Don’T Settle for a Fall: Getting Primed to Finish the Race.

By Debra J. Salter Smith

Mankind has progressed to an age filled with people who have never heard of or been taught about God. Others have an awareness of him yet deny his existence based on negative reports or experiences with acclaimed Christians. There are also the loyal churchgoers who have become complacent in the religious traditions set in place. They are giving the appearance of right living in Christ but not partaking in the love and abundant life that is promised. It is unfortunate that these people have disqualified and rejected God based on another persons actions or beliefs.

Dont Settle for a Fall was written to assist nonbelievers and believers alike to discover or rediscover Christianity as it was originally established by Jesus Christ. Its ultimate purpose is to create an opportunity for people to develop a relationship with God.

The Holy Spirit-inspired words in this book will:
Provide understanding of who God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit are and the importance of developing an intimate relationship with them;
Explain what Christianity is and Christians responsibility in the earth is;
Clarify the purpose of the church;
Explain what it means for Christians to fall; and
Encourage those weak in faith to continue their spiritual race despite what other people say or do.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Jan 30, 2018
• ISBN: 9781973611165

Debra J. Salter Smith

Debra J. Salter Smith is a native of Youngstown, Ohio, with a thirty year nursing background. Her spiritual awareness was sparked at an early age and became a passion as the years passed. Debra witnessed the bitter and sweet aspects of religion from her personal experience with Pentecostal, Catholic, Baptist, and Non-Denominational churches. After many years of study and training, she discovered her call as a teacher and prophet. Now a licensed elder, she has an undeniable, non-compromising relationship with God that lead to her being commissioned to write her first book, Dont Settle for a Fall. Debra lives in Columbus, Ohio with her husband William E. Smith, Jr.

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Copyright © 2018 Debra J. Salter Smith.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

This book is a work of non-fiction. Unless otherwise noted, the author and the publisher make no explicit guarantees as to the accuracy of the information contained in this book and in some cases, names of people and places have been altered to protect their privacy.

Scripture taken from the King James Version of the Bible.

Scripture taken from the Amplified Bible, Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation. Used with permission.

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ISBN: 978-1-9736-1117-2 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-9736-1118-9 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-9736-1116-5 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2017919355

WestBow Press rev. date: 01/26/2018

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

First and foremost, I thank God for the privilege and opportunity to write this Holy Spirit inspired message to bring truth, salvation, and revelation to all who read it. To be entrusted with such a masterful assignment goes far beyond what my mind could ever imagine.

I want to thank my husband Bill, my son Darius, and my spiritual sisters Veronica and Lateefah for their unfailing encouragement and support.

A heartfelt thank you is extended to my brothers Larry and Jerry, and to all the people (family members, friends, acquaintances, pastors, priests, nuns, fellow Christians, etc.) who unknowingly contributed to the positive and negative life experiences I have shared in this book.

A special thank you is extended to Miss Endia Jones for the hard work and sacrifice of her time and talents in the editing of this work.

DEDICATION

I dedicate this book to my mother and sister, who both transitioned from this world before it was completed. Their fearlessness, vibrancy, courage, strength, integrity, wisdom, and love shaped the person I have become. Their believing in me was my motivation to stay focused on my writing assignment.

I love and miss you Ms. Minnie and Sandenista

CONTENTS

Introduction

Chapter 1:   The Purpose of the Church

Chapter 2:   Getting To Know God

Prayer

Praise and Worship

Studying the Bible

Continuous Study Brings Maturity

Be Encouraged

A God of Promise, Protection and Provision:

Salvation with Eternal Life

Divine Health

Wealth

A God Who Entertains

United As One

Chapter 3:   The Makeup of the Church

Chapter 4:   God’s Pre-Established Order

Only One is Chosen to Lead

Chapter 5:   Kingdom Living

Divine Living in The Kingdom of God

You Have to Believe it to Receive it

Chapter 6:   A Church that Loses it’s Pulse

Chapter 7:   A Fallen Church

The Fall of The Church Individual

An Irregular Pulse Represents a Malfunctioning Heart

Chapter 8:   Deception

Chapter 9:   Pride

Chapter 10:   Rebellion

Forms of Rebellion

Chapter 11:   Fear

Chapter 12:   Love

What is Love

Chapter 13:   Understanding Spiritual Leadership

The Role of a Pastor

Characteristics of Holiness

Challenges of A Pastor

Darkness Brought to Light

Learn to Discern

Chapter 14:   Take Ownership of your Relationship with God

Don’t Settle For a Fall

INTRODUCTION

Born Again Christians will experience falls throughout their lives, and it is nothing to be ashamed of. However, the problem occurs when Christians don’t recover from it, causing anger, frustration, bitterness, and contempt in their hearts toward God and the church as a whole. Persons who experience church hurt, along with those who outwardly deny God, willingly share their feelings and opinions with others, resulting in the marred reputation and credibility of the church.

Fall is defined as: (V) to drop down wounded or dead; die in battle; to become captured or defeated: (N) dropping: collapse: downfall: the surrender or capture of a besieged place: departure from virtue or goodness.

A fall that separates you from God can occur at any stage in the course of a Christian’s journey. New converts, baby, and young Christians who have little to no knowledge of what being a Christian truly means or entails, are quick to fall back into a lifestyle they are more familiar and comfortable with. This type of fall frequently occurs after encountering Christians who ignore, belittle, discount, or discredit them. This group of Christians has not been trained well enough to know that they should never focus on man’s actions, and they walk away without giving God the opportunity to introduce Himself or show them His ways and abilities. Christians at any stage of their walk can fall-out, fall-down, or fall-away from their relationship with God.

Christians fall-out of a relationship with God because of arguments, false accusations, empty promises, hurts, rejections, and disappointments they experience at the hand of fellow Christians and pastors. They fall-down (many times lacking the desire to get up again) when they fail to measure up to or meet the expectations and requirements of pastors, fellow Christians, and themselves. Finally, Born Again Christians fall-away from God because the enemy deceives them into accepting his counterfeit of what God promised, or, they have not experienced His promises in a time frame suitable to them.

Christians suffer a fall because of their own, or another person’s mistakes and shortcomings. Spiritual immaturity and heart’s lacking Godly traits are the reason God is being blamed for the actions of mankind. It is important to know that God does not influence or instruct people to do wrong by their fellow man. He gave man the ability and opportunity to make choices and decisions for themselves. Thus, man has the ability to choose doing what’s right over doing what’s wrong. If mistakes are made, people have the ability to make it right, or choose to forgive and move on.

This book was written as a source of encouragement and a guide for Born Again Christians knowledge and understanding of:

1) The Christian lifestyle

2) Obstacles that will attempt to block your path and get you off course

3) ALL Christians make mistakes and fall, but it does not mean that their race should end

4) Not blaming God for the things that mankind does in their limited, natural abilities

Being a stable Christian warrants having a strong, healthy spirit and heart that can endure the ever changing pace needed to overcome the hurdles, detours, rough waters, high winds, and rocky terrain that constantly present themselves along the narrow path of righteousness. A strong, healthy spirit and heart can only be acquired through God’s Word, with the guidance and direction of the Holy Spirit. It takes a strong spirit to stay connected to God (by way of the Holy Spirit). Now the heart, which is the driving force of the spirit, soul, and body, must be healthy and strong to sustain life.

The heart of a Christian must be filled with things that reflect and bring glory to God. Some of these traits include Love, honor, respect, kindness, compassion, mercy, patience, forgiveness, a desire to do what is right in the sight of God, and repentance. A heart filled with such qualities as these is a heart that has been conditioned by God. A heart that lacks vital Godly components, suffers from a condition that will cause it to fail. If your heart is not right, nothing (marriage, family, job, social life, spiritual life, and ministry) will work right! Lacking God in your heart disconnects you from Him and ties His hands from manifesting things in your life (I John 5:1).

The Christian reputation, and that of the God we serve, has been tarnished and stained due to the failing hearts of those who profess to love and represent them. It is the goal of this book to help strengthen the hearts of Christians and build the endurance needed to run the race, stand firm on God’s Word, and swiftly recover from a fall.

What’s in your heart?

Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. A-men. (Matthew 28: 19-20)

– CHAPTER ONE –

The Purpose of the Church

The general consensus regards the church as a building where people who share the same religious beliefs come together for public worship. Some view the church as a place to go when they have personal needs to be met. Others consider it to be a place to be entertained and have their emotions stirred up. You also have those who perceive the church as a place to achieve personal notoriety and advancement. In some respects, a few of these concepts may be valid. However, they do not reflect the true purpose of the church. Like Jesus (our example for living a spirit filled life in the earth realm), the church is a consecrated dwelling place for the presence of God to abide, for the truth of His Word to be upheld (I Timothy 3:15), and for the training and development of Christians.

The church was established by Jesus, after He Himself cultivated its foundation. The church represents who Jesus is, His purpose for coming to earth, and the continuation of His ministry. For this reason, the church is referred to as the body of Christ, with Jesus as the head (Ephesians 5:23-27). Jesus is everything that is pleasing to God. He remained one with Him and only focused on doing His will. It was the intimate relationship They shared which lead Jesus to become the sacrificial seed planted in the earth for the redemption of mankind. Based on these facts, the church today (whether it be the church individual, local, or universal), is where God’s presence is unmistakable. The emphasis of the church is to convey God’s will in the earth. His will being for all of mankind to be saved, and to know, understand and live according to the truth of His Word (I Timothy 2:4-6). The church is the ground that Jesus prepared to reproduce fruit of His own kind. Fruit that is capable of enduring His never ending mission of spreading the Gospel throughout the earth.

Jesus’ purpose for coming to earth is explained in Luke