Dear friends,
In his book “What Are You Afraid Of?” Dr. David Jeremiah quotes the late Dr. Karl Menninger, a renowned psychiatrist. When asked “What would you advise a person to do if that person felt a nervous breakdown coming on?” Dr. Menninger replied: “Lock your house … find someone in need and do something for him.” In addressing the fear of mental breakdown, Dr. Jeremiah writes: “Don’t withdraw, don’t isolate, don’t hunker down and ‘be sick.’ Instead, do the opposite. As best as you are able, with Christ’s help, don’t let the way you feel control you. If you don’t feel the presence of God, then pursue your Christian life by faith … We Christians walk by faith, not by sight (please see the Scripture below). And that applies even when – especially when – we don’t feel like it.”
I remember going with a church group to visit inmates at the prison in Cowansville (about an hour south of Montreal) when I was in my early 20s. There were times when I didn’t feel like going, but it was during those evenings when the Lord led me to have some especially encouraging talks with men who needed to hear God’s Word.
Have you been feeling “down” lately? If you understand French, you can listen to some excellent messages by Pastor Michel Martel, the speaker of “La Voix de l’Évangile” in Quebec at www.lavoixdelevangile.ca, who recently spoke on this subject. The first time I met Michel was at the “Sermons from Science” pavilion in Montreal. After trusting in Christ in January 1973, I helped at the pavilion in the summer and met Michel, who displayed a servant’s heart, sharing Christ’s love with all whom he met.
These are days of great opportunity for believers to tell others the good news of salvation in Christ. May we be faithful in proclaiming the Word of God to people who are held captive by sin, so that they will hear the truth, repent and be set free.
Scripture for the weekend: “Now He who prepared us for this very purpose is God, who gave to us the Spirit as a pledge. Therefore, being always of good courage, and knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord – for we walk by faith, not by sight – we are of good courage …”2 Corinthians 5:5-8 (NASB)
Thought for the weekend: “I am firmly persuaded that there is no system so life-giving, so calculated to awaken the sleeping, lead on the inquiring, and build up the saints, as that system which is called the evangelical system of Christianity. Wherever it is faithfully preached, and efficiently carried out, and consistently adorned by the lives of its professors, it is the power of God … We have the truth, and we need not be afraid to say so.” – John Charles Ryle (from the book “50 People Every Christian Should Know” by Warren W. Wiersbe)
By His grace,
Steve