HOPE WHEN YOU FEEL LIKE YOU’RE FAILING - If you ever feel as though you haven’t accomplished much in life, and many of God’s promises are unfulfilled you’re in good company - in fact, you are standing among spiritual giants. Many great servants of God throughout history ended up feeling that they failed in their calling. It is no sin to endure such thoughts, or to be cast down with a sense of failure. But it is dangerous to allow these hellish lies to fester and enflame your soul. The Lord wants you to leave all that “failure thinking” behind and get back to work. Nothing has been in vain! He is going to do abundantly more than you could think or ask - Do you ever feel as though you haven’t accomplished much in life, and many promises are unfulfilled? If so, you’re in good company; in fact, you are standing among spiritual giants. Many great servants of God throughout history ended up feeling that they failed in their calling. The prophet Elijah looked at his life and cried, “Lord, take me home! I’m no better than my fathers, and all of them failed you. Please, take my life! Everything has been in vain.” David Livingstone, one of the world’s most useful missionaries, opened up the African continent to the gospel, sowing much seed and being used by God to awaken England for missions. Yet, during his twenty-third year on the mission field, Livingstone expressed the same awful doubts as other great servants.

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Hope When  You Feel Like You’re Failing

The Lord wants you to leave all that “failure thinking” behind and get back to work. Nothing has been in vain! He is going to do abundantly more than you could think or ask!

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If you ever feel as though you haven’t accomplished much in life, and many of God’s promises are unfulfilled you’re in good company -  in fact, you are standing among spiritual giants. Many great servants of God throughout history ended up feeling that they failed in their calling. It is no sin to endure such thoughts, or to be cast down with a sense of failure. But it is dangerous to allow these hellish lies to fester and enflame your soul. 

David Wilkerson

 

Do you ever feel as though you haven’t accomplished much in life, and many promises are unfulfilled?

If so, you’re in good company; in fact, you are standing among spiritual giants.

Many great servants of God throughout history ended up feeling that they failed in their calling.

The prophet Elijah looked at his life and cried, “Lord, take me home! I’m no better than my fathers, and all of them failed you. Please, take my life! Everything has been in vain” (see 1 Kings 19:4).

David Livingstone, one of the world’s most useful missionaries, opened up the African continent to the gospel, sowing much seed and being used by God to awaken England for missions.

Yet, during his twenty-third year on the mission field, Livingstone expressed the same awful doubts as other great servants.

His biographer quotes him in his despondency: “All my work seems to be in vain.”

George Bowen’s book, Love Revealed, is one of the greatest books on Christ ever written.

A single man, Bowen turned away from wealth and fame to become a missionary in Bombay, India, in the mid-1800s.

He chose to live among the very poorest, preaching on the streets in sweltering weather, distributing gospel literature and weeping over the lost.

This amazingly devoted man had gone to India with high hopes for the ministry of the gospel.

Yet, in his forty-plus years of ministry, Bowen had not one convert.

It was only after his death that mission societies discovered he was one of the most beloved missionaries in the nation.

Like so many before him, Bowen endured a terrible sense of failure.

He wrote, “I am the most useless being in the church … I would like to sit with Job, and I sympathize with Elijah. My labor has all been in vain.”

It is no sin to endure such thoughts, or to be cast down with a sense of failure.

But it is dangerous to allow these hellish lies to fester and enflame your soul.

Jesus showed us the way out of such despondency with this statement: “I have labored in vain … yet surely my just reward is with the Lord, and my work with my God” (Isaiah 49:4).

Christ is saying, in effect, “The Father alone passes judgment on all that we’ve done and how effective we’ve been.”

The Lord wants you to leave all that “failure thinking” behind and get back to work.

Nothing has been in vain!

He is going to do abundantly more than you could think or ask!

David Wilkerson was called to New York City in 1958 to minister to gang members and drug addicts, as told in the best-selling book The Cross and the Switchblade. He went on to create Teen Challenge and World Challenge, Inc. to minister to people’s spiritual and physical needs.

In 1987, he established Times Square Church. As its founding pastor, he faithfully led this congregation, delivering powerful biblical messages that encourage righteous living and complete reliance on God.

David Wilkerson also had a strong burden to encourage his fellow pastors. He founded the Summit International School of Ministry; and from 1999 to 2008, he held international conferences to strengthen church leaders.

His passion to support believers, build up leaders and care for the poor is still at the heart of World Challenge’s ministries to this day.

https://worldchallenge.org/devotion/hope-when-you-feel-youre-failing

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YOU’LL GET THROUGH THIS - What Satan intends for evil, God redeems for good - Grief is universal. It touches all of us at one point or another. From the big to the small — though none of it ever seems small at the time. From the expected to the unexpected. You fear you won’t make it through. We all do. We fear that the depression will never lift, the yelling will never stop, the pain will never leave. In the pits, surrounded by steep walls and aching reminders, we wonder: Will this gray sky ever brighten? This load ever lighten? Max reminds readers God doesn’t promise that getting through trials will be quick or painless. It wasn’t for Joseph – tossed in a pit by his brothers, sold into slavery, wrongfully imprisoned, forgotten and dismissed — but his story is in the Bible for this reason: to teach us to trust God to overcome evil. With the compassion of a pastor, the heart of a storyteller, and the joy of one who has seen what God can do, Max explores the story of Joseph and the truth of Genesis 50:20. What Satan intends for evil, God redeems for good.

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You’ll Get Through This

What Satan intends for evil, God redeems for good

Struggling With Grief: An Interview with Max Lucado

Grief is universal. It touches all of us at one point or another.

From the big to the small — though none of it ever seems small at the time.

From the expected to the unexpected.

Taking from the story of Joseph, pastor and NYT bestseller Max Lucado teaches readers how to endure and persevere through grief.

In 2013, Josh Olds had the chance to sit down with Max Lucado and talk about the book, being a pastor, and the reason for his wild success.

Along the way, Max gives Josh some pastoral advice about writing — something that still resonates to this day.

Josh Olds: What did you want to say through this book?

Max Lucado: You’ll Get Through This is exactly that: a message of hope to encourage people who are passing through tough times. It’s really a war against despair. It’s a message against despondency.

As a pastor now for 30 years, I’ve realized that there’s something that happens to people when they pass through tough times, that if they’re not careful, they will slide down into such a pit, they’ll never come back up. And what I wanted to do is give people a message of hope that would just encourage them and lift them up and help them out of this, through this season of difficulty.

I based the study or the book on the life of Joseph in the Old Testament, because I don’t know anybody who went through as many tough times as he did. But boy, he didn’t just survive, he thrived. And he had such a great understanding of how God used those tough times to create something good.

Josh: How do you hope people response to this message?

Max: Well, well, I hope people will respond by taking a step out of despair. But taking a step out of despair, if I can just talk one person off the ledge, if I can just convince one person not to make matters worse by making a bad decision.

That’s, that’s my goal. Because when we’re in despair, Josh, you know this, we just make bad decisions, and we draw the wrong conclusions about life. But if we can just hold on to some hope, then we’ll think more clearly and make better decisions. And we really will get through.

Josh: This is a wildly different topic, but I have to ask since I have you. What advice do you have for people who want to write like you do?

Max: If God has called you to be a writer, hey, congratulations! You’re in the league with, you know, he called Luke to be a writer and Paul to be a writer. You’re in pretty good company! And he’ll give you what you need. He’ll give you what you need to go at it and see what happens.

The Book - You’ll Get Through This

You fear you won’t make it through. We all do. We fear that the depression will never lift, the yelling will never stop, the pain will never leave.

In the pits, surrounded by steep walls and aching reminders, we wonder: Will this gray sky ever brighten? This load ever lighten?

In You’ll Get Through This, pastor and New York Times best-selling author, Max Lucado offers sweet assurance. “Deliverance is to the Bible what jazz music is to Mardi Gras: bold, brassy, and everywhere.”

Max reminds readers God doesn’t promise that getting through trials will be quick or painless.

It wasn’t for Joseph – tossed in a pit by his brothers, sold into slavery, wrongfully imprisoned, forgotten and dismissed — but his Old Testament story is in the Bible for this reason: to teach us to trust God to overcome evil.

With the compassion of a pastor, the heart of a storyteller, and the joy of one who has seen what God can do, Max explores the story of Joseph and the truth of Genesis 50:20.

What Satan intends for evil, God redeems for good.

The Author | Max Lucado

Max Lucado says he “writes books for people who don’t read books.’ Even so, his best-selling books have sold 100 million copies across 54 languages worldwide. Perhaps Lucado is converting non-readers with his poetic storytelling and homespun humor. Perhaps readers can sense that his encouraging words flow from the heart of a pastor.

Every trade book Max Lucado has written during the last 30 years began as a sermon series for his home church Oak Hills Church in San Antonio, Texas. Max presses every word of his sermons through this sieve: Why would this matter on Monday morning? How can I relate the promises of God to every person, wherever they are, regardless of the burdens they carry?

Since his first book On the Anvil was published in 1985, Max Lucado has been sharing the promises of God in sermons, books, articles and media interviews. His writing is also featured in videos, devotionals, songs, plush toys, greeting cards, booklets, Bible studies, and Bible commentaries. 130 million of these products have been sold around the globe. His books regularly appear on national bestseller lists including the New York Times.

Lucado has been dubbed “America’s Pastor” by Christianity Today, and Reader’s Digest called him “The Best Preacher in America.” The New York Times has named Max one of the most influential leaders in social media. He has been featured on countless media outlets including USA Today, “Good Morning America,” “The Today Show,” NPR, CNN, “Fox & Friends,” and Life is Story.

Max and Denalyn live in San Antonio, Texas, and have three grown daughters, two sons-in-law, and two grandchildren.

http://www.lifeisstory.com/podcast/struggling-with-grief-an-interview-with-max-lucado/

DEPRESSION - Christians as well as non-believers suffer from depression, though there are resources which can help the believer survive whereas others give up entirely on life. Depression is complex. It is not a lack of spirituality, or a deficiency in comprehending God’s plan or purpose for our lives. Every person is a composite of the emotional, the physical, and the spiritual. There are times when depression is the result of a chemical imbalance in the brain — something a person is no more responsible for than are those of us who wear glasses or have corrective surgery because a heart valve isn’t working properly. But depression affects your thinking as you begin to doubt what you know to be true, and see darkness rather than light, and live in a funk that seems to press upon you.

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Depression

Speaker: Dr. Harold J. Sala

Series: Guidelines For Living

“You have taken my companions and loved ones from me; the darkness is my closest friend.” Psalm 88:18

The dark days of December can be a catalyst which brings to the surface all the negative thoughts that have brewed in the kettle of physical weariness and despondency.

I couldn’t help thinking of that when I encountered three individuals who struggled with the demon of depression at the same time.

One was a respected musician and Christian leader, the composer of many hymns and songs with a list of theatrical credits almost as long as he was old who barricaded himself in his church office during Christmas week and ended his life with a gunshot to the head.

The same week a renowned pediatric heart surgeon, one of the finest in the world, unable to climb out of the pit of depression, took his life.

This brilliantly gifted doctor performed 830 operations on children in 18 months with a 2% mortality rate. He had been featured on television documentaries and was worshipped by his patients. He was 45.

The third in this dark trilogy is a friend of many years, also a doctor, a cardiologist who has spent her life helping people along with her husband, a surgeon. Both served as medical missionaries.

The third is recovering, but depression for the first two was fatal.

Whenever the world, to say nothing of our families and close friends, is deprived of the presence of so great an individual it is a massive collective loss.

We pass laws to protect people. We monitor our water, our food, and our borders to insure safety, but laws or boundaries can’t protect us from the darkness demon of depression.

Elderly people whose health has failed and who have little to look forward to are classic sufferers with depression, but today it is not only the elderly but those in the middle years with success and significance.

Why does this happen? And what can be done to prevent it? No one could answer those questions in two minutes.

Depression is complex. It is not a lack of spirituality, or a deficiency in comprehending God’s plan or purpose for our lives.

Christians as well as non-believers suffer, though I am confident that there are resources which can help the believer survive whereas others give up entirely on life.

Every person is a composite of the emotional, the physical, and the spiritual.

There are times when depression is the result of a chemical imbalance in the brain — something a person is no more responsible for than are those of us who wear glasses or have corrective surgery because a heart valve isn’t working properly.

But depression affects your thinking as you begin to doubt what you know to be true, and see darkness rather than light, and live in a funk that seems to press upon you.

Telling someone to “snap out of it” is as senseless as telling a drowning individual to swim.

I’m thinking of the woman who poured out her heart, tears streaming down her face, as she said, “God knows I would snap out of it if I only knew how!”

Surrounding an individual who is encountering depression with understanding, compassion, and strength is a beginning in helping build fences that save lives and help restore health and sanity.

Ignoring those who hurt or trivializing the problem only makes it worse.

God is not indifferent to those who suffer, whether it is a brilliant surgeon, a gifted teacher or intellectual, or a gray-haired grandfather who has worked a steady job over the years, whose health has failed and whose mental equilibrium has gone on strike.

There is both help and hope for the one who is depressed. While the road back may be painful and long, there is a way out of the darkness.

Resource reading: Job 17

DR. HAROLD J. SALA

Founder & Chairman of the Board

Speaker, author and Bible teacher, Dr. Harold Sala founded Guidelines in 1963. Pioneering the five-minute commentary in Christian radio, Dr. Sala’s daily "Guidelines for Living" is heard the world over in a variety of languages. Sala, who holds a Ph.D. in biblical text, has authored over 60 books published in19 languages. He speaks and teaches frequently at conferences, seminars, and churches worldwide. Residing in Mission Viejo, California, Harold has been married to Darlene for nearly wonderful 60 years.

https://www.guidelines.org/devotional/depression/