.” He says, “It’s a gift to exist and with existence comes suffering. If you are grateful for your life, then you have to be grateful for all of it.”

It was a moving interview, clearly touching on Christian beliefs, but in many ways the conversation remained somewhat generic, with references from Tolkien rather than scripture and using phrases that only allude to God’s grace through Jesus. I’m sure it had to do with the fact that this was a national broadcast, and there was a sensitivity to not insulting or offending those that may not follow the same traditions. There was a beautiful message just hanging between the words which went unsaid or only partially said. I watched this interview several times, and it was so unsatisfying to be left open ended like that. So, I went to God’s Word for the complete Truth.

First, Genesis tells us that suffering is a result of the original fall of man. When sin entered the world, pain and suffering were introduced as a consequence of sin. So, you and I experience all forms of this, like bodily pain, sickness, mental illness, addiction, temptation, persecution, and death. We’ve all experienced one form of hardship or another. It is how we choose to go through this suffering, however, that can either draw us closer to God or push us away from Him.

The prophet Hosea says, “Come let us return to the Lord, for he has torn us, that he may heal us; he has struck us down, and he will bind us up (6:1). Furthermore, 1 Peter 4:12-13 states: “Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed.”

Much of the time there is an assumption that as a child of God our lives are supposed to be easy. Then, if things go south with the loss of loved one or sudden health or financial problems, or even witnessing someone else’s troubles, we might begin to question “Why did this happen to me?” or “Where is God when I need Him most?” What the scripture is telling us is that if we have received Christ, the tearing of God is not to destroy us but to restore. That pain is not wasted. Jesus’ pain was not for nothing. It all comes through God’s loving hands and by his mercy He transforms that pain into faith in Him. There was no other way to bring redemption to the world. God had to come down to a fallen world Himself and die a brutal death, but it was all for an eternal purpose. It’s that understanding which leads us to a more profound joy.

Scripture is filled with calls for us to express our thanks to the Lord. 1 Thessalonians declares that we should give thanks in all circumstances (5:16-18). With that attitude in mind, we are actually able to glorify God through our suffering, until we meet Him face to face. It’s interesting that this life, right now, is the only time we get to worship God in this way, because in Heaven, there will be no more pain or sorrow. I never thought about it like that before, that we have a unique opportunity to use our pain as a form of praise. Everything the Lord does is an expression of His love. He loves us abundantly and at the same time allows misfortune to everyone that receives Him, without exception in order to fulfill a specific purpose. The narrower our focus is, the easier it is for us to only look at the negatives of our present situation. And that’s a natural first step. As we grow and begin to understand more about who God is, we can then thank Him for how He is blessing us in those circumstances and be grateful for it.

In the midst of our suffering we must become dependent on God. When Jesus was in the Garden of Gethsemane on the night He was betrayed, He prayed to God that he would not have to endure what was about to happen, yet still resolved “Not my will, but Yours.” When we do that, we gain a fresh perspective and can trust in His promises, that He is always with us and working in and through us in order to save us. Then we can shine His light and give glory to his name. God is the only one who should receive glory for what happens to us, good or bad. By looking to God for help now, especially when things are less than ideal, makes spending eternity with Him all the more meaningful. We are being refined for God’s glory. Our own challenges have very little to do with us but are actually about furthering God’s kingdom.

God doesn’t make mistakes. The bad things that surround us or happen to us are just the visible or tangible elements. God is in control, with all things working toward His eternal plan. 2 Corinthians says, “For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen, but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.” (4:17-18 ESV) If there was a question as to whether we will one day “get our money’s worth” out of this life on earth, Paul insists that we not even try to make an assessment; we cannot begin to fathom such an existence.

God owes us nothing, and yet He has given us so much and has done so much for us, and we deserve none of it. Jesus gave life to the promise that everything that perishes will ultimately lead to something greater. He took on a punishment that brought us peace. His agony means we can be free. This life does not last forever, and we have been told the end of the story, that Christ will come again. If we understand God’s purposes for our suffering (for our good and His glory), we can keep our eyes fixed on Christ and the hope we have in Him. When that is the case, our trials seem light and will last just a moment. And when we compare those moments in the scope of eternity, Corinthians tells us, they cannot begin to compare with the glory that shall be revealed to us.

Here is where there is a distinction between how a child of God views tragedy compared to the rest of the world. An imperfect world will not call any kind of pain “love,” as it cannot comprehend without faith, that God uses hardship to draw us closer to Him. In fact, that very idea is used as an argument against the existence of God all of the time. “You say that God is love, but if that were true, there would be no horrors in the world.” It just isn’t so. It is not in God’s nature to torture or harm people. He wants to restore that face-to- face relationship with us. As much as He is perfectly loving, He is also perfectly just. So, again, this suffering is a consequence of sin, but God uses it to draw us closer to Himself. As a child of God, we know we will live a life that includes trials, and it is actually proof that we are walking with the Lord. I believe that God grows us the most through these unpleasant times.

Romans chapter eight talks about being joint heirs with Christ, that we share in all that He does, He is, and has; so that tells us that Jesus shares pieces of His glory, grace, and suffering. When we receive His grace, we have fellowship with Him in all things, including our suffering (physical, psychological, or spiritual). That’s an amazing thing, and on the surface it’s hard to make sense of it in our tiny, human brains. Why would He do that? He already laid His glory aside and condescended from Heaven, and gave his whole self for us. Hasn’t He done enough? The reward should belong to Jesus alone, the whole universe and all of the glory and majesty. But Jesus says to us, “You’re my Father’s child, too.” And he shares everything with us, the pain and the prize. It’s because He loves us.

It’s why we do the same for each other. There are times I’ve gone to funerals, and before I leave the house, I’ll say, “I really don’t want to do this.” It can be uncomfortable seeing people grieve, and I’m not the best at handling my own feelings, so it might stir up past memories or emotions that I’d rather not deal with. But I go anyway, not for myself but for the other person, to show them love and support to get them through that difficult time. Jesus does the same for us. Our suffering is a testimony to what He did on the cross. So when we experience these things, we should look at it as an honor because we are, in that moment, reflecting the image of Jesus who lives in us. We can be filled with the joy of our salvation to help us persevere and focus on our eternal inheritance in Jesus. We have hope that the world is not the end. We’ll be with Jesus forever. The more willing we are to let the suffering shape us into who God wants us to be, and take joy in the fact that His is going through it all with us, our faith in Jesus will only grow.

The Bible is very clear that sometimes the love that God has for us can hurt. In his writings on the Gospel of Matthew, J.C. Ryle, an English evangelical Bishop from the 1800s, wrote:

“There is nothing which shows our ignorance so much as our impatience under trouble. We forget that every cross is a message from God, intended to do us good in the end. Trials are intended to make us think, to wean us from the world, to send us to the Bible, to drive us to our knees. Health is a good thing, but sickness is far better, if it leads us to God. Prosperity is a great mercy, but adversity is a greater one if it brings us to Christ. Anything, anything is better than living in indifference and dying in sin.” (Matthew, pg. 130-131)

If we never experienced suffering and loss, would we ever run to Jesus? Sometimes the love we need most is the love we want least. In the moment, we wouldn’t recognize it as love and we most likely will not understand why we go through these things, but there is more at stake than our own understanding. God sees the whole picture, His whole plan laid out before Him. And in His hands, our mess has meaning. Taking up a cross looks different for everyone. Maybe it means a life of physical pain. For some it might be doing what you don’t want to do because you know God wants you to do it. God is good. Behind the real pain that He allows is an even more real love that we can never be separated from. The joy that we have in Christ is one that surpasses everything else. Jesus tells us, “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33)

© 2021, Jacqueline Kerlin
Submitted as a Guest Post to DesireJesus.com

Sources

• The Holy Bible, New International Version and English Standard Version

• “The Late, Great Stephen Colbert,” GQ Magazine; Joel Lovell, August 17, 2015.

• “The Stephen Colbert Interview,” Anderson Cooper 360⁰; August 20, 2019.

• “Theology of Suffering: Definition, Biblical Views, Why It Matters,” www.justdisciple.com; McKenna Von Gunten.

• “What Punishments of God Are Not Gifts?,” www.desiringGod.org; Marshall Segall, August 27, 2019.

Decide what price you're willing to pay to answer the call

There are few things in this world as stressful as buying a house. Right now as I'm writing this, the real-estate market is hot. Houses are appreciating in price and properties are selling quickly. The other day I had lunch with some friends, one of which is a real-estate agent, and he admitted that he's doing everything he can do to keep up with the business.

I have purchased four homes in my life. Two were rental properties and two were primary residences. Three of those four properties were in a part of Pennsylvania where housing prices tend to be affordable, but my current home is in a part of the state that tends to be more expensive. Properties cost two or three times what they cost where I used to live, and property taxes are double or triple the rate I grew used to as well.

When we bought our current home, I had a hard time wrapping my mind around the cost. Its price was average for this area, but that price felt like a real stretch to me 13 years ago. In fact, since the previous owners had been relocated by their employer, the home was owned by a relocation company. With that in mind, I decided to do something bold when I bought it. I offered a price that was $30,000 less than asking price, asked for several thousand in repairs to be made before we signed the papers, and asked the relocation company to cover our closing costs. If there was any chance of me being able to afford the house, they needed to accept my offer.

My real-estate agent was shocked when I told her what I was requesting. She was concerned that we might offend them with our offer, but I said, "It's a relocation company. I don't think they'll take this personally." Thankfully, with very little adjustment, they accepted our offer, and we were able to buy the house.

When it comes to our walk with Jesus and His calling on our lives, we're also going to need to consider the price we're willing to pay to answer His call. The truth is, it will cost you everything, and that's why most people in this world aren't following Him. The price seems too steep, so they stick with what's familiar, miss the entire point of why they were created, and go to their graves having no clue that they just traded eternal joy for the fleeting riches of this world.

Let's not make that mistake. Look with me at what Jesus tells us about what it means to decide what price you're willing to pay to answer His call.

I. This statement will only offend you if your heart is in the wrong place.

“Now great crowds accompanied him, and he turned and said to them, “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.  Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.” ”

— Luke 14:25-27

During the course of His earthly ministry, Jesus said many interesting things that could at times puzzle His initial audience. Many of those statements still puzzle people today, and the words Jesus spoke in this passage certainly fall into that category.

At this point in His ministry, Jesus had revealed His divine nature. He taught about eternal things with authority. He healed people of diseases. He raised the dead to life, and he ticked off religious leaders who were jealous of the attention He was getting. In fact, Jesus was becoming so well known that great crowds of people started following Him wherever He went and assembling to hear Him in the towns He visited.

It's ironic, but people still do the same things to Jesus today that they did back then. Some people in that crowd had devoted their entire life to following Him, while others were just there to observe out of curiosity sake. So to differentiate between them, Jesus made a definitive statement. He said that a person's love for Him must be so great that their love for their closest family would look like hate in comparison. He said we must be willing to identify with Him in every way, even by receiving the reproaches of this world, if we would really call ourselves His disciples. What do you think? Could that be said of you?

Several years ago, I received a word of criticism from someone that I think was intended to discourage me, but it actually had the opposite effect. I was criticized for caring more about my family than I cared about our church. That was certainly an interesting thing to hear because I know in my heart that I love my family and I love our church, but here's the thing... I do care about my family more than I care about anyone or anything else on this earth. I care more about my family than our church, my friends, and even myself. So I'm OK with that criticism. To be honest, it actually made that critic sound unwise and immature to me.

But according to Jesus, my love for my family, even though it is my greatest earthly love, must pale in comparison to my love and devotion to Him if I'm really going to be His disciple. The great news about that, however, is that when I truly understand what it means to walk in the love of Christ, that's when I learn what it really looks like to love my family. And through my relationship with Christ, I'm granted His power and wisdom to love and lead my family the right way.

So, when I look at Christ's comments about loving Him above everyone else, I realize that statement will only offend me if it needs to. It will only offend me if my heart is in the wrong place.

II. Have you considered the cost of what you're trying to build?

““For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it?  Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’” ”

— Luke 14:28-30

When we bought our home, part of what made it affordable for us was the fact that it needed some updating and cosmetic repairs that we have had to budget for over time. In the years since we first purchased it, we replaced the steps out front, put on a new roof, replaced the furnace and did a whole bunch of other things. But one of the biggest interior changes we made was updating the kitchen, appliances, and flooring.

When we did that, we had no idea how much it was going to cost, so we sat down with a contractor and did some planning. He mapped everything out for us, presented us with a variety of options, and surprised us with some really good prices that made it possible for us to get all the updates made as long as we did the majority of the prep work.

There is a natural cost to building something. Jesus used the example of building a tower to illustrate that. He said if you're going to build something like that, make sure you know what it's going to cost you ahead of time, otherwise you'll look foolish if you get the project started and can't finish it.

Christ's words in this passage are meant to give us a picture of discipleship and what it looks like to consider the cost of following Him. He's building our lives, and we're using His strength to build families, ministries, and businesses that are built with the specific aim of giving Him glory. What will it cost you to follow His lead? What are you willing to pay to build things His way?

III. Do you understand how much it will cost you to go to war?

““Or what king, going out to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and deliberate whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand?  And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace.” ”

— Luke 14:31-32

I find it very interesting that Jesus uses the analogy of a king going out to war in the midst of this challenge to follow Him. Going off to war involves planning, gathering resources, securing financial reserves, assembling a band of soldiers, training them to fight, and treating the wounds they might receive while in battle. It's not a small undertaking, and there's a lot of attention to detail that needs to go into it.

I preach a lot about Jesus, but sometimes I wonder if people really know what I'm talking about when I speak about the nature of following Him. The truth is, following Jesus can feel a lot like getting involved in a war. Not necessarily a war in the physical sense, but certainly in the spiritual sense.

If you decide to commit your life to following Christ and answering His calling on your life, you need to know that there will be people who will come against you. It won't seem rational and it won't make a lot of sense, but it definitely happens. Without exception, every time I have been obedient to committing myself to a major task or ministry that the Lord has directed me toward, I have experienced opposition.

But don't let yourself believe the people opposing you are the real enemy. They're being deceived into believing that their fight is against you, even though it isn't. The real enemy is Satan. The real battle is spiritual in nature. But the victory Christ secured in His resurrection from the dead is a victory that He graciously shares with all who trust in Him. His victory can become your victory if you're willing to entrust your life to Him without reservation.

IV. You're not ready to answer the call until you're willing to pay the big price.

““So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.” ”

— Luke 14:33

Is there anything in your life that's still more important to you than Jesus? When we look at what He says in this passage, Jesus makes it really clear that if there's anything in our lives that's still more important to us than Him, then we really don't know Him. In this passage, He encourages us to renounce our idols and all the things of this world that we mistakenly believed could satisfy the longing in our hearts. They can't satisfy you. I just hope it doesn't take us most of our lives to figure that out.

How big of a price are you willing to pay to follow Him and say yes to His calling for you? Quite frequently, I hear people say they're willing to pay the big price, but when you take a closer look, you quickly realize that most people are all talk and no faith. They're all talk and no action. How many people do you know that won't even give up watching TV to invest that time in themselves, take action on their dreams, or say "yes" to Christ's calling on their life.

There's a song called "Something To Believe In" by a group called FM Static. I became familiar with the song back in 2003 and there's a line from it that often comes to mind, especially when it comes to the subject of faith in Christ and answering his call. In that song they say, "Don't want to spend my lifetime figuring out I missed the point now it's over."

Are you willing to pay the price to say yes to Jesus? I promise you, you won't regret it.

““Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own.  Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.””

— Philippians 3:12-14

© John Stange, 2021

Deepen your relationships and surround yourself with layers of support

When I promise something to someone, I try to keep those promises. I'm not a big fan of polite conversations where people tell each other things they don't mean, or things they have no intention on following up on, just because it sounds like a good idea in the moment. If someone tells me they're going to do something, I respect them when they actually do it, and I've learned that if I want others to respect me, I need to be sure to do what I have promised to do.

A little over a month ago, I finally updated my car after driving the same vehicle for 14 years. When I posted a picture of it online, a friend of mine messaged me and said, "Nice car! When are you going to pick me up so we can grab some ice cream?" He doesn't live far from me, so I told him that I'd make a point to do that this Summer. Well, the other day, I had the opportunity to make good on that promise.

Late in the afternoon, he sent me a text and said, "Hey, we should grab ice cream tonight so I can check out your car." I said, "Sounds good. Let's do it." Then I checked the weather report and noticed that thunderstorms were predicted for the evening, so I messaged him back and said, "I think it's going to rain later. If you're free, I think we should go right now." He was free, so I drove over and picked him up. He even treated for the ice cream, which was a nice bonus.

I mention that story for two reasons. First of all, I think a simple way we can communicate that we value one another is by keeping our word to each other. Second, we have not been created by God to walk through life alone. He has designed us to live in community. All throughout His word, He encourages us to deepen our relationships, remain accountable to one another, and surround ourselves with layers of support.

I have also come to believe that the input we receive from others, and the ways in which they respond to the help we offer, can also help us gain additional clarity on the nature of our calling and the ways in which God wants us to use our lives.

What counsel does His word give us about these things?

I. Don't live your life in isolation.

““Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted.” ”

— Galatians 6:1

The other day, I heard a man share about a very interesting career change he had made. He decided to buy a diesel truck and tow new campers to their destination after customers purchased them. The job takes him all throughout the United States, pays reasonably well, and for the most part, he enjoys it. But there was one major drawback to his new career. He spends a considerable amount of time in isolation, which he admitted wasn't healthy if that was left unbalanced.

I think most of us appreciate moments of privacy and time to ourselves when we can get it, but if we're living the majority of our lives in isolation and we aren't inviting the outside input of others, there's a lot we'll inevitably miss out on.

Community is healthy for God's family because we have been created in His image. For all eternity, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit have lived in perfect community. As those who have been fashioned to reflect Him, we have been designed for fellowship and relationship as well. In fact, soon after Adam was created, the Lord said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.” (Genesis 2:18)

When Paul was writing to the Galatian believers, I believe he had some of these foundational concepts in mind as well. Paul spoke of times when believers might be caught in a transgression. Well, how can someone be caught doing anything, whether positive or negative, if he or she isn't living in proximity to others in some fashion. And in response to that, Paul also encourages the church to gently restore brothers and sisters after these errors are made. Again, how can that restoration be made if all we do is avoid one another and live in isolation.

No believer can grow to the level they've been designed to grow to if they make a habit of avoiding the very people that God has placed in their life to help them get there.

II. Help your brothers and sisters carry their burdens.

““Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.” ”

— Galatians 6:2

There are a variety of things Jesus did for us, taught to us, and demonstrated in order to help us understand. When Jesus came to this earth, He kept the requirements of the Old Testament Law perfectly for us, because we couldn't do so. He also taught us that we could summarize the heart of God's law by loving God and loving one another. Then He went to the cross, took the burden of our sin upon Himself, and died a substitutionary death in our place. If we claim to love Jesus, we should value what He has done for us, and one of the most powerful ways we can demonstrate the fact that we value what He has done is by treating one another like He has treated us.

Paul explained to the Galatians that bearing one another's burdens was a visible demonstration of our love for Jesus and love for one another. He describes our willingness to bear one another's burdens as a fulfillment of the law of Christ. The way we treat one another is a visible example that shows that the work Christ has done on our behalf has actually had an effect on our lives. It's the fruit of a heart that has been changed by the Holy Spirit who indwells all who trust in Jesus.

Who, for Christ's glory, is helping you carry your burdens? There are people in my life who are blessing me that way, and it's making a huge difference on my quality of life. Likewise, the older I get, the more Jesus has impressed upon my heart a willingness to bear the burdens of others. I think I was more selfish about this when I was younger, but as my faith matures, I'm becoming less selfish about the burdens I'm willing to bear.

One of my favorite records of all time is Charlie Peacock's album, "Everything That's On My Mind." He wrote that album right after his father passed away, and the record is filled with his reflections on the wisdom he received from his father and some of the lessons his dad taught him during his life.

In one song, Charlie speaks about a time when he was away, but came home and got in trouble with his father almost immediately. He says it this way in the song...

In later years, on a river of tears I drifted home for a while,
Since shame was the only glory I'd ever known, I didn't change my style,
First night home I got drunk and confused,
Mistook you for a fool, you were not amused, you said...

Aim a little higher, cause you're not living,
All this taking, son, and never giving's gonna catch up to you like a ball of fire,
Aim a little...aim a little...aim a little higher,
- "Aim a Little Higher," by Charlie Peacock

What do you think? Have you been doing too much taking and not enough giving in your relationships or are you willing to help your brothers and sisters carry their burdens while also letting them assist you with carrying your own?

III. Be very careful to make sure what you believe about yourself is accurate.

““For if anyone thinks he is something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself.  But let each one test his own work, and then his reason to boast will be in himself alone and not in his neighbor.  For each will have to bear his own load.” ”

— Galatians 6:3-5

Pride and conceit get in the way of us seeing ourselves through an accurate lens. Paul cautions against that in these verses. As we're bearing one another's burdens, we shouldn't do so with a puffed up attitude. We shouldn't look at the struggles of others in a condescending way or think of ourselves as better than them just because we may not be struggling with the same things.

Likewise, we shouldn't make a habit of comparing the fruit of our efforts to the fruit of the efforts of other people. Jesus is our ultimate standard, and none of us can compare with Him, so we should think of ourselves with humility. We should do what we're called to do, to the best ability we can do it, and we should entrust the ultimate results to the Lord who delights to bless the fruit of our efforts in ways that are exponentially beyond what we could ask or expect.

But again, as we trust the Lord in this way, let's continue to be sure to see ourselves from His eyes. We are His children, and just like everyone else in our life, we too have many struggles, but we can trust the Lord to see us through them all. We don't need to puff ourselves up, or degrade ourselves. If we learn to see ourselves as He sees us, I think we'll also begin to see others as He sees them, and that's a great way to begin deepening the nature of our relationships.

IV. You will reap what is being sown into your life.

““Let the one who is taught the word share all good things with the one who teaches.  Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap.””

— Galatians 6:6-7

Recently, I was asked to speak for a funeral service. It was a service for a woman who had a major influence on me in my teen years when I started taking my relationship with Jesus seriously. She was my pastor's wife, and she also taught the high school Sunday School class in our church. During that season, both she and her husband made significant investments in my spiritual life and made themselves available to help me understand Scripture, living out my faith in Christ, and what it looks like to share that faith with others.

I think of people like that when I look at Paul's words in these verses because he teaches us to share good things with people like that who make deeper level investments in our spiritual walk. He also reminds us that we will reap what's being sown into our lives.

What are you sowing into your life? What kind of seeds are being planted in your soil? Who are you allowing to plant those seeds? I'll guarantee you that what this Scripture says is true. If good, Christ-centered seed is being planted in your life, you're going to see eternally abundant, Christ-centered fruit cropping up. And if you're allowing the seeds of worldliness to be planted, you'll grow a crop of worldliness that also comes with a heaping dose of shame and regret.

When we deepen our relationships with those who love Jesus, and when we surround ourselves with layers of support from our Christian family, we can be certain that we'll be blessed with the help we need to navigate trials, the wisdom we need to make wise choices, and the friendships we need with people who will celebrate our successes and share our joys.

We'll also be blessed with the kind of clarity we need when we're trying to say yes to the dreams, desires, and calling God has placed upon our life. Quite often, God grants us that clarity through the counsel of our brothers and sisters in Christ.

© John Stange, 2021

Delay your need for affirmation and gratification

I don't remember everything I thought about pastoral ministry before I actually became a pastor, but I can definitely say that some of my expectations were dead wrong, and that was made very clear to me the second I accepted the invitation to lead my first church.

During the years prior to that, I was serving as the youth director at a church near where I went to college while I finished my degrees. As often as possible, I accepted opportunities to be the guest speaker at other churches. I knew that the only way I was going to improve in sermon preparation and delivery was by getting as much practice as I could.

Most often when I visited places as a guest speaker, they would give me encouraging feedback. I honestly expected the same from my first church, but that's not what I got. In fact, for the first six months I served as their pastor, I didn't receive a single encouraging word. Not one. I was serving a church that went though a season of major conflict about two months before I arrived, and it took a while for them to heal. They just weren't in the mood to encourage me while their feelings were still tender.

That experience was very hard for me. I felt un-welcomed, unappreciated, and unloved. But when I look back at that season now, I'm extremely grateful for it. I needed to learn what it was like to remain faithful to a task regardless of how I felt. I also believe the Lord was doing me a favor. If not receiving verbal encouragement would have prevented me from preaching, then I didn't belong in the pulpit in the first place. The pulpit is for giving Christ praise, not trying to get praise for yourself. This experience was His way of helping me get that straight in my head.

I think many people struggle with the willingness to answer their calling and stick with what they've been called to do because they may be waiting for an immediate pat on the back or they expect to see the kind of results on day one that only really show up after years of faithful service.

What about you? Are you willing to delay your desire for affirmation or gratification in order to give your calling time to develop and your efforts the opportunity to mature?

I. Do your work for a person and a purpose, not for praise.

“And he who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five talents more, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me five talents; here, I have made five talents more.’ ”

— Matthew 25:20

Jesus was a master storyteller. The parables He conveyed and the stories He told are immensely insightful and helpful. In Matthew 25, Jesus told a parable about a property owner who was going on a journey, but entrusted portions of money to various servants before he left. He gave five talents to one servant, two talents to another, and one talent to a third, according to their stewardship abilities. Two servants were faithful with their task and doubled the money entrusted to them, but one servant did nothing with it, and likewise had nothing productive to show when the property owner returned.

When I read that parable, I see examples of people who were motivated by different things. Two of the servants were motivated by faith and faithfulness, while the other servant seemed paralyzed by fear and doubt.

What motivates you? What keeps you pressing forward with the mission and calling you've been entrusted with?

I believe that as followers of Christ, we should be motivated by something deeper than the approval of our peers. Most people in this world spend their entire lives making decisions that aren't based on conviction, but on whether or not they'll receive praise for what they decide. Let's aim higher than that as we pursue Christ's calling on our lives.

The servants in Christ's parable demonstrate what it looks like to do their work for a person and a purpose, not for praise. There's something powerful we can learn from their example. The person we're called to glorify is Jesus. The purpose we're called to join Him in is the growth of His kingdom. But if our greatest motive is the praise of men, we'll quickly lose sight of the person and purpose we've been called to honor.

There's another great example of long-term thinking in Scripture that I also want to highlight because it demonstrates what it can look like to delay affirmation and gratification. It's the example of Jacob and Rachel that's shared with us in Genesis.

II. It's good to have something to look forward to.

“Then Laban said to Jacob, “Because you are my kinsman, should you therefore serve me for nothing? Tell me, what shall your wages be?”  Now Laban had two daughters. The name of the older was Leah, and the name of the younger was Rachel.  Leah’s eyes were weak, but Rachel was beautiful in form and appearance.  Jacob loved Rachel. And he said, “I will serve you seven years for your younger daughter Rachel.”  Laban said, “It is better that I give her to you than that I should give her to any other man; stay with me.” ”

— Genesis 29:15-19

I'm convinced that my quality of life improves when I have something to look forward to. I think that's true in both the spiritual and physical realm. My overall sense of optimism is fed daily by the hope I have in Jesus, so I'm confident that all things in my life will work out for His glory and my good. I also like to add things to my daily calendar that provide a touchpoint along the way that can bring a smile to my face.

Sometimes those additions to my calendar are as simple as buying concert tickets and looking forward to a good show. Other times those additions include long-term financial goals like saving up for a car or paying off a mortgage. But one of the biggest, long-term events in my life that I spent a long while thinking about was the privilege to marry Andrea. We started dating during my freshman year of college and I didn't want to get married until we were finished with our education and I had the ability to support a family. That wait was a little over three years, but it was absolutely worth it.

In Genesis, we're told the story of the union of Jacob and Rachel. The Lord had a plan for their lives that was going to impact humanity as a whole in drastic ways, so it's fun to go back in time and see how their marriage began. In return for permission to marry Rachel, Jacob agreed to work for her father Laban for a full seven years. Would you have agreed to that kind of an arrangement?

Jacob was completely smitten with Rachel. Keep in mind that in time, Jacob's name was going to be changed by God to Israel, and through his marriage to Rachel, Joseph and Benjamin would be born. This was a foreordained relationship, and Jacob was willing to endure many years of labor because he was looking forward to taking Rachel as his wife.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average length of time a modern-day employee remains on a job is 4.6 years. In our day, people change jobs two or even three times in the time Jacob spent working for Laban, but Jacob didn't quit. He knew what he was looking forward to, and neither hard labor nor an ungrateful employer could rob him of his optimistic focus.

What are you looking forward to? Can you see the outcome by faith before you can see it by sight?

III. A sense of mission makes your labors seem lighter.

“So Jacob served seven years for Rachel, and they seemed to him but a few days because of the love he had for her.”

— Genesis 29:20

When my sense of mission is clear, the tasks I'm working on feel different. I find that I'm willing to put up with long hours doing very unglamorous things as long as I am motivated by the mission.

I remember when the Lord impressed upon my heart to lead a Christian camp and conference center in the Pocono mountains. I was willing to clear snow, clean rooms, unclog drains, repair broken things, dig holes, and deal with complaints because I knew without a shadow of a doubt that this was the mission God had given me for that season of my life. And in that process, I was constantly uplifted by seeing thousands of people come to know Jesus and grow in their walk with Him during the years I served with that ministry. Most of the time, the work was unceremoniously difficult and dirty, but the outcome made it worth it, and the years serving in that role passed by quickly.

Scripture tells us that Jacob served Laban for seven years, but they only seemed like a few days to him because of his great love for Rachel. Not only is that statement romantic and heart-warming, it's also a very clear picture of the nature of what it looks like to commit yourself to the mission the Lord entrusts to you. When you find yourself serving in the role you've been called and designed to serve in, don't be surprised when it feels like the days are flying by.

IV. The reward that awaits you outshines your vanities.

“His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’ ”

— Matthew 25:21

Coming back to the initial parable that we started with, I love the statement that the property owner made to the faithful servant. The property owner praised the quality of his work as well as his faithfulness. He also made it clear that because he was faithful with little things, he would be entrusted with larger things as well, and would share in the joy of his master.

When I read a parable like this, I can't help but take an assessment of what the Lord has entrusted to me. He is allowing me to steward a family, a ministry, abilities, and resources. I need to make certain that I'm faithful with these things because there is a day when I'm going to give an account of my life to Him. He is going to settle accounts with me, and the fruit of what I have done with what He gave me is going to be evaluated.

“For no one can lay any foundation other than the one we already have—Jesus Christ.

Anyone who builds on that foundation may use a variety of materials—gold, silver, jewels, wood, hay, or straw.  But on the judgment day, fire will reveal what kind of work each builder has done. The fire will show if a person’s work has any value.  If the work survives, that builder will receive a reward.  But if the work is burned up, the builder will suffer great loss. The builder will be saved, but like someone barely escaping through a wall of flames.”

— 1 Corinthians 3:11-15, NLT

When that day comes, the affirmation and the gratification I have been delaying are going to be granted to me. The joys of the kingdom of God are going to be my eternal reality. I'm counting on the day when Jesus is going to look at me and let me hear Him say, "Well done!" But in the meantime, as the fruit of my genuine faith in Him, it's my mission to be faithful with any gift He allows my hand to touch or my arms to steward.

The saddest people to me are those who only live for immediate affirmation and gratification. There's so much they're missing because their vantage point is too low and their outlook is too limited. But through Jesus, we're granted an eternal perspective. We can see future things as if they're here with us today. So with the kind of future the Lord has promised us in mind, let's set our hearts toward enduring and completing the mission He's granted us in the present.

© John Stange, 2021

Defeat your fear of the word "no"

In Acts 3, we're told of a man in his 40's who was incapable of walking. Each day, he was carried to a gate of the temple in Jerusalem where he would beg passers by for money. Many people considered supporting him and others like him an act of charity that was a good reflection of genuine faith, so he grew used to receiving financial support from others and probably assumed he would do so for the rest of his life.

When he saw Peter and John about to enter the temple, he asked them for money as well, but instead of receiving money, he received a miracle. By the power of God, Peter healed the man in the name of Jesus, and the man was not only able to stand, but walk and leap as well. It was obvious to the many people who saw what happened that this was a miracle, especially because this man's previous physical condition was well known to them.

Peter used this opportunity to preach the message of the gospel to those who were in his hearing, and we're told that thousands came to faith in Jesus. We're also told that some of the religious leaders of the day were greatly annoyed that Peter and John continued to proclaim the name of Jesus and teach that not only did Jesus rise from death, but all who trust in Him will experience that same kind of resurrection as well. So they arrested Peter and John and put them into custody until the next day when they could interrogate them further.

As we look at what takes place next, we're going to be shown how these apostles responded when they were told not to proclaim Jesus. Their actions make it obvious that they had defeated their fear of the word "no." How about you? Are you still afraid you'll be told "no" once you start pursuing God's purpose and plan for your life?

I. Spending time with Jesus produces a holy boldness in your life.

““Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated, common men, they were astonished. And they recognized that they had been with Jesus.  But seeing the man who was healed standing beside them, they had nothing to say in opposition.” ”

— Acts 4:13-14

Have you acknowledged to yourself just how much influence other people can have on your life and how much what you do is impacted by those you choose to spend the most time with? A few years ago, I came across a video that was taken of me with I was fifteen years old. I was acting in a skit at summer camp, and I noticed that the way I spoke was highly influenced by the people I hung out with most at the time. The slang I used in that video and the inflection I delivered it with made it very clear who I was spending time around.

Now, as a follower of Jesus Christ, I want it to be obvious to anyone who might examine my life closely that I spend a lot of time with Him. I want people to see that in the way I talk, the way I treat others, the decisions I make, and the steps of faith I'm willing to take.

It was obvious to the religious leaders in first century Jerusalem that Peter and John had spent time with Jesus. They hadn't received the kind of formal schooling these leaders had been through, but because they were directly mentored by Jesus, and were indwelled by the Holy Spirit, they could understand and speak confidently about deeper level spiritual issues that weren't even clear to these traditionally trained leaders.

Spending time with Jesus will make you bold. Spending time with Him will give you a major boost of confidence. Not confidence in yourself necessarily, but confidence in what He can do in and through your life. Peter and John were being threatened by powerful men, but they weren't intimidated by their threats. They were willing to speak boldly about Jesus even through they knew these leaders had the authority to hurt or imprison them.

What kind of impact has spending time with Jesus been having on your life? Are you bolder than you once were? Are you willing to stand up to the threats you may receive from people who don't share the vision, clarity, or conviction the Lord has blessed you with?

II. Some people try to prevent or contain what they don't understand.

“But when they had commanded them to leave the council, they conferred with one another,  saying, “What shall we do with these men? For that a notable sign has been performed through them is evident to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and we cannot deny it.  But in order that it may spread no further among the people, let us warn them to speak no more to anyone in this name.”  So they called them and charged them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus..”

— Acts 4:15-18

In various places in South America, there are still groups of people who have not had much, or any, contact with the outside world. There's a whole world of technology and innovation they haven't experienced, and there are all kinds of debates raging on whether or not people should attempt to make contact with them or if they should be allowed to live without being disturbed.

The other day, I saw a video of their reactions to a drone flying overhead. They were very disturbed by it, and their men had arrows ready to shoot it down if given the opportunity. I don't fault them for being cautious, but their behavior demonstrated something that seems to be true of most people. When we don't understand something, we usually try to stop it, contain it, or kill it.

This was the dilemma faced by the religious leaders who were trying to figure out what to do with Peter and John. It was clear that the man at the temple had been miraculously healed, and these leaders didn't bother trying to deny that fact. But they didn't understand, and they weren't willing to accept, what was taking place in their midst. They thought they had succeeded in ending the ministry of Jesus when they championed His crucifixion, but now it was clear that the name of Jesus was going to continue to be proclaimed and His power was going to continue to have a miraculous effect on the world.

These leaders could have repented of their unbelief in the midst of such overwhelming evidence, but instead, they doubled down on their disbelief and they attempted to contain the apostles. Peter and John were told in the strictest way possible that they were no longer to speak in the name of Jesus or teach people about Him. I don't know if these leaders thought this would effectively box Peter and John in, but I'm guessing they expected them to obey.

Would you have listened to these leaders if they tried to box you in? Are there people in your life right now who might be trying to prevent or contain the work God wants to do through you? How will you respond? Will you let them hold you back?

III. Don't accept counsel that conflicts with God's revealed will.

“But Peter and John answered them, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge, for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard.”  And when they had further threatened them, they let them go, finding no way to punish them, because of the people, for all were praising God for what had happened.  For the man on whom this sign of healing was performed was more than forty years old.”

— Acts 4:19-22

Can I confess something to you that probably wouldn't be much of a surprise to anyone? People have pretty strong opinions about what I do or don't do. I was in a meeting the other day where I admitted that I have very simple tastes in food and I'm not someone who feels the need to do a lot of travel. When I admitted that, I'm pretty sure most people in the meeting turned against me. It was all in good fun, but I'm certain they disagreed with my lack of interest in many foods and most destinations.

That was a small issue that was mostly comical in nature, but in recent years the Lord has been teaching me something about myself that I'm starting to embrace more and more. He's been showing me that I can go to bed in peace as long as I'm confident I'm living in the center of His will and making decisions that are obedient to Him, even if those decisions aren't popular.

That will also get put to the test in your life if you ever choose to answer the calling to become a pastor or the leader of any group of people. You will be forced to make decisions that some people will love and others will disagree with. And sometimes, those who disagree with you might attack you, threaten you, or attempt to demean you to others. But if you're able to take an honest assessment of your actions and say without reservation that you are listening to the direction of God and making your decisions accordingly, I think you'll sleep just fine.

That's exactly what I think was going on in the minds and hearts of Peter and John when they were being threatened by their opposition. The religious leaders in Jerusalem wanted the apostles to listen to their will, not the will of God. But Peter and John demonstrated the depth of their allegiance to Christ when they said, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge," They were saying that they had no intention to accept counsel from anyone who tried to persuade them to disobey God's leading. They weren't afraid of the "no" they were receiving from the religious leaders because God had already made His "yes" abundantly clear to them.

Don't fear the "no" you might hear from those who don't understand your calling or share your faith in Jesus. Don't accept counsel that conflicts with God's will. Press forward, take bold action, give yourself a sneaky little smile in the mirror when you're brushing your teeth at night before bed, then sleep soundly knowing you obeyed God today.

IV. Pray for power and opportunity to do what God has called you to do.

“ “And now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness, while you stretch out your hand to heal, and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant Jesus.””

— Acts 4:29-30

After Peter and John met with these leaders and responded to their threats, they were released and permitted to leave. They took the opportunity to meet together with their friends and let them know what happened, then they prayed for the Lord to empower them with even more boldness when future threats and opposition might come.

Are we praying for the power of Jesus and the opportunity to serve Him like these men were doing? The opportunity to serve Jesus is granted in nearly every vocation and location. It can be demonstrated in every industry and community, and there will be people who respond with favor toward it, while others respond with disdain, but that's just the way it is.

Instead of being afraid of being told "no" from people who don't share our faith or convictions, let's be afraid of spending decades of our life in mediocrity and inaction because we'd rather pacify our opposition than shake things up in a Christ-honoring manner.

© John Stange, 2021

Self-publishing your next book

A guest post submitted by Jennifer Harshman from Harshman Services.

It is exceedingly difficult to get an agent to notice your work—just 2 out of 10,000 authors can get an agent interested. Without an agent, forget going with a traditional publisher. The market is so flooded with authors looking for representation that many agents can’t even begin to look through the stacks of manuscripts arriving to them on a daily basis. You could have the greatest book ever written, but they would never know. 

This is just one of the reasons why the self-publishing industry is growing so rapidly. A few decades ago, self-publishing wasn’t seen as a viable, legitimate way to publish. If you were self-published, people would think your writing just didn’t pass muster. But that’s no longer the case. Self-publishing is now a viable alternative to traditional publishing. Let’s talk about the pros and cons.

The Pros of Self-Publishing

• Creative control – When you hand your work over to a traditional publisher, they will pull in the reins and make a lot of decisions without input from you. These decisions can range anywhere from setting distribution options, changing characters in your story to make it more marketable for them, and assigning a cover for the book. You are handing them complete creative control. With self-publishing, you can keep your characters the way you envisioned them, and you can hire a designer who will create the cover of your dreams, at your direction. You have the final say over revisions. It’s your baby, and you truly own every aspect of it.

• Make changes – If you realize something is not working well, such as the cover, or you’ve heard from people who have found a typo, you can update your files and upload them that day. If there is an issue with a traditionally published book, it’s a feat to make any changes, and a lot of the time, it’s just not possible. When you self-publish, you use POD (Print on Demand), which means your books are printed when ordered by the reader. Traditional publishers get the books printed in bulk, so there is virtually no opportunity for changes.

• You keep the revenue – The average traditionally published author’s royalty is 5%. That means if your book sells for ten dollars, you get fifty cents. If you self-publish, you can keep much more of that for yourself. If you publish through KDP (Amazon) you can keep 30–70% of revenue from book sales. Of course, you have to remember that the upfront costs of publishing fall on your shoulders, which includes paying the editor, cover designer, and layout artist. But you’ll make more money off of each copy that sells.

• Quicker to publish – Expect traditional publishing to take two to three years. With self-publishing, you can have things on the market much faster. You can write your book, have it edited, and work with a designer in a fraction of the time it takes a traditional publisher. Once you finish writing your book, it could be as short as two or three months until it’s available for sale. 

• Available indefinitely – A traditional publisher will stop selling your book as soon as it stops meeting their quota. They call this “moving the book to the backlist.” Most books get moved to the backlist in a matter of months. If you self-publish, you make all decisions for how long you would like to keep your book available. Smart authors leave their books up forever, and continue to write more, building an empire.

The Cons of Self-Publishing

• Marketing – All the marketing of your book falls on your shoulders. But this isn’t much different from traditionally published authors. Traditional publishers do not invest much into unknowns, so you would end up marketing yourself anyway. I highly suggest growing your reader base the moment you start writing your book. Here is some good advice about growing your reader base. 

• No advance – If you are one of the lucky few to get a traditional publishing contract, you might get an advance. An advance is a pre-payment for revenue that the publisher expects to earn by book sales. The amount can vary from tiny to substantial. Then, you won’t start earning revenue until after you “earn out your advance.” You will not get any advance as a self-published author. But I would argue that this is not earth-shattering. The vast majority of authors don’t get much of an advance anyway. 

• Paying out of pocket – As a self-published author, you will have to pay for editing, design, and layout out of your own pocket. You will not have access to a publishing company’s resources. Many actually consider this to be positive. It means you have complete control over your finished product. Just be ready to invest some money. 

• All work falls on you to do and coordinate – You realized by now that writing “The End” does not mean that you are finished. Not by a long shot. There is still a lot more work to do, and most of it has to do with coordinating other professionals as they polish and make your manuscript into a proper book that is ready for sale. If you want to DIY this part, you will have to stay on top of deadlines, professionals, legal issues, and financial matters. In that case, I highly recommend this book Project Management for Writers by my client Terry Stafford, who was a project manager for NASA for more than 20 years and is now a novelist. The book includes a timeline for the steps in the writing, editing, and publishing process. Sometimes it’s good to use a one-stop shop—a company that will serve as a project manager for you and take care of everything you need for one fee. Feel free to discuss this with Jennifer.

• Marketing – With so many books being uploaded to Amazon every day, it’s important to realize how important marketing is. You must take this seriously, or no one will ever know how amazing your book is. In fact, I highly recommend starting to market yourself the moment you write the first word of your book. Here’s a wonderful article written by publishing expert Jane Friedman. 

Self-Publishing Checklist

• Write a cover blurb – After your title and cover, the back blurb is incredibly important. Don’t give a summary of your book. Write advertising copy. You should draw in your reader to persuade them to open your book and read the first few paragraphs. The longer a book is in the hand of a potential reader (or on an open tab in a web browser) the higher the chance it will be bought. Click here to learn about writing the perfect blurb for your book. 

• Write your author bio – Your author bio is important. It’s where you set yourself up as the expert. Take your time writing this so that it is interesting as well as informative. It’s a good idea to have several versions of varying word count for your author bio. Here’s some information on how to craft a compelling author bio, including templates.

• Write your Dedication, Acknowledgments page – Always thank those people who helped you on your path of publishing. Please take the time to write something about those people who stepped in to make your work shine. Don’t forget your family members who sacrificed time with you while you wrote your book.

• Editing, design, layout, and proofing – We’ve talked a lot about editing, design, layout and proofing in previous articles. Take this step seriously. There’s nothing worse than an error-filled book, or a cover that fades to the back. 

• E-Book – Don’t let your e-book become an afterthought. Many people only read e-books, so you cannot leave it on your back burner completely. Harshman Services has layout artists on staff to help you with your eBook. 

• Distributor – There are so many choices when it comes to choosing a distributor. KDP (Amazon), IngramSpark, LuLu, and Barnes & Noble Press are a few that offer services to self-published authors. How do you choose? Here’s an article to help you with that decision.

• Purchase ISBN – Many distributors will give you a free ISBN. Do not use it! Spend the money to order your own ISBN through Bowker, or use the one provided by your one-stop shop, who ordered it from Bowker. You will need a number for every version of your book, including paperback, hardback, and audio book. Why is this important? It’s simple. You can have a publishing name on your book instead of having it look self-published. Trust me, this adds something to your book. Doing so will ensure that you can use more than one printer or distributor. You’ll be better able to “go wide.” If you use KDP’s free ISBN, you are stuck with just Amazon. Do not shackle yourself.

• Price points – You want to make sure your price points match those in the market. Do not price your book too low, or people may think your book isn’t worth a read. At the same time, do not price it so high that you price it right out of the market. 

• Category – Believe it or not, the category you place your book in on Amazon can predict your book’s success. The key is to choose a category that matches your content while going deep. If you are writing a book about the best business practices for freelance content writers, you could choose business as your category, but if you go deeper by looking for a subcategory having to do with running a writing business, your book will be seen by the right people.

• Upload files – Here’s the big moment! Upload your files. You’ve done it! You are now a published author. Tell people, then take yourself out for a special dinner. Congratulations!

It has been a joy for me to write this series of articles to help you on your publishing path. If you have any questions or would like any help, don’t hesitate to contact me at harshmanservices.com. I love helping new authors achieve success, and I would love to hear from you! 

Sincerely, Jennifer Harshman.

The look - Formatting your manuscript

A guest post submitted by Jennifer Harshman from Harshman Services.

You’ve written your manuscript, revised it, and had it edited. This is a big moment. Take a step back and celebrate this milestone. Congratulations!

Now, it’s time to have your piece formatted. If it’s a blog post, it can be as simple as finding and inserting the right images and headings, paragraphing it, and scheduling it to be published.

A book, on the other hand, is a much bigger deal.

There’s a lot more work to be done, but don’t worry; we are here to help. The next part of your journey plays the biggest role in getting your hard work into other people’s hands. 

The reality is that there are about seventy new Amazon books loaded an hour. Which means 1,750 books a day! That’s a lot. A whole lot. You have a lot of competition. Now, I don’t want to make you feel like this is an impossible situation. It’s not, because with a good cover, clear formatting for the “Look Inside” feature, and clever marketing, you will be able to target your audience. 

The key thing to remember while reading through this article is this: Cover design and layout are all about communicating your message. It must be legible, above all else. If your design makes it harder to read your work, your message will be lost. 

You can do this yourself, and for people who intend to publish many books, it is cost effective to learn how to DIY this part. For 95% of people, it’s best to hire a professional. Either way, it’s smart to know some basic terminology and concepts.

Basic Rules of Design

• Negative Space is your friend – You do not need to have a design element on every space of a page. Negative space helps to give focus to elements that are necessary to your design. Clean and crisp designs are refreshing and help your reader focus. Click here for an interesting article about negative space.

• Use a grid structure – You should make sure that elements are uniform throughout your manuscript. Which means, the chapter headers should all be in the same space, your margins should be exact, and you have a flow of consistently throughout. It can be off-putting to a reader if elements don’t line up. Using a grid structure is also important for the cover. If used well, it leads your reader’s eye through the important parts of your cover design. You can find out more information about using a grid structure here.

• Pay attention to your visual hierarchy – Visual hierarchy is how you show levels of importance in your writing. Cover example, is the title more important than your name? Unless you have a large following, your title should be bigger than your author name. If you have a large following, you might want to consider making your name larger than your title, because your name would be the selling factor. Inside the book your chapter titles will be bigger than your subheads. It’s a simple concept, but it’s crucial. To take a closer look into the concept of hierarchy, click here. 

• Rule Breaker – Once you learn to use the design rules effectively, you can experiment with breaking the rules. You must first learn the rules before you can break the rules. Here’s an article about design principles.

• What about typography? People love using interesting typefaces. Why not? They’re fun. So, have fun with it, but here are some guidelines for you.

  • Use no more than three typefaces in one piece. This includes your entire book. Aim to use a decorative or sans serif font for your title and for your headings. Serif fonts should be used for the body of your text. 

  • There are three types of typefaces:

    • Serif – A serif font has a small line attached to the larger body stroke. Serif fonts are classic and are perfect for the body of your text. Some serif fonts include Times New Roman, Garamond, Georgia, and Bodoni. Here’s an example for you: 

• Sans Serif – A sans serif font is one that does not have the little header and footer lines. These fonts are best for larger headlines. They are more modern and bold. Some examples are Helvetica, Futura, Arial, and Gil Sans. Here’s an example:

• Decorative – Decorative typefaces are used for headlines and titles. But do not use them for large bodies of text, as they become hard to read. This includes script, handwriting, hand-drawn, ultra-light, and ultra-bold fonts. 

• Typography Terminology – 

• Leading (pronounced like the element, not the action) – Back when printed pieces had to be typeset with tiny blocks of lead, typesetters used blank strips of lead to separate lines of type. So leading is the blank space between the lines of text. Too little or too much makes reading the text more difficult. 

• Tracking – This is the space between a range of letters. Negative tracking will give a tighter appearance, while increasing the tracking will give you more space between the letters. 

• Kerning – This refers to the space between individual letters. I would not play with this unless you are a designer. But it’s good to know the term while speaking to a designer. 

• Alignment – This refers to paragraph alignment. You can choose from left, right, centered, and justified. 

Templates

Both KDP (Amazon) and IngramSpark have templates available free for use. Do not start your cover or interior layout until you’ve downloaded a template. If you don’t use a template, you may end up redesigning something at the last moment. You can find KDP’s templates here. You can find information about IngramSpark’s cover templates here, and templates for IngramSpark’s interior layout here. 

Layout Basics

There are a few things you should be aware of:

• Mind the gutter – Give yourself a larger margin on the book binding side of each page (the gutter). Readers do not enjoy breaking spines, so making sure they won’t have to is a good idea.

• Keep it simple – The lure to use a cute font is strong. Resist. You should use tried-and-true fonts that are available for commercial use for the layout. Readability is key, so keep it simple. 

• Be wise about size – Unless you are working on a large print edition, you should stick to eleven- or twelve-point font size for the body of your text. 

• Headers and footers – Include page numbers, title, and the chapter name. Make sure it doesn’t detract from the body of the text. 

• Use that grid and hierarchy – Stay consistent with margins and placement. 

• They are special for a reason – There are a number of pages that should be included. This includes the Copyright page, Title page, Acknowledgements, Dedication, and any Foreword, Afterword, and indices you may be using. 

Cover Basics

Your cover is important. It’s how you convince a reader that your book is worthy of their time. You have to get this right. I highly suggest hiring a designer for your book cover and interior. If you need suggestions for a good cover designer, contact Harshman Services. They will be happy to point you in the right direction. 

If you cannot afford a designer, there are many websites that sell premade covers. You can search for a design that fits your book, then order it with your title, subtitle, and author name. The cost is usually low, but you run the risk of having a cover that looks like someone else’s. 

Here are some things you should know:

• A reader is less likely to pick up a book if the cover doesn’t resonate with them. 

• Your cover design should fit within its genre, so go to the bookstore and browse the aisles. Pick up books that stick out to you. What about each one works? 

• Make sure to match your title font with the background image. They should fit together like a puzzle. They must match in their “feel.”

• Don’t overdesign – You can keep your cover simple. Sometimes the simplest covers are the most stunning. 

• In a time when most people are browsing on Amazon for books, make sure your title is one of your largest design elements. The title needs to jump out at the reader as they are scrolling quickly.

• The colors of your cover must match the tone of the book. You wouldn’t want dark reds when dealing with a happy book.

Working with a Designer 

A good client is one who is educated and knows what they want. Here are some important things to know about working with a designer. 

• The number-one thing I advise anyone who is getting ready to work with a designer is to provide examples of your style to the designer. Search Amazon or your local bookstore, and find covers in your genre that you find aesthetically pleasing. You should provide your designer with three to six different designs and be able to point out the elements that are pleasing to you as well as those you don’t like. They will not copy these designs but will be able to get a better idea of your style. 

• You should explain extensively what you are looking for when working with a designer. While you are talking, they are trying to figure out your style, your color preferences, and even your personality. They may sketch while you are talking. This is part of the process. They need to know everything about you, aesthetically. Explain everything. 

• After your initial meeting, give your designer time to work. A big problem for designers is clients who constantly send designs they made in programs such as Canva. Don’t do this. Trust your designer. Allow them to do what they’ve been trained to do. 

• After you’ve seen the concept cover/mockup, you should take time to mull over it. What elements do you like? What elements don’t work for you? You are not married to the design at this point. It can be worked on. This is part of the process. Your designer knows the correct questions to ask to gather information for moving forward. 

• If you have feedback, make sure to allow them the time to offer solutions. Tell them what is bothering you, then let them figure out the fix. 

• Remember that your designer is a professional and has had extensive training. If you ask for something they believe would not work for your cover, please trust them. 

• Remember, this is a process. Your designer is committed to seeing your vision through. 

Design and layout can be a confusing process, and it’s certainly tedious and time-consuming. Let Harshman Services guide you through this process.

Editing what you write

A guest post submitted by Jennifer Harshman from Harshman Services.

While editing and revising are not easy, they are necessary, and it would help you if you could learn to enjoy them. Editing and revision are the parts of the writing process where your thoughts, words, and manuscript become art.

Many writers are nervous about sending their work to someone else to read. They feel as if the editor will judge them. Let me put your mind at ease. That’s not the case at all with a real editor. A real editor will admire you for having written something (more than 80% just think about it and never do it) and for being brave enough to send it to them for review. 

Every writer and author needs a good editor. Even the most famous authors need editors. In fact, they have entire teams of them.

Our job is to make you shine, not to make you feel bad about your writing. You write the magic and we, editors, polish it and help you make it even better. We are here to make you look good. That’s why we do what we do.

Editing while you write

Some say that one of the biggest ways to set yourself up for failure is editing while you write. I don’t preach against it because it works for some people. I am one of those who often edits while writing (my Backspace key is always the first to wear out on my keyboards). All through school, my first draft was pretty much my final draft, and I wrote my first several books that way, too. But I have learned over the years. Now, I can also turn off the internal editor and simply dump the words on the page and clean it up later. 

Why is editing while you write such a problem? That answer is twofold.

• If you are constantly looking for problems in your writing while you are creating it, you will never hit your writing groove. It’s hard to fall into the beauty of your message if you’re critiquing it in your head at the same time you’re trying to craft it. Focusing on the negative will cause you to miss the positive.

• Editing while you write will slow you down. You’ll also be more prone to delete everything you’ve written. Please always cut and paste anything you don’t want in your current piece into your Spare Parts/Parking Lot/Idea Cellar document instead.

Remember, you can’t edit a blank page. Write those words! Edit them later.

Revising and editing

The terms revising and editing often get interchanged, but they shouldn’t. They are two different activities that should be done at two different times, sometimes multiple times. This is why you should learn to love the revision and editing process, as you’ll be doing a lot of it if you want to serve well. 

Revision: When you revise, you are only paying attention to larger issues within the body of the text. You are reading to make sure everything you wrote makes sense, that you wrote clearly, and you have no plot holes, or missing points. You are looking for readability and accessibility here. You should ignore grammatical issues and typos at this stage. I realize this sounds counterintuitive, but during the revision stage, you will be doing a lot of rewriting. It would be a waste of time to worry about typos, because chances are, you’ll be rewriting those sections anyway.

Editing: Editing is the process of locating and fixing content, grammar, and syntax within a written piece. Editors are skilled at seeing issues that will hinder fluid reading for your reader. They are so skilled in finding these problems. Those issues jump out at them. Whether it’s verb tense or commas, they have you covered.

How to self-revise

Here are some steps to help with self-revision:

• Put your manuscript down and walk away. This may seem counterproductive, but trust me. You are too close to your own writing to be able to see issues until you’ve had some rest from it. You need to put a degree of separation between you and your work. Put it in a drawer or close the file on your desktop. Put it away for a while. How long is a while? Try one week for every 10,000 words, and see how that does for you.

• Print out your manuscript, make some tea or coffee, and read with a highlighter in hand. Assign a colored highlighter to each of the elements in the list below. When you find a problem, highlight it using the color assigned to that issue. That way, as you sit down to revise, you can go through and work on one problem type at a time, and you will find them easily. Using a highlighter will save you time. Don’t be surprised if you cut 10% of your writing during revision. That is perfectly normal. Here’s what you should look for while revising:

Questions to guide you in revision

• Are you clear: Are your sentences clear? Do they make sense?

• Citations: Did you cite sources?

• Backing up: Did you back up your points fully?

• Reaching your audience: Will your writing reach the group you are writing for? Will your style resonate with your reader? Will it be accessible in a way that will make the most impact?

• Add or take away: Did you spend too much time one specific elements, while ignoring others? Do you need to work more on certain chapters? Do you need to cut information anywhere?

• Is your writing too clunky? Rewrite anything that might get too dense. Are you using large words unnecessarily?

Revising questions specifically for fiction writers

• Timeline. Does the story flow in the way you need it to, in regard to periods of time? Is your timeline clear?

• Pacing. Do you vary the pacing in your writing? Do high-tension scenes read quickly? Do you vary the sentence length?

• Characters. Are your characters completely fleshed out? Are they believable? Do they come alive?

• Dialogue. Is your dialogue believable? Does it push the plot? Do the characters sound authentic?

• Setting and worldbuilding. Does your setting make reading the story feel like a movie? Did you use all the senses? Did you make sure your characters are never stuck in a “white room,” which is a place where you described nothing in the setting. Do your characters interact with the setting? Does the setting interact with your characters?

• Pushing the plot: Does everything in the book push the plot forward in some way? If it doesn’t, it goes.

How to self-edit

Just because you plan on hiring an editor, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t edit before sending it off. The cleaner the copy you hand your editor, the more quickly it will come back to you, and if you have a lower error rate, you might be able to negotiate with your editor for a lower price. Here are some tips to help you:

• Start with a style guide. You can find more information about that in this blog post.

• Read out loud. Chances are you’ll find a lot of errors just by reading it out loud. Yes, read the whole thing, out loud.

• Be sure to use active voice and passive voice effectively.  Both are needed at times. Active voice means that the subject in your sentence places action in the verb. Passive voice means that the verb is done to the subject. You can find more information about that here.

• Do your sentences make sense?

• Eliminate run-on sentences and fragments.

• Don’t be repetitive. Do not use the same word more than once in one sentence if you can avoid it. If you just can’t think of another word, go to the Ribbon in MS Word and make a comment to the editor telling them that, and they’ll fix it for you.

• Delete fluff. If something doesn’t add to or change the meaning of a sentence, it shouldn’t be there. If a sentence doesn’t add meaning to the paragraph, cut it from your current document, and paste it into your Spare Parts document. You never know when it will come in handy.

• Check for grammar, punctuation, and spelling. Every writer should have a few guides on hand for this. The Merriam Webster Dictionary online is a great tool. If you want to use things like Grammarly, go ahead, but know that it is often wrong. You’ll find some recommended books for writers here.

Working with an editor

There are many different types of editors, so it’s important for you to know what type you are looking for. Below is a list of types of editors and what they do. If you have any questions about what your manuscript needs, contact Harshman Services. They will be happy to answer any questions you may have and to point you to resources.

• Developmental Editor – A developmental editor reads your manuscript, focusing on larger issues such as style, structure, plot, character development, organization, and content. They will also pay special consideration to inconsistencies, pacing, and genre-related problems. You can begin working with a developmental editor from the very first moments of the writing process. They can even help you outline your book. If you’ve already started your project or are finished, they can also be of help. They will suggest changes and work with you as you make them.

• Line Editor – A line editor will focus on how each sentence flows and the language used in it. Reading level and how applicable it is to the target audience are the focus here. Each sentence is examined for fit within its paragraph, and each paragraph is examined for fit within its section or chapter. 

• Copy Editor – This type of editor is what most people think of when they hear or say “editor.” A copy editor focuses more on grammar, spelling, and punctuation. They will also pay attention to clarity, transitions, flow, pacing, and will even do a bit of light fact-checking.

• Proofreader – A proofreader will be the last person to read your work before publishing. Their goal is to find any typos, misspellings, and punctuation issues. A proofreader will also make sure all spacing is correct, and check for odd line breaks. They will not be reading for other, larger issues. A proofreader is your last set of eyes.

• Packages – Many editing agencies will offer bundles of services they call a package. That way, you can be sure the same group of people will be working on your project from conception to completion. They will know your work intimately and will have the same style throughout. Going with a one-stop shop saves you time, money, and headache because you will not have to research, hire, and manage several different providers. You just pick the agency that can serve your needs, and sit back while they handle everything for you. 

What if you can’t afford an editor?

Look, we understand reality. Hiring an editor can be a substantial investment. If you are a first-time author who plans on self-publishing, you may not have the money to hire an editor. You are not completely out in the cold. Here are some suggestions for you:

• Contact the editor you are most interested in working with – They may have payment plans or run specials from time to time. Some even barter! It’s always worth reaching out.

• Beta Readers – You should choose strong beta readers, people who are readers and love to give feedback. They will not be able to edit your book, but they will give you strong advice for larger issues.

• Critique/Coaching Groups – I highly suggest finding a writing group. Meeting with other writers is not only motivating but also extremely helpful. They will give you invaluable insight into your writing. To find a local group, ask your librarian. You could join Page by Page, a group that meets on Zoom (on or off camera) to help you with your writing. Contact Jennifer Harshman to get a free sneak peek.

• Ask an English teacher – You might be able to pay an English teacher a small rate to go through your work. This person is not an editor, but they will probably give you good advice on grammar and sentence structure.

Contact Harshman Services if you have questions, and click here to get your copy of her free book, Find a Real Editor: Avoiding the posers and scammers.

A calling to write

A guest post submitted by Jennifer Harshman from Harshman Services.

If you’ve been following this series, you have decided to answer the call and write. You’ve done your research, chosen your writing tools, figured out your message, and outlined your book or blog post. But how do you start? What do you need to know while you are writing? What do you do now? 

Start by writing a crummy sentence. Yes, you read that right. Write that first word, then another word, and eventually you will have a sentence. A few sentences lead to paragraphs, and paragraphs lead to chapters. Don’t doubt yourself. Just sit and write. As you write, take comfort in the fact that the first draft is not your final draft. Writing the first draft is what I often refer to as getting some clay on the table. The art happens in revision and editing. You can do this! It’s time to roll up your sleeves and become the writer you’ve always dreamed of being.  

Every writer has their own writer’s toolbox, which is a collection of tips, tools for writing, and literary elements that resonate with them. They pull from their toolbox often to aid them in writing. Begin thinking about what to put in your toolbox. The following three lists give you important tips and hints for writing, but you should read widely to find more. If you notice a technique an author did well, make note of it, then consider how you can use it for your own work. Read books about writing, editing, and self-publishing. Join writing and self-publishing groups on social media. Nurture friendships with other writers. Keep improving. 

Ten hints and tips for all writers

1. Read, read, read. When you read, you grow your knowledge base. As you grow in knowledge, you will be able to use that information to create material that’s more interesting. The more you read, the more quickly you will grow in your vocabulary and grammatical skills. You may or may not like Stephen King’s writing, religious views, or politics, but he is 100% correct on one thing: “If you don’t have time to read, you don’t have time (or tools) to write.” Consider reading to be a component of the writing process. It’s that important. 

1. Write what you want to read. Simply put, write about what interests you. Sure, experts always say to write to your market. But your writing won’t be effective or interesting if you don’t write about what you are interested in. You’ll be more motivated to finish a project that you are inspired by. 

1. Set up a writing schedule, and begin a writing habit. When are you fresh and focused? When is your house the quietest? When are you the least stressed and the most creative? That’s when you should write. If you write every day, at the same time, your brain will learn that it is the time to write. Even if you just write 100 words, you are still writing, and that is good progress. 

1. Begin developing your voice. The more you write, the more your own writing style will come through. The only way to gain your own style is by reading and writing. It can be shaky at first, but this is all about hitting your groove. Every writer has a style all their own, and you will too. But you have to put in the work and write. A great way to start developing your style is to read your favorite authors and figure out why you like them so much. Maybe you can use some of their techniques. Click here for more information on finding your voice. 

1. Do not edit as you write. One of the surest ways to make your writing come to a screeching halt is to edit while you write. I am guilty of this, so I can’t preach too strongly against it. The Backspace key is always the first key to wear out on my keyboards. If at all possible, write now, edit later. Focus on getting your ideas dumped onto the page before you edit them. Not only does it slow you down, but if you are constantly looking for what you did wrong, you will start to judge yourself, and imposter syndrome will creep in. Worry about editing after you’ve finished your first draft. 

1. Writer’s block? Writer’s block is something all writers and authors fear. What do you do when the words don’t spring forth? Stay calm. It happens to almost everyone sooner or later.

   • Sometimes writer’s block can happen when you are putting too much pressure on yourself. Take a moment to relax. Do some deep breathing and pray. Becoming active can help. Taking a walk gets you out in the fresh air and oxygenates your blood. 

   • Try freewriting. Take some time to sit, with a pencil or pen (not on a computer) and write whatever comes to your mind. The objective here is not to create beautiful prose. It is just to get those words flowing again.

   • Try to do something creative that isn’t writing. Draw a picture, or play an instrument. The key is to get your mind in creative mode. 

There are two ways to reduce your chance of suffering from writer’s block. Make sure to spend a small portion of every day reading, and keep yourself on a writing schedule. Reading will keep you in the right mindset, while keeping to a writing schedule trains your brain to produce on demand. Click here for more information on breaking free from writer’s block.

1. Read your work out loud. The best way to find errors before you hire an editor is to read your work out loud. It seems strange, but it’s quite effective. It may be easier to hear errors than to see them. 

1. Eliminate fluff. As William Faulkner said, “In writing, you must kill all your darlings.” As gruesome as this quote sounds, he was at least partially correct. After you’ve finished writing your first draft, and while reading it out loud, you will notice things that just don’t contribute well. You’re going to have to remove them or revise them. Sometimes this means deleting something you find beautiful. One caution: never delete anything you’ve written. Note that I said you’ll have to “remove” and not “delete” them. Create a file called something like Spare Parts, or Parking Lot, or Idea Cellar. Populate it with all those lovely tidbits that didn’t fit, and all the things you wrote that you think are junk. Maybe you can use them in your next writing project. On multiple occasions, I’ve seen an entire book spring from a single sentence an author cut from a manuscript and pasted into a Spare Parts document.  

Eliminating fluff also means all those words you are used to using that don’t hold much meaning. If you come upon these words, read the sentence without them, and see if the sentence still makes sense. If it does, delete the word. The following is not an exhaustive list but will help you begin your journey. 

• Adverbs (-ly words). If you describe the action in detail instead of using an adverb, it can make a richer reading experience for your audience. This is a part of the concept of “show, don’t tell” I will discuss later in this article.

• Very: This word can make your writing seem clunky. It doesn’t really add much weight to your work. It’s simply not as descriptive as you might think. Instead of saying “very happy,” consider using “ecstatic.”

• That: If there’s one word everyone clings to, it’s that. Sometimes it’s necessary, but it often isn’t. Test the waters. If it doesn’t change the meaning of the sentence, chuck it. 

• Just: Unless it’s in dialogue, it’s usually unnecessary. Try the sentence without it.

• The same word twice in close proximity: Please watch that you are not repeating words in the same sentences, or in the sentence above and below. It can make the section awkward.

Click here for more words you should consider avoiding. 

1. Have a friend or family member read your work. This is another tip for before you hire an editor. Give your work to others to read. In other words, use beta readers. I often suggest finding trustworthy people to help you with this. Here’s my suggestion on how to handle this:

   • Select one person who can walk into a room and find problems. These people will generally be the most truthful and not sugarcoat the problems they find. 

   • Select one person who will tell you your writing is beautiful no matter what. This person will keep you motivated after all the bad news the first reader gave you. 

   • Then fill in with others that fall somewhere in the middle of the two.

   • All your beta readers should be readers but not necessarily writers.

   • Give them a list of questions to guide them. Include questions such as:

     • Was there anything that didn’t work, such as holes?

     • Were there certain characters or aspects you found especially likeable?

     • Is there any information I may have missed?

     • Was the writing interesting and easy to understand?

   • Make sure to thank your beta readers by mentionoing them in your acknowledgements. 

Still wondering where to find a beta reader? Click here.

1. Hire an editor. This piece of advice is the most important if you are writing a book. Editors are worth their weight in gold, because their job is to make your writing—and you—look good. Nothing throws a reader out of something worse than a typo or an awkwardly worded sentence. In another post, we will cover the different types of editors. There are developmental editors, line editors, copy editors, and proofreaders. All wear completely different hats during the process. Contact Harshman Services to talk about making your writing the best it can be. 

Ten Tips for Writing Blog Posts

1. Know your audience. You can have the most beautiful blog in the world, but if you don’t target your audience, no one will read it. If you are writing a craft blog, talk to crafters to find out what they are interested in. Take some time to read and inspect what successful blogs are doing. Be true to yourself, but you should also present it in a way that would draw your optimal audience. Consider the following:

• What is the target age of your reader?

• Which gender would benefit most from your content?

• Where do they live?

• What are their hobbies? What are they interested in?

• Are they married? Single? Divorced?

• Where are they active online?

1. Include images. We live in an increasingly visual world, so use that to your benefit. When people jump on the internet, they are expecting to see something visually appealing. Those pages that are visually appealing attract readers. You should consider your writing’s look and feel.  Make sure you are choosing photos you have the legal right to use, and give proper credit when required. You can find free, royalty-free photos on pexels.com and unsplash.com. Any photo or other image produced by the US government is in the public domain and may be used as well.

1. Pay attention to SEO. SEO? What in the world is that? It stands for search engine optimization. This is a term you’ll come upon often, and with good reason. Paying attention to SEO will help you show up on search engines like Google. You may think that you don’t really have to worry about this, but if you want to attract new readers, you need to come up in Google and Amazon searches. With the right keywords, you can. You can also bring traffic to your website, and it doesn’t cost you a dime. Think about what you type into search engines when you want to find information. Now think about the types of search queries people would type to find the kind of information you provide. You need to include those keywords and queries in your writing.

2. Write an interesting headline. Often, people will scan a blog over quickly, using the headlines to help them target exactly what they are looking for. So, make sure to make your headlines and subheadings succinct and interesting. Headlines and subheadings are what catch the eye of the reader while they are scrolling and looking for something specific. 

1. Hook readers early. While some readers will scan your page looking for what they want using headings and subheadings, others will read your first paragraph to see if they want to stick around. You have to hook your readers immediately, within the first paragraph, even within the first sentence. Here are some ideas for you:

   • Give an interesting fact or ask a question.

   • Aim to identify with your reader. Do you write to frazzled moms? Then write something that makes them nod with you in agreement. Show them you understand. 

   • Get personal with your reader. Make them feel connected to you. They will trust you more and will see you as the valuable source you truly are. 

   • Make a good first impression. Remember what I said about aesthetics and images? They can help you create a great hook. 

1. Write short, snappy paragraphs. It can be hard for readers to pay attention when reading. It has a lot to do with the psychology of reading on screens, as well as the fact your reader probably has twenty tabs open on their browser, all vying for their attention. So, keep things short and sweet. Short paragraphs that are witty and easily digested are a good way to get them the information they need quickly, and effectively. 

1. Use bullet points. Using bullet points is a great way to help your reader find information quickly. They tend to be highly organized while being lower on word count. That means your reader can skim your information quickly and come away with a great deal. People don’t come to blogs to read a book. They usually come for bite-sized, digestible nuggets of information. 

1. Make sure to leave readers searching for more or with a call to action. This is where you might ask your readers a question to write about in the comments. Doing so let’s them know that you see them as important contributors.  Asking readers to share your blog on social media is also a good idea. Afterall, word of mouth is still one of the best ways to market. 

1. Ask your reader to subscribe. You don’t want only one-time readers. You want them to come back again and again. Don’t be shy. Ask them to subscribe to your newsletter, email series, or notifications. Your readers need to be reminded that you exist, and they'll be happy to sign up for those notifications if they liked your content because it means getting more of your content, conveniently, right there in their inbox. Don’t be shy. Ask!

Ten Tips for Writing Nonfiction

1. Define why you are writing. Why is it important? What is your purpose? These are important questions you must answer. You may love Psalm 9:1–4, but why should you use it as a theme for a biblically based self-help book? How can you help others with this book? Is your purpose to minister to laypeople, or do you want to provide a heavy-hitting academic book that would appeal to theologians? What do you want to do with your book, and what do you want your book to do for you?

1. Ask yourself who your audience is, then write to them. This goes along with tip number one. But this time, consider who you will be writing for. What will they be looking for in your book? What are their motivations for buying it? Is there a specific person needing a book about Psalm 9:1–4? All of this must be considered before you begin to write. You need to balance your need to express yourself with the needs of your future reader. 

1. Write with authority. When you set out to write a nonfiction book, you need to understand something important: you are the expert. Even if you don’t feel like it. If you doubt yourself, do not make it sound that way in your writing. Even if what you are writing is an opinion, state it as if it’s fact. Of course, if you are going to be the authority, make sure you have the research and experience to give you a good foundation on which to stand. Formal education and degrees aren’t always necessary, but a healthy knowledge base is. 

1. Just because it’s nonfiction doesn’t mean you shouldn’t tell an interesting story. You need to draw your reader into your book. Make them feel comfortable while learning. Just because you are writing nonfiction, that doesn’t mean that you should ignore all literary methods. Tell a story. Paint a word picture. Light a fire inside your reader with your words. 

1. Hook your reader. A prospective reader decides in seconds whether or not they’ll read your book. The hook is the first few lines they see. In those lines, you need to grab their attention so strongly that they refuse to put your book back on the shelf or click to another book on Amazon. How do you do this?

• Make a surprising statement.

• Make it emotional.

• Make your reader ask questions.

• Start with something exciting. 

• Use humor.

• Make your reader feel special or powerful.

Here are more tips on hooking your reader. 

1. Don’t turn off those emotions. Use them! Make sure your reader knows why they need to care about your topic. Adding emotion keeps your reader paying attention,stirs them, and makes them care. If you tap into your reader’s emotions, the message will be more likely to stick. Here are some ideas for you:

   • What emotion would work with your work? Find and use it. 

   • If your book deals with an abstract issue, home in on it with stories of real people who have experience. It will make the information more memorable. 

   • If it makes you nervous, chances are, it is something to be explored. Explore it. 

1. Keep your reader asking questions. You want to light a fire of interest in your reader. You can do that by asking them questions. If you get them thinking clearly about a topic, they begin to become active participants in the book. If they feel like they are active participants, they won’t want to put your book down. 

1. Use real-life examples. If you can take an idea and apply it to a real-life situation, you’ll be able to reach more readers. Remember, everyone thinks in different ways. By presenting your data or research, and then following up with a clever story about putting that data and research into practice, you’ll reach more people. Always include real-life scenarios and examples whenever possible, even if you need to anonymize them. 

1. Vary your sentence length. You want short sentences and long sentences in your work. Why? If all your sentences are the same length, your book will become monotonous for your reader. Mix it up. Your writing will become more interesting just by doing that. If your entire book is full of long sentences, then your reader will soon become exhausted. If all your sentences are too short, your book will feel simplistic. 

1. Use a style guide. You may be wondering what a style guide is. A style guide is a set of standards used for writing. It helps your writing to stay consistent, which, in turn, helps your book’s readability and your credibility. Here are some of the things that choosing a specific style will do for you:

   • It makes you look more professional.

   • It helps you to avoid mistakes.

   • It saves you time and money when you are in the editing phase.

Unless you are writing for a periodical or a scientific journal or submitting a paper at school, use The Chicago Manual of Style. It is the most widely used style guide in publishing. Expect your editors to use it, too. Here, you can find more information about using a style guide. 

Ten Tips for Writing Fiction

1. What is your genre? Who is your reader? Once you have your story idea, think about your genre before you start plotting. Each genre has elements that readers expect to find, such as technology in science fiction, magical creatures in fantasy, and a happy ending in romance. Where does your story fit? After you figure that out, think about who reads that genre. What is the age group? Are they men or women? Make sure to research and write with your reader in mind. What do they expect? Here are some of the genres within commercial fiction:

   • Mystery

   • Crime

   • Science Fiction

   • Fantasy

   • Romance

   • Contemporary

   • New adult

   • Young adult

   • Middle grades

   • Children’s literature

Learn more about genres here. 

1. Are you a plotter, pantser, or a plantser (a mix of the two)? Some people are meticulous plotters, meaning they outline everything and plot their entire story. Some are pantsers, they tend to fly by the seat of their pants and allow their story to develop as they write. If you’ve never written a novel, I would highly suggest you become a plotter. Plotting and outlining help you to fully flesh out your idea before you start writing. That means you will write faster, have fewer instances of writer’s block, and have less chance of writing yourself into a corner. If you really like the idea of being a pantser, then do so after you have the entire novel process worked out and you have a written novel under your belt. You can find more information about outlining in the post on outlining your writing. 

1. Compelling characters. A good character is one readers relate to. They read what the character does, and think to themselves, Wow, that could be me. Good characters grow and change and sometimes make interesting choices that make the reader mad. No mortal is perfectly good—or perfectly evil—so don’t force your characters to be. Give your protagonist flaws and your antagonist some redeeming qualities. Allow them to have interesting backstories that raise a reader’s empathy (sprinkled in, no data dumping, please). 

When planning a character, it’s important to think not only about their surface qualities, but also who they are as a person. Writing instructor and author Abigail Wild strongly suggests completing the personality test at 16personalities.com as if you are your character. While the Myers-Briggs is not scientifically accurate, it is very common, and the information gained from the test will help you create characters your readers won’t forget. Learn more about character development here.

1. Worldbuilding and setting. I’m about to tell you one of the best pieces of advice I ever got regarding creating a setting. Are you ready? Treat your setting as if it is a character. Your setting affects your characters and the plot. It interacts with them and they with it. It can be used as a tool to further your plot and can change your characters’ lives. So, take time to build your world and setting. Well-Storied has information about worldbuilding. 

1. Open with action or dialogue. You have to hook your reader within the first paragraph. So don’t start your book with an info dump, trying to explain the scene. Instead, start in the middle of an action scene or a tense moment of dialogue. Get your reader right into the plot. Make them care immediately. Trust me. It works. 

1. Keep putting pressure on your main character. You have to continually turn up the heat for your protagonist. Every chapter needs its own narrative arc, and each narrative arc must grow in tension until the climax. Your antagonist has an important job in your book. They’re the ones who constantly apply that pressure to your main character. Let there be down periods to give the reader a rest, of course. But don’t ever let them become too comfortable. 

1. Don’t give away too much. No data dumps. This is a hard one for new authors. So many want to hand everything to the reader. Don’t do this. Trust that your reader is intelligent and will read between the lines. Hold some back. Reveal bits of backstory over time. It makes for a more organic and authentic read if you let the reader find things out over time. When planning, understand that you will know more about the characters, setting, plot than your reader, and that’s okay. Allow them to use their imagination to fill in the blanks. If they are able to do this, they become active participants in the creativity held within the pages of your novel. Most readers don’t know it, but they actually love this without even realizing it’s happening. And, if they can use their imagination while reading, they become more excited about your book because they’ve put a bit of themselves in it. That is powerful. 

1. Use pacing to create emotion. Simply put, action scenes should read quickly, but not everything can be an action scene. Pacing is a powerful writing tool, but how do you vary the pacing of your book? Here are some tips:

• Use sentence length to help you. For faster paced scenes, use shorter sentences and choppy paragraphs. For slower paced scenes, use longer, more elaborate sentences and paragraphs. 

• Use cliffhangers to add a sense of anxiety for readers. 

• Zoom in on details when you are trying to slow things down. 

• Use internal dialogue and character introspection to slow things down. 

• For faster paced scenes, make sure you only write what is necessary for your reader to know.

Here’s more information on pacing. 

1. Writing effective dialogue. Dialogue tells your reader so much about your characters. Here are some tips:

• Make sure each character has their own voice. A 14-year-old will not sound the same as his teacher. Also, the way a 14-year-old speaks to a teacher and how they would speak to a friend are different. 

• Pay attention when people speak to each other. You want your dialogue to sound authentic and not like a robot, but don’t include all the ums and ahs people tend to use. 

• Make sure the reader knows who is speaking. You can do this with dialogue tags or beats. 

• When using dialogue tags, use the simplest tags possible. They are just a signpost for the reader’s brain and should become invisible to the reader. It should never become more important than the dialogue itself. 

• Dialogue beats, sometimes called action tags or just “beats,” are wonderful. They tell you who is speaking by using action instead of dialogue tags. That could look something like this:

Emma spun on her mother. “Why would you say that to me?” In this instance, the reader knows who the speaker is. It’s Emma. Not only that, but it also sets a tone: Emma is upset. Remember, humans communicate with body language as well. Use it.

Liternauts has more information on writing powerful dialogue.

This will help if you have any questions about how to punctuate your dialogue correctly. 

1. Showing versus telling. This is a concept that perplexes people. Showing is painting a picture for your reader. It helps to create the sense that they are watching a movie in their minds. If you are telling, you are summarizing it for them. Showing is a more powerful technique. 

No matter what you write, you should always consult with a professional editor. Contact Jennifer Harshman at Harshman Services today!

Writing tools

A guest post from Jennifer Harshman from Harshman Services.

If you’ve never written before, it can be scary to step out there and begin. But don’t worry, there are tools out there to help you. I wanted to take the opportunity to tell you about some of them. The following list is not exhaustive and is not meant to overwhelm you. If you want to write with a notebook and pen, know that you are not alone. Many writers do. The key is to find what helps you in your writing. 

Research tools

Research is important for both nonfiction and fiction authors. If you don’t get your facts straight, not only will that reflect in reviews, but you could lead people to believe things that are false. That’s something everyone should find reprehensible, especially people of faith. Research must be taken seriously. Doing due diligence, as a writer, is important.

Here are some websites and tools that will help you research and organize that research. 

Wikipedia: While Wikipedia should not be cited for scholarly research, it can still be helpful to writers. Wikipedia is a good website to be used as a springboard for your research. 

Look up your topic there, and scroll to the bottom of the entry page. At the bottom of each page, you will find a references list. This reference list is a wonderful place to begin your research because it provides a list of the sources used in writing the Wikipedia entry. Here’s a screenshot of what that looks like. This reference list was taken from the article on the Apollo 7. 

Cost: Free

Listly: If you love lists, then listly is for you. At first glance, it looks like a type of social media where people make lists and share them with other people on the platform. However, it can be more than that. Listly can help you plan your writing by keeping track of your research in a visual way. On Listly, you can also plan your fictional story by creating lists for your characters, setting, and specific plot points. What’s really cool about it is that you can share this information with other Listly users as a way to grow your reader base. You can also attach the lists you make to your blog, which is an easy way to create a listicle. It’s a fun way to get some hard work completed. 

Cost: Listly is free but does have premium features that you may find helpful. 

Endnote: Endnote is a program built for serious research. If you are a student, scientist, or the author of a research-heavy book, this program will be beneficial. It is a platform that “accelerates your research process so you can focus on what truly matters—conducting and sharing groundbreaking research.” EndNote makes it easy to store your citations and organize sources. It is a great way to keep track of your research. 

Cost: You can try Endnote for free for 30 days. If you decide that it’s helped you, choose from packages that start at $100.   

Zotero: Zotero helps you collect, store, and organize your research. It connects with your browser and allows you to export citations, PDFs, notes, and images. You can easily import it all into a Word document. This program can help make your research and writing go more smoothly. 

Cost: Free.

Planning 

Plot Factory: Planning and plotting your story can be hard, but Plot Factory is a tool that can help you. With Plot Factory, a writer can plan, plot, and write the first chapter of their book with the spirit of collaboration (if desired). It also has a word tracker where you can set your daily, weekly, and monthly goals and see your progress in a visual way. If you are having problems fleshing out characters or building your world, Plot Factory’s tools will be helpful to you. 

Cost: Free for basic usage and $19.00 otherwise.

MindNode: If you need a visual representation of your ideas, or if you simply need a place to brainstorm where it all becomes clear to understand, MindNode may be the application for you. Take a simple thought and grow it into your next masterpiece. Author Abigail Wild, one of my team members, is in awe of this program. Having it on her phone is perfect for those times when her brain decides to plot an idea in the middle of the night. This app is only available for macOS and iOS. 

Cost: $2.49 (monthly) or $19.99 for premium features.  

CarbonFin Outliner: CarbonFin Outliner helps you to organize your thoughts in an outline and planner. It will create your to-do lists and outlines, then import them into OneDrive and Dropbox when needed. You are also able to collaborate with others. Unfortunately, it’s only available in the Apple store. If you have an iPhone or iPad, it’s worth looking into. 

Cost: $4.99

Organization Tools

Microsoft OneNote: OneNote is a tool often used for collaboration. With it, you can gather your thoughts, notes, images, audio and video files, and citations, and share them with those you might be writing with. It also helps you with productivity and can be used to organize information to be used in your writing. 

Cost: Free

ToDoist: ToDoist is a great place to keep track of projects you are working on. While it was created for small businesses, it’s great for writers as well. You can keep track of blogging schedules, interviews, and deadlines. You can even set up your publishing schedule. It gives you a checklist for everyday, which can give box checkers a sense of peace. 

Cost: From free to $5.00 per month per user

Asana: Asana is a project management and collaboration tool that allows you to collect information, organize it, and share with a team. This program is visually appealing, using cards or lists to organize your work. You can move the cards from column to column, which makes it appealing to those who need a visual representation of where things stand and what they have completed. You could plan each section or chapter of your writing project on a card, then once it is written, move it to the completed pile. Doing this might be an effective way of outlining for you. 

Cost: From free to $25/mo per user

Milanote: Milanote is an interesting organizational tool that gives you a visual way of organizing your work. Its website claims it is the “the EverNote for Creatives.” You can create a file that holds all the information you need, but it’s all visual. You can create to-do lists, upload images and files, save text and links, and add comments from your phone. The image structure reminds me of Pinterest but in a more appealing way. 

Cost: Free to $49.00 a month, depending on your needs.

Writing 

Microsoft Word and Google Docs are so ubiquitous that I don’t think they need explaining. I’m going to move on to some lesser-known writing options that work well for writers. 

LibreOffice: (libreoffice.org) LibreOffice is an open source, free office suite. You can use it to write, create presentations, and utilize spreadsheets. You can even create simple vector drawings, establish a database, and do mathematical formulation. The key here is FREE! If you are looking for an alternative to Word, this may be what you need. It claims to be compatible with Microsoft Word, but moving between the two is definitely buggy, especially where Tracked Changes and comments are concerned, so keep that in mind. Cost: Free

The Novel Factory: When I say that I would like to dig into the Novel Factory website, I am not kidding. There are so many tools available to members—plot templates, character builders, writing guides... It also includes word count charts, novel statistics, and interactive drag-and-drop tools for planning and editing. It seems to be laid out intuitively and is visually appealing. Out of everything I’ve written about in this blog article, this may be the one I am most excited about. The cost might be a bit steep, but it might just be worth it to you. 

Cost: From $6.25 to $50.00 a month. 

Ulysses: Ulysses boasts a clean and intuitive workspace to help you write without distraction. Many writers say the program helps them to focus by minimizing what they see while they write. You can set your outline, research, character development, and world-building documents aside while you focus on the task of writing. It also helps you to target your word-count goals and keeps track of your successes. The only drawback is that it was created specifically for Apple products. 

Cost: $5.99 monthly or $49.99 yearly. 

Scrivener: (www.literatureandlatte.com) If you’ve spent any time with novelists, you’ll have heard of Scrivener. You have probably noticed that either writers love or hate this program. Scrivener boasts a robust number of options for a writer including storyboarding, outlining, organizational tools, and of course, writing. You can even research right from the program. There is a long learning curve, so if you plan on using this program, set aside some time to learn. YouTube tutorials and Joseph Michael’s Learn Scrivener Fast course are helpful. 

Cost: $49.00 for Mac and Windows users, and $19.99 for ios.

Editing

I wanted to make a note about editing before getting to the list. While the following applications are important to a writer, you should hire a professional editor after you’ve made your piece as good as you can on your own. Harshman Services is a full-services agency. You can find more information or set up a free consultation at HarshmanServices.com.

Grammarly: You’ve probably seen the ads and heard the commercials for Grammarly. This program checks for errors. It scans your writing while you are actually writing. It looks for punctuation, spelling, awkward wording, and verb tense issues. It’s a good tool for catching some blips; however, it cannot detect your tone, and it often gets things wrong. Please do not blindly accept any suggestions it or any other tool gives. If you’re in doubt, make a comment to your editor. You can do that right in your Word document using the Comment tool. 

Cost: Free to $12.50 per user a month. 

Hemingway: Hemingway is a writing and editing tool that will help you improve your writing, especially when it comes to readability. The writing mode will help you concentrate on your writing, distraction free. When you switch to the editing mode, it will allow you to see its suggestions. What that means is that you will not see them as you write, and that is a beautiful way to keep moving forward in your word count. 

Cost: Free for use on its website. It won’t save your writing, so you’ll have to make sure to copy and paste what you’ve written during each session into another program. It’s $19.99 for the desktop version. 

ProWritingAid: ProWritingAid is a grammar and mechanics checker that can be added directly to Microsoft Word as a plugin. Not only does it check for typos and grammatical errors, but it also checks for issues with plagiarism. If you plan to make a living writing, take a look at it. 

Cost: $20.00 for a monthly subscription, $59.99 for a yearly subscription, and $299.99 for a lifetime subscription. 

Page Layout

Adobe InDesign: Adobe InDesign is the industry standard desktop publishing software for graphic designers, layout artists, and publishers. There is a learning curve associated with it, and it might not be worth your time to learn it, but you should expect your interior designer/formatter to use this tool. InDesign was created for, and caters to, print media; eBooks are not its focus, and other tools are needed for electronic media. 

Note: InDesign is not a word processor. You must write your work in a word processing program, such as Word, then import it into InDesign. 

Cost: InDesign alone currently costs $20.99 a month. If you would like the entire Adobe Suite, which includes Photoshop, Illustrator, and a host of other programs, it will cost $52.99 a month. There are special rates for students and teachers. If you fall into this category, it behooves you to check it out.

eBook Layout

Canva: (canva.com) Most people think of Canva as an app to make social media images or ads, and perhaps cheap book covers. But did you know you can also lay out an eBook with it? They have preset layouts that are easy to use. This may be the perfect application for creating that colorful recipe book. 

Cost: Free to $119.00 a year for the pro version. 

Vellum: (vellum.pub) Vellum is a lovely program that helps you layout the interior of your book. It can handle both eBook and print, but I include it under this section because I believe this is where its strength lies. Vellum is incredibly intuitive, so the learning curve is not bad. Cost: $249.99 if you plan on using it for both print and eBook, but $199.99 if you will only use it for eBooks. 

Kindle Create: If you are planning on publishing for Kindle, you can download Kindle Create for free. It’s the interior formatting tool specifically for Amazon Kindle. As of June 28, 2021, Amazon will no longer allow the variety of formats it did before, and will only allow EPUB, DOC/DOCX, or KPF (Kindle Create Files). It is severely limited when it comes to styles it will allow you to use, so many authors will want to have their books done in InDesign instead, but it’s good for a free tool.

Cost: Free

Platform for blogs

Note: Please stay away from all “free website” platforms. Although this appears to have been scrubbed from Google and other search engines, I was in the online publishing world and aware of the information back when it was available: sites built on those platforms historically have—without the content creators’ knowledge—distributed malware, stolen identities and financial information, and, using invisible links on the site pages, supported pornography and sex trafficking. Here is a list of other reasons to stay away from free website providers. 

A self-hosted WordPress site only costs about $120 a year if you host it at Dreamhost, where you can conveniently register and automatically renew your domain name. It works better for you, serves your site visitors better, and helps you avoid supporting unsavory and sinful practices.

WordPress: WordPress is the most popular platform for personal websites, as well as small businesses. It is perfectly set up for blogging, but you can create any kind of site you want with it. WordPress has a host of beautiful templates for you to choose from, it gives you the ability to customize those templates. 

Cost: There are many pricing options for a WordPress account. Self-hosting it on your Dreamhost or other web hosting account is free and the smartest option.

Squarespace: (www.squarespace.com) Squarespace provides website building and hosting and allows users to use pre-built templates with drag-and-drop elements. With Squarespace you can set up an online store, have clients make appointments, or add third party extensions easily. If you plan on having a blog that is heavy on visual content, then this may be the provider for you to check out. Squarespace is known for its good customer service.  

Cost: Plans range from $12.00 to $40.00 a month, depending on the services and capabilities you need. 

Site Build It!: This robust platform has amazing tools, and I highly recommend it. From tools that help you make decisions to tools that help you show up in search results, it’s packed with great stuff. The keyword research tool alone is worth the $400/year membership fee.

Cost: $400/year for the regular version, or $99/year for the WordPress version.

You now have a substantial list of tools for writing. If you need help, simply email Jennifer @ HarshmanServices.com, tell her DesireJesus.com sent you, and let her know what you need.

Outlining your writing

A guest post submitted by Jennifer Harshman of Harshman Services.

Now that you’ve chosen your topic and researched thoroughly, what’s next? It’s time to outline. 

I can hear the collective groaning from here. But let me assure you that outlining will make your writing process go much faster. You can hate it, and you can grumble at the very thought of its existence, but trust me when I say that outlining is your friend—even if you are a right-brained, holistic kind of thinker. 

Many argue that outlining takes away the creative nature of writing. So let me reframe it for you. Creating an outline is a creative endeavor on its own. Its purpose is to plan what you are going to write. This is when you’ll figure out the placement of important information in your nonfiction book or plot points in your fiction book. All of this takes creative vision. It may seem mechanical and boring, but it’s not; it’s the backbone of your piece. Your outline is your map as you write. It’s that spark from which your book or blog springs. 

Benefits of outlining your writing

If you outline your work, you will not have to constantly worry about what comes next while writing. You will be less likely to write yourself into a corner. You will have to do less backtracking and rewriting. The reason is this: you will find problematic areas while outlining, and it takes so much less work to fix an outline than to rewrite an entire section of a book. Do you know what that means? 

It means that you will be able to put all of your creativity into the beauty of how you write, rather than what to write. No more staring at a blank screen. Your words will flow. When you have a detailed outline, all you have to do is look at it to know exactly what to write in that section.

There’s one more thing I want you to understand. Many tell me that an outline feels like wearing shackles. But let me assure you, it is not. Your outline is a living document. Meaning, one it’s written, it is not set in stone. It can be changed at any time. In fact, you should change it when needed. It’s a tool to help you during the writing process. It is not your master.

You don’t have to write your book in order from beginning to end. You can jump around all you want. Feel like starting in chapter seven? Do it. A great idea came to you in the shower, and it belongs in chapter four? Who cares if chapters one through three aren’t finished yet! Write that segment in chapter four. That’s the beauty of having an outline. You can write in whichever sections strike your fancy that day.  

How does it make writing go faster? The answer is simple. You won’t waste time trying to figure out what to write, and that saves time. 

Things to consider:

• You won’t write yourself into a corner.

• You won’t realize while in the midst of writing that you haven’t researched a topic fully.

• You will have fewer instances of writer’s block, because everything will already be planned. 

Some writers do a traditional outline with Roman numerals while others scrawl mind maps on the back of receipts. It doesn’t matter how beautiful or disheveled your outline is. What matters is that you have fleshed out your idea and have a way to move forward with your writing. 

Methods for Outlining

I will start with the most involved way of outlining and move on to the least. There is a method for every personality. Try out what seems interesting to you, and if it doesn’t work, try a different way. 

Classic

Whenever we think of outlines, our memories go back to grade school, and we think of Roman numerals. And, if that’s what you are comfortable with, then go for it. Since it’s what we all think of, I thought I would take a moment to talk about it before moving onto other ways of outlining. 

How does it work? You have your main points, then information to back up those points below, then more subpoints after that. Basically, under each heading are elements that back up the heading. 

Each main point is one complete thought that would be the topic of each chapter in your book. 

1. Main point

   1. Information that backs up the main point

      1. More information on that element that backs up the point above. 

Then you keep adding on numbers and letters until you have done this for your entire book. 

This formula appears to be best for nonfiction, but it can be used for fiction as well. Consider this:

1. Chapter One

   1. Inciting incident

   2. Rising action

      1. Rising action #1

      2. Rising action #2

      3. Rising action #3

   3. Climax

   4. Falling Action

      1. Falling action #1

      2. Falling Action #1

   5. Resolution or cliff hanger

Just fill in the plot points of each chapter, and you are ready to write. 

Synopsis method of outlining

This method is pretty easy to understand. You don’t have to worry about hierarchy, but it is just as detailed. Write the chapter number/name, then write a paragraph about what is included in that chapter. That’s it. Just one paragraph. You don’t have to worry about how it’s written, or if it’s grammatically correct. Just write. This document is only for you. 

If you are writing fiction, it might be a good idea to start your outlining document with a list of characters, setting description or worldbuilding elements, and where you are headed with the story (plot points).

Mind map outline

Mind mapping is great for visual learners because it’s basically a graphical chart of your story. You draw shapes, link them to other shapes, then somewhere along the line, you have a lovely chart of your entire book. If you are working on a large book or a series of books, it might be a good idea to get your mind map printed as a poster and hang it near where you write. While writing, you can take quick glances at your map for reminders. You can also mark off each shape as you write about it. It might be a good idea to leave room in your map for changes and notes. 

You can find more information about mind mapping, and if you’d like, get a free mind map you can print and use, or participate in a mind-mapping workshop to plan your writing.

You can even take this further with fiction by using mind mapping to flesh out your characters, setting, and world. 

White board

This is a favorite method for many fiction authors. They like the ability to have a quick glance at their outline while writing, without having to open a new program or take their fingers off the keyboard. But they also want the ability to change things as they write, which hanging a large poster doesn’t give them. So they use a whiteboard. There is no right or wrong way to do this. Just make sure that your points are visible to you, and make sure to use that whiteboard eraser and marker to change things when needed. It’s important to constantly update your whiteboard as you move through your piece. 

Sticky notes

I’ve been talking to authors on Zoom calls for years, and it always makes me happy to see a slew of sticky notes behind them hanging on their walls. That tells me they’ve been working hard outlining. This method is similar to using a white board. The nice thing about using sticky notes is that you can take them down, move them to other places, set them off to the side until you figure out what to do with them, and interchange them. It’s like copying and pasting, but using Post-Its instead. Each chapter has its own column. Hang the sticky notes with points written on them in the appropriate column. Of course, not all adhesive paper is made the same, so invest in a good brand.

Freytag’s pyramid for fiction

If you are writing fiction, and you absolutely hate the idea of outlining, this method may be for you. Gustav Freytag, a German science fiction writer from the late 1800s, put forth the idea that all stories follow the same plot structure. He created a plot pyramid to visually represent this idea. Since then, authors have been using this same format to help them plan their novels. All you do is write down what happens, where it happens on the pyramid of your story, and you are done. This is a minimalistic approach to outlining, because you are just noting larger plot points, you are not pinpointing everything that will happen in the story. You would use this method more like a signpost toward where you are headed, while appreciating the side, country roads. All you do is fill in each plot point, and off you go. 

Bookend method

This is another way of outlining that is meant for fiction writers who absolutely hate outlining. You simply plot out the very beginning of the novel, then the very end of the novel. Then write, leaving the middle of your book up to your own creative whims. Just make sure to have a clear view of your goals, character, and setting before beginning. 

No matter if you are a plotter (someone who outlines), a pantser (someone who flies by the seat of their pants when they write), or a plantser (a combination of the two), you need to have a vision before starting to write. The way you do that is up to you, but make sure to take the time to do it. You’ll be happy you did. 

If you get stuck while outlining or need help with your writing, contact Harshman Services. What if you don’t know what you should even put in your outline? That’s a legitimate problem! You can find out exactly what readers want when you let SEO outline your book for you.

What should you write about?

A guest post submitted by Jennifer Harshman from Harshman Services.

What Should You Write?

There are a multitude of ways to get your message out to the world. There are so many options that it can become tricky to figure out the best way to get your writing to the people who need it the most. Should you concentrate on blog posts? If so, what type? Maybe a book is in your future. Fiction or nonfiction? How does anyone ever decide?  

Let’s talk about it. The good news is that you have plenty of choices.

Short Form / Blogging

Blogs are a great way to get your message out quickly. It is possible to research, write, edit, and post a blog post in one day. While it seems simple and fast, you still have to make sure your content is interesting, relatable, and posted on a schedule that makes your readers continually come back for more. 

Before delving into the many ways of blogging, let’s talk a bit about what makes a successful blog. 

• Be yourself: You are amazing! I think what you have to share with the world is, too. Choose to write about something that you are interested in and know about or would like to learn about. Readers want that personal touch, so make sure to give it to them. 

• Make it snappy with easy-to-find information: Modern readers tend to enjoy zipping straight to the information they are looking for. So, use headers, subheads, and bullet points. Get straight to your point with informative sentences that are short and witty. Pull them in with exactly what they were looking for, then keep them around because they fall in love with your content.

• Use images: We live in an increasingly visual world. Give your reader what they want: appealing images, photographs, drawings, and if appropriate, charts. Remember, you are dealing with people who love the aesthetics of Pinterest and Instagram. Use that to your advantage. 

• Pay attention to SEO: You’ve probably seen this initialism a thousand times, but what does it mean? It stands for Search Engine Optimization. It sounds scary, but it’s not. In fact, paying attention to SEO means that your blog has a better chance of rising to the top in search engines. Simply put, use words and statements that people often search for, making sure that it matches your topic. To find out what words to use, test it out in Google for yourself using incognito mode. Take a look at what pops up. Do you notice any similar words? Those are the words you want to use in the content you create. 
  

• Keep yourself on a schedule. If you decide to post three times a week, make sure to keep to that. It’s a good idea to write a number of blog posts in one sitting. That way, you can take time away from writing when you are sick, on vacation, or lacking motivation. Your readers will look for your posts when they recognize your posting schedule. Don’t let them down. 

• Interact. If you allow comments on your blog (not everyone does, for various reasons), and someone comments on one of your articles, make sure to comment back. It’s an important way to build a fruitful community. Besides, readers love it when a writer answers them. 

Types of blogs:

• Personal / Lifestyle blog: These posts are told as if they are stories, and they are! Make sure to keep a conversational tone so your reader starts to see you as a friend. Ask questions of your readers, and when they respond, reply. This is the personal touch many are looking for as they embark on their own journeys. Be transformative and inspiring by keeping it real. Your blog posts will be a mix between photos, updates about what you are doing, and helpful information. It’s important to find your niche, such as special-needs parenting, unschooling, or gluten-free travel. What sorts of blogs are you interested in reading? Maybe that should be what you write about.

• Recipe / Craft / DIY blog: Do you have a stack of recipes others would love? Are you gifted in macrame? Do you have a family tradition others would enjoy bringing into their homes? This may be your niche. Start by telling them a bit about yourself as a way to get your reader hooked, but do not overdo this. They are there for instructions, after all. Jump right into instructions and tutorials. Make sure to write in chronological steps. Try to include a photo with each step in the directions. Some people are visual learners and need this. Keep your language brief and succinct. You don’t want your reader leaving your piece to search for information. Neither do you want them becoming frustrated. Easy to follow is the name of the game. 

• Business blog: If you have a business or hope to start a business, you might want to consider starting a blog on your website. The fact of the matter is that people are more likely to work with people they trust. One way to build trust is through a blog. Your prospective clients have an opportunity to get to know you and your services. You can also give them information to educate them about your field, and a client who truly understands what you do is an easy client to work with. 

• Fitness blog: Do you teach fitness classes? Are you obsessed with running? Cycling? Share what you know with the world. People always search for ways to become healthier, start an exercise routine, and reduce knee or back pain. Not only that, but if you are on a weight loss journey, consider sharing your journey. Not only will it give others motivation to follow in your footsteps, but sharing your success will also provide you with accountability. 

• Review Blog: If you love reading, consider creating a book review blog. New and indie authors are always on the lookout for people to review their books. At the same time, readers love hearing about new work. Tell a bit about the story—no spoilers, of course—then give your review. After that, include information about the author, including their author photo. Don’t forget a photo of the cover and a link. If movies are your thing, review movies! Use the same formula. 

***

Writing an Article

Magazines, journals, newspapers, and books are always looking for new writers and content ideas. If you have a poignant thought you must express, write an article. Be choosy with where you submit work. Do they cover your topic? Are their readers your target audience? You need to become an expert on that platform’s work and submission requirements. Make sure you do proper research on the topic you plan to write about. 

You can usually find submission requirements and other information on their website. Learn what they are expecting before you start writing. Pay attention to font and margin size, number of words, how they want your document set up, and anything else they tell you. If you mess up on this, they won’t read your wonderfully written article. In short: follow directions. 

What type of articles are there? 

• Listicle: A listicle is an article that uses lists of facts, quotes, or tips about a particular subject. They are quick and easy to write and have a tendency to push readers to research a topic further. You must still do your research, but since the entire article is segmented in bullet points and subheaders, presenting your research becomes easier. They are also extremely readable, making them easy for your readers to digest. Listicles may be named things such as: “10 Ways to Lose Weight while on Vacation,” “5 Herbs to Get Rid of Hives,” or possibly “15 Songs to Boost Your Mood.”  

• Chronological: In a chronological article, everything is organized by time. Often, these types of articles are written during groundbreaking news, which means that a reporter is updating as the event is taking place. Use dates and times as a way to organize pieces like this so that the progression of time is clear. 

• Op-ed: Op-eds are articles that are written by someone not affiliated with the newspaper or magazine. They are meant to stir conversation and provoke deep thought. These are opinion pieces and are generally written by a subject-matter expert. As always, start with a hook by introducing the issue you are writing on. It might be a good idea to include a story to make the reader care about the topic. When giving your opinion, make sure to back up what you are saying with facts, which means that even though this is all about your opinion, you must research. Then leave your reader with a call for action. Let them know what they can do to help the situation. 

• Letter to the editor: Sometimes you just need to be heard. Maybe something is impacting your community, and you need to get your opinion out there. If this is you, maybe it’s time to write a letter to the editor. First thing to remember is that you must be authentically you. You don’t have to sound like you are all business. Get personal. Make the editor care about your issue in a way that will lead them to publish your letter. If you are responding to an article that was written, make sure to cite that article and use quotations. If it’s about your community, be heartfelt and include action points for your neighbors. Make sure to fact-check, revise, and edit. Then submit. 

Long Form

Write a book, and become an author!

A great way to set yourself up as an expert in something is by writing a book about it. I know this can feel overwhelming. With structure and support, you can do it. One word after another becomes a sentence. One sentence after another becomes a paragraph. After a while, you end up with a book.  It’s worth the time and effort, I promise. Remember, with the advent of e-readers, not all books are 200 pages. You can write a 20-page e-book. Plenty of business, spiritual, and medical experts publish smaller e-books. The length doesn’t have to be overbearing and scary. It can be short, sweet, and to the point. If you feel called to write, there’s no reason for you to not write a book. Remember, there are coaches and teams of editors and proofreaders ready to help you get your work out there for the world. 

Nonfiction: 

If you have expertise in something, share that knowledge by writing a book! Nonfiction can encompass everything from history, science, and travel guides, all the way to recipe books and DIY home decor books. 

The goal is that the information be rooted in truth. That doesn’t mean it can’t be creative. Books full of your beautiful photography would certainly count as nonfiction. 

The key to writing nonfiction is to select a topic or issue you are most interested in, and then research, research, research. Then answer the big question: “Why?” What about your stance would others benefit from knowing?

Here are some ideas for interesting nonfiction books beyond the usual biographies, textbooks, and travel guides.

• Memoir: A memoir is one part of your life, a snapshot, a moment. But it is a pivotal moment, one that is defining, clarifying, and possibly lifesaving.  It’s important to understand that a memoir is not an autobiography. It is not your life story; it is one moment. A memoir is told as a story, so you get the opportunity to employ the same literary techniques novelists use, while telling your (very real) story. Do you want to write your testimony? Could one event in your life give hope to others? Then, that’s what you should write about. 

• Bible Study: Have you been drawn to a specific book in the Bible, or possibly a topic that could be aided with deep reading of the Bible? Others might enjoy learning and growing through what you put together. Choose a topic or a book of the Bible. Then write some well-researched commentary, and create space for deep thought in a workbook. Add some discussion questions to aid readers in taking their study to the next level, and you have yourself a lovely Bible study that others will find comfort in. Remember to follow copyright law regarding the use of Scriptures. Here is a free guide to help you avoid legal problems when you quote Scripture.

• Recipe book: Did your grandmother leave you a recipe box filled with scrumptious desserts? Does your women’s Bible study need a fundraising idea? It’s easy to create a recipe book of your favorites. Find your niche. It could be anything really: vegetarian, heart healthy, or maybe fun summertime cobblers. Take some colorful photos, and type out the recipes. You can learn to do interior book design or hire it out.

Fiction: 

There is so much you can do with fiction. There are wonderful ways to get your point across through fiction. Throughout time, novels, poetry, and plays have been instrumental in teaching lessons, exposing truths, and entertaining audiences. You are really only bound by your own imagination, but once you learn how to grow creatively, you will be set to write some powerful prose or poetry. 

Let’s take a look at some of the different types of fiction that you can explore:

• Novel: A novel tells a fictional story and generally includes a theme. You get to create your own characters, worlds, settings, and situations. Sometimes you can even create your own languages, as J.R.R. Tolkein did. A novel is generally between 50,000 and 100,000 words. Write what you are interested in reading. There are many genres to choose from: science fiction, fantasy, romance, mystery, young adult, and middle grades. Writing a novel is a rewarding experience. If you’re interested, go for it!

• Novella: Novellas are like novels, only shorter. The typical novella is between 10,000 and 50,000 words. The nice thing about novellas is that you can produce them to become an e-book, then create a series from them. If you can write one novella every two months, you’ll gain followers who are always waiting for your next novella to come out. This is a great way to grow your reader base. And, if you self-publish, you can get them uploaded rather quickly. Don’t forget to solicit an awesome cover design and good editing. 
  

• Children’s books: Writing children’s books is a wonderful way to shape the future of our world. How delightful it must feel to know that a three-year-old climbs up on his mother’s lap to listen to your story being read to him. How amazing to think that a child’s first small chapter book could be the one you wrote. Themes and lessons come into play when writing children’s books, so there are many important decisions to be made. First, select the age group you would like to write for, then head to the library to see how books for them are written. Brainstorm ideas, then get writing. You can use www.lexile.com to check to make sure your writing is appropriate for your target age range. This is a magical opportunity to really create lasting change. Why not give it a try? 

• Poetry: How many of us wrote seriously sappy love poems as a teen? Did you give that up as you got older? Why? Start writing poetry again. Writing can help you heal, and poetry can be especially cathartic. Poetry does not need to rhyme or fit a specific rhythm. There are many ways to express yourself in poetry, including blank verse, prose poetry, haiku, narrative, sonnet, ode, and ballad. Of course, there are more than this, but just dig in. Use poetry as a way of healing, and maybe you’ll heal others in the process. 

As you begin your journey as a writer, know that your words are important and worthy. You may have moments of self-doubt, but push through them. It’s worth it.

Whatever you decide to write, one thing is always true: it’s best to have a professional on your side. If you run into problems while writing or would like a professional opinion, contact Harshman Services for a free consultation.

Researching your writing

A guest post submitted by Jennifer Harshman from Harshman Services.

Research about writing

Before you start to write something, you should conduct some research about your writing topic. What form that research takes depends on things like your resources, including the amount of time you have to do the work, and upon your preferences. Some people prefer to flip through books to find their information. Others prefer quick and dirty research online, tossing things into a swipe file on their computer for reference and inspiration.

One of the types of research you’ll want to do might sound a little surprising. It certainly makes sense for blogs and website content, but it’s also applicable to books and other forms of writing. It’s called keyword research, which is a subset of SEO (search engine optimization).

Keyword research

What is keyword research?

Keyword research is gathering the data regarding what people are searching for online, what they type into search engines. If you know exactly what people are typing into Google or other search engines, then you can know precisely how to title your pieces and what to use as headings.

Blog keyword research

Use keyword research to outline your book or blog posts. People search for information using a variety of levels of specificity, from general and broad to very specific and esoteric long-tail searches. The term “long tail” comes from the Bell-Shaped Curve. It refers to the portion at either side of the shape, where there are very few data points, but they are spread out into a long, flat tail. 

That striation of specificity levels often helps in defining titles and headings. Online tools can give you great blog keyword research, and you can apply that data to books and podcasts as well. You just have to take five steps: 

1. Access the keyword research tools. 

2. Use them effectively. 

3. Interpret the data. 

4. Make decisions based on that data.

5. Write the outline.

If you hate to outline, you might like this video about how to Let SEO Write Your Outline for You. I’ll let you in on a secret. Despite what the title says, it’s a way to keep your cake and eat it, too.

After you’ve done some research and chosen a topic, you’ll want to decide on which style of writing you’ll use.

What writing styles are there?

There are six main types of writing:

• Narrative Writing

• Analytical Writing

• Expository Writing

• Persuasive Writing

• Technical Writing

• Poetic Writing

Narrative writing is less formal than expository writing, although both are “telling” types of writing. Persuasive writing is designed to convince a reader of something. Essays and many blog posts are intended to be persuasive writing—and so are sales letters and other ads.

What writing techniques are best?

The writing techniques that are best are whichever techniques you will use. Now, granted, some types of writing do lend themselves to certain topics more readily, and some are more . . .  shall we say unusual? For instance, a poetic approach to a piece on how to replace a car battery would be . . . interesting.  

How to research for writing 

Citing sources

Much to the chagrin of editors and conscientious readers everywhere, citing sources is one of the writing activities that is falling by the wayside in so many cases. Some people are not aware that they are still required to cite their sources. Perhaps you are one of those people. If so, don’t worry. Just give it a little thought, and you’ll see that it’s the right thing to do. Give credit where credit is due. If something is common knowledge, you don’t have to cite a source unless you’re taking a direct quotation from that source. There is more than one way to properly cite a source.

Footnotes/Endnotes

Sources should be cited, but where? One place to cite sources is to put them in either the footnotes or the endnotes. A piece has one or the other, not both. Which to use is a matter of preference. Endnotes are easier for a formatter to work with, but footnotes give readers instant gratification. They just need to look at the bottom of the page. But better than either of these, in my opinion, is to take the approach that is a cinch for a writer and a reader. That is in-line citations, also called in-text citations. 

In-line citations or in-text citations look like this: According to Pastor John Stange in his book Overcoming Negative Self-Talk with the Gospel, forcing yourself to hear your negative self-talk out loud and see the look on your loved one’s face as you say those terrible things to them might be just the kind of jolt you need to change what you say to yourself.

Fact-checking

Fact-checking is more important now than ever. Sources such as news, documentaries, and newspaper and magazine articles used to be fairly reliable. As a popular meme says, “You can’t believe everything you read on the internet.” Signed, Abraham Lincoln. Check your facts, and preferably use more than one source that is trustworthy. It’s getting harder and harder to find reliable sources. Your original research (which is research that a writer does themselves) is of course trustworthy because you did it yourself.

Literature review

A literature review is conducted during the research phase, when a writer is trying to decide what to write about. If thousands of books or blog posts already exist on the topic, then that writer might decide against writing a piece on it. On the other hand, they might decide to proceed despite the number of sources already available because they bring their own unique spin to the topic. No one has your exact experiences and approach. And, conversely, if no books or posts exist on the topic, a writer might ask themselves why not. Is there no interest, or no money in it? 

Other things to research

Researching editors 

Researching editors might seem like a task for after you’re completely done with your book. Most people mistakenly believe that editing comes after the writing. It actually comes at several stages before, during, and after the writing; and it involves more than one editor. Ideally, you’ll have a developmental editor, a line editor, a copy editor, and then, after the layout is complete, a true proofreader.

You can find some good editors by approaching authors and bloggers you know and asking them who does their editing or who they could recommend to you. Make a list, and then contact those professionals to find out more about them. Or, if you’re a little shy, stalk them online a bit first. Another way is to look at the copyright page inside books you find to be done well, and see if the editor is listed. If so, Google their name and look them up. See what they’ve done and if it looks like they might be a good fit for you. The author–editor fit is the most important factor because if you don’t have a good fit, you could end up with a nightmare, and no one wants that. You can get Find a REAL Editor: Avoiding the Posers and Scammers for free. 

Researching self-publishing

Whether to seek out traditional publishing or to self-publish is another choice that depends on more than one factor and can involve extensive research. Pastor John has done both. He has self-published some of his books, and he’s landed contracts with traditional publishing houses for other books. It doesn’t have to be an either-or decision, and doing one does not mean that you cannot later take the other path. 

Some famous books were once self-published before a publishing house picked them up. Here are some examples:

• The Joy of Cooking

• The Well-Fed Writer

• Rich Dad, Poor Dad

• 48 Days to the Work You Love

• The Tale of Peter Rabbit

• What Color is Your Parachute?

So, do your research. Decide which topic(s) you want to write on, and whether you’ll write a blog post or a book. Determine how you’d like to approach that writing, which style you’ll use, whether expository or persuasive, for example. 

Recommended books for research

https://www.amazon.com/Research-Chicago-Writing-Editing-Publishing-ebook/dp/B01L0HWJ6E/ref=sr_1_4?dchild=1&keywords=research&qid=1614981471&sr=8-4

https://www.amazon.com/Manual-Writers-Research-Papers-Dissertations/dp/022643057X/ref=sr_1_10?dchild=1&keywords=research&qid=1614981497&sr=8-10

https://www.amazon.com/Research-Methodology-Step-Step-Beginners/dp/1446269973/ref=sr_1_16?dchild=1&keywords=research&qid=1614981497&sr=8-16

Topics to write about for potential authors

A guest post submitted by Jennifer Harshman from Harshman Services.

***

Topics to Write About

Writers everywhere can rack their brains trying to come up with topics to write about, and their Google searches reflect that fact. But before we can discuss which topics to write about, we should define what a topic is.

What is a topic?

A topic is the subject of a discussion. In the case of a piece of writing, it’s the person, place, thing, or idea that the writer is writing about. Often called a subject, the topic is the focus of the piece. Some people prefer the word topic to subject. 

Why? 

Using subject might cause confusion because the subject of a sentence is the person, place, thing, or idea that comes at the beginning of a sentence. You could say the subject of a sentence is the topic of the sentence. And the subject of a piece of writing is the topic of the piece.

You can probably guess that I’m not one who has a problem with using the word subject in the context of a piece of writing. Sometimes, what we call things is important. Words do have meanings. Often, though, it doesn’t matter what you call something as long as you approach it with the right attitude and accomplish it well.

Topic ideas

Where can you get topic ideas? You really can get topic ideas anywhere and everywhere. Here are some sources where you can start looking for ideas on what to write about:

• books

• songs

• conversations

• sermons

• television and movies

• newspaper headlines

• radio shows and podcasts

You will want to make sure that you’re writing about things that your chosen audience wants to read about. As mentioned in the post on your audience, you can change your mind and choose a different audience to serve, but you do need to start somewhere, and while you’re serving that particular audience, you need to write pieces that serve them.

Expert in a certain topic

If you are an expert in a certain topic, it makes sense for you to be writing about that topic. You’ll want to share your knowledge in an organized and helpful way. Ideally, you’ll have several topics that are closely related that you’re knowledgeable regarding and that you’re skilled in writing about. You can write a piece (or more) about each one. Then cluster those related pieces in a content web. 

Topic examples

There are broad category topics, such as politics, religion, education, social issues, career, and hobbies. Because you know that it’s best to niche, however, you’ll be looking for narrower topics than these broad categories.

Rather than choosing “Agriculture” as your topic, you might write about the difference between A1 cows and A2 cows. 

Instead of writing a piece on art in general, you could make that article to be more focused, such as acrylic paint pouring. 

Entertainment could be narrowed down to specific dramatic techniques or films.

Cooking is a popular topic, but recipes for specific ingredients are more search-engine friendly.

How to pick a good topic

Think about what your audience wants and needs, first. If you serve people who have an entrepreneurial bent, do they need to learn the basics of how to start a business, or are they farther along than that? If you’re writing for an audience full of appliance salesmen and repairmen, perhaps they need to know about changes to legislation and regulations, technological innovations, and how to price repair jobs. Brainstorm everything you can think of that they might want or need to know.

Organize it into an appropriate structure. Perhaps the pieces should be written in a chronological structure, or steps of learning that need to take place in a certain sequence. Some things lend themselves to a simple-to-complex structure, and still others can be done in an associative fashion. Plan out your body of work in a way that makes sense to you. You are welcome to use my Content Clock format if you find it helpful.

Then, think about what you can deliver to the members of your audience. There’s a popular saying: “Write what you know.” Many people ascribe to that, and it can be a very effective and efficient approach.

Ken Kesey, author of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, disagreed with that saying. He said people should write about things that interest them, things that they don’t know about, and that they should go and learn about those things. 

Either approach is feasible as long as it’s done well. Please don’t decide to write about something you don’t know about and publish a work that is incomplete—or worse, incorrect. There’s enough misinformation out there already. We don’t need to be adding to that, and I’m sure you’d agree.

So, you don’t have to limit what you write to what you know already, but be sure you do your research and find the answers so you can deliver quality content to your audience. 

Practicing writing will help you to develop the ability to “turn on the faucet” whenever you need to. Your practice doesn’t have to be related to the piece you’re working on. So, with that in mind, here is a list of some writing prompts, which are often called “story starters.” It’s best to write daily to build a writing habit. On the days that you don’t have something prepared to write, or on the days that nothing is coming to you, pick a prompt and get going.

Writing prompts

The following writing prompts are a mixture, for both fiction and nonfiction. Use what works for you, and ignore the rest.

1. Sam finds an odd-looking egg in the forest. Sam takes it home but never could have predicted what was inside it.

2. Write about how one discovers what truly matters to them.

3. Tell your reader how to overcome a fear.

4. Your favorite fairy tale meets 2020.

5. You have to make it from Cairo to Alexandria. You have no money, and the only available mode of transportation is a temperamental camel.

6. Write about your journey to become healthy.

7. The once-peaceful water dwellers have suddenly declared war on a settlement that was its only true ally. Your character has no idea why and is thrust into the war against their will.

8. An addict and Jesus are on a train together. How does their conversation go?

9. Write about a time your values were challenged and you had to face it.

10. Write a short story in which the setting takes the role of the main character and/or narrator: the park, the house, or other location tells the story, for example.

11. What makes you believe in God?

12. A dark family secret has finally come to light.

13. What does God say to you?

14. What do you find to be most beautiful in the world?

15. What helps you still your mind?

16. Impart one piece of wisdom to the world.

17. Which religious figure would you like to have dinner with, and what would the two of you talk about?

18. Describe your idea of heaven (whether it fits with biblical descriptions or not).

19. If you had to move overseas tomorrow, what 10 items would you bring with you and why?

20. A 90-year-old decides to start training for a marathon.

The opportunity of fatherhood

The other day, I came across a picture that was taken about 15 years ago. It's a picture of my grandfather, father, one of my sons, and me. We were dressed in nice clothing so we must have been at some sort of formal event, but I don't remember where that happened to be.

There are a few things that stand out to me about the picture. First, it was taken on purpose. All four of us share the same name, so someone must have suggested that we stand together to capture the moment.

Second, we're all smiling. It's obvious that we were happy to be together.

But the thing that stands out to me most when I look at that picture is my son's face. In fact, the other day I asked him to confirm to me if I was reading his expression correctly. His expression reminds me of the kind of face I used to make when my father and grandfather would include me in what they were doing when I was young. My son looked proud to be welcomed into the group, and he assured me that that's exactly how he felt.

All of us have fathers. Some of us are fathers. Some of us will be fathers one day, and others are currently raising future fathers. Wherever you are on that spectrum, I hope you recognize that fatherhood provides a great opportunity to help others develop a deeper understanding of God. I don't think fatherhood is valued in our culture the way it ought to be, but among believers, it should be held in high esteem.

What kind of opportunities does fatherhood provide?

I. The opportunity to demonstrate the heart of God

“At that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?”  And calling to him a child, he put him in the midst of them and said, “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.  Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

“Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea. ”

— Matthew 18:1-6

It's been widely said, and I believe it to be true, that your relationship with your earthly father will most definitely impact your perception of God. If you had a healthy relationship with your dad, it's likely that you're going to assume the best about your Heavenly Father. If your relationship with your earthly father was deficient in some way, you're going to need your Heavenly Father's help to begin seeing your Him from a perspective that isn't negatively tainted by your earthly father's behaviors.

In John 14:9, Jesus said, "Whoever has seen me has seen the Father." Jesus is one with the Father, and He came to demonstrate His heart to us in very clear and tangible ways. In my opinion, one of the clearest ways Jesus demonstrated the heart of God was through His interaction with children. It's clear that the Lord loves and values the life of every child.

In fact, when the disciples were arguing about what greatness in the kingdom of God looked like, Jesus made it clear that to even be part of the kingdom of God, we need to approach Him with the humble heart of a child. A proud, unbelieving heart will never enjoy a rich welcome into the kingdom of God, but those who are willing to trust Him with childlike faith certainly will receive such a welcome.

While making this clear to the disciples, Jesus also made it clear that the nature of God is to be fiercely protective of His children. In fact, Jesus revealed that it would be better to be drowned in the sea than to cause a child to fall into sin.

Jesus revealed to us that God is loving, God is welcoming, and God is protective. You are a treasure to God, and if He blesses you with the privilege to raise or influence a child in any way, you're being entrusted with an opportunity to demonstrate His heart to them. God treasures the time you spend in fellowship with Him, even if some of the people in our lives may not.

Charles Francis Adams, the 19th century political figure and diplomat, kept a diary. One day he entered: “Went fishing with my son today—a day wasted.”

His son, Brook Adams, also kept a diary, which is still in existence. On that same day, Brook Adams made this entry: “Went fishing with my father—the most wonderful day of my life!”

The father thought he was wasting his time while fishing with his son, but his son saw it as an investment of time. Isn't it nice to know that God never considers time spent with you wasted? -Silas Shotwell, in September, 1987, Homemade

II. The opportunity to shape the culture

““Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.  For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world.  And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.””

— 1 John 2:15-17

As a father, I have tried as best as I know how to communicate truth to my children. I have told them about Jesus. I have explained the Scriptures to them. I have attempted to pass along the wisdom the Lord has shared with me. I also spend a considerable amount of time in prayer for them, more than they probably realize.

But I don't think the words I share with them or the wisdom I try to convey to them will matter much to them if I don't demonstrate that those words actually matter to me as well. They will be able to see what matters most to me by how I live my life. If I tell them to value Jesus and to avoid becoming wrapped up in the desires of this world while I'm still chained to worldly desires, they could rightly assume that what I'm telling them isn't something I really believe.

Thankfully, I'm confident that my children know exactly what I believe, and I'm grateful to see the impact it has on them. And as I observe that in my own household, and in the households of others, it has become clear to me that the more fathers embrace the opportunity to teach and model the gospel to their children, the more the entire culture is going to be impacted by that example.

III. The opportunity to lead like Jesus

““If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. 15 For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you.””

— John 13:14-15

The other day, Andrea and I took a drive to have dinner with one of the pastors from her childhood and his wife. They were a great example of leadership to her, and many of the things they modeled have had an impact on how we try to steward our roles in ministry.

As we were driving there, we saw a family taking a walk together. They crossed the street in front of us while we were waiting at a light, with the father leading the group. He was holding a baby, and the mother was holding the hands of two young children. They all had shirts on that referenced their role in the family. The father's shirt unapologetically said, "Dad." The mother's shirt said, "Mom." And the children had shirts that either said "Son" or "Daughter." As I watched their family, I said to Andrea, "I love that so much. What a beautiful thing to see."

Fatherhood provides a wonderful opportunity to lead, and the wisest fathers learn to demonstrate the heart of Jesus in their leadership. There's a big difference between leading people and bossing people around. Many people make the mistake of believing that they're the same thing, but they aren't. A boss barks out orders and tells you to do things he's not willing to do. A leader invites you to join him in doing the hard things that he's also willing to do. That's the kind of leadership Jesus showed us.

Jesus wasn't afraid to get His hands dirty when serving others. He wasn't hesitant to display a servant's heart and biblical humility toward other people. Just imagine the impact it would have on marriages, parental relationships, and families in general if we took Jesus' example to heart. Fatherhood is a golden opportunity to lead like Jesus, and I'm grateful for the men who can look at the example Jesus gave us by washing the disciples feet and demonstrate their willingness to do the same exact thing in the service and sacrifices they make for their wives and children.

IV. The opportunity to lay down your life

“ “By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.””

— 1 John 3:16

Chris Schultz's family is sharing his story of heroism, after the 31-year-old gave his life to save his son on Father's Day weekend.

"He loved his kids more than life itself," said Chris' brother, Ryan Olson. "Everyone says it, but he proved it."

Schultz leapt into action after his three year old son, Ashton, fell off Long Bridge in Detroit Lakes on Saturday.

"Ashton, being a curious, adventurous, 3-year-old, crawled through the rail and fell," Olson said. "Someone saw it and Chris went over instantly."

Olson says his brother managed to get Ashton to the surface, but he struggled to keep his own head above water as he handed his son off to a woman near the shore.

"(Chris) was holding on to her as well," Olson said. "He just couldn't hang on and he let go." -ValleyNewsLive.com, 6/18/19

Why would a loving father do this? I believe this is something instinctive that the Lord puts in a man that demonstrates the fact that we were created in His image. And there's no greater example of this kind of sacrificial love than what we see demonstrated in Jesus Christ.

The Apostle John made a point to remind the church over and over again that God is loving by nature. That love was on full display in the life, ministry, and eventual death of Jesus Christ. When someone wants to know what real love looks like, all they need to do is look to the example of Jesus who willingly laid down His life for us. The righteous for the unrighteous. The Savior for the sinner.

We don't deserve the love of Jesus. The only thing we ever did to deserve what He chose to do for us was rebel against Him and goof everything up. We had nothing to offer Him other than our long list of mistakes. But He showed us what love is by laying down His life for us, and if our faith in Him is genuine, we should be willing to do the same for those we love too.

Fatherhood provides a great opportunity to demonstrate the heart of God, to shape the culture, to lead like Jesus, and to lay down your life.

According to something recently shared anonymously on Bible.org, here's what a father teaches...

• He teaches kindness by being thoughtful and gracious even at home.

• He teaches patience by being gentle and understanding over and over.

• He teaches honesty by keeping his promises to his family even when it costs.

• He teaches courage by living unafraid with faith, in all circumstances.

• He teaches justice by being fair and dealing equally with everyone.

• He teaches obedience to God’s Word by precept and example as he reads and prays daily with his family.

• He teaches love for God and His Church as he takes his family regularly to all the services.

• His steps are important because others follow. -Bible.org

© John Stange, 2021

Dare yourself to do what others won't

Do you enjoy your present vocation, or is it something you continue to do because it's familiar, somewhat safe, and sufficient to pay the bills? Is that a good enough reason to continue doing what you're doing, or do you occasionally find yourself daydreaming about taking your life in a different direction - a direction that's more in line with your calling?

I'm friends with a man who has spent the past two decades teaching at a Christian college in the midwest. He's a gifted teacher and communicator, but over the years, it has started to become clear to him that his real calling is to write. On the side, he started writing books, then other people started to reach out to him for assistance writing their own books. Eventually, some of his high-profile business clients actually began hiring him to ghostwrite books for them, which he was happy to do.

In time, he developed a membership for budding writers to join, and dozens of people signed up to learn from him. Between his ghostwriting clients and his monthly membership, it started to become clear to him that if he wanted to, he could make a career transition that was more in line with his calling. The only problem was that doing so didn't feel safe. His work as a college professor felt secure, but going out on his own didn't.

What would you have done if you were him?

Just recently, he looked at his situation and realized that he didn't want to spend the rest of his life doing something that no longer matched what he felt most gifted to do. So he submitted his resignation letter to the college and decided to invest himself fully in his writing business. As a result, his business is growing, he has more time for his wife and family, and many of his peers are seeking his counsel because they're trying to get up enough courage to one day follow his example.

There's a path in this world that seems predictable and safe. It's the path most people are choosing. They choose that path in their vocation and they may even choose that path in regard to their spiritual life. In the meantime, that predictable and "safe" path begins to show how limited it really is because there's one thing it can't do for you. It can't stretch your faith.

Few people would be willing to choose the path my friend chose, even if it became clear to them that that's exactly what God wanted them to do. What about us? Would we listen to the voice of God if He started leading us in an unfamiliar direction? Would we dare to do what others wouldn't do?

Paul faced a similar dilemma, and he told us a lot about it in 1 Corinthians 9.

I. Be willing to sacrifice your rights to make the most of your privileges.

““This is my defense to those who would examine me.  Do we not have the right to eat and drink?  Do we not have the right to take along a believing wife, as do the other apostles and the brothers of the Lord and Cephas?  Or is it only Barnabas and I who have no right to refrain from working for a living?””

— 1 Corinthians 9:3-6

When Paul was engaged in the work of his ministry, he faced a considerable amount of challenges. He was challenged by hostile people in a hostile culture. He was also routinely questioned by those who should have eagerly supported the work he was doing. Paul was also highly conscious of the fact that everything he did might become a pattern that church leaders and evangelists would copy. He also wanted to make sure his decisions didn't get in the way of the gospel being received by unbelieving people.

With this in mind, Paul chose to forego making use of some of his rights. He had the right to earn an income from the work he was doing to serve the church, but he didn't make use of that right. He had the right to be married, but he chose to remain single so he would have more time to preach and disciple. He made a regular habit of sacrificing his rights in order to make the most of the privilege to preach the gospel, plant churches, and train other leaders.

I love seeing that mindset on display in these passages. I find it truly inspiring. So often in life, we're tempted to throw a fit when we don't get our own way. Frequently, we get upset when we feel like we aren't getting what we deserve. But Paul took a different approach. The Lord was allowing him to see the bigger picture of what was going on. Paul became convinced that in the long run, it was worth it for him to resist insisting on his rights. He gave most of those things up so he could spend his time and his energy making the most of his privilege to help others come to know Jesus, and he kept that grander goal in mind throughout the course of his ministry.

II. Become so devoted to your calling that it would violate your conscience to abandon it.

““But I have made no use of any of these rights, nor am I writing these things to secure any such provision. For I would rather die than have anyone deprive me of my ground for boasting.  For if I preach the gospel, that gives me no ground for boasting. For necessity is laid upon me. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel!””

— 1 Corinthians 9:15-16

How would you finish this sentence, "I will feel guilty if I don't devote my life to ....." Have you been gifted to do something specific? Has the Lord been opening up doors for you to accomplish something for His glory?

If you asked Paul to finish that sentence, he would tell you that his conscience would be troubled if he stopped preaching the gospel. He knew without doubt that this is what Jesus had called him to do. Discomfort couldn't stop him. Poverty couldn't prevent him. Imprisonment couldn't shut him up. The only thing that seemingly stopped him was execution, but all that really did was demonstrate the depth of his convictions and validate the many things he wrote about in the New Testament. Now those words are proclaimed from pulpits all throughout the world.

I still remember the first time I was asked to preach a sermon. I was so nervous about doing so ahead of time, but once I had the opportunity to do so, I knew the Lord had shown me what He wanted me to do with my life. He wanted me to share the gospel, teach His word, and communicate the hope we have in Jesus through every means He made available to me. He has given me the privilege to do so from pulpits, on the radio, through podcasts, and through the written word. My conscience echoes Paul's statement, "Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel!"

Has the Lord been making your calling clear to you? Are you devoted to that mission? Would it be a violation of your conscience for you to forsake or abandon that calling?

III. Your calling is a stewardship that you've been blessed to share.

““For if I do this of my own will, I have a reward, but if not of my own will, I am still entrusted with a stewardship.  What then is my reward? That in my preaching I may present the gospel free of charge, so as not to make full use of my right in the gospel.” ”

— 1 Corinthians 9:17-18

I was recently invited to speak at a church that has been in decline for several decades. They openly say that the glory days of that ministry were many years ago. As I met with their leaders, one of the things I reminded them of was the fact that they were the temporary stewards of that ministry. The church belongs to Jesus, and He has graciously allowed them to be the ones who oversee that ministry for a temporary period of time. Other leaders came before them, and by God's grace, new leaders will come after them.

The opportunities we're given, the talents we've been blessed with, and the gifts we've been supernaturally equipped with are a temporary stewardship. Paul could see that his ability to make the gospel known was a stewardship he had been entrusted with. Do you see your calling as a stewardship as well? It's a stewardship you've been blessed to share with others.

Paul didn't demand his right to earn an income from the work he was doing, even though he actually deserved one. Knowing the broader ramifications of the ministry that he was doing during the specific era of history he was serving in, he realized it would be better for everyone if he chose not to demand that income. Once he made peace with that concept in his mind, he took great joy in presenting the gospel free of charge.

As you and I operate as obedient stewards of our calling, we can adopt this same attitude. We may be tangibly rewarded for the work we do, or we may not be, but that's not the greater point. Jesus taught us that it's better to give than it is to receive, so let's be generous about sharing what He has gifted us to share.

IV. There's a side of life that you'll only see once you serve someone else.

“ “For though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more of them.””

— 1 Corinthians 9:19

They say that serving others always sounds glamorous right up to the point when someone actually starts treating you like a servant. I think that's true. Servanthood really isn't a glamorous mindset, but it is a good one. There's a side of life you'll only see once you start serving someone else.

Have you ever noticed the change that occurs in a person's life once they have children? It changes someone to have to spend every waking hour focusing on the health, safety, and development of another person. It produces a new level of maturity and it can strip away remaining areas of selfishness if they haven't been previously removed.

The Lord was teaching Paul what it means to have a heart of a servant. That's why Paul was able to say that he was willing to be a servant to all people. He wanted to win them over to Christ, so he was willing to sacrifice his preferences, and humble himself in uncomfortable ways in order to do so.

Any idea why was he willing to do this? He was willing to do this because that's exactly what Jesus had done for him. When we observe the ministry of Jesus, we see Jesus doing what no one else would do or could do. Jesus lived the perfect life because we couldn't. Jesus died on the cross to atone for our sin because He was the only one without sin of His own. Jesus rose from the grave to secure the victory over death that He graciously shares with all who trust in Him. He did what others wouldn't do, and did what others couldn't do.

Understanding what Jesus has done for us is life-altering. Paul's life and attitude were changed by the work of Christ. Our lives will be changed as well. Are we still trying to hand God our excuses, or is our faith strong enough for us to dare to do what others simply won't?

© John Stange, 2021

Differences are illusions. The people you admire are just like you.

Learn more about John Stange’s newest book, “Dwell On These Things”

During my college years, there were few people I admired like Rich Mullins. Rich was my favorite musician. I admired him for the things he sang about in his songs and for the simple way he lived his life. He was well known, but he wasn't pretentious. He was a big deal, but everyone seemed to know that except him.

Whenever I had the chance to see him in concert, I went. I once got shushed by someone sitting in front of me because I was singing along with every word of his songs. I didn't realize they could hear me, but they made it clear that I wasn't the one they paid money to hear sing.

After one concert, I hung out for a while to attempt to meet him. I even jumped in to help the crew as they were breaking down the stage and getting all the equipment loaded for transport. As we were carrying and wheeling things into the truck, Rich walked by. I had the chance to talk to him, but I was too nervous to do so, so I just kept loading the truck and trying not to act like I was as big of a fan as I certainly was.

A year later, our college brought him in for a concert and I was asked to be his primary contact during the day of the show. My task was to take him out to eat and help him with any odds and ends that might come up over that six hour stretch. To say that I was excited was an understatement. But I was also a little bit nervous that I might discover that the image I had of him wasn't accurate. I wondered if he conveyed an image on TV or on stage that wouldn't match reality.

I was grateful when it became clear that he wasn't being duplicitous. We didn't eat at a fancy restaurant. He wanted Arby's. When fans recognized him at Arby's, he asked me if I could get them into the concert somehow because they didn't have money to buy tickets. Throughout the night, he walked with a limp because he had stepped on a nail a few days earlier. When I asked him to sign all my albums (I had every single one), he cringed when he realized I owned copies of the two early albums that he thought were his worst.

In that experience, I realized that one of the people I admired most in this world was no different than anyone else. He enjoyed fried foods. He limped, and he felt insecure about the art he created.

How often have we talked ourselves out of doing the very thing God has equipped us to do simply because we don't think we're celebrities? How many times have we avoided doing what we're being called to do simply because we've convinced ourselves that someone else with more name recognition can do it better?

The people we admire are just like us. The only difference between us and them is that they have a habit of taking action and some of us seem to have a habit of standing still because of our self-doubt, weak faith, and irrational insecurities.

The Bible attempts to talk us out of those doubts and insecurities in James 5:13-18.

I. Christ has given you His power. Are you willing to use it?

““Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise.  Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord.””

— James 5:13-14

One of the great blessings of being part of the family of God is that He graciously grants us His power to navigate the trials and tests of this age. Our lives are filled with ups and downs. Some seasons are marked by pronounced suffering. Other seasons are light and cheerful. Sometimes we endure illnesses and infirmities. Sometimes we feel healthier than ever.

Regardless of whichever season we may be in at present, we need the power of God. Through Jesus, we have been granted that power, but many believers spend the bulk of their days forgetting to access it or failing to use it.

What does James instruct us to do when we're suffering? He challenges us to access the power of God through prayer. And when we're cheerful and everything seems to be moving along smoothly, he encourages us to use God's power to express our thankfulness. If we're sick, he instructs us to gather our spiritual leaders to collectively access the power of God on our behalf as they lift up their voices to pray for our healing.

We haven't been left powerless in this world. Through Christ, we've been given great power, but are we willing to use it or would we rather stumble through life like people who are completely unaware of the gift they hold right in their hands?

II. What might you see if you just took the time to ask? (James 5:15)

““And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.””

— James 5:15

A few days ago, I received a call. It was from one of my college roommates informing me that one of our other roommates, a good friend to both of us, was just flown to the hospital via helicopter for emergency surgery on his heart. The situation was very serious and everyone was told to prepare for the worst. It was one of those moments when you feel compelled to do something, but you know there isn't anything in the physical sense you can do to affect the situation. The only thing I could do in that moment was pray. So that's what I did, as did many of our other friends as well as our church prayer team. I found myself praying for him all throughout the day.

Later that day, when I saw my wife, we also took time to pray for him together, and I said to her, "I'm praying in faith that the Lord will spare his life, and I truly believe in my heart that He will." The words of James 5:15 were on my mind. If I am going to bother to lift something up before the Lord, I need to pray in faith, not doubt. I was ready to accept whatever the Lord decided regarding my friend's condition, but I prayed in faith knowing that the Lord had the power to miraculously save his life. We learned the next day that he lived through the surgery and is in the gradual process of recovery.

I was grateful the Lord allowed us to see that outcome, and it makes me wonder what else we might see the hand of God accomplish if we just took the time to ask for His intervention? James teaches us that the Lord heals and raises up the sick. He also forgives the deepest offenses and sins, so what else do you suppose He's waiting for us to approach Him about?

Are you familiar with the hymn "What a Friend we have in Jesus"? It's a hymn we used to sing regularly at my home church when I was a child. It was written by Joseph Scriven, a pastor, who was living in Canada and wanted to comfort his mother who lived in Ireland. This is what he wrote back in 1855;

What a friend we have in Jesus
All our sins and griefs to bear
What a privilege to carry
Everything to God in prayer

Oh, what peace we often forfeit
Oh, what needless pain we bear
All because we do not carry
Everything to God in prayer

His words always make me wonder what peace I'm forfeiting and what needless pain I'm bearing simply because I haven't asked Jesus to intervene on my behalf.

III. Don't let worldly desires rob you of your confident access to God's throne.

“ “Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.”  ”

— James 5:16

Many people are fearful of meeting God someday. What do you think He would do if you walked right up to Him? Do you believe He would reject you or welcome you into His presence? Do you think He'd be irritated with your boldness or glad you came to Him? Is there something in your life that gets in the way of your willingness to entertain the thought of approaching Him?

Our desires for worldly things frequently hinder our relationship with God. The more we welcome worldly values and the sins our generation embraces to enter our life, the less we will feel confident approaching God. He offers us the solution to that in James 5:16.

In this passage, we're told to confess our sins to each other and pray for each other. When sin is called into the light, it's robbed of its power. And when we aren't saying yes to sin, we're free to say yes to Jesus who has given us the gift of His righteousness.

The prayer of a person who has been blessed with the presence of the righteousness of Christ in their life is more powerful than most people realize. Such prayers affect change. The prayers of the righteous invite the hand of God to intervene in the most impossible situations. And as Scripture demonstrates, the Lord is delighted to accomplish the miraculous on behalf of those He has blessed with the gift of His righteousness.

IV. Remember what God has already done through people just like you.

““Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth.  Then he prayed again, and heaven gave rain, and the earth bore its fruit.” ”

— James 5:17-18

It's interesting to look at what Scripture reveals to us about the people we admire. Of the people mentioned in Scripture, one of the most admired is Elijah. He was a prophet in Israel during the reign of King Ahab, and he prayed that the Lord would withhold rain for three and a half years. Israel was consumed with idol worship at that time and Elijah felt compelled to pray in such a way that they would see a demonstration of the power of God through the lack of rain. Then he prayed again and the Lord brought rain upon the land.

Was Elijah special? Was he magic? God's word makes it clear that he wasn't. He was a man with a nature just like ours. When we read about his life in the Bible, God isn't trying to impress us with Elijah. The Lord is trying to show us what He's willing to do in a life that's submitted over to Him. If He was willing to do what He did through Elijah, what might He be willing to do through you?

The people we admire are just like us. In fact, I think it's wise for us to stop treating the people we admire like they're heroes or exceptional. The only real hero I want my heart to latch onto at this point is Jesus. From what I see in Scripture, everyone else is just like me, and I know myself well enough to know the limits of my strengths and weaknesses.

If your admiration for other people is getting in the way of your obedience to God's calling, then your admiration has become an idol. Respect the people who inspire you and set a good example for you, but don't turn their success into your excuse for inaction.

Differences are illusions. The people you admire are just like you.

© John Stange, 2021

Dream about helping the people who will only listen to you

A little over a year ago, my wife and I became friends with a woman that we find truly inspiring. In fact, just recently I had the opportunity to attend a seminar on team-building and organizational leadership that she put together for business and ministry leaders.

Years ago, I don't think she could have ever pictured herself giving that seminar. At an earlier season of life, she was homeless, living from her car, and pregnant with her first child. She lived in an area that didn't seem to offer her many opportunities, and she had no idea what to do with her life.

Eventually, she started to get her life onto a more stable footing, but she was still painfully broke. Being without a job, she got the idea that maybe people would pay her to clean their houses. She had no experience doing this, but she went to the dollar store, bought some empty spray bottles, and looked online to see how she might be able to create some basic, homemade cleaning agents. Then she attempted to get clients, and succeeded.

As her business and income started to grow, she hired people to work with her. She eventually took on more clients and began the process of hiring additional cleaners. Other companies took notice of her business growth and started asking her for help to organize their businesses better. From there, she started creating online courses on how to run a cleaning business and people started paying her the equivalent of college tuition to take them.

Now, she runs a successful business, employs multiple people, is loved by those who work with her, is considered an expert in her industry, and people regularly pay her to teach them everything she knows. She's in her mid-30's, and in the past year, she earned more income than all the the previous years of her life combined.

If you went back in time to the days when she was pregnant, living in a car, scared and depressed, I don't think she would have believed you if you told her that the day was going to come when people would be eager to learn from her and hang on her every word, but that's exactly what has happened.

What about you? Do you believe it's possible that you might have something valuable to say to others? Do you dream about helping people who might only listen to you, or are you still convinced that those people don't exist? Mentally speaking, does it feel like you're still abandoned, depressed, and living alone in a car?

If so, consider what Jesus revealed in His conversation with a discouraged woman from Samaria.

I. Do you struggle to believe anyone would listen to you?

Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come here.” 17 The woman answered him, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband’ (John 4:16-17)

The story that we're told in this portion of John's gospel fascinates me. In this passage, we see a woman who was going through a very difficult season of life. She was discouraged, seemingly avoided by her peers, and going through the motions of her daily responsibilities without much hope until Jesus graciously reached into her life.

The Scripture tells us that this woman was surprised that Jesus would speak to her because she was from Samaria and He was Jewish (and both groups tended to avoid each other). Jesus was also a rabbi and a man which would have also made her unlikely to believe that he would want to have a conversation with her.

One other thing that isn't directly stated in the text, but I believe may be implied, relates to the fact that she was at the well to collect water during the hottest part of the day. Most often, women would gather at the well in the morning or evening when it was cooler. This was also a form of social interaction for them. The fact that she was alone at the well at noon probably meant she didn't have very many friends.

But Jesus was willing to be her friend. He was willing to speak with her and associate with her. He even showed her that He knew the precise details of her home life and past relationships. This obviously shocked her for many reasons, including the fact that up to this point, it doesn't appear that too many people demonstrated much interest in her or anything she might say.

What about you? Do you struggle with the same concerns this woman faced? Does it seem hard to believe anyone would listen to you?

II. Jesus sees you, hears you, and is paying attention to you

"for you have had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband. What you have said is true.” 19 The woman said to him, “Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet." (John 4:18-19)

Recently, Andrea and I took a friend out to eat. He lives alone and seemed eager for the company, but he spent most of the meal on his phone. He kept answering it mid-conversation which made it abundantly clear that he wasn't terribly interested in our conversation. Here's a hint: If someone takes you out to eat, make eye contact with them and put your phone on silent.

I'm grateful that Jesus didn't convey an aloof or disinterested attitude to the woman from Samaria. In fact, He demonstrated to her in vivid detail that He saw her, heard her, and was paying attention to her.

Jesus gave this woman a recap of her relational history up to this point. She previously had five different husbands, and I get the impression that one at a time they may have abandoned her most likely for worldly or selfish reasons. Now, the man she was with wasn't even willing to make her his wife.

As Jesus made it clear that He knew these things about her present situation and the life story that led her to this point, she became convinced that He was a prophet. He knew things about her that were very clearly divinely revealed, and that amazed her.

Isn't it interesting to consider that the Lord pays that kind of attention to those He has created in His image? I struggle to remember the birthdays of many of my blood relatives, yet Jesus sees, hears, and pays attention to us on a deeper level than I think we often realize.

If that isn't something you typically allow your mind to dwell on, I hope you'll let the example from this portion of Scripture encourage you.

III. God is seeking worshipers. You can join Him in this search.

Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. 22 You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him.  (John 4:21-23)

Having a sense of mission in this world is helpful. When you gain a sense of what you're here for, you stop needing an alarm clock to wake you up in the morning. You smile when you think about your responsibilities. You daydream about how you can do what you've been called to do better.

Take a look at several mission statements from some well known companies and ministries:

• “Uber is evolving the way the world moves. By seamlessly connecting riders to drivers through our apps, we make cities more accessible, opening up more possibilities for riders and more business for drivers.” -Uber

• “To attract and attain customers with high-valued products and services and the most satisfying ownership experience in America.” -Toyota

• “To follow our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ in working with the poor and oppressed to promote human transformation, seek justice and bear witness to the good news of the Kingdom of God.” -World Vision

God the Father has a mission as well, and Jesus makes it abundantly clear. The Father is actively seeking people who will worship Him in spirit and in truth. And the wonderful part of that mission is that it's something the Lord invites us to join Him in as He fulfills it. In fact, a key component of that mission is His desire to use people like you and me to see that mission through to completion.

Do you wake up every day excited to join God in this effort? Do you even believe He wants your involvement and participation?

IV. There are some people who won't listen to anyone else but you

So the woman left her water jar and went away into town and said to the people, 29 “Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?” 30 They went out of the town and were coming to him. (John 4:28-30)

Here's something amazing that stands out to me from the account we're given in John 4. After speaking with Jesus, hearing what He could reveal about her, and being told that He alone could satisfy the deepest thirst of her soul, this woman left her water jar and went back into town to tell others that she believed she had just met the long-promised Messiah.

I think it's possible to tell when someone is lying. I believe the Holy Spirit points our hearts toward the truth, and I think He convinced the people of the town that this woman was sincere. We're told that after she said what she said, the people of the town stopped what they were doing and went up to the well to meet Jesus. In that moment, I think this woman became the world's most unlikely evangelist, but she was the very person the Lord used to communicate the hope that her entire town needed to hear.

Most people think they need all kinds of credentials to actually be listened to. What kind of credentials did this woman have? The only credentials she had was a hard life and a broken spirit. But something changed inside her when she met Jesus, and I think the people who knew her best could clearly see it. She went from feeling ignored and unloved to possessing a message and a voice that could not be ignored. Her faith in Jesus was her credential.

There are people in your life who will never listen to a pastor or a professor. They won't listen to an author or an expert. They don't even listen to the advice of their doctor, but they'll listen to you because they know you, observe your life, and can tell that you're speaking the truth. The only credentials you really need are a genuine faith in Jesus, the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit, and a burning desire to share the hope you possess with someone else who needs it.

© John Stange, 2021