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There’s Hope! If what hounds you is not past sin but idiotic blunders, see Christian Help When Haunted by One’s Stupid Mistakes for compassionate support. Otherwise, please keep reading. As certain as it is that, like Jesus himself, his true followers will suffer temptation, so none of us can be a true Christian for long without suffering condemnation, feeling unforgivable, being hounded by strong guilt feelings, fearing we’ll end up in hell, or feeling unable to forgive ourselves. This is so inevitable and so bewildering – and for some of us even terrifying – that I would be letting Christians down had I not written extensively on this subject. You deserve the delight of knowing that God’s approving smile upon you. Nevertheless, it is vital to grasp that no matter how devastatingly real and intense the feeling, there is a vast difference between merely feeling guilty and actually being guilty. Likewise, there is a vast difference between having sinned in the past (no matter how recent or distant) and being rendered totally sinless in the eyes of God. Spiritual peace is not about lack of inner turmoil but about refusing to accept the turmoil as a genuine reason for concern and instead choosing to put all our faith in the pronouncements of the Holy Judge of all humanity. In the wilderness Jesus defeated the devil’s attempt to twist Scripture, not by examining every theological argument about the disputed Scripture, but simply by holding on to another Scripture whose meaning was clear. Seeing that Jesus was resolute in clinging to that Scripture, the devil left him, “for a season,” or as the NIV puts it, “until an opportune time” (Luke 4:13). We can expect no more than Jesus received. If you are resolute in holding on to Scripture’s affirmation that forgiveness and eternal life are available to everyone who seeks it through repentance and faith in Jesus Christ, the devil might eventually leave you – but only for a while. When you least expect it, wham! he’ll be back again, pouring on all the doubt and guilt and condemnation and emptiness and feelings that God has abandoned you – every powerfully convincing, deceptive feeling he can possibly muster. Salvation is through faith and this satanic attack is your opportunity to shine, by proving that your faith is in Jesus and not in deceptively powerful feelings that are inconsistent with the Word of God and with the heart of God. The devil is a loser because every time he attacks and you resist, your faith grows stronger. And faith is of infinite and eternal value. 1 John 3:19-20 This then is how we know that we belong to the truth, and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence whenever our hearts condemn us. For God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything.

The Physical Side to Spiritual Warfare My friend Louise heroically battles both depression and satanic lies that God has rejected her. It is no surprise that she is under daily attack when you consider that she is a highly talented woman whose art, poetry and prose can touch the entire world for the glory of God and the Gospel, provided she continues to resist the strong oppression she suffers. Louise has discovered that to be best able to fight spiritual battles, she needs to take care of herself physically. She must watch what she eats and when she eats. Inadequate or irregular intake affects her mood and physical strength, which in turn can make her spiritually vulnerable. Likewise, she has learned that sufficient sleep is so important that, if necessary, she will even take medication to get it, rather than making herself vulnerable to attack. I would add that exercise is also important. It’s often hard to motivate ourselves to exercise and harder still when we are depressed but some studies suggest that exercise is as effective as antidepressants in lowering depression. “Food has a lot to do with victory,” Louise told me, “This I know for a fact as I see my own actions when I eat things which do not agree with me or fail to eat when I need to.” Does Louise’s observation sound unspiritual? Obviously spiritual factors like prayer, faith, fellowship, submission to God, and biblical understanding are critical, but the physical plays a role. After all, the same God who created the supernatural, created the natural. When God made us with physical bodies with physical needs, did he pronounce the result inferior? Creator God proudly declared it very good. We must not exalt the physical over the spiritual, but to downgrade the physical is to insult our Maker. Louise reminded me that Jesus fed thousands so that they would not collapse on the way home (Mark 8:3), and that through eating honey Jonathan was better able to fight the enemy than all those who fasted (1 Samuel 14:24-30). Other biblical examples abound. For instance, Jesus told us to pray every day for the provision of food (Matthew 6:11). The apostle Paul urged the men facing shipwreck to eat. “You need it to survive,” he pleaded, “Not one of you will lose a single hair from his head” (Acts 27:33-34). Then God answered his prayer that they all be saved. Elijah, afraid and depressed, flopped down under a tree and fell asleep. An angel appeared. That’s right, an angel gave him water and cooked him a meal. He let Elijah sleep still more and then gave him a second meal. This, combined later with a word from the Lord, was God’s answer to Elijah’s spiritual despondency. Overwork – insufficient sleep and recreation – has caused too many Christian leaders to burn out. The Bible even instructs married couples not to neglect the physical side of their union (1 Corinthians 7:3-5). In exceptional situations God may lead us to temporarily go without, but in general, neglecting the physical is a sign, not of being spiritual, but of straying from the God who created the physical. Sadly, even fresh fruit today has less vitamins than it used to, and medical research indicates a strong link between nutritional deficiencies and depression. For example, depression is one of the first symptoms of vitamin C deficiency. To avoid depression, an adequate absorption of B-complex vitamins is essential. It seems, for example, that vitamins B9 (folic acid) and B6 (pyridoxine) each affect serotonin levels in the brain. Serotonin is the very hormone targeted by anti-depressant medication. Other vitamin B deficiencies have also been linked to depression, as have deficiencies in calcium, magnesium, iron or potassium. Insufficient natural sunlight (normal artificial lighting is not enough) has repeatedly been found to be a significant cause of depression. This is believed to be why the shorter the daylight hours, the more suicide rates increase. Research has also indicated that exercise can be as powerful as anti-depressants in fighting depression. For more about the medical/nutritional side of depression see Natural Cures for Depression & Anxiety-Related Illnesses

When Things Get Tough Handling Discouragement, Depression or Apparent Failure Dark Blessings The curtains are often drawn in God’s waiting room. It’s exciting to gaze ahead, but faith grows best in the dark. Life in the sunshine is so exhilarating that we seldom notice our faith beginning to droop. It’s when things are dim, that spiritual life mushrooms. God’s saints accomplish great things while staggering around in dazed bewilderment. ‘By faith,’ says Scripture, ‘Abraham, . . . went out, not knowing whither he went.’ (Hebrews 11:8 – emphasis mine) ‘I go bound in the Spirit to Jerusalem,’ said Paul, ‘not knowing the things that shall befall me there.’ (Acts 20:22 – emphasis mine) The disciples were frequently stunned or mystified by Christ’s words and behaviour. The psalmists were forever asking, ‘Why?’ (Eg. Psalm 10:1; 22:1; 42:9; 43:2; 44:23; 74:1; 88:14) And in the midst of his suffering, Job didn’t have a clue what was going on. Dark mysteries bring great blessings. At the close of the year that saw the death of his newborn son and then the death of his wife and then assaults on his own health, Hudson Taylor wrote, ‘This was the most sorrowful and most blessed year of my life.’ When it’s sunny we want to run off and play. It’s when it’s darkest that we hold Father’s hand the tightest. In the gloom, qualities like faith, grit, and dedication, are stretched to limits we have never before reached. Yet life seems so oppressive we are oblivious to our triumphs. In pristine conditions eyes of faith can see forever. When storms close in, it is a mammoth task for those same eyes to even slightly pierce the swirling murk. It is the conditions, not you, that have deteriorated. Contrary to every feeling, you are not regressing. Though offered with the best intentions, much sentimental waffle is sometimes uttered about returning to one’s ‘first love’, as if the starry-eyed euphoria of new Christians is greater than the mature depths of your average older Christian. Poppycock! Most spiritual honeymooners are radiant primarily because they think they have entered a blissful world of near-perfect Christians, instant answers to selfish prayers and a life forever free from pain, heartache and trials. Theirs is most likely mere puppy love, relative to the ardour moving you to tough it out. Never confuse devotion with emotion. By way of illustration, consider the dangers inherent in the most intimate human relationship. Though in a romance, love and physical desire can be intertwined, heartache and tragedy looms for anyone who fails to recognise them as separate entities. What if a person’s marriage plans are swayed by an inability to distinguish between love and sexual appetite? What if in marriage a loss of sexual function is viewed as a decline in love? Such a misconception could threaten the whole relationship. Similarly, in the spiritual realm a failure to distinguish between feelings and love for God has serious implications. Though I’m all for emotional exuberance, the Bible measures love, not in tingles per second, but in putting one’s life on the line. (1 John 3:16-18) It’s pain endured in the valley, not gooey feelings in the afterglow of mountaintop ecstasy, that validates love. By all means, passionately seek the face of God, but don’t assume that emotional deadness – a normal phase of anyone’s spiritual life – implies spiritual deadness. We march by faith, not by warm fuzzies. An athlete, in the midst of a record-breaking run, has never in his life been so fit and strong. Yet his pain-racked body may have never felt so weak. Likewise, in the midst of a spiritual trial, it is not uncommon to be stronger and yet feel weaker than ever before. And to fellow Christians you might seem hopeless. An ultra-marathon champion staggering up the final hill looks pathetic. A child could do better. Anyone not understanding what this man has gone through would shrink from him in disgust. Only someone with all the facts would be awed by his stamina as he stumbles on. Consider Scott and his team, who struggled to the South Pole only to discover their honour of being the first to reach the Pole was lost forever. Amundsen had beaten them by about a month. To add to the futility, they endured further blizzards, illness, frostbite and starvation only to perish; the last three dying just a few miles from safety. Yet today their miserable defeat ending with death in frozen isolation, witnessed by not a living soul, is hailed as one on the greatest ever epics of human exploration and endurance. Every fibre of my being is convinced that their glory is just a shadow of what you can achieve. Though you suffer in isolation and apparent futility, the depths of your trial known to no one on earth, your name could be blazed in heaven’s lights, honoured forever by heaven’s throngs for your epic struggle with despair, illness, bereavement, or whatever. The day is coming when what is endured in secret will be shouted from the housetops. Look at Job: bewildered, maligned, misunderstood; battling not some epic foe but essentially common things – a financial reversal, bereavement, illness; – not cheered on by screaming fans, just booed by some one-time friends. If even on this crazy planet Job is honoured today, I can’t imagine the acclaim awaiting you when all is revealed. Your battle with life’s miseries can be as daring as David’s encounter with Goliath. Don’t worry that others don’t understand this at present. One day they will. And that day will never end. Life seems hopeless. Every day it feels you’ve slumped another notch. To maintain even a glimmer of faith in such darkness is a spectacular victory. It may take everything you’ve got just to hold on. But do it. You are pumping spiritual iron. If your blossom is dying, it’s so that the fruit can grow. Remember the cripple at the temple gate: he hoped for alms and got legs. (Acts 3:1-3) Creator God loves surprises. And he loves you. Earth sees us flattened on the wrestling ring canvas in faith’s fight. Heaven sees us forming on the canvas of the Great Artist. Half-completed works of art look ugly. All that matters, however, is the finished masterpiece. Forget appearances. Yield to the Artist. The result will be breath-taking.

Having surmounted enormous obstacles and years of preparation, Adoniram Judson arrived on the mission field. Seven hard years followed. All he had to show for it was one convert. It was about time he moved on to something more beneficial – peddling hair curlers at a Bald is Beautiful convention, developing waterproof pianos for people who sing in the shower, fitting parachutes to birds that are afraid of heights – anything but trying to win souls in Berma. One day a man came to his house looking for work and instead found Jesus, his Saviour. Another pin prick. But this one burst the balloon. The new convert became a powerful evangelist. Dozens, then hundreds, then thousands turned to the Lord. Within a century, over a quarter of a million Christians directly or indirectly owed their spiritual lives to Adoniram Judson. But that’s eternity’s view. Years after that key conversion, Adoniram’s life still seemed a waste. He was thrown into a death prison and chained to a granite block. Every night guards, ex-criminals themselves, hoisted his ankle fetters high above his head so that only his head and shoulders touched the ground. As he lay in appalling filth, almost every thought produced a new reason for despair. There were then only eighteen converts. Surely most, perhaps all, would fall away or be killed under the new outbreak of persecution. Years of struggle had produced a lone manuscript of a Burmese New Testament and his wife had smuggled it into prison. Any moment it could be discovered and destroyed. His relations with fellow missionaries had been marred by hurtful clashes. He had buried his only child. His own life hung by a thread. He feared for his darling, pregnant wife. ‘I came to bring life,’ he moaned, ‘and have brought nothing but death.’ After a year and a half of cruelty he was finally released. A brief reunion with his precious wife ended with him having to wrench himself from her to assist in political negotiations. Weeks turned to months. Before he could return to his wife, she was dead. Months later, death tore from him his only remaining child, the baby he had battled so hard to save. After two more years of mental deterioration, still numb with guilt over being absent when his wife most needed him, he dug a grave and lingered by it for days on end, his mind churning with morbid thoughts. ‘God is to me the Great Unknown,’ he concluded. ‘I believe in him, but I find him not.’ The mighty Lord hauled him up. He became one of the most admired missionaries of all time. Sadly, not everyone slogs through the tough ground-breaking years. David Flood’s solitary convert was just a child. When David’s wife died, discouragement won. Leaving his baby daughter, Aggie, with a missionary couple, young David left Africa – and the Lord. After the collapse of his second marriage he took in a mistress. Alcohol, poverty, illness and degradation tightened their deadly strangle-hold. As his abandoned daughter grew, married and served the Lord, she often thought of the father she had never known. He was 77 when Aggie finally stood at his grimy bedside, ignored the stench, and hugged him. Her love and Christ’s power brought David back to the One who had moved him to ‘waste’ his life in Africa. Aggie also brought startling news. That little convert he had left in Africa had built on the foundation David and his wife had laid and the entire tribe of 600 people had come to Christ. It’s not only missionaries who are allowed to have lean years. We could stock a library with stories of spectacularly unsuccessful men and women who eventually sparked massive moves of God. Many closed their eyes in death without seeing the fruit their labours finally produced. No matter what we think of his views, it is staggering to realise that Søren Kierkegaard’s writings slept for almost a century after his death until translated into English and suddenly stunning the world. And consider the Jim Elliots of this world whose apparently untimely deaths have inspired countless thousands to take up the baton and run in their stead. Though they died seemingly at the very outset of their life’s work, the final result was beyond what a dozen lifetimes could achieve. Still more tantalising are heaven’s best-kept secrets – triumphs by people we have never heard of, or achievements our slow minds cannot adequately appreciate. Nonetheless, God established the pattern millenniums ago: Sarah knew nothing but barrenness for ninety distressing years, yet became the ancestress of multiplied millions. At this very moment, the Lord could be replaying in someone’s mind heaven’s recording of a conversation you had with that person years ago. You’ve forgotten the incident, but God is still using it. What you thought were normal words were Spirit-powered. You don’t feel the warm glow that would be yours if you knew those words were still echoing through the chambers of someone’s mind, but face it: results mean more to you than elusive feelings. NEXT

Basking in the Grace of God The End of Shame I have a story about my wife but I publish it only because Vicki and I care about you and ache for you to have what she now enjoys. As a teen highly devoted to God, Vicki studied deeply and passionately all that her church taught. Even Bible School lecturers were amazed at her understanding. A huge emphasis in her church was that life should be easy and if one’s problems persist, one must be out of the will of God or be failing to exercise enough of the faith he expects. This belief has the advantage of stirring motivation to keep on believing and doing the right thing but it put enormous pressure on Vicki – as it no doubt has on many others under the spell of this teaching – causing her to fall into condemnation whenever life got tough. Enduring difficult times is hard enough without being swamped with false guilt over it. Imagine, at the very time you most needed the comfort of knowing that God is with you, feeling that your afflictions prove God must be irate or bitterly disappointed with you. Imagine, when you most need love and support, being falsely accused and ostracized by people who believe a theory that contains elements of truth but is not broad enough to embrace all the facts. Imagine feeling an utter failure spiritually, despite having done your utmost to honor God in every possible way and having no idea what you have done wrong, but being told you must somehow have let God down by not having enough faith or having committed some unknown sin that one cannot even identify to repent of. This was Vicki’s torment that kept persisting despite her going to extremes in prayer and fasting and self-examination and self-loathing. The flaw in what Vicki had been taught by sincere men of God, is that although they correctly identified two possible reasons for being oppressed by afflictions that refuse to budge, their message oversimplifies biblical revelation and, despite them revering the Word of God, it forces them to unconsciously ignore or distort much of it. It is like correctly believing that smoking can cause lung cancer but taking this truth to the extreme of mistakenly thinking it means all lung cancer is caused by smoking, and if you encounter a non-smoker who shatters this belief by contracting lung cancer, rather than admitting that your theory is too narrow to fit every circumstance, you conclude the person must be lying and must have been a secret smoker. Vicki, along with countless thousands of others, was emphatically taught by devoted Bible teachers who cited Scripture after Scripture that proved their point, but twisted every Scripture that indicated they were oversimplifying spiritual reality by trying to apply it to every situation. For example, they taught that everyone should be financially prosperous. If someone objected by citing Jesus telling a would-be follower, “The foxes have holes, and the birds of the sky have nests, but the Son of Man [Jesus] has no place to lay his head,” (Luke 9:58), these preachers would retort that it means something other than the obvious and, without any biblical backing, claimed that Jesus was well-off; having a very successful carpentry business. If some cited Paul saying in several places in Scripture that he had gone hungry, they would say that everyone should have greater faith than Paul or that as modern, Spirit-filled teachers they have received a higher revelation than the man who wrote much of Scripture. Anyhow, Vicki was oppressively weighed down by the belief that every trial that persisted must be punishment for some unknown sin or failure to adequately apply some spiritual principle. One day, she was at breaking point under the strain of serious problems mixed with the belief that although she knew not how, it must somehow be her fault. In the midst of her despair, God spoke. “My grace is sufficient for you.” Put another way: “My grace is all you need.” That thought transformed her. Vicki knew the Lord was citing what he had told Paul when he had been under such attack that three times the anointed apostle had pleaded with God to deliver him and three times nothing happened (2 Corinthians 12:7-9). The great man of God was exceedingly oppressed. In fact, he told of this incident just after describing all the floggings, stonings, shipwrecks, deprivations and so on that he had suffered (2 Corinthians 11:23-28). When Paul was about to go down for the third time, the Almighty’s response was not, “Clean up your act, Loser!” but rather, “When all else fails, I’ve got your back.” To the man who couldn’t even get his prayers answered, the Lord did not say, “Screw up your face and manufacture more faith, like a woman trying to give birth to a porcupine.” Instead, he simply said, “Keep holding on. I’ve got everything in hand. No matter how bad it seems and how weak you feel, I’ve gifted you with all it takes to outlast the attack.” Spiritual success was not dependent upon Paul’s spiritual works program. All that mattered was God’s grace – the divine approval that comes as a free gift and remains even when life seems like a never-ending disaster. In this case, grace was not a miraculous deliverance but the divine ability to triumphantly endure the worst that hell could hurl at him. For Vicki, the take-home message was that the pressure is off. For everyone surrendered to Christ, all that matters is God’s grace, and it is big enough for every eventuality. If nothing – not even suffering or calamity or persecution or famine or inadequate clothing or peril or death threats – could keep one from God’s love (Romans 8:35), nothing can keep her from God’s grace. Everything hinges, not on her performance, but on the Almighty, and he is always up to the task. For everyone in Christ, no matter what happens, we can relax. Suddenly Vicki saw that continually beating herself up over hard times had been needless. She had even been kicked out of a church for not having a flashy car. That made her a ‘bad witness;’ an embarrassment to the pastor’s prosperity preaching. (No doubt, Jesus and Paul would also have been politely asked to leave.) Those simple words, “My grace is sufficient for you,” released the revelation that suffering adversity is not proof of spiritual failure after all. Vicki had thought it all depended on her. Finally, she realized that God had always been eager to take responsibility for her life. What mattered most was not her best efforts, but God. At last she could put her feet up and let God be God, instead of feeling compelled to keep trying to manipulate ‘spiritual laws’. No matter what hits her, the Almighty is big enough to handle it and he is on her side. This is not because she deserves divine support or could ever earn it, but because Christ deserved it and had earned for each of us and, in the greatest display of generosity the universe has ever seen, freely gives it to all who let him have their life. It didn’t matter what oppressive circumstances seemed to shout, nor what accusations self-appointed judges screamed: there is but one Judge and he sacrificed his life to give us something far beyond what anyone could ever earn; the priceless gift of divine favor; the enduring status that transcends time and the physical world. Vicki had been a casualty of teaching that was Bible-based and yet was selective and failed to embrace the full extent of biblical revelation. Whereas Paul had learned to glory in things that humbled him and were labeled weaknesses (2 Corinthians 12:9-10), Vicki had been taught to see them (and hence herself) as failures. Despite Scripture repeatedly pronouncing trials as reason to rejoice (Matthew 5:10-11; Luke 6:22-23; Acts 5:41; Romans 5:3-4; 8:17; Philippians 1:29; 2 Thessalonians 1:4; James 1:2-3,12; 1 Peter 1:6-7; 4:13-16) she was left with the impression that they were reason for shame. This false sense of failure sapped her of the strength needed to triumph. Vicki had always felt duty-bound to pour her utmost into putting on a brave front, so observers were able to detect but a mere fraction of the toll it really took on her. It was more than just what her church had taught, however. From her most tender years, Vicki had been subjected to a range of things so appalling that, for all her life, permitting even a vague public reference to it had been utterly beyond her. She can do it now only because of the life-changing experience featured in this webpage. Until then, powerful forces in her abnormal upbringing had combined with devastating childhood experiences to leave her victimized, driving her to always blame herself whenever the slightest negative thing touched her, or a family member. Now, however, the word God spoke into her heart has ignited a revelation that has cut through it all; releasing her from all self-blame and associated shame that had hounded her all her life. Though I was privileged to witness the transformation in Vicki, it is beyond me to adequately convey just how profound it has been. It was like bright sunlight dispelling gloom that had always hung over her, flooding her with new confidence in God and empowering her to face every eventuality with joy and a steely resolve to serve God no matter what. The assurance that being in deep water does not mean failure and that no matter what self-appointed critics declare, God’s grace covers all eventualities, has endowed Vicki with a new zest for life and new love of God. She shows her new confidence in many different ways, even her body language. She looks people in the eye more than ever – not just bosses, work colleagues and acquaintances, but even me. I have always strongly believed in Vicki and done everything in my power to encourage and support her and affirm by word and action that I am on her side. Surely if there were anyone in whose presence she would have felt self-assured, it is me, and yet even when alone with me there has been a surprising boost in her body language, indicating a new-found confidence. And this is what God wants for you but I wish I knew how to transfer it to you. I’m doing my utmost to usher you into this life-changing experience but it takes more than mere words. The Scripture God spoke into Vicki’s heart was not new to her. She had known those words for decades. As an impressionable teen she had even absorbed in the deepest part of her the impact of witnessing renowned and revered preachers inflating beautiful Bible truths to such grotesque proportions that they had the audacious arrogance to cite this very portion of God’s precious Word as proof that the Apostle Paul’s faith was inadequate and that they were greater than him. I had been trying for years to help Vicki grasp the truth that has now liberated her, and for so many years before that she had been faithfully studying the Bible and communing with God. It seems all of this had been slowly chipping away at misconceptions she firmly believed were Bible-based until finally the dam burst. May you, too, keep prayerfully seeking the God of truth, opening yourself up to him with the conviction that no matter how great your spiritual knowledge, in God there is always more. I felt defeated ending this here, but I was at a loss to know how I could further help you since, despite all my efforts, it had taken Vicki so long to have this breakthrough. So on your behalf I sought God about how I might further assist. At first, the silence was disturbing but then answers flowed. What I believe prolonged the process for Vicki was that although God loves us all and longs to forgive, we instinctively keep our distance from anyone we fear might be mad at us. Although Scripture pleads, “Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you,” (James 4:8) guilt – regardless of whether it is real or imagined – makes us loathe to do this. And keeping our distance from God makes it so much harder to hear from him and discover how loving and approachable he is, and to hear from him the truth that frees us. Even the fact that God was so important to Vicki worked against her. It is bad enough to fear someone might reject you; it is worse still to have this confirmed. And it is one thing to be rejected by someone who means little to you; it is another to be rejected by someone who means everything to you. Moreover, even if you receive assurance after assurance that God accepts you, if you are continually plagued with false guilt, those feelings will keep gnawing away, causing you to doubt anything positive the God of Truth tries to tell you. Even the holy Son of God was strongly tempted (Luke 4:1-2). As surely as everyone on this planet suffers temptation (satanic attempts to deceive), false feelings will not magically disappear after hearing from God. We must decide what we will enthrone as our source of truth – God’s Word or our feelings. It is up to us to choose to put our faith in the power of Christ’s forgiveness rather than in the lies that alarmingly deceptive feelings scream at us. After finally accepting the truth that God’s grace remains even when attacks abound, Vicki could at any moment have slid back into doubt. Taking her stand against this peril, she resolutely promised herself that no matter what disasters hit her, she would never again let herself believe accusing feelings that insisted she should feel shame over things seeming to go wrong, nor accept the reproach of self-opinionated detractors. Day after day she persisted in remaining vigilant, ready to attack every attempt of her old thinking to sneak back. By stubbornly doing so, she kept that promise. Do the same and you, too, will soar to new heights in God. More Help The next page in the series will help but if you are still battling feelings of shame, I should draw your attention to these webpages: * Forgiving Yourself and keep following the main link at the end of each page. * I hate Myself! Cure for Self Hate

When things are so tough that even suicide seems attractive The shadow of his affliction fell across his life like a black and bottomless chasm. Reeling under hellish torment, bereft of all his children, cruelly stripped of his reputation, all of his possessions gone, Job coveted death. As far as the eye could see, there was nothing ahead but pain, accusations and despair. Job had nothing to live for (Job 3:1-26; 6:9, 11). Or so everyone thought. Before him lay joy and honor, a long and fruitful life, double his past prosperity and the fathering of a superb new family. (Job 42:11-17; compare Job 1:2-3) Job had everything to live for. The pain and the glory Hounded by defeat, Immersed in gloom. Confounded by a curse, Scorned and spurned. Haunted by despair, Mocked by words of doom. My eyes may fill with tears, But not with dread or fear. This grub, wings will sprout. This down-trodden worm will soar; Transformed by redemptive power, Set free by the Lord of all. No one sees it yet: The secret's heaven-kept. They mock and jeer They do not know; Success is slow, but it is sure; Though it tarry, it will come. All Father touches turns to gold. It matters not what others say, The winning's done; Like Father, like son! Founded on his Word; Embalmed by love. Surrounded by his arms; Washed and warmed. Granted all I need, Buoyed by thoughts above: From fear I find release, Becalmed by heaven's peace. Like vine branches, we are not continually laden with fruit. That would be unnatural. (Ecclesiastes 3:1) For a significant portion of its life, a grapevine is nothing but a dry, twisted stick; fruitless, useless for shade, worthless as timber; to all appearances fit only to be ripped from the ground and reduced to ashes. Yet those barren times are as vital in the life of the vine, as the seasons of fruit. If spring could tip-toe past nature without stirring it from its winter slumber; if the sun could slip through the sky without dispelling the night; if rain could fall to the ground without bringing life to the desert - only then should you fear dry times, dark times, lean times. Though you feel as useless as a fur coat in a heat-wave, the time will come when your warmth is treasured. For everything there is a season. We could stock a library with stories of spectacularly unsuccessful men and women who eventually sparked massive moves of God. Many closed their eyes in death without seeing the fruit their labors finally produced. God established the pattern millenniums ago: Sarah knew nothing but barrenness for ninety distressing years, yet became the ancestress of multiplied millions. NEXT (To continue this theme, click above)

Oppressive times: The springboard to a productive life Your greatest contribution to God and humanity might flow from your greatest weakness. If you find this website useful, it’s because I have felt useless. It’s the spear through my heart that binds me to the pain in yours. It’s years plagued with questions that have unearthed answers. Had something dulled my pain, you would not be reading this webpage. John Bunyan’s spiritual torment was horrific. With a severity that few of us could even conceive, year after year he was repeatedly overwhelmed by sin, hopelessness and the seemingly certain prospect of an eternity in Hell. Then followed long years of harsh imprisonment, intensified even when not in prison by the very real threat of execution or deportation. No wonder Pilgrim’s Progress is such an outstandingly powerful book. Much of it was virtually autobiographical. Great men like Whitefield and the Wesleys suffered enormously in their struggle to find salvation. Whitefield’s spiritual need was so all-consuming that his fastings almost killed him. John and Charles were inconsolable until at long last they found salvation. Spurgeon, who knew what it was to endure painful illness, suffered so greatly in his quest for salvation that he wrote, ‘I had rather pass through seven years of the most launching sickness, than I would ever again pass through the terrible discovery of the evil of sin.’ Not surprisingly, their subsequent ministries eclipsed that of almost all Christians who have been spared such anguish of soul. Mark Virkler’s torment was his inability to hear God’s voice. In vain he sought the help of those who regularly heard from God. They could not even understand his problem. For them, it’s as easy as prayer. Year after year, Mark wrestled in the agony of silence. Why would a Father who longs to communicate with his treasured children, allow him to suffer so cruelly? Because, unlike those for whom hearing comes easily, Mark now has answers which have swept thousands to ‘the other side of silence’. Traumas qualify us for ministry like nothing else can. After losing his sight, Dr. William Moon prayed a prayer that was powerfully answered: ‘Lord, help me use this talent of blindness in your service ...’ Barbara Johnson has touched incalculable numbers of people for the glory of Christ, because of the numbing horror of being robbed of two sons through death, losing a third to a gay lifestyle, and her husband being critically injured. Who would have heard of Corrie ten Boom or Richard Wurmbrand if they had not suffered in prison camps? Rather than test your patience by citing hundreds more examples, let me conclude by stating the obvious: for vast numbers of Christians, the spiritual impact of their lives seems directly proportional to their past agony. Situations they would have most wanted to avoid – times when death seemed preferable – empowered their lives like no other experience. NEXT (To continue this theme, click above)

The church is full of hypocrites Many people imagine they despise Christianity when they are merely rejecting aspects of ‘Churchianity’ that Jesus himself would reject. Jesus denounced religious hypocrites. So if hypocrisy turns your stomach, you might be Christlike, but to make this claim stick you must have Jesus’ attitude to hypocrites: he forgave them. People can deeply hurt us, and if they happen to call themselves Christians it could turn us off Jesus for life. Emotionally, this is perfectly understandable, though of course it pales under the light of rational thought. If Jesus’ extraordinary claims are true, however, this matter is more important than life itself. The consequences of ignoring him are too catastrophic and the implications of responding to him are too stupendous to let emotions swindle us. A major theme in Jesus’ teaching (it’s even in the Lord’s prayer) is that we can enjoy the wondrous transformation that God’s forgiveness brings, only to the degree that we are willing to forgive people who have hurt us. (Matthew 6:12,14-15; 18:21-35; Mark 11:25-26) Jumping over the moon would be easier than forgiving some people, but if we come to Christ with sincerity, he will work the miracle of liberating us from the bondage of bitterness and empower us to forgive the unforgivable. Hypocrites are people who claim to be morally better than they really are. Authentic Christians claim to be so bad that they deserve to be sentenced to hell forever. Are you saying they are even worse than that? Christians are people who consider themselves such moral failures that they have come to Jesus for help and forgiveness. Making it spiritually depends not on how popular or nice we are, but how much we want God to rule our life and change us. Whether it be through quirks of nature or upbringing or whatever, becoming likable is harder for some of us. What matters most, however, is not where we are now, but where we are headed. Though they may have started far behind many non-Christians, people who have opened their lives to Jesus, have commenced a spiritual journey that will end in divine moral perfection in the next life. This, they insist, will not result from their own efforts, but from an utterly undeserved miracle of God – a miracle freely available to anyone who dares ask Jesus for it. Not realizing that genuine Christians have such a low view of their own morality, we attack them. What drives us to despise Christians is not unkindness so much as a desperate attempt to drown the shrieks of our own conscience. A favorite, rarely conscious, technique to silence a suppressed but nagging conscience is to muddy the name of anyone who might give the appearance of being morally better than us. Would you criticize hospitals for being filled with sick people? When Christ walked this planet, one of the most frequent criticisms he faced was that sinners were drawn to him like drought-stricken animals to water. Not all the unsavory characters milling around Jesus let him deliver them from their sin-sickness, but they sensed that in him was something their aching consciences desperately needed. The more Christ-like a church is, the more it attracts such people. Jesus chose his twelve disciples and loved them unreservedly, knowing that one of his supposedly closest friends, Judas, was such a hypocrite that he would arrange Jesus’ murder. The presence of the ultimate hypocrite in the midst of that inner circle has not prevented millions of people throughout the ages from becoming devoted Christians. Moreover, the leading disciple – Peter – was also a hypocrite. He vowed he would remain true to Jesus no matter what, and within hours he swore he didn’t know Jesus. Years later the apostle Paul accused Peter to his face of further hypocrisy. (Galatians 2:11-14) But Paul and other Christians were made of stronger stuff than to try using the failings of key Christians as an excuse for wavering in their own devotion to Christ. They know that to forgive is to act like Jesus. If you let a hypocrite stand between you and God, observed someone, guess who is closer to God! Yet another response: The embarrassing thing about denouncing hypocrisy is that it is equally hypocritical to condemn those who do not follow the teachings of Christ if you do not follow the teachings of Christ yourself. And one of his most fundamental teachings is that we should take our critical eyes off the sin of others and concentrate on our own chronic need for Jesus’ forgiveness. (Matthew 7:1-5; Luke 6:37; 18:11-14) Christian superstars are after money Although it is disturbingly easy to misjudge people’s motives, my guess is that many people become doctors for the money. If I were sick, however, I wouldn’t risk death just to make a point! A different view: Deny, if you must, thousands of martyrs throughout history so unselfishly devout that they gave up everything for Christ, even their last drop of blood. Were everyone a fraud, you would still have no excuse for not becoming the Christian you expect others to be. You know you are not accountable before God for the actions of others. You are accountable, however, for your own actions – and especially for your response to Christ’s offer to die in your place. I’m answerable to no one There is no such monstrosity as a self-made person. We did not decide to be born and we can’t even design our offspring’s fingerprints. The One who made everything owns everything. Every molecule in your body and everything you have stuffed in your pockets – everything you have ever used and abused – belongs to God. And to him you must give account. And judgment will be on his terms, not ours. With accountability comes dignity. To treat us as not responsible for our actions would be to treat us as sub-human.

Emotional Pain * Grief * Loss * Tragedy * Inner Pain * Death * Sorrow Real Christians Grieve When Bereavement Counselling Meets the Bible Help, Comfort and Healing Did Jesus really say, “Blessed are those who mourn” (Matthew 5:4)? Without ever intending to, vast numbers of caring, Bible-loving Christians have slipped from the Bible’s view of grief. They suppose they should be more lion-hearted than David the giant-killer, the man after God’s own heart who, upon finding Ziklag burned and his family taken captive, wept aloud until there was no strength left in him, before heroically seizing back from the enemy everything that had been stolen (1 Samuel 30:3-19). There are Christians who think they should be less human than Jesus, who often wept, and more spiritual than the Spirit-filled early church. See how the power-packed early church reacted to the death of its first martyr: Acts 8:2 Devout men buried Stephen, and lamented greatly over him. In contrast to the New Testament’s directive to “Weep with those who weep” (Romans 12:15), many well-meaning Christians think the truly Christian thing to do is to gently chide mourning Christians for not rejoicing. The great apostle Paul, whose references to joy and rejoicing have inspired modern day super saints to think it spiritual to act like robots, spoke often of the tears he shed in his labors for the Lord (Scriptures). What an embarrassment he is to those of us who sincerely think we are following his lead by never showing sorrow. The other major source of inspiration is for praisers, of course, the Psalms that are filled with praise and rejoicing but also filled with strong laments and complaints (e.g. Psalms 6; 10; 12, 13; 38; 51; 55; 60; 70; 74; 79; 80; 83; 88; 123; 137). The Bible has only one hymn book, yet even many of the psalms that end in praise only get there after working their way through grief. Although each completed psalm can be read quickly, it summarizes a real-life emotional journey that surely took considerably longer. To suppress grief is suppressing not just part of our humanity but a part of us that is in the image of God. Rocks and robots don’t cry. Jesus did. The one in whom “all the fullness of the Godhead dwells bodily” (Colossians 2:9) wept – often. Isaiah 53:3 He was . . . a man of suffering . . . Matthew 26:37-38 . . . and began to be sorrowful and severely troubled. Then he said to them, “My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death. . . .” Luke 19:41 When he came near, he saw the city and wept over it John 11:33-36 When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews weeping who came with her, he groaned in the spirit, and was troubled, and said, “Where have you laid him?” They told him, “Lord, come and see.” Jesus wept. The Jews therefore said, “See how much affection he had for him!” Hebrews 5:7 He, in the days of his flesh, having offered up prayers and petitions with strong crying and tears . . . Christ came to show us the heart of the Father, but even before then, God revealed himself as one who grieves. Genesis 6:6 The Lord was sorry that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him in his heart. 2 Samuel 24:16 When the angel stretched out his hand toward Jerusalem to destroy it, the Lord relented of the disaster, and said to the angel who destroyed the people, “It is enough. Now withdraw your hand.” The Lord’s angel was by the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite. Isaiah 63:10 But they rebelled, and grieved his holy Spirit. . . . Before the Son of God shed tears, the Almighty’s highest revelation of himself was through the prophets and by them he revealed himself over and over as being emotional. 1 Samuel 15:35 Samuel came no more to see Saul until the day of his death; for Samuel mourned for Saul: and the Lord grieved that he had made Saul king over Israel. We repeatedly find this same convergence of God’s emotions with those of his prophets. Here’s a few examples: Isaiah 16:9, 11, 13 Therefore I will weep . . . I will water you with my tears . . . Therefore my heart sounds like a harp for Moab, and my inward parts for Kir Heres. . . . This is the word that the Lord spoke concerning Moab in time past. Isaiah 22:4 Therefore I said, “Look away from me. I will weep bitterly. . . .” Jeremiah 8:21 For the hurt of the daughter of my people am I hurt: I mourn; dismay has taken hold on me. Jeremiah 9:1 Oh that my head were waters, and my eyes a spring of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people! Jeremiah 9:10 For the mountains will I take up a weeping and wailing, and for the pastures of the wilderness a lamentation . . . Jeremiah 13:17 But if you will not hear it, my soul shall weep in secret for your pride; and my eye shall weep bitterly, and run down with tears, because the Lord’s flock is taken captive. Jeremiah 48:30-32 I know his wrath, says the Lord, that it is nothing; his boastings have worked nothing. Therefore will I wail for Moab; yes, I will cry out for all Moab: for the men of Kir Heres shall they mourn. With more than the weeping of Jazer will I weep for you, vine of Sibmah . . . There are those who pride themselves in a form of Christianity devoid of emotion. We truly must love the Lord with our mind and walk by faith, not feelings. However, the greatest commandment is to love God with all our mind and our emotions (heart/soul). Then there are Christians who think themselves more biblical by allowing emotions, but it seems they unconsciously go through their Bibles with a black pen, blocking out the vast number of references to displaying “negative” emotions. The only emotion they allow is joy. Praise and rejoicing are, of course, highly biblical, essential ingredients in emotional healing, but the same is true for expressing grief. The Bible’s full teaching is that bereaved Christians should grieve, but not as those who have no hope. 1 Thessalonians 4:13 But we don’t want you to be ignorant, brothers, concerning those who have fallen asleep, so that you don’t grieve like the rest, who have no hope. Hope lessens grief, but it does not eliminate it. Here’s how the elders – not the less spiritual ones, but the elders – of the Ephesian church reacted when Paul left them: Acts 20:37-38 They all wept a lot . . . because of the word which he had spoken, that they should see his face no more. . . . It is both natural and biblical to grieve the departure of loved ones. The reality is that no matter how happy those who have gone are, and how much they gain by the move, we suffer the loss, and to try to live in denial of this reality is not heroic but caving in to social or religious pressure that is not of God. Ironically, those who refuse to mourn often take much longer to heal, just as someone ignoring a physical wound, acting as if it had never happened, is likely to end up with an infected wound that takes much longer to heal. Those who refuse to grieve – refuse to admit to themselves the extent of their loss and to express that loss – can end up hobbling through life without ever healing. To be authentic Christians is to display the full gamut of God-given emotions. Passionately in love with their Lord, Paul and the other apostles longed to share in the sufferings of Christ. Since no one loves as deeply as God does, no one grieves as deeply as God as he contemplates this hurting world and lost humanity who curse and reject the God who longs to save them. To experience heart-ripping grief is to enter into a unique understanding of the heart of God. We shrink from tears like a cat from water, but as the old Arab proverb observes, “All sunshine doth a desert make.” In the words of Scripture, there is “a time to mourn” (Ecclesiastes 3:4). Life has its seasons and the dark rainy days that no one wants are essential for fruitfulness. God will turn your “mourning into dancing” (Psalms 30:11) but for that to happen you must mourn. There is much evidence that those who confront their inner pain head-on, heal quickest. Inner pain will gradually retreat when we face it, but it will keep haunting us if we run from it. To live in denial grieves the Spirit of truth. The healing Lord is a God of truth and he ministers in an environment of truth. Have you noticed in the gospels how, before healing them, Jesus often asked sick people what they wanted? As much as Jesus wanted to heal them, their healing hinged on them admitting that they were sick and needed healing. Had they said, “I’m fine,” they would have missed their healing. This principle applies to emotional healing as well as physical healing. Louise wrote to me saying how she had delayed her healing for so many years by suppressing inner pain rather than facing it and grieving it. I asked this creative woman if she could write a poem about this topic and here is her response: “He who sows in tears, will reap with a joyful cry” I’ve tried to trust in the God of truth While clinging to the lies of youth I’ve tried to learn the truth myself And put his grace upon the shelf I’ve listened to those who madly say “Do not cry, but to him pray” But for the baptism giving life The water of tears of grieving strife Are necessary. He collects and keeps Every tear an agonized sad soul weeps To pour out, melting pillar of salt Resurrection being the final result And tenderly, as I seek rightly Humbly in my difficulty He’ll touch and bring me joy and peace And promise life that will not cease. I long for us not to add to people’s burdens by implying that a stiff upper lip is a spiritual duty, or is even helpful. I would be horrified, however, if anyone responded to this webpage by going to the other extreme of looking down on those who find themselves too inhibited to openly grieve. Our emotional response to crises is largely concreted into us during our formative years. Freeing ourselves up in later years is exceedingly difficult and takes more than mere willpower. Those who clam up emotionally suffer enough without anyone compounding it by being critical of their dilemma. Particularly men from some cultural backgrounds, such as Anglo-Saxon, often feel duty-bound to go to emotionally unhealthy extremes in suppressing their feelings – with the possible exception of anger – when in physical or emotional distress. For every human, our sexual identity is an enormous part of who we are. From birth to death we are stuck with our gender and to feel that we have failed to live up what is expected of our gender is one of the most devastating things we can suffer. Moreover, I’ve discovered that most of us Christians have a subconscious bias toward claiming biblical justification for our hang-ups. Like so many men, I grew up believing that a man shedding a tear is at least as shamefully abnormal as a woman growing a beard. Real men never cry. On the other hand, I believed Jesus was the perfect man. Eventually one of those beliefs had to go. Nevertheless, the power of one’s formative years is such that despite what my mind might tell me, it is hard to feel inwardly convinced. Grieving, however, does not necessarily mean crying. It involves acknowledging to oneself the magnitude of one’s loss. Unfortunately, the pressure many men feel never to cry prevents them from even thinking about their loss, lest the mere thought produce tears. At first guess, one would suppose that the shared grief over the death of a child would bring a husband and wife closer together. Sadly, the opposite usually applies. A major reason for this is that it is normal for people to react to grief in very different ways. Some, for instance, will try to offload pain by talking incessantly about it, whereas others feel they can cope only by never mentioning it. Put a representative from each group together in marriage and one partner will see the other as a continual depressive influence, like a dead weight on someone barely able to keep afloat, while the other partner thinks he/she is married to someone oppressively cold and distant. The tragedy is that each responds to emotional pain in a way that inflames the other’s pain. This calls for great love, understanding and perseverance. Keep pouring out your heart to God, however, and the trial will be shortened. Grief is a part of the victorious Christian life. It is a place we visit but we don’t have to live there. It is not biblical to live in denial or try to sidestep grief, but neither is it biblical to sidestep praise, nor to make grief our home, rather than just a place we pass through. No matter how bad things have been, our loving Lord has good planned for us and wants us to live in hope. For encouragement, see Finding Hope When There is No Hope . For insight into just how common the shedding of tears is in the Bible, I invite you to glance at the Scriptures below. To see all these Scriptures together is quite impacting. Scriptures Specifically Mentioning Men Crying Genesis 27:38 . . . Esau lifted up his voice, and wept. Genesis 29:11 Jacob kissed Rachel, and lifted up his voice, and wept. Genesis 33:4 Esau ran to meet him, embraced him, fell on his neck, kissed him, and they wept. Genesis 37:35 All his sons and all his daughters rose up to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted. He said, “For I will go down to Sheol to my son mourning.” His father wept for him. Genesis 42:24 He turned himself away from them, and wept. . . . Genesis 43:30 Joseph hurried, for his heart yearned over his brother; and he sought a place to weep. He entered into his room, and wept there. Genesis 45:2 He wept aloud. The Egyptians heard, and the house of Pharaoh heard. Genesis 45:14 He fell on his brother Benjamin’s neck, and wept, and Benjamin wept on his neck. Genesis 45:15 He kissed all his brothers, and wept on them. . . . Genesis 46:29 Joseph . . . presented himself to him, and fell on his neck, and wept on his neck a good while. Genesis 50:1 Joseph fell on his father’s face, wept on him, and kissed him. Genesis 50:17 . . . Joseph wept when they spoke to him. 1 Samuel 20:41 . . . David . . . fell on his face to the ground, and bowed himself three times. They kissed one another, and wept one with another, and David wept the most. 1 Samuel 24:16 . . . Saul said, “Is that your voice, my son David?” Saul lifted up his voice, and wept. 1 Samuel 30:4 Then David and the people who were with him lifted up their voice and wept until they had no more power to weep. 2 Samuel 1:12 They mourned, wept, and fasted until evening, for Saul, and for Jonathan his son, and for the people of the Lord, and for the house of Israel; because they had fallen by the sword. 2 Samuel 3:16 Her husband went with her, weeping as he went, and followed her to Bahurim. Then Abner said to him, “Go! Return!” and he returned. 2 Samuel 3:32 . . . the king lifted up his voice, and wept at Abner’s grave; and all the people wept. 2 Samuel 12:21 Then his servants said to him, “What is this that you have done? You fasted and wept for the child while he was alive, but when the child was dead, you rose up and ate bread.” 2 Samuel 12:22 He said, “While the child was yet alive, I fasted and wept; for I said, ‘Who knows whether the Lord will not be gracious to me, that the child may live?’ 2 Samuel 13:36 As soon as he had finished speaking, behold, the king’s sons came, and lifted up their voice, and wept. The king also and all his servants wept bitterly. 2 Samuel 15:30 David went up by the ascent of the Mount of Olives, and wept as he went up; and he had his head covered, and went barefoot: and all the people who were with him each covered his head, and they went up, weeping as they went up. 2 Samuel 18:33 The king was much moved, and went up to the room over the gate, and wept. As he went, he said, “My son Absalom! My son, my son Absalom! I wish I had died for you, Absalom, my son, my son!” 2 Samuel 19:1 Joab was told, “Behold, the king weeps and mourns for Absalom.” 2 Kings 8:11 . . . Then the man of God wept. 2 Kings 8:12 Hazael said, “Why do you weep, my lord?” . . . 2 Kings 13:14 Now Elisha became sick with the illness of which he died; and Joash the king of Israel came down to him, and wept over him . . . 2 Kings 20:3 . . . And Hezekiah wept bitterly. 2 Kings 20:5 . . .tell Hezekiah the prince of my people, ‘The Lord, the God of David your father, says, “I have heard your prayer. I have seen your tears. . . . 2 Kings 22:19 because your heart was tender, and you humbled yourself before the Lord, when you heard what I spoke against this place, and against its inhabitants, that they should become a desolation and a curse, and have torn your clothes, and wept before me; I also have heard you,’ says the Lord. 2 Chronicles 34:27 because your heart was tender, and you humbled yourself before God, when you heard his words against this place, and against its inhabitants, and have humbled yourself before me, and have torn your clothes, and wept before me; I also have heard you,” says the Lord. Ezra 3:12-13 But many of the priests and Levites and heads of fathers’ households, the old men who had seen the first house, when the foundation of this house was laid before their eyes, wept with a loud voice. Many also shouted aloud for joy so that the people could not discern the noise of the shout of joy from the noise of the weeping of the people; for the people shouted with a loud shout, and the noise was heard far away. Ezra 10:1 Now while Ezra prayed and made confession, weeping and casting himself down before God’s house, there was gathered together to him out of Israel a very great assembly of men and women and children; for the people wept very bitterly. Nehemiah 1:4 When I heard these words, I sat down and wept, and mourned certain days . . . Esther 4:1 . . . Mordecai tore his clothes, and put on sackcloth with ashes, and went out into the middle of the city, and wailed loudly and a bitterly. Job 2:12 When they lifted up their eyes from a distance, and didn’t recognize him, they raised their voices, and wept; and they each tore his robe, and sprinkled dust on their heads toward the sky. Job 16:16 My face is red with weeping. Deep darkness is on my eyelids. Job 16:20 My friends scoff at me. My eyes pour out tears to God Job 30:25 Didn’t I weep for him who was in trouble? Wasn’t my soul grieved for the needy? Psalms 6:6 I am weary with my groaning. Every night I flood my bed. I drench my couch with my tears. Psalms 6:8 Depart from me, all you workers of iniquity, for the Lord has heard the voice of my weeping. Psalms 30:11 You turned my wailing into dancing; you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy (NIV) Psalms 39:12 Hear my prayer, Lord, and give ear to my cry. Don’t be silent at my tears. . . . Psalms 42:3 My tears have been my food day and night, while they continually ask me, “Where is your God?” Psalms 69:10 When I wept and I fasted, that was to my reproach. Psalms 102:9 For I have eaten ashes like bread, and mixed my drink with tears Psalms 119:136 Streams of tears run down my eyes, because they don’t observe your law. Isaiah 16:9 Therefore I will weep, with the weeping of Jazer for the vine of Sibmah. I will water you with my tears . . . Isaiah 22:4 . . . Look away from me. I will weep bitterly. . . . Isaiah 33:7 Behold, their valiant ones cry outside; the ambassadors of peace weep bitterly. Isaiah 38:3 . . . Hezekiah wept bitterly. Isaiah 38:5 Go, and tell Hezekiah, ‘The Lord says, the God of David your father, “I have heard your prayer. I have seen your tears. Behold, I will add fifteen years to your life. Jeremiah 25:36 A voice of the cry of the shepherds, and the wailing of the principal of the flock! for the Lord lays waste their pasture. Jeremiah 41:6 Ishmael the son of Nethaniah went out from Mizpah to meet them, weeping all along as he went . . . Jeremiah 48:31-32 Therefore I will wail for Moab; yes, I will cry out for all Moab: for the men of Kir Heres shall they mourn. With more than the weeping of Jazer will I weep for you . . . Lamentations 2:11 My eyes do fail with tears, my heart is troubled; My liver is poured on the earth, because of the destruction of the daughter of my people . . . Lamentations 3:48-49 My eye runs down with streams of water, for the destruction of the daughter of my people. My eye pours down, and doesn’t cease, without any intermission Hosea 12:4 . . . he wept, and made supplication to him. . . . Micah 1:8 For this I will lament and wail; I will go stripped and naked; I will howl like the jackals, and moan like the daughters of owls. Zechariah 11:3 A voice of the wailing of the shepherds! . . . Malachi 2:13 This again you do: you cover the altar of the Lord with tears, with weeping, and with sighing . . . Matthew 26:75 Peter remembered the word which Jesus had said to him, “Before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times.” He went out and wept bitterly. Mark 14:72 The rooster crowed the second time. Peter remembered the word, how that Jesus said to him, “Before the rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times.” When he thought about that, he wept. Luke 19:41 When he came near, he saw the city and wept over it Luke 22:62 He went out, and wept bitterly. John 11:35 Jesus wept. Acts 20:19 serving the Lord with all humility, with many tears, and with trials which happened to me by the plots of the Jews Acts 20:31 Therefore watch, remembering that for a period of three years I didn’t cease to admonish everyone night and day with tears. Acts 20:37 They all wept a lot, and fell on Paul’s neck and kissed him Acts 21:13 Then Paul answered, “What are you doing, weeping and breaking my heart? For I am ready not only to be bound, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.” 2 Corinthians 2:4 For out of much affliction and anguish of heart I wrote to you with many tears . . . Philippians 3:18 For many walk, of whom I told you often, and now tell you even weeping, as the enemies of the cross of Christ 2 Timothy 1:4 longing to see you, remembering your tears, that I may be filled with joy Hebrews 5:7 He, in the days of his flesh, having offered up prayers and petitions with strong crying and tears to him who was able to save him from death, and having been heard for his godly fear Hebrews 12:17 . . . he found no place for a change of mind though he sought it diligently with tears. Revelation 5:4 And I wept much, because no one was found worthy to open the book, or to look in it. Revelation 5:5 One of the elders said to me, “Don’t weep. Behold, the Lion who is of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has overcome; he who opens the book and its seven seals.” If you have suffered the loss of an infant through abortion, miscarriage or early death, I suggest reading Is My Baby in Heaven? For further help and comfort with your grief, read Basking In Infinite Love and then keep following the first link at the end of each article.

Embraced by divine love, your life will be tinged with mystery but aglow with glory. Tucked in the heart of Scripture sleeps a tiny psalm of precious truth. (Psalm 131) The singer confessed that as a mother denies her baby access to her milk when it’s time for her darling to be weaned, so God sometimes denies us things we crave. Yet as a weaned infant lies warm and secure in its mother’s bosom, our soul can nestle into God, not knowing why we have been denied that which we have clamored for, but content to draw love and comfort from the Father’s heart. As the heavens soar far above us, high and unreachable, so is God’s wisdom. (Isaiah 55:8-9; Psalm 139:6; 147:5; Romans 11:33-34; Job 11:7-9) Our tiny minds may understand the Father’s ways no more than a babe understands its mother, yet still we can rest in Him, bathed in the certainty that when the omnipotent, omniscient Lord lets the inexplicable touch a child of His, it is a manifestation of unfathomable love. In the hands of the One who wouldn’t so much as break a damaged reed or snuff a smoking wick, you are safe. (Matthew 12:20) For Help with Emotional Pain: When Things Get Tough For a deeper insight into God’s loving ways: Life’s Mysteries Explained

Bear Each Other’s Burdens   A First Aid Course For Emotions   *   Christ-Centered   *   Down to Earth *   Important   On-line counseling manual     This is a Part 2 of a series beginning at “Everyone’s Guide to Basic Counseling ”   Caution   We need a reverent awareness of how vulnerable we are to becoming a tool of the devil whenever someone close to us is hurting.   Satan’s first act after he first gained influence over a human was to use her to adversely influence Adam, the person closest to her. That has been the devil’s top strategy ever since. He did it with Job, first using Job’s wife, and then Job’s friends for his evil purposes. He did it with Jesus, using Peter so effectively that Jesus had to tell Peter, “Get behind me Satan.” Still later, the devil got at Jesus through Judas, another close friend of Jesus.   Any person who is hurting is obviously under spiritual attack. That’s not so unusual. We all have certain times when we are particularly under attack. But note the implications: evil powers are already targeting the hurting person and the mere fact that you are nearby, puts you high on their list of potential accomplices as they seek to intensify their attack on that person. In such circumstances you must therefore be alert to the possibility of unwittingly being used by evil powers, as Peter was. Of course, there is no place for superstitious fear. To end up hurting people by avoiding them would also be falling into Satan’s trap. When someone is hurting it is a time to keep looking to God for direction, like Jesus; not a time to blurt out the first thing that comes into our head, like Peter.   Off the Soapbox   Most of us have a natural tendency to lapse into a preaching or lecturing mode when trying to help a hurting friend. By so doing, however, we give the impression of elevating ourselves from the position of warm-hearted friend to that of cold superior. People crave love and understanding, not sermons.   Fellow Christians rarely need to be treated like novices or backsliders. They often simply need to be released from the oppression of discouragement and accusations that squash the work of God in their lives. Once this overburden is removed you will find underneath a beautiful work of God already there and ready to flourish. That’s why encouragement is of such great value. It lifts people. In contrast, one-on-one preaching tends to weigh people down, adding to their feelings of inadequacy and aloneness.   Preaching, of course, is perfectly acceptable when addressing a body of people. It’s when talking with an individual that it becomes an inappropriate mode of address.   What greatly magnifies the offense of advice giving or preaching at a person is that our priceless gems rarely end up being anything the person does not already know. Offering pat answers is particularly objectionable. It assumes people are silly enough not to have thought of the obvious. People have quite enough problems without having to cope with us implying they have the intelligence of a green tomato. Moreover, our superficial solution is probably something they have already tried and they are still hurting under the bitter disappointment of that hoped-for quick fix not working. To rake it up again in an unsympathetic way would be doubly hurtful.   To be Christlike we should get off our soapbox, open it, take out the soap and wash our brother’s feet.   The margin for error   We engage in conversation so frequently that we rarely consider that personal conversation is more delicate than delivering a sermon. Letting Big-mouth Harry address an entire congregation is safer than letting him speak in private with Suzie Tenderheart. Addressing a crowd allows considerable scope for error. What is said might not apply to Suzie’s situation or it might be something so obvious to her that implying she is ignorant of it would insult her. No problem. Chances are Suzie will simply assume the remark was meant for someone else. This margin for error, however, vanishes when the audience shrinks to one.   With people brimming with joy and confidence, who feel loved and accepted by nearly everyone, we could safely say almost anything without devastating them. It is very different, however, with a person on the other end of the scale. With someone reeling under life’s blows, the safety margin evaporates. It becomes essential to avoid saying anything that could possibly be interpreted as critical, or a put down. Avoid like a ticking bomb giving the slightest hint that the person might be guilty of sin, or have a deficiency is his/her spiritual walk.   Whenever a vulnerable person feels that you are aiming a piece of advice specifically at him/her, the situation is as perilous as an amateur knife thrower trying to land knives as close as he can to the bodies of nervous volunteers, while hoping not to wound them. If we  must  give advice, we need to work hard at increasing the safety margin by reducing the person’s perception that our advice is targeted at them.   I am most definitely not talking about being devious. It is essential that we be genuine. I’m referring to being humble enough to doubt our ability either to perfectly size up a person’s situation or to infallibly hear from God.   When I am providing E-mail support I often paste into the E-mail a fairly long slab from my writings. It is filled with encouragement (an important way of increasing the safety margin). To further reduce the possibility of inadvertently inflicting pain, I explain that although the quote doesn’t specifically address their situation, they might possibly find something helpful in it. I use a fairly long quote covering several different things. That makes it less pointed. Because there is so much encouragement in it, almost certainly some of it will bless them and I leave it to the Holy Spirit and to them to determine which other parts are applicable to them. You might use a similar approach by introducing to someone a book or a tape, saying (if that is true) that it blessed you and you wondered if they might enjoy it, too. If it deals only with one subject, however, that would make it more targeted and so the safety margin narrows.   If you must give advice, don’t  tell  someone. That approach is so dangerous that the tiniest error in delivery or content could wound the person. At most, ask or suggest or encourage the person in a particular direction. Say something like “I guess you’ve already considered . . . ?” or, “I don’t know if it’s applicable to you but . . .” Remember, however, that the important thing is not to gain a good delivery technique but a good attitude. You phrase things that way because you genuinely believe they are intelligent and/or spiritual enough to have already considered that option and you genuinely believe you don’t have infallible insight into a person’s situation.   A factor seriously affecting the safety margin is the extent of a person’s emotional attachment to you. If someone sees you as an insignificant stranger and couldn’t care less what you think about him/her, you could safely say things that a treasured friend could never get away with. With a person whose emotional well-being hinges on your opinion of him/her, the slightest slip could be disastrous. The bigger the place someone has given you in his/her heart, the less you can safely say about sensitive issues, and the more critical it is that you carefully listen and be supportive. This in no way implies a diminished role in helping people you are emotionally involved with, it simply means you need to lean more heavily than ever upon means other than giving advice.   Will it help or harm?   So you have some wise advise? How do you know whether sharing it will help or harm? What makes this a particularly tough question is that giving advice is an ego boost, and pride clouds our thinking. The time when a friend is in need, is the time when one wrong word can wound like a bullet and when evil powers are on the prowl for Christian accomplices. We need our spiritual discernment to be at its peak. It is not a good time to risk being blinded by the pride that advice giving tends to produce.   The mere fact that what we share is truth, is no excuse for sharing it. Job’s friends ended up desperately needing God’s forgiveness ( Job 42:7-8 ) despite there being truth in much of what they said. (For example, 1 Corinthians 3:19 quotes from one of them – Job 5:13 – as authoritative Scriptural truth). The main problem was that the truth they recited did not apply to Job. Satan even used scriptural truth in his evil ploy to spiritually harm the Son of God (Matthew 4:5-6).   It is not even sufficient to have good motives. Tragically, Job’s friends thought they were helping Job and exalting God. Convinced they were serving God, they were actually the devil’s pawns. They were sure they were honoring God and instead they were defaming God’s friend.   A distinguishing mark of wisdom that is truly of God is that it is not argumentative. It does not steamroller those who disagree, insisting on being heard or getting its own way. It is not forceful or harsh, it is “peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy . . .” ( James 3:17 ).     “Make every effort to live in peace with all men . . .,” (Hebrews 12:14, Romans 12:18 is similar). In practical terms, I suggest this means agree as much as possible with people, and where you disagree, let it show as little as possible. (And of course by “possible” I mean to the extent that it has divine approval.)   The hidden enemy   An enormous obstacle to effective counseling is the counselor’s own unconscious motives.   A Christian approached me for advice about his emotional involvement with a non-Christian woman. As he detailed the situation a gentle anger began pulsing through my veins over the disrespectful way I perceived he was treating God and his wife.   Scripture reveals that the mere fact that I am human means there is a good chance I am self-deceived about my true motives. Could something ugly be lurking beneath my consciousness, goading me to be unjustifiably harsh towards this man? I desperately needed God in his mercy to show me. No matter how pure my feelings seemed, they could be ungodly. Counseling while blinded by self-righteousness is as foolhardy as attempting surgery while blindfolded. The scary thing is that people afflicted by self-righteousness are rarely aware of it. I immediately sought time out for prayer and asked for others to pray as well. Before attending to a possible speck in my brother’s eye, I must humbly seek Jesus for major surgery on my own eyes.   For my second line of defense I seized Scripture’s recommendation about having several advisors or counselors (Proverbs 11:14; 15:22; 24:6). If this man were somehow touching a raw nerve deep inside of me, making my reaction less godly than I imagined, there must be other Christians free from my particular weaknesses. While keeping his identity secret, I sought input from mature Christians with totally different backgrounds from me. One was a divorced woman. If I had a gender bias, her view should counter it. Could the fact that I’ve never married make me too idealistic? Or could I be jealous of this man’s relationships? Who would have the courage to recognize such humiliating weaknesses? To counter these seemingly remote but frightening possibilities I sought a man who has enjoyed a long and happy marriage.   It turned out that the three of us were as one in our interpretation of this man’s needs. Nevertheless, being right gives no one license to slacken in love, kindness, gentleness or wisdom. I spent still more hours cooling my emotions and prayerfully working on how to convey my concerns to this man in the most uplifting manner possible.   A better way   Showing  people what to do is usually far superior to  telling  them what do. Consider this example:   There is nothing as potent as faith and praise in empowering a person to burst through oppression. And yet finding someone weighed down by a trial and merely telling them to have faith and to praise God can make us as guilty as those to whom Jesus said, “. . . woe to you, because you load people down with burdens they can hardly carry, and you yourselves will not lift one finger to help them (Luke 11:46).” Our words can be technically correct and yet end up being oppressive burdens.   Rather than  tell  people, stoop down, get below them and lift them. If you feel someone needs to exercise more faith and praise, try things like the following.   Pray aloud with them, and in your prayer lead by example, finding things to thank and praise God for in the person’s circumstances and declare things before God in faith. Do this gently, sensitively and gradually. It might have to be spread over several visits. If you move too fast and leave the person behind, your efforts will be wasted.   Fully acknowledge just how hard it can be to have faith and to praise God in the midst of a trial. Perhaps share with the person some of your defeats in this area.     Whenever the person takes the smallest step in the right direction, commend and encourage them. Without being patronizing, cheer them on.   When the disciples asked Jesus to increase their faith, he spoke about the mighty things that can be accomplished by tiny mustard seed sized faith. That’s a great faith-builder because even I am capable of tiny faith. Use a similar approach. Help people realize that sufficient faith is not solely for some supersaint but is fully within their grasp.     Dangerously inadequate views of suffering   We have seen that feeling obligated to give advice causes some of us to flee because we are unsure of what to say. If we don’t run but still feel pressured to advise, we usually end up like Job’s friends saying things that sound godly but not what God would say to the person. We imagine we are being a great help but our good intentions fail to bring comfort and enlightenment.   Sadly, there are other Christians, who neither flee, nor try to help, but feel the need to attack people with problems. A common reason for losing patience with Christians who have problems is that any suffering or battle threatens to expose the deficiencies in our grasp of Christianity. It’s much easier to conclude that anyone having a hard time is obviously an inferior Christian, than to face the fact that we, too, might one day have to face such a trial.   Poor Job suffered horrifically to bring to us the truth that the most godly of people can suffer trials so awful that they wish they had never been born. His friends relentlessly expounded their theory that godly people don’t have such trials. With their tongues, Job’s friends inflicted pain as skillfully as the soldiers lashing Jesus’ back, while imagining themselves as holy as the Pharisees thought themselves when they sentenced their Savior to death. Once Job’s ordeal was carefully preserved in Scripture, along with God’s judgment of his friends’ advice ( Job 42:7-8 ), one would have expected the death of the theory among Bible believers that godliness is the ticket to earthly bliss. And yet, amazingly, we still find Christians queuing up for the shame of falling down the same holes as Job’s friends who tormented the righteous. I can only assume from this that many Christians must relegate to the trash heap the riches in the book of Job. And yet almost everywhere you look in Scripture, the same truth is taught.   Plunge into the Psalms. The book that most expresses joy and praise devotes enormous space to tears and pain, disappointment, fear, frustration and anger.   Even Christ was no stranger to tears and suffering. Or are we more spiritual than our Lord? “Since Christ suffered in his body, arm yourselves also with the same attitude . . . (1 Peter 4:1).” Or do we dump this Scripture as well?   The book of proverbs warns that unless we match a hurting person’s mood, stooping to his/her emotional level, a well-meaning attempt to cheer can end up as cruel as stealing someone’s coat in the middle of winter ( Proverbs 25:20 ). Instead of heeding Paul’s instruction to “weep with those who weep” (Romans 12:15, KJV), in modern Christianity we sometimes almost feel the need to chastise those who weep, lecturing them for being so “unchristian” as to feel pain. Amazingly, the man inspired of God to urge us to weep was the very man whose words we have so distorted as to imagine we are letting the side down if we shed tears or suffer. If we were so foolish as to jettison the Old Testament, and even Christ himself, as being too emotional to reflect true godliness, surely we cannot ignore Paul, the one who gave us such Scriptures as “Be joyful always  . . .  give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus” (1 Thessalonians 5:16,18). “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!” (Philippians 4:4). See  A time to weep .   A valued friend, John Jollie, made a profound comment about the early church, as divinely portrayed in Scripture. Adversity authenticated their witness, he observed, as much as their miracles did. It also did much to temper and shape their lives.   If, instead of treasuring only a few remnants of Scripture, we can bring into focus the full panorama of God’s view of emotions and trials, we would be much better equipped to “bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ” (Galatians 6:2, NKJV).   Understanding   When her husband unexpectedly dropped dead in front of her, nearly forty years of marriage instantly terminated. At church the next Sunday, friends gathered around to comfort her. She remembers nothing of what was said except for one remark: “I know how you feel.”   “I knew she meant well,” says the widow, “but what a ridiculous, incongruous thing to say. Her husband was standing there beside her, happy and healthy!”   That remark hurt so much that it is still vividly recalled fifteen years later. To this day, however, the woman who had uttered those well-intentioned words remains completely unaware that they had stabbed her friend’s heart like a sword.   It’s hard to resist saying “I understand” to anyone in distress. We, too, have suffered and we’ve been blessed with imagination. And on the surface it would seem that those words should be a great source of comfort. And yet those words end up annoying, even hurting, because it is obvious to grieving people that we have not had an identical experience. It increases their feeling of aloneness when we fail to see what to them are unique aspects of their ordeal.   Shortly after writing the above, I gained new insight into its importance. I am a 46 year old virgin. Since my early teens I have longed for marriage more than any earthly thing. Although over the years my ability to cope has greatly improved, I was recently under such torment over being single that I was beginning to wonder whether it could affect my sanity. I asked for a friend’s prayers. He understood, he said, because although he has had a long and satisfying marriage, over recent times he has had to forgo sexual relations due to his wife’s illness. That hurt. I felt insulted that he should think that my only burden was sexual deprivation. Apparently I was mistaken about the value of companionship.  He understood?  He obviously knew nothing about coping with feelings of shame and satanic accusations that never having married proves one is a freak and unloved and unwanted. He knew nothing about the bleak prospect of dying alone and childless. He knew nothing about aching year, in and year out, for a mere hug. And then there was my dependence upon my aging mother to feed and take care of me that was so humiliating and complex that I regularly worried about how I could successfully resist the temptation to kill myself when she died. My friend clearly had no conception of how eagerly I would have swapped trials with him. I had assumed he could guess. Those chilling words “I understand” shattered my illusion that most people can understand what I suffer. His kindly attempt at comfort proved I am less understood and more alone in my agony than I dared imagine. The wiser approach would have been for him to briefly mention being celibate and move on, leaving it to me to draw my own conclusion as to whether that implies he has any insight into my anguish.   Of course, it is not enough merely to avoid  saying  that we understand. What is critical is avoiding the  presumption  that we understand, especially after making only a token effort to do so.   Hastily claiming to understand has yet another unintended down side. It sends the message, “I’m not interested in hearing about your situation and feelings. I already know it all.” What makes this such a loss is that for hurting people, verbalizing their feelings is usually a vital part of the healing process.   On the other extreme, we shouldn’t be too free in broadcasting our lack of understanding, because that, too, adds to a person’s feeling of isolation. Rather than jumping to conclusions or resorting to hallow words, show your eagerness to work towards genuine understanding by careful listening, your lack of condemnation and by the genuine pain in your voice and facial expression.   It is most powerful for people to know that you have tasted their pain because of the depth and breadth of your own sufferings. If you have been blessed with such trials, however, don’t spend too long describing them. Make it obvious that it is their experience, not yours, that presently most moves you. And, of course, leave it to them to decide how similar your trial is to theirs.   A lack of personal suffering does much to disqualify us from ministry. Even though by divine knowledge the Son of God could intellectually know everything in infinite detail, he had to personally experience suffering like ours before he qualified to minister to us.   We should always be humbled by the fact that although we might imagine we have suffered as much or more than another person, it remains a mere guess. In variety and intensity, each of us has a unique set of fears. Dreams, expectations, perceptions, needs, backgrounds, all differ. Only Jesus has unlimited knowledge, and we need to keep pointing people to him.

In Tune With God The Quest for Music Miracles Introduction I’ve prepared a banquet. Some dishes – especially the Appendix – have plenty of meat. Others are much lighter. Some have sugar. Chapters differ so much that even the most finical of us should be satisfied. Feel free to select that balance that most satisfies you. This feast is for everyone. Whilst those directly involved in the music ministry comprise my target audience, I believe that everyone who loves God, irrespective of musical interest or ability, will find something of worth within these pages. Throughout the book, I have broken the bounds of normal language to use the term musician as a compact way of referring to anyone whose service to God incorporates the use of music, whether as a composer, lyricist, singer, instrumentalist, conductor, creative ministries’ director or worship leader. In some Scripture quotes, words appear in capitals (and occasionally italics) to draw attention to pertinent aspects of the verse. It in no way reflects the structure of the underlying Greek or Hebrew. Music’s fashion parade Though music has great power to unify, it is so subject to differing tastes that, sadly, there is probably no type of music I could mention that some readers would not regard as inferior. I’m the jittery dude standing in the cross-fire. Illustrations add power and interest, but when they wander far beyond your favorite music style I can only beg your mercy, asking that you look below the surface to see that the point of the illustration applies to your type of music. Accessibility to information has forced far more references to older music than I would have preferred. Mention of specific people or musical styles does not imply my endorsement, but Christian musicians face enough hostility outside the church without turning against each other. I long to bandage wounds, not make new ones. When I refer to individuals, my prayer is not that you be inspired by the style of their music, but by the Lord of their music. Because I cover so many topics and I long to serve Christians of all persuasions, you might find me arguing for something that you have always unquestioningly accepted without seriously considering how spiritual and biblical it is. Feel free, if you wish, to slip to other parts that you feel more needful or fascinating, but even as you do, you will know that if ever you meet someone who has doubts about that matter, you now have a resource to help them and reassure yourself. A preposterous goal and how to achieve it I have sought to sculpt a book that will grip and thrill readers who have no interest in music, and yet a book that, especially in the notes and scripture references, is so crammed with information that it will be treasured as a valuable resource book by Christians devoted to music. My prayer flies much higher, however. If your ministry involves music, my goal is that your ministry will be more inspired by God and more blessed by Him than anything you have so far experienced. Passive reading of anything I write is unlikely to achieve such a preposterous goal. For the miracles I have cited, your prayers must empower this book. I beg you to pray right now – and regularly as you proceed through the book – that you will soar beyond my words into the presence of Almighty God and that He will open to you new realms, transforming both you and your ministry for His glory. Setting the scene ‘How I long to glorify God through music!’ In his fervent cry was a plea for help. ‘If only my music were fully empowered by God. Sure, the Lord has used me, but the results are hardly indicative of God’s infinite love and power. ‘I’ve feared the corrupting power of worldly music. I’ve preached against it. I’ve even destroyed albums. Yet the world doesn’t fear my music. Something must be wrong.’ Someone of this intensity needed no reminding about the obvious essentials of practice and prayer. So I tried something deeper. ‘Do you see your music in its true perspective?’ I wondered aloud. ‘Do you know why music exists? ‘How does human music fit into God’s entire creative programmer? ‘Where is God taking music? Silence spoke loudly. These basic questions seem so unanswerable that few of us even ask them. Yet would our Lord, the Light of the world leave us in the dark? Answers could give us fresh inspiration and new direction in the challenging task of magnifying God through music. They could boost our faith concerning God’s interest in our chords and quavers, propelling us into a new realm of Spirit-empowered music. Let’s lift our eyes from the music sheets of present-day earth and, Bible in hand, scan the horizons of time and space in search of answers. Our search will take us to the very limits of divine revelation. But although we might plot tentative ventures into the unknown, we will always quickly return to the reliable landmarks of Scriptural truth. At first, our exploration will seem to produce little fruit, but as we proceed, we will pick up momentum, and apparent trivia will gain fresh significance. Don’t worry if it begins to seem up in the clouds; we’ll come back to earth with a thud in later chapters! Returning with a broader vision, we will face head-on the thorny issues involved in musically serving the Lord today on this needy planet. BIBLIOGRAPHY In some formats, I can carefully document every time I have drawn upon a source and even provide the exact pages numbers without distracting the reader. In other formats, however, I feel average readers are best served by the removal of this information. So if there is something I say that prompts your curiosity about my source, simply go to that paragraph in the eBook. Grantley Morris The entire book can be downloaded in Microsoft Word format. Chapters vary enormously in style and subject matter and can be read individually. Reading the chapters in the order they appear, however, will maximise the impact. This book is also available as an Audio Book Download as a Word Document: Word 2010: music.docx Full book in Word 6.0 (very old version of Word): music.doc - 671K All Scriptures are in footnotes at the bottom of each pages and other sources are recorded as endnotes at the end of the book. Hear this Book (MP3) Introduction Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 The Voice Behind the Audio I am deeply grateful to Wyatt L. Timmins for all his labor and professionalism in producing the audio version of this book. For more of Wyatt's work, see https://wyatttimmins.com/