I finished listening to SHEPHERDS FOR SALE on Audible. Wow! It captured my attention! Chapter by chapter it revealed the level of compromise within the churches of America for financial gain and worldly acceptance.
Megan Basham did an excellent job on this book and I recommend that every pastor would put this book on their “read this week” list. It opened my eyes to the fierceness and the depth of the battle for truth in which we are engaged.
When it comes to grief, sometimes it is impossible to sympathize with a person because you have not experienced the same level of grief. We can and should be empathetic and weep with those that weep. While we may be limited in our ability to comfort, our Savior is not. Scripture tells us that Jesus is acquainted with all our griefs and that He is a friend that sticks closer than a brother. He is the God of all comfort and gave us His Holy Spirit Who is our constant companion and He is called the Comforter. When we go through trials, suffering and pain, He is there to reassure and renew us.
God promises in Romans 8:28 that He is working all things together for good to the that love Him. Through difficult times, God is developing us and our relationship with Him. He is developing endurance, experience and confident expectation in His ability and goodness. (Romans 5:1-5)
I have faced some difficult times and hurt both in life and pastoral ministry that made me wonder how I could go on and if I would ever feel normal again. I have experienced numbness and even depression.
After a particularly difficult season of ministry, I noted a hollowness had developed in my soul stemming from all the hurt. I was not sure which direction the next hurt would be hurled. Sometimes I felt like I was shellshocked though I have never experienced the trauma of war.
As I sought my Heavenly for grace to help in time of need, He sent Robert to pray with me on the lawn of the Ohio State House while I was attending an event just a couple weeks before my family and I were to take our family vacation. During our brief conversation, Robert must have noted the burden of heart I was carrying and he prayed that God would lead me into shady green pastures and restore my soul. His prayer was overwhelmingly meaningful to me seeing that we could be staying at a cabin in the grounds of Shady Green Pastures Bible Camp during our family vacation.
Little did I know all the comfort the Lord had in store for me. While traveling, we stopped in at an unassuming used book store. The front of the store was filled with books that were of no interest to me, but I continued to meander through till I found the religious sectioned. Nestled between the free used Bibles and a comedy of Christianized self-help books, a little book with light brown and pink cover caught my eye—The Sweet Side of Suffering. Honestly, the title caused a brief reaction in my heart. Is there actually a sweet side of suffering? How could the hurt and heavy heart that I was carrying have a sweet side? I started to put the book back, but could not. It had intrigued and once I read the introduction, the Holy Spirit impressed on my heart that this book was something my Heavenly Father had for me during our vacation.
For the next week and a half, my God used that book and the testimony of Esther Lovejoy to minister comfort to my heart. Each chapter detailed in a devotional way the sweetness of God that can be seen and experienced in our suffering. As I read and meditated on the Scriptures given, the illustrations and the testimony of God’s unfailing love through the valley of the shadow of death God restored my soul in shady green pastures.
Recently, I preached a message at Grace Baptist Church entitled Hope for the Hurting where I shared this story as part of the message.
In retrospect, I have learned that in my times of deepest hurt, hollowness and even depression, my Lord is right beside me working to develop in me endurance, experience and confident expectation in Him. He is ministering comfort to my soul so that He can use me to minister comfort to other hurting souls.
If this post finds you hurting and depressed, may I encourage you to pause and realize that your Heavenly Father has not abandoned you. Jesus is acquainted with your grief. The Holy Spirit is working to bring comfort to your soul. Be careful not to make life-changing decisions, but wait on the Lord to bring comfort right were you are. Hurt in our hearts will remain in our heart as a heavy burden no matter where we go until we find comfort in the God of all comfort. Often is these times Satan endeavors to keep us focused on removing the hurt we feel rather than running to our Helper. True help and healing only comes from God.
Psalm 43:5 says, ”Why art thou cast down, O my soul? And why art thou disquieted within me? Hope in God: For I shall yet praise him, Who is the health of my countenance, and my God.“
My prayer is that God will lead you into shady green pastures and restore your soul.
Recently, my wife and I were walking through our local Books and Co. in Beavercreek, Ohio. We were not really there for books as much as for the yogurt shop. We sat down to enjoy our personally concocted yogurt mixes among aisles and aisles of books. Looking up there was a grand stair case that led to another floor with aisles and aisles of more books. It seems that Barnes and Noble, Books and Co., the Kindle store, Half Price Books and many more offer endless reading options. Solomon stated of the making of books there would be no end. With so many options, it is vital that we choose reading material that will be good for us—good for us spiritually. Let me tell you about a book that I recently chose and would like to encourage you to do the same.
It was on social media that I first saw a post about a book being release entitled, Experiencing Jesus. The title grabbed my attention. It sounded refreshing and encouraging. I had a phone conversation with the author, John Van Gelderen and asked him to give me a quick summary. He did and my interest was further piqued. That day I bought the book and began to read it. I finished the book while on a couple of day retreat with my wife. Really, my heart was reminded, refreshed and reinvigorated about truth that I had heard preached by Bro. John when I was about 18. This book brought it all back to mind. Here are three reasons this book will be a life-changing read for you.
The basis of many books are far from Biblical and have no aim of encouraging a walk with God. The basis of Experiencing Jesus is Galatians 2:20. This powerful verse says, “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.” It is very easy to read over this verse and miss the much-needed truth to successfully live the Christian life as Christ intended. Each of the four chapters progressively work through this verse with clarity.
Many authors will take simple truth from scripture and make it complex. Experiencing Jesus is simple truth kept simple. I love the visual diagrams of scriptural concepts. I was inspired to see what happened to me the moment I received Christ by faith. The daily provision of Christ for a victorious life over sin is described in vivid detail. You need not be an intellectual to read this book. I certainly am not.
As a pastor, I am faced with the reality of defeated, discouraged believers. Sometimes I see it in the eyes of those listening. I can almost hear them whisper under their breath, “Sure Pastor! I tried to say no to sin this week and failed. Why try again?” The book concludes with this statement, “Experiencing Jesus makes it possible for us to be regularly victorious.” Jesus did not save us to live a life regular defeat and occasional victory. Truly, there is Victory in Jesus. The Bible truth explained in Experiencing Jesus will help even the most defeated Christ follower discover this victory that Christ alone provides.
Before you buy and read that novel or history book you been looking at, pick up Experiencing Jesus and be encouraged in a way that will be life-changing.
The Insanity of God. An eye catching title, I know! When this book was first recommended to me, I have to admit, it didn’t sound like a book I would read. You can never judge a book by its cover! From the first pages I was struck with the powerful testimony of God’s guidance in the life of Nik Ripkens who sought God earnestly. Here are some of the lessons I learned from the book and why you need read it as well.
After reading this book, I plan to recommend it to everybody I can, simply because it was a huge help to me. I am hungry to see God work in America and more specifically in my own community. This book challenged me not to get sidetracked by the thrills of life, but to seek to know Christ and the power of His resurrection.
Most of us quake in fear when we think of personally spreading the Gospel in the Muslim world. Preaching the Gospel in most areas of the Middle East legitimately requires that a man would be willing to lay down his life for Jesus Christ. These are precisely the reasons why the autobiography of Edgar Feghaly, Forward in the Face of Fear, will grip your attention. As I read it, I was encouraged by the testimony of a man who chose to walk by faith and not by sight. I was inspired by the countless examples of how God had preserved the life of His servant. Here are five reasons why this book would be a great encouragement to you.
Forward in the Face of Fear will be release on April 11, 2016. You can purchase your print or digital copy at Striving Together Publications.
Josiah Kagin 