Others like only believe Features >>
The Complete Smith Wigglesworth
Waiting On God
Releasing God's Ideas By Praying In The Spirit
The Fire Of Delayed Answers
Tongues Beyond The Upper Room
Command The Morning
Holy Spirit Power: Knowing The Voice, Guidance And Person Of The Holy Spirit
The Leap Of Faith
High Level Warfare
I Talk To God About How I Feel
About the Book
"ONLY BELIEVE" by Smith Wigglesworth is a collection of sermons and teachings that emphasize the importance of strong faith and belief in God. Wigglesworth, a renowned evangelist and healer, shares powerful messages about the miraculous power of faith in overcoming challenges and experiencing God's supernatural intervention in one's life. Through personal anecdotes and biblical examples, he encourages readers to trust in God's promises and boldly believe in His ability to transform lives.
Steven Curtis Chapman
Steven Curtis Chapman is an American Christian musician, singer, song writer, record producer, actor, author and social activist. He is the only artist in the history of music to have won 56 Gospel Music Association Dove Awards and is also a proud receiver of 5 Grammy Awards. His music is known for being a unique cross between country music, soft rock and orchestrated pop, which made him a prominent artist in the contemporary Christian music circuit of the 1980s. Chapman grew up in a humble environment where he found his calling for music, owing to his fatherâs inclination towards country music. He learnt to play instruments like guitar and piano just by hanging around in his fatherâs music store, listening to him play along with his friends. He took up music seriously when he moved to Nashville and got recognized by Sparrow Records, a company he stayed with for a long period in his career. He has released 19 studio albums and has sold over 10 million albums until now. Chapman is a family oriented person just like his father and has a big family comprising of his wife Mary Beth and 3 biological and 2 adopted children. He is a vocal advocate for adoption and has worked socially to eradicate the problem of youth violence.
Childhood & Early Life
Steven Curtis Chapman was born on November 21, 1962 in Paducah, Kentucky, to Herb and Judy Chapman. His father was a country singer and songwriter, who turned down opportunities to become a successful singer to concentrate on his family. His mother was a stay-at-home mom.
His father owned a music store, a business he managed from his basement and used to play music with his friends. Such creative environment at home influenced Chapmanâs life from very early on and he bought his first guitar at 6.
Chapman joined as a pre-med student at Georgetown College in Kentucky but after few semesters he moved to Anderson College, Indiana. But he ultimately dropped the idea of studying and went to Nashville to pursue his first love, music.
During 1980s, he wrote a song âBuilt to Lastâ, which gained huge popularity after getting recorded by a gospel group âThe Imperialsâ. The success of the song fetched Chapman a songwriting deal with Sparrow Records.
Career
Chapmanâs first official album âFirst Handâ was released in 1987. The album was an instant hit with singles like âWeak Daysâ and topped at number 2 on the Contemporary Christian Music chart. The album had a mix of country music with soft rock and pop.
In 1988, following the success of his first album, Chapman released âReal Life Conversationsâ. Its hit single âHis Eyesâ received the âContemporary Recorded Song of the Yearâ award from the âGospel Music Associationâ. He co-wrote it with James Isaac Elliot.
After a few years, he made a swift turn to mainstream music with his album âThe Great Adventureâ in 1992. It earned him two Grammy awards for the album and for the title song of the album.
After gaining consistent success with albums like âHeaven in the Real World (1994), âSigns of Life (1996) and âSpeechless (1999), Chapmanâs next great album âDeclarationâ came out in 2001, for which he toured 70 cities.
In 2003, âAll About Loveâ was released and it ranked at Top 15 on the Christian Music charts. It was released under Sparrow Records and Chapman very humbly credited his wife Mary Beth for being the inspiration for his album.
âAll Things Newâ was released in 2004 and the album added another Grammy to Chapmanâs proud award collection. This time he received it in the category of Best Pop/Contemporary Gospel Album. It was also nominated for the Dove Award.
In 2005, âAll I Really Want for Christmasâ was released, which was Chapmanâs another successful Christmas album after âThe Music of Christmasâ. It had traditional holiday tunes and favorites like âGo Tell It on the Mountainâ and Silver Bellsâ.
Chapman took his music to greater levels by taking his concert to South Korea for the U.S. troops who were serving there in 2006. It was the first Christian concert that ever performed for the American army in that country.
In 2007, he released âThis Momentâ which included hit singles like âCinderellaâ, for which he was chosen for WOW Hits 2009. He also went on his âWinter Jamâ tour and took his sonsâ, Caleb and Willâs band along.
âBeauty Will Riseâ, Chapmanâs seventeenth album, was released in 2009. It is said that he wrote the songs of the album after getting inspired by his daughter Maria Sueâs sad and untimely demise. It included songs like âMeant to Beâ and âRe:creationâ.
In 2012, Chapman finally parted ways with Sparrow Records, the record company that he remained loyal to for so many years. He was signed on by Sonyâs Provident Label Group and came out with a Christmas album called âJOYâ.
âThe Glorious Unfoldingâ was released in 2013 under Reunion Records and it peaked on number 27 on the Billboard 200 and was number 1 Top Christian Album. The album was produced by Chapman himself and Brent Milligan.
Major Works
Chapmanâs âThe Great Adventureâ in 1992 was a turning point in his musical career because until now he was making soft and contemporary country music but with âThe Great Adventureâ he targeted the mainstream audience and tasted huge commercial success for the first time.
Awards & Achievements
Chapman is the winner of five Grammy awards for albums like âFor the Sake of the Callâ âThe Great Adventureâ âThe Live Adventureâ, âSpeechlessâ and âAll Things Newâ. He has also received 56 Gospel Music Association Dove Awards, more than any other artist.
Personal Life & Legacy
Chapman got married to Mary Beth in 1984 after they first met at Anderson University in Indiana. They have three biological children: Emily, Caleb and Will and three adopted children: Shaohannah, Stevey and Maria, together.
In 2008, Chapmanâs youngest son Will ran over his car by accident on his adopted daughter Maria Sue Chunxi Chapman. She was running towards him to meet him but he did not see her and she was pronounced dead on arrival at the hospital.
Trivia
Chapmanâs wife Mary Beth Chapman has written and released a book about losing her youngest daughter called âChoosing to SEE: A Journey of Struggle and Hopeâ.
Chapman and his wife have written three children's books with adoption themes: âShaoey And Dot: Bug Meets Bundleâ (2004), âShaoey and Dot: The Christmas Miracleâ (2005), and âShaoey and Dot: A Thunder and Lightning Bug Storyâ (2006).
He has received an Honorary Doctorate of Music from Anderson University.
The Secret to Job Satisfaction
Many Christians work in jobs we would not necessarily choose for ourselves. I have before â maybe you are now. We did choose it at some point along the way, but just for less inspiring reasons. I have to pay my rent. I have an engineering degree. I only received one offer. We start jobs for money and a hundred other reasons. After a few years (or months, or even weeks), the satisfying security of the paycheck wears off, and weâre left wondering if we settled too soon and missed âthe one.â We start dreaming about something different â different, more comfortable pay; different, more empowering boss; different, more fulfilling responsibilities. Our Vocational Anthems Meanwhile, the cultureâs choir sings beautiful harmony to our melancholy melody: Find a job where you get to do what you love to do most. Follow your heart. Donât settle for any job youâre not passionate about. The songs and slogans are sold by the millions, but for those willing to be honest about our work, at least three realities set in over time: That dream job simply does not exist for many. If it does, it either does not pay enough to cover the rent, or we are not qualified for it. An awful lot of work has to be done that no one dreams about, which means an awful lot of the available jobs are not dream jobs. The hard reality is that we canât glorify God in the job we want (at least not yet). But we can glorify God in the job we have. Modern Bondservants I wonder how the songs we Millennials hear most about our careers would have landed on Christian slaves in Ephesus? The apostle Paul writes, Bondservants, obey your earthly masters with fear and trembling, with a sincere heart, as you would Christ, not by the way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but as bondservants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart, rendering service with a good will as to the Lord and not to man, knowing that whatever good anyone does, this he will receive back from the Lord, whether he is a bondservant or is free. (Ephesians 6:5â8) Paul writes to âbondservantsâ about their work, not to support the institution of slavery, but to strengthen faith and inspire joy among the enslaved. To be clear, such slavery was not the brutal and dehumanizing chattel slavery in American history, but these men and women were not as free as we are in America today, either (Ephesians 6:8). If Paul could write these self-denying, countercultural, other-worldly words to slaves about their livelihood, could he write them to us about our jobs? If so, here are three ways we can glorify God in our job, whether we are working the dream, or dreading our work. 1. The work is for God, regardless of who we report to. Bondservants, obey your earthly masters with fear and trembling . . . as bondservants of Christ. (Ephesians 6:5â6) Your tax forms may say you work for the government, or a business, or even for yourself, but Paul says you work for God. You are always first and foremost an employee for Christ. Every task you complete comes underneath his lordship. You may never be paid to share or apply the gospel, but it still hangs high over everything else you are paid to do. Work as if Christ were your superior â with holy fear and trembling, and with sincerity. Why? Bosses can cheat us, mistreat us, even fire us, but Christ can do far worse â and far better. He not only sees our every move at work, but knows our every thought â nothing ever gets by him. And he can send us to hell. If your boss monitored you all day every day, would you work differently? Your almighty Savior and Judge sits even closer than that. If we go about our everyday work with greater seriousness and joy, people will ask about our boss. And if thereâs nothing remarkable about our boss, they just might ask about our God. 2. The standard is not mere excellence, but heartfelt service. Bondservants, obey your earthly masters . . . with a sincere heart, as you would Christ, not by the way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but . . . doing the will of God from the heart. (Ephesians 6:5â6) Some will hear âdoing the will of God from the heartâ and hear âwork as much and as hard as you possibly can.â But that is more American than Christian. Men and women chasing the American dream love to be told to work harder and achieve more. They work from the heart â itâs just a heart in love with money, or recognition, or control, or themselves. Christians dream about our jobs differently. When we work from the heart, we work from a passion for Jesus. We donât spend time counting all the things we can have or achieve here on earth. No, we âcount everything as lossâ â paychecks, promotions, progress, retirement â âbecause of the surpassing worth of knowing Christâ (Philippians 3:8). âFor his sake [we suffer] the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that [we] may gain Christ and be found in himâ (Philippians 3:8â9). We never have to fake joy in our jobs because our joy does not come from our jobs. We work from full hearts, not striving to fill our hearts. That kind of heart â not mere excellence â makes our work distinctly Christian. That does not mean Christians should not do their work excellently. We should, as if we were completing our work for Christ. But excellence can easily be mistaken for Christlikeness, when in and of itself, it says nothing about Christ. Lots of doctors, teachers, engineers, and mothers do their work excellently and hate Jesus. The quality of our work might punctuate what we believe, but no one is saved by commas or periods. Something else must set our excellence apart from every other kind of excellence, and that something else happens in our hearts before it ever reaches our hands. 3. The goal is not another paycheck here, but treasure in heaven. Bondservants, obey your earthly masters . . . knowing that whatever good anyone does, this he will receive back from the Lord, whether he is a bondservant or is free. (Ephesians 6:5, 8) Do you think about your job primarily in terms of what it will reap in this life, or in the next? The work these slaves did each day may have led to many things â favor with their master, financial or circumstantial gain, maybe even precious freedom â but Paul says the most important outcome could not be had or achieved here on earth. No, the work they were doing was mainly about storing up treasure in heaven. As Jesus says, âDo 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.â (Matthew 6:19â21) Another paycheck may feel like our most immediate need, but it is another grain of sand compared with all God will give us in eternity. Paychecks are so objective and predictable and tradable next to the overwhelming unknowns of âthis he will receive back from the Lord.â But the adrenaline high and false security runs out so fast. And every one of those paychecks will bounce in paradise. Instead of settling for a few higher numbers on a tiny piece of paper (that weâll probably spend before the month runs out), letâs work like those who are waiting and working for more than we could ever imagine for ourselves (1 Corinthians 2:9). Better Than Your Dream Job None of this means we should pass on a job opportunity that would employ more of our gifts, or a job that we would enjoy more, or one that would free us up to do more ministry. But it has everything to do with how we work when God does not open that door, maybe for months, maybe years, maybe decades. Do we know the secret of job satisfaction? Paul says elsewhere, I have learned in whatever [job I have] to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me. (Philippians 4:11â13) Paul knew the secret. He passed it along to the bondservants in Ephesus. And he wanted you to carry it with you to your job each day. Work for God, from your joy in him, for treasure far greater than money, recognition, or comfort. Bring those dreams to your day job, instead of looking for happiness in your dream job. Article by Marshall Segal