Daily Manna from Heaven

by Dr. Harold Sala

“Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it.” -Proverbs 22:6

When a grandmother, then sixty years of age, authored a book on parenting, it was widely acclaimed by some and just as vehemently denounced by others. Controversial? Yes, very! The premise of The Nurture Assumption by Judith Harris is that your child’s peers are influencing him more than you are. Upsetting?

That’s to be expected, but to your shame and chagrin, she’s probably right—at least in far too many cases. Question: Are we parents assuming that we are conveying a value system to our kids by giving them our good genes and providing a good environment for them? But is the assumption really valid?

Of one thing you can be certain: Every parent—regardless of what he does or doesn’t do, either negatively or positively—is conveying a value system to his offspring. For example, take the sad case of Robert Knowles. He thought he had the formula for raising kids: give a youngster parental love, involve him in wholesome activities, and give him a good education—what else? But it didn’t work. Knowles told the press, “Suddenly after 17 years of dedicated effort, something happened to my fool-proof plan. I found I was the father of a murderer.”

Knowles’ son had made advances to his girl friend, and then when she resisted, he strangled her. The dad said, “The shock, agony and soul-searching are unbelievable. Everything you believe in is gone in one bolt of lightening that rips your heart out at the same time.” He then asked the obvious: “What went wrong? Nothing fits your notions of criminal behavior and what to do about it.”

In over 45 years of broadcasting, I have received letters from thousands of parents, and God only knows how many have ended their letter asking a sobering question: “Why? Where did I go wrong?” In all honesty, in many cases it wasn’t the parent who went wrong but the youngster who turned his back on God and the training he had grown up with, and went the wrong direction.

To what extent are your youngster’s friends responsible for what he does? To what degree does your teenager set aside what you think and what you have taught and yield to the pressure to be accepted by his peers?

If you are a parent, your goal is to grow a kid so strong that when you aren’t there, he won’t need you. Sounds good! How do you do it? That answer begins, and perhaps ends, as well, with YOU! In reality, you as a parent are his value system. If, of course, you find yourself on slippery ground when it comes to morals and values, then blame your child’s friends! That makes you feel less guilty for your own failure.

When it comes to values, they are caught—not taught. But you become the message—either negatively or positively– that your children model. In the absence of parents, peers, of course, become the powerful influence, which determines what becomes the standard.

Long ago the wise man said, “Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it” (Proverbs 22:6). The teaching and training of your offspring is perhaps the greatest and most lasting work of your life. It isn’t climbing the corporate ladder or breaking the glass barrier that puts you into the top echelon of your corporation.

Unfortunately, you only get one shot at this business of parenting, yet that’s enough when you do it right the first time. My heart goes out to every parent whose heart is broken by a wayward son or daughter. For you there is still hope.

Remember the words, “When he is old, he will not depart from it.” If you’ve really done your job, then you can trust God to do His, in His time, His way. It’s that confidence that lets you sleep nights.

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by Dr. Harold Sala

“Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.” -John 1:12

When the Swiss Air flight went down off the coast of Newfoundland, the black box on the plane indicated that sixteen minutes elapsed from the time the pilot first recognized the plane was in trouble until the fatal crash. Sixteen minutes—one minute more than a quarter of an hour. Sixteen minutes to make peace with God.

Every one, of course, realizes that someday he will die, in spite of the fact that we usually live as though that day will never come. Thomas a Kempis, the churchman of the Middle Ages, urged, “Labor now to live, so that at the hour of death thou mayest rather rejoice than fear.” No one, of course, knows when the hands of the clock will stop, and in all probability those on board that ill-fated Swiss Air flight didn’t themselves know whether they had sixteen minutes or some forty-plus years left. That’s the reason why you need to make peace with God now.

If you knew that you had sixteen minutes to live, what would you do? When the Titanic went down, some walked around straightening picture frames that were hanging at an angle. But nobody in his right mind waters flowers in a burning building.

Question: Is sixteen minutes long enough to make peace with God? I mean, can you go through the inventory of what you need to confess in sixteen minutes? Let me put the answer like this. When Christ was on the cross, two thieves were crucified with him. One of them cried out, “Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom!” And immediately Jesus responded, “Today, you will be with me in paradise!” That didn’t take sixteen minutes, but barely sixteen seconds.

Making peace with God doesn’t take a long time but it takes a deep contrition. How do you do it? Following an earthquake that threatened the future security of a Roman jailer, Paul said, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved” (Acts 16:31). To believers in Rome Paul said, “if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved” (Romans 10:9, NKJV). Yes, sixteen seconds is long enough to do that. But here’s the problem.

Matthew Henry brought it into focus some 250 years ago. He said, “Deathbed conversions are seldom true, and true conversions are seldom made on their deathbed.” In other words, he is saying that now, when you are rational and cogent, is the time to make peace with God. Then you live each day as though it were your last, so if by some strange series of events you are down to your last sixteen minutes, you know that heaven is on the other side, and you know how to get there.

The person who is always going to get right with God often never has the time to do it. I’m thinking of the time I stood at the bedside of a man who was dying, and I inquired, “Tell me about his faith.” Instead, his family told me about what he had done—his success in the business world, his relationship to the family and the community, but they didn’t tell me about his relationship with God.

“Did he go to church?” I asked. “No,” a daughter finally said, sadly adding, “He never had time for that.” I didn’t say it but I thought he had fifty two Sundays a year for more than sixty years, and he was down to his last sixteen minutes, and it was too late.

Don’t wait until you are watching the clock and you have sixteen minutes. That may well be plenty of time, but again, who knows? John told us how to make peace with God. He wrote, “Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God” (John 1:12). And that transaction takes much less than sixteen minutes but lasts for all eternity.

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by Dr. Harold Sala

“Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me” (Philippians 3:12).

Both Time and Reader’s Digest carried stories featuring the remarkable life of this woman. Ingrid Bergman played her part in a movie that was called “The Inn of the Sixth Happiness.” They called her “The Little Woman” since she barely stood five feet tall, but dynamite comes in small packages.

And as Napoleon, who was even less than five feet tall, conquered the armies of Europe, this little woman first captured the hearts of thousands of Chinese, then she gained the respect and admiration of the free world for her heroic feats.

Her name, Gladys Alyward, the daughter of a London-area postman, who dropped out of school at the age of 14 to become a housemaid. If ever a person’s life demonstrated the fact that God uses some very unlikely candidates for success to accomplish great things, it was this woman. But, of course, Gladys didn’t know that God couldn’t use her. Gladys didn’t know a lot of things, which worked to her advantage.

She didn’t know that flunking out of the missionary training school would keep her from eventually having a rich knowledge of God’s Word. She didn’t know that a housemaid could not become a missionary. She didn’t know that it was virtually impossible for her to travel by train through Europe, then Russia and Siberia–in the dead of winter–to China. She didn’t know that a woman could not impact the lives of people who hated foreigners and felt themselves vastly superior to them.

And—as perhaps the greatest challenge which became the crowning achievement of her life—she didn’t know that she could not take ninety-four children across the rugged mountains of Northern China through two provinces to escape certain slaughter at the hands of the Japanese soldiers who were rampaging and murdering everyone in their way as World War II was winding down.

What a woman! Now that I’ve given you a thumbnail sketch of her life, let me fill in some of the blanks. If you are addicted to biographies as I am, you might wish to make a note of Janett and Geoff Benge’s book entitled Gladys Alyward, published by YWAM, or Youth With A Mission. It tells the story clearly without embellishing the facts.

Long before the days when women asserted themselves and demanded equal footing with their male counterparts, Gladys as a youth felt that God had called her to go to China as a missionary. All of the circumstances mitigated against her succeeding.

True, she was from a humble family without connections. It was also true that perhaps she wasn’t the brightest scholar who ever studied. But what her professors and others failed to recognize was her fierce determination and her unswerving obedience to what God had called her to do.

On the journey which eventually did take her to China, Gladys met a Dutch couple returning from a convention in Britain who promised to pray for her at 9:00 PM for the rest of their lives. Leaving her at their home in the Netherlands, they thrust an English pound note into her hands. Wondering what good a British note would ever do her, Gladys didn’t know that that piece of money would literally save her life when Russian soldiers were attempting to kidnap her and impress her into slavery in the Gulag.

When Gladys first arrived in China, they called her “foreign devil,” but eventually they called her Ai-weh-deh meaning “virtuous one.” Gladys would have agreed with Mary Slessor, who a generation before had said that one plus God equals a majority. If ever a woman made a difference and did what men were never courageous enough to do, it was Gladys Alyward—a simple but determined person who didn’t know that God could not do what He had promised.

Thank God that He still demonstrates that with His calling comes the power and the provision to accomplish His purpose. It’s still true today.

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by Dr. Harold Sala

“To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams. For rebellion is like the sin of divination, and arrogance like the evil of idolatry.” 1 Samuel 15:22,23

A certain pastor was spending far too much time with a staff member in his church, and the man was honest enough to admit that he was attracted to her and considering leaving his wife and family for the other woman. A doctor friend, who was distantly related to the pastor, confronted him over the issue. “How can you do this?” she challenged, adding, “You know that what you are doing is wrong.”

With a grossly false sense of piety, he replied, “Oh, I’m making this whole situation a matter of prayer.” And how did the issue resolve itself? He walked away from his ministry, his wife of more than 20 years, his family, and his integrity. “I’m praying about it,” he warmly intoned with about as much hypocrisy as any individual ever summoned.

There are times to pray, and there are times to obey. Unless your prayer is that God will give you the strength to do His will and to do what you know is right, save your prayers. Needed is not prayer, but the sinew and fortitude to walk away from a situation that is wrong and can never be morally justified.

Question: Why is simple obedience often clouded by other issues, which seemingly justify disobedience? Granted, every issue is not black or white, but most of the time we don’t need a counselor to tell us what to do. We know. We simply don’t want to do it.

When a child is born, he never has to be taught how to express himself or how to voice his emotions or feelings. He’s born with that. But what we must teach a child is how to obey, how to follow the dictates of a parent instead of his inner urges. “Forget about teaching self-esteem; teach self-control,” says a prominent child psychologist who has come to grips with our culture today and where it is heading.

Long ago this issue of obscuring the issue of right and wrong was confronted by Samuel the prophet of Israel. You can read about it in the Old Testament book of 1 Samuel, chapter 15. God had given instruction to Saul to wage battle with the Amalekites, settling an issue of some 400 years. “Take no prisoners” was God’s instructions because of the conduct of the Amalekites who fell upon the sick and the weak, indiscriminately murdering the Israelites who fell behind as Moses and his followers were in the Negev as they came from Egypt.

Saul didn’t agree. “Why not keep the best of the cattle and sheep?” he reasoned. “We can even dedicate them to God’s service” he justified. It didn’t work. God sent Samuel with a scathing message. It was this: “To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams. For rebellion is like the sin of divination, and arrogance like the evil of idolatry” (1 Samuel 15:22,23).

Question (and please give me a simple yes-or-no answer): Do you struggle with obedience to what you know God wants of you? Justifying disobedience never brings the peace and blessing of God. And pleasing God in this regard is not in degrees. Either you obey or you disobey.

When Saul learned that partial obedience wasn’t satisfactory, he replied, “I have sinned” and then wanted to get on with his life as though nothing had happened. His disobedience resulted in God’s rejection.

The pastor, who justified leaving his wife and family, said that he would pray about the situation. Did he really? Who knows? But I do know there is a time to pray, and there is a time to obey. And when you know what needs to be obeyed, it is time for action and moral courage. It’s just that simple.

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by Bo Sanchez

Last week, I got a body massage that I’ll never forget.

I was massaged by “Ate Guy” (Not her real name).

I call her “Ate Guy” because though she looks like a woman, I have a suspicion she’s really a guy. In fact, she has the strength of 10 guys in her little female body. But I’m getting ahead of my story.

One of my friends recommended Ate Guy to me, praising her skill to the highest heavens. My friend said, “Ate Guy’s singular mission in life is to remove your lamig (cold). She’s obsessed. She goes berserk when she finds lamig in your body. She’ll not stop massaging you until the lamig is pulverized under her fingers.”

With that glowing description, my wife and I contracted her services.

By the way, let me educate my non-Filipino readers. Lamig means cold, but it means more than that. Sometimes, it’s also called hangin or air. When Asians get sick, we say we have lamig or hangin in our bodies. It doesn’t jive with modern medicine, but this belief has lived on for centuries. In fact, it’s not uncommon that when you get massaged using this traditional method, you dighay and diglo at lot. Translation: Dighay is burp. Diglo is butt burp.

On the agreed time, Ate Guy came to our house.

The Torment Begins

I studied Ate Guy.

She was 4’11. Mid-thirties. Bordering on thin. Girlish ponytail.

Pretty harmless, I thought to myself.

My wife placed a mattress on the floor of our living room and lay down. She wanted to go first. As Ate Guy started massaging her, I sat a few feet away, writing on my computer. I looked on Marowe’s face: She was so relaxed. She appeared half-asleep. I got excited. I wanted to relax and sleep too.

After two hours, my wife stood up and said, “That was great! Bo, it’s your turn.” Oh goody. I lay down and got ready to relax too.

Ate Guy knelt beside me and held my face.

Ahhhh. Pure bliss.

At least, for the first two seconds.

After that, it was pure torture.

Pure, unadulterated, CIA, KGB, Mafia, Yakuza, Al Qaeda torture.

During her massage, I reached levels of pain I thought never existed in human experience.

Her little thumbs were like Jack Hammers. Like a Sumo Wrestler was massaging me.

As I lay on the mattress being massacred, I mean, being massaged by Ate Guy, I wondered if I offended my friend who recommended her to me—that this was his way of revenge.

In the entire 2 hours, I groaned aray, aray, aray (ouch) the whole time.

Actually, I didn’t want to groan. I wanted to scream, ARAAAAAAAAY! But my neighbors may think someone was being raped.

My wife came up to me and with a sly smile asked, “Do you like it, Bo?”

I whispered to her, “I feel I’m being run over by a train again and again.”

She laughed. I added, “Please call the US Embassy. Tell the Ambassador I have the perfect person to send to their captured Terrorists. Just 2 hours of Ate Guy and they’ll confess where Osama Bin Laden is hiding.”

Ate Guy Was Rich

After two hours of excruciating agony, it dawned on me that I had to pay Ate Guy for almost killing me. We live in a crazy world, I tell you.

My wife asked her how much we owed her.

Ate Guy said, “P250 an hour.”

Two hours for her and two hours for me. So we paid a thousand bucks for 4 hours of torment.

I wondered.   How much does this little woman earn a month?

I asked her, “Ate Guy, how many prisoners, I mean, customers do you massage everyday?” She answered, “An average of 4 to 5 a day.”   I learned that she massages every single day. No day offs.

“Isn’t that tiring?” I asked her. “That’s 10 hours a day.”

“I like it that way,” she said, “If I don’t massage anyone, my body looks for it.”

Aha! I knew it. She was a closet masochist.

“Do you advertise your services?”

“No. My customers just recommend me to others.”

“I’ll recommend you to others too,” I said. I started thinking of all the people who owed me money. “But you mean to tell me every single day of your week is full?”

“Yes,” she said. “Because I’ve got mga suki (regular customers). Some even want me to massage them three times a week.”

“Three times a week?” I almost fell off my chair. These people need to see a psychiatrist.

That was when it all hit me: Ate Guy told me she was a former house helper who earned P3000 a month. Today, she takes home P50,000 to P60,000 a month. Much more than many managers I know.

No doubt about it.

Ate Guy is a Superstar.

Be A Niche Superstar

How much do other masseuses earn? More or less P10,000 a month.

Why does Ate Guy earn five times more? Because she stands out.

She’s dominated her niche: The niche of torture camouflaging as massage.

Other massagers try to please everybody. They’re average. They’re typical. They’re all alike. They’re forgettable.

Not Ate Guy.

You either like her or hate her.

Fortunately, there are enough insane people in this world who like her to make her a Superstar. My wife is one of them. She invited her back. I’ve already noted the date of her return—and I’ve arranged to be as far as possible from my house on that day.

You too need to find a way to become a Superstar.

But first, let me describe how problems create the phenomenon called Superstars.

Why Problems Create Scarcity,

And Scarcity Create Superstars

When I taught this message yesterday, I placed a number of ladders on stage. I told the audience that life offers many ladders to climb. And that ladders represent opportunities for growth.

A Superstar is a person who’s able to climb to the top of a ladder.

Do you have problems in your work or business? Each problem is like a step on the ladder. Each problem is an invitation to become a Superstar. Superstars are Superstars because they can solve problems.

That’s why I say problems are wonderful. Without problems, there will be no Superstars. (I wish to thank the brilliant Seth Godin for these insights.)

Example? Imagine that you and I can pick diamonds in our backyards.

Would you and I be wealthy? Of course not. In fact, women will stop wearing diamonds, period. Why? Diamonds are Superstars precisely because they’re scarce. If they’re no longer scarce, why bother?

Diamonds are scarce because of the problem of getting them. You have to build underground tunnels and excavate them from beneath the earth.

Think now of the many problems of becoming a great singer, a great artist, a great chef, a great businessman, a great priest, a great father, and a great mother.

Problems create scarcity. And scarcity creates Superstars.

Here are the reasons why you need to be a Superstar…

The Rewards Of Superstars

People go to Superstars.

People watch Superstar movies.

People read Superstar books.

People eat in Superstar restaurants.

Let me ask you: When you see an empty restaurant, with two waiters sleeping on the tables, would you go there? Not likely. Something in your brain says, “The food there must be awful.”

But when you see a restaurant filled with people, with a long waiting line outside, you’ll say, “My gosh, I better try that restaurant.”

Before you think that this article is just about money, let me also say that Superstars are more emotionally fulfilled. They feel they’ve found their place in the world. They feel they’ve found their mission in life.

And Superstars can serve God with more impact.

Do you want to become a Superstar?

Read on.

Superstars Have Skill And Spirit

To become a Superstar, you need Skill and Spirit.

For example, Ate Guy studied for 6 months in a technical school. Not satisfied with that, she enrolled again in another school for 2 months on specialized massage. But her most important education is the years of massaging almost 60 hours a week—year after year after year.

But what made her develop her Skill? Spirit.

When you really think about it, Superstars are a little bit crazy.

Superstars are obsessed!

At the end of the day, it’s Spirit. Passion. Fire. Love. In Japanese, they call this Otaku.

For example, Ate Guy hates lamig with an almost neurotic obsession.

Once, Ate Guy had a patient whose lamig was stubborn. She ended up massaging this man for 4 hours straight—free of charge—until she got rid of his lamig. I pity the man. Probably became a paraplegic.

But no wonder Ate Guy is a Superstar. Only people with spirit do those crazy things.

Let me give you an example from my life.

These past 5 days, I had 14 meetings. But despite that hectic schedule, I was still able to write 8 long articles. How did I do it? There’s only one answer: I’m crazy. I love writing. I love crafting words.

How much do I love writing?

Others get high on drugs. I get a high choosing the right adjective for a sentence. I’m nuts!

Why Do People Not Become Superstars?

I’ve met people who aren’t Superstars even when they could have been.

They could have been Superstars in their businesses.

They could have been Superstars in their careers.

They could have been Superstars in their service for God.

But they’re not.

Why?

I see three reasons.

1. Wrong Theology

Some people think that God wants them to remain small.

God wants them to remain insignificant.

God wants them to remain humble (a distorted definition).

Their religion tells them, “Don’t stand out. Don’t create waves. Just follow. Just obey. Just be quiet.”

Please. Throw that rubbish way.

Go ahead. Stand out! Create waves. Be the best that you can be!

Use the core gifts that God gave you and develop them to the hilt.

Because your God will be proud.

How do I know? I’m a Dad of 2 boys.

When I see my kids show their Superstar qualities, I get giddy with joy. My heart palpitates. My chest expands. I feel delirious.

Here’s my Theology: You owe it to your Maker to become a Superstar.

Because when you become a Superstar, you’re praising the One who made you.

Here’s the second reason…

2. Wrong Psychology

Some people believe they deserve to be small.

Some people believe they deserve to be failures.

Perhaps because their parents treated them as dirt and not as stars.

Or some other past trauma.

Friend, be aware of this inner programming and reboot!

Get a new internal software!

You deserve to be a Superstar because you already are one.

You’re made in His image.

God created Superstars. Get used to it!

Finally, the third reason.

3. Wrong Strategy

People fail to become Superstars because they climb the wrong ladder.

Let me shock you: If a ladder will not make you a Superstar, quit.

If you have no hope of reaching the top of that ladder, get off that ladder.

Why? Because you’ll always be mediocre. You’ll always be average. And in business, average is death. In jobs, average means you’ll be the first one to be retrenched. Even in relationships, average is risky. To be good enough is not enough.

You’ve got to be remarkable. You’ve got to be phenomenal.

Choose a ladder where you have Spirit and Skill to make you a Superstar.

This is just what Rex Robillos did.

Climb The Right Ladder

My friend Rex owns Buns and Pizza—a fast-food chain of restaurants. Rex already knew he couldn’t fight Jollibee. Why climb this ladder where the chance of success was almost zero? Why not climb another ladder where the chances of success is bigger?

Here’s what Rex did: He made Buns and Pizza the Superstar in secondary towns where there was no Jollibee. In these smaller, more far-flung towns, Buns and Pizza was king. It’s usually the only air-conditioned fast-food restaurant in the area. This is where the children of the Mayor hangout. He dominated this niche. After only 5 years, Buns and Pizza now operates 139 branches in the Philippines.

If you’re average, it’s time to quit.

Be A Superstar In One Thing

Years ago, I was climbing the wrong ladder.

Because of this, earning money was like pulling teeth out of the mouth of the universe. I had to struggle for every peso I earned. It was as though money didn’t like me—so I had to drag it with me by force.

My food businesses—which I was so excited at the start—were collapsing.

My hotdog stand, my ice cream store, and squid ball kiosk were all drowning in red ink. Money was flowing out from my hand like water from a broken faucet.

During those dark days, I wondered if I made a mistake in becoming an entrepreneur. I began to doubt my desire to become wealthy. Was this really from God? Perhaps this was God telling me to stop. Perhaps I should have just remained a preacher and kept begging for money whenever I needed it.

But in those agonizing moments, I went deep into my heart and listened.

There was chaos outside, like a signal 8 hurricane.

But in my heart, I found peace.

Somehow, I knew I was doing the right thing.

I was simply climbing the wrong ladder.

That no matter what I did, I’ll always be average in the food business.

Because I didn’t have Spirit and Skill in the food business.

Instead, my passion and gifts were in communication—speaking and writing.

So I closed all my food stores.

Today, my businesses are doing so well because they revolve around communication.

Live To The Max

Friends, the world needs Superstars.

You owe it to the universe to become one.

No one benefits if you play small.

You only live once.

So go full throttle.

Live to the max!

May your dreams come true,
Bo Sanchez

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-Author Unknown-

Ever since I was diagnosed with having a possible heart enlargement, I have followed a strict regimen of physical exercises. I jog during week days and take a long ride biking to the mountains every Sunday.

But this Sunday turned out to be a special Sunday for me. While I was on my way to the mountains of Busay (Cebu) hoping to strengthen my heart by this exercise, I personally encountered a heart-breaking scene that changed me.

I had already passed by the Marco Polo Plaza (formerly Cebu Plaza Hotel) when I decided to stop to buy bananas at a small carinderia located along the road. I haven’t taken any solid food that morning so I wanted some fruits to have the needed energy to get to my destination - the mountain top.

I was almost done eating with a second banana when I noticed two children across the street busily searching the garbage area. “*Basureros*” I said to myself and quickly turned my attention away from them to sip a small amount of water. I couldn’t care less for these children, to make it straight, I do not like them and I do not trust them at all…. To continue reading, please CLICK HERE

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by Dr. Harold Sala

“The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not be in want. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters.” -Psalm 23:1.2

Is trust in God really enough to take you through the dark hours of the soul? When your life is ripped apart in one bolt of lightening and suddenly your light turns to darkness and your mind is reeling from a blow so severe that you can’t comprehend how different things will be, is God really enough?

This, of course, is the shocking question that penetrates the darkness whether it is the loss of a loved one, a tragedy involving the loss of your business, or something happens which you didn’t expect.

For one couple, it took the loss of their little four-year-old, killed in a tragic automobile accident that left the parents bruised but otherwise OK, but with empty arms as their little boy’s life was not spared. But in this hour of sadness, they found the comfort of Him who also lost His Son at Calvary.

When Paul wrote to the Corinthians, he talked about some of the losses he had personally sustained—bitter losses, too; yet, said Paul, “We do not lose heart.” He used a word that also described the anguish of a woman who was in childbirth and despaired of ever giving birth to the baby.

We do not lose heart, says Paul. But how do we break through the depression and gloom of trouble? Before I answer that, may I point out that more than a few of God’s choicest servants have faced dark hours? Do you remember the discouragement—I suppose we could describe it as depression—which John the Baptist faced in the darkness of prison as he asked his disciples to go to Jesus and ask, “Are you the one who should come or should we look for another?” John had baptized Jesus in the Jordan, but in Macherus Prison he was troubled and depressed.

Charles Haddon Spurgeon, described as the Prince of Preachers, fought depression for most of His life, sometimes so troubled that it was difficult for him to function. Are we to suggest that this man was not really so spiritual after all? Not for a moment.

The issue is not so much as to whether you or circumstances win but how you fight the battle and whose side you are on. Far better to be on the side of right and God, which will ultimately triumph, than to be on the side which wins but will ultimately fail.

Take time to turn to Hebrews 11 and read the stories of men and women who were even certified by God to be men and women of faith, yet even these faced the lions and fought battles which they lost, at least momentarily. The writer of Hebrews describes some of these choice servants of God, saying, “Some faced jeers and flogging, while still others were chained and put in prison. They were stoned; they were sawed in two; they were put to death by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated–the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and in caves and holes in the ground.

These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised. God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect” (Hebrews 11:36-40).

When you are tempted to give up, to feel sorry for yourself, remind yourself that you will eventually triumph through God’s grace and help, so stay focused and keep trusting Him. Hold on to His promises and realize God will eventually see you through the dark valley, the one where God’s choicest servants have walked.

As David said, “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me” (Psalm 23:4).

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