“Be Encouraged” Message by Steve Martin

​ BE ENCOURAGED

 

 

As I wrote previously, I love August. Not because of the heat (preferable to bitter cold) but because the Lord has done great things for us in previous August months.

 

Moved at least two times; saw prayers answered like never before; and this August a “new” (only 37 years old) Chevy Silverado Sidestep 4x4 truck for $1,200! I have named it The GOLDEN CHARIOT. (Thanks Keith for the find!)

 

“What a beaut, Clark!”

 

And then… another “new treasure” - a five-year old Honda lawnmower (thanks son-in-law Andrew!) being my other Home Depot one said it was “too hot” to run.

 

We are all blessed when we are thankful for what the Lord gives us. New or “somewhat used.”

 

So be encouraged and read my message for you, BE ENCOURAGED below.

 

Ahava and shalom,

 

Steve Martin

Love For His People

 

P. S. I have enjoyed publishing new books and updating my previous ones with new covers and updates this August too. Take a look below. Now 42 books over the last 16 years. Thank You, Lord!

 

 

BE ENCOURAGED

Who does not need encouragement from time to time?

 

As I was updating some of my previously published books, with new covers and edited chapters, I was really encouraged. What the Lord had given me to share over these past years in writing confirmed of hearing the Lord and sharing His heart.

 

“For I long to see you so that I may impart some spiritual gift to you, that you may be established; that is, that I may be encouraged together with you while among you, each of us by the other’s faith, both yours and mine.” Romans 1:11-12, NASB

 

This is one aspect of our Christian faith that we can do for one another – encourage each one in our walk.

 

Whether we use our spiritual gifts to build one another up, allowing the fruit of the Holy Spirit that our Lord Yeshua (Jesus) has grown in us over our years to bless others; to helping those in need with prayer, financial support, or physical, practical assistance - it is wonderful and usual timely for both.

 

When we give out, the Lord gives back in. We cannot out give the Lord.

 

There have been many times when you and me have needed a helping hand, an encouraging word, a text or message from another simply saying, “You got this. The Lord is with you, and He will not forsake you.”

 

This also includes standing with our friends in Israel, and Jews in the USA who need us, as Isaiah 40:1-2 also says, ““Comfort, comfort My people,” says your God. Speak kindly to Jerusalem…” (NASB)

 

Encouraging each other pleases the Lord. When His sons and daughters lift one another up, the world will see our love and long for the same.

 

Ahava and Shalom,

Steve Martin

"A Closed Door? Wait for the Open One" - message by Steve Martin

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I was actually surprised at my deep reaction when the finality of it hit me.

My 14 years with an uptown Charlotte company, where I started as a “temp” in 2012, then became full time, and then repeated (4 in fact) returns to cover as they tried finding good help…was over.

When my wonderful wife Laurie and I spent three months as volunteers with Christian Friends of Israel in Jerusalem Oct. 16, 2015 - Jan. 12, 2026, I had told Charlotte Center City Partners that this was it with them. I cleaned my desk and left.

But to my surprise they called me back two weeks after my return home to Charlotte, and said they needed my help. In fact, the new CFO had saved and put back my photos on my former desk walls. Surprised indeed!

But all good things come to an end, so we are told, and the door has finally closed. They seem to have finally found good help.

Coupled with the closing this month of another place I had done accounting with for five years as a contractor, doors certainly have closed.

But as my good friend Mordecai had prophesied to me a month ago in home group, “Doors will be closing. But new ones will be opening.” (I call him the “Open Door” prophet.)

When, not if, you experience your closing of doors, know that our Faithful Lord has your back.

And be faithful where you are at until then. He wants to promote you.

“His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful slave. You were faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter the joy of your master.’ Matthew 25:31, NASB

Ahava and shalom,

Steve Martin

#ClosedDoor #wait #Opendoor #messagebySteveMartin #faith #Jesus #courage #ChristianFriendsofIsrael #Jerusalem #CCCP #CharlotteCenterCityPartners #Mordecai,\ #faithfulOne #faithfulservant

“Determination” - message by Steve Martin

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Determination

Our walk with the Lord will bring us to events and situations where we are going to have to either stand strong, or we will turn and run. In my life, I have made that decision already. My life is His. I will stand, so help me God.

Yeshua (Jesus) had made that decision too. He was determined to do the Father’s will, and He did it.

We must choose to be as He was, and have the determination to do what is right before that time will certainly come.

“The Master, God, has given me a well-taught tongue, so I know how to encourage tired people. He wakes me up in the morning. Wakes me up, opens my ears to listen as one ready to take orders.

 

The Master, God, opened my ears, and I didn’t go back to sleep, didn’t pull the covers back over my head. I followed orders, stood there and took it while they beat me, held steady while they pulled out my beard.

 

Didn’t dodge their insults, faced them as they spit in my face. And the Master, God, stays right there and helps me, so I’m not disgraced.

 

Therefore I set my face like flint, confident that I’ll never regret this. My champion is right here. Let’s take our stand together! Who dares bring suit against me? Let him try! Look! the Master, God, is right here.

 

Who would dare call me guilty? Look! My accusers are a clothes bin of threadbare socks and shirts, fodder for moths!” Isaiah 50:7-9, The Message

 

When I was the office manager of a Canon copier dealer in Lansing, Michigan, between 1980-1987, I was asked to do an invoice for the company, billing a location that I had heard did abortions. I refused to do so. I wanted no part in it.

 

I would have been around 26, and we had three young kids at the time. I couldn’t afford to lose my job, but my Lord told me I was not to do that invoice. I told the owner as such.

 

He then made his wife, the co-owner, do the invoice. (In later years they asked me to become Vice President of the company, but even then the Lord had called me on to other work for Him, and that meant a move to Fort Lauderdale, Florida to work for Derek Prince Ministries.)

 

Are we going to stand as Christians, when faced with decisions that will go against the actions and beliefs of those around us?

 

Now is the time to make that determination. Not when the time to stand faces us head on. We will need to have made that decision already.

 

Christians, and Jews, are among the most persecuted in the world. Times have not changed since Jesus’ time. We know the Bible says the same days are coming for us.

 

Decide now what you are going to do when called upon to choose.

 

Ahava and shalom,

 

Steve Martin

 

Message #21, April 14, 2026

#determination #SteveMartin #Jesus #courage #faith #Master #DerekPrince #Christians #Jews #Bible #persecution

"Abraham Lincoln and the Holy Land" - message by Steve Martin

 

Abraham Lincoln and the Holy Land

 

“For the enemy has persecuted my soul; He has crushed my life to the ground; He has made me dwell in dark places, like those who have long been dead.”  Psalm 143:3, NASB

Well, that’s not a Bible verse anyone will put on their refrigerator!

And yet we go through those seasons when we feel exactly that – crushed, forsaken, “Where are You, Lord” times in our lives. So, then what?

Abraham Lincoln, our beloved 16^th American president, was known to have had “melancholy”—or simply depression. We can certainly understand why, amid the Civil War, his young son’s death, and his wife Martha’s health issues.

I have several books on my bookcase and have read most of them. They are not just for show.

Though he was not known as a churchgoer, he did call upon the Name of the Lord Jesus for guidance, courage, and fortitude to stand for righteousness in many political and life situations. Battered, hated, and later assassinated, he did seek the Lord in his times of depression and melancholy.

On his deathbed, it has been written that Lincoln spoke these words to his wife, Martha, as she drew near with her ear.

“A strong case can be made, based on the “Personal Reminiscences of Abraham Lincoln” (kept at the Illinois State Historical Library), a manuscript Noyes W. Miner, pastor of the First Baptist Church in Springfield, Illinois, who wrote of his conversations with Mary Todd Lincoln in 1882, and several other references, that these were Abraham Lincoln’s last words:

“We will visit the Holy Land and see those places hallowed by the footsteps of the Savior. There is no city on earth I so much desire to see as Jerusalem.”

 

These are the words that follow in the manuscript: "and with that word half spoken on his tongue, the bullet from the pistol of the assassin’s entered his brain, and the soul of the great and good President was carried by the Angels to the New Jerusalem & above.” (see here: Abraham Lincoln's Last Words)

There are at least ten fascinating facts about Lincoln and the Jews. Look here for more: Lincoln and the Jews. But that is for another day, another message.

We can all admire President Abraham Lincoln for the life he led and the courage he displayed, even as he fought spiritual and natural battles most of his life. And while I am on the subject, we can also give thanks to the Lord for the great President Donald J. Trump, who is to our country, and his ongoing support for Israel and our Jewish friends in their Land.

Lord, give us courage to also stand against the enemies that seek to destroy them, our friends, the Jews in Israel.

Ahava and shalom,

Steve Martin, Love For His People in Charlotte, North Carolina

Message #8, 2026, “Abraham Lincoln and the Holy Land”, Feb. 26, 2026, 11:30 am

Steve Martin's bookcase - Abraham Lincoln set

#AbrahamLincoln #HolyLand #message #SteveMartin #melancholy #depression #courage #Jerusalem #Israel, #Jesus

"Pressing In" by Steve Martin

 

Pressing In

“Brothers and sisters, I do not regard myself as having taken hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Therefore, all who are mature, let’s have this attitude; and if in anything you have a different attitude, God will reveal that to you as well;” Philippians 3:13-15, NASB

 

In 2020, I published my 30th book, entitled Press On!, and wrote the following introduction,

I have written several messages that made their way into my books on the subjects of pressing on, being faithful, being strong in the Lord, and fighting the good fight.

These are the days when it will take more than giving verbal acknowledgment and just words from our mouths in our service to the King Jesus.

It will take blood, sweat, tears, heartache, and determination to press on even if others have stopped and built a home along the road, believing they are finished.

Those of us who have been called, anointed, and commissioned for the King’s service have one thing going for us – we are not alone.

The Holy Spirit, Ruach HaKodesh, has been promised by the Son Jesus Christ, Yeshua HaMashiach, to always be with us. He is our Comforter, our Director, the One Who will lead us on. He is with us along this entire journey of faith.

This book is meant to encourage you to continue seeking the Living God, the One Who left Jerusalem, Israel, and is soon to return to Jerusalem, Israel.

Be encouraged in your walk. Keep seeking the Lord above.

Let Him direct your steps always, as you hear and obey. We both will be happy we did.

 

So, press on, for eternity!

 

It is even more true today. As I receive prayer concerns from others, from family, friends, and friends-to-be, the need to maintain courage, faith, and pressing on into the plans and purposes of our Lord is ever increasing, as the day draws near. For His soon return.

 

Pressing on should be our norm by now. Facing each day is not meant to go it alone. Our Lord has given us His Holy Spirit, Ruach HaKodesh, to go with us, lead us, and embolden us for His eternal glory.

 

Today is another day to show His Hand strong on our behalf. Have courage and keep pressing in.

Ahava and shalom,

Steve Martin

Message #6, 2026, “Pressing In” Feb. 20, 2026, 7:00 am

For a complete catalog of my 40 books click on.

#pressing in #SteveMartin #presson #courage #Jesu #HolySpirit #RuachHaKodesh #Jerusalem #faith