MAY THE LORD CAUSE HIS FACE TO SHINE ON YOU.
I want to talk to you about “soul sickness.” This is caused by a flood of troubles coming upon you – not just one problem, but one after another. King David cried, “Save me, O God, for waters are come in unto my soul. I sink in deep mire. I am come into deep waters, floods overflowing. I am weary of my crying” (Psalm 69:1-3).
Troubles came at David so powerfully he thought he would collapse. He prayed, “Be gracious to me, O Lord, for I am so distressed. I am wasting away from grief. My strength faileth, my soul and my belly” (Psalm 32:9).
Some readers may say, “I have known troubles, but not a flood of them. I can’t relate to David’s pain. I can’t relate to Job’s afflictions.” But I am speaking to those who are facing a flood of fears: fear of losing a job. Fear about finances. Fear about marriage or children. Fear about world conditions. Right now, multitudes of elderly people are living on starvation means. Parents grieve over children who are drawn away by drug and alcohol-addicted friends. Couples have mounting mortgage payments, troubled marriages, bills piling up.
I have been called a doomsday preacher. Some have even asked to be taken off my mailing list because they say I am too negative. But I can’t help speaking about what I see and hear. Chat with your neighbors – listen as they express their heartsickness over the hell breaking out in schools, the politically correct messes foisted on kids, teaching that is so immoral and godless it sickens the soul.
The root cause of soul sickness is when your troubles go on…when events get worse…when your soul cries out to God for help…and there seems to be no answer. Soul sickness is to know the Lord, to love him, to pray and even to shed tears, and still he does not seem to be there.
David said his troubles became so overwhelming, his soul was cast down “so that I cannot even speak.” In other words: “I have cried so much, there are no tears left. All I can see now is despair in the days ahead.”
If you relate to this at all, I have hopeful news for you. Here are simple, uncomplicated, biblical truths that can heal your soul sickness:
• Most important of all, keep praying, even when the situation worsens. God is going to answer in his time, in ways you could not imagine. The hardest part of faith is the last half hour, just before the answer comes.
• Even as important: do not get mad at God – ever! I see this happening to believers worldwide. All unbelief and impatience imply that the Lord has picked you out of the masses in the world and made you the object of cruelty and harassment. God forbid! He loves you through all your struggles. If he were to shut his ear to your cries, he would be a fraud – and he is not. He is your loving, forgiving, almighty, caring Father.
Shake off fear, because it has torment. Instead, rest in his promises. Things may change – your lifestyle may have to be simplified because of circumstances – but all things do work together for good to them that love God and are called according to his purpose.
Look up – God will never fail you!
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David Wilkerson (1931 – 2011)
Founder of Times Square Church in New York City with over 100 different languages spoken in the congregation. Wilkerson wrote many powerful books such as: The Vision and Cross and the Switchblade. His ministry was prophetic as God called him to be a watchman to the Church in North America. He gave clear messages on repentance to the Church.Wilkerson also founded Teen Challenge where there are hundreds of centres for Christ-centered drug recovery and addiction recovery. He also organized and spoke at pastors gatherings in many countries where he gave prophetic strong messages to encourage pastors and leaders.
Recommends these books by David Wilkerson:
The Vision and Beyond, Prophecies Fulfilled and Still to Come by David Wilkerson
Knowing God by Name: Names of God That Bring Hope and Healing by David Wilkerson
God's Plan to Protect His People in the Coming Depression by David Wilkerson
David Wilkerson is an American Christian evangelist, most well-known for his book The Cross and the Switchblade. He is also the founder of Times Square Church in New York, an interdenominational church.
Wilkerson is well-known for these early years of his ministry to young drug addicts and gang members in New York City in the 1950s and 1960s. He co-authored a book about his work with the New York drug addicts, The Cross and the Switchblade, which became a best-seller, selling over 50 million copies in over thirty languages since it was published in 1963. The book was included among the 100 most important Christian books of the 20th century.
For over four decades, Wilkerson's ministry has included preaching, teaching and writing. He has authored over 30 books.
David Wilkerson is the founder and president of World Challenge, Inc., a nonprofit organization incorporated on September 22, 1971. Reverend Wilkerson, the author of over thirty inspirational books, is perhaps best known for his early days of ministry to young drug addicts and gang members in Manhattan, the Bronx, and Brooklyn. His story is told in The Cross and the Switchblade, a book he co-authored which became a best-seller. (The story has been read by over 50 million people in some thirty languages and 150 countries since 1963. In 1969, a motion picture of the same title was released.)
For over four decades, Reverend Wilkerson's evangelistic ministry has included preaching, teaching and writing. Throughout that time a distinctive characteristic of his work has been his direct efforts to reach the neediest members of the population with help for both body and soul. Even now, the almost 70 year-old minister often goes out alone or sometimes with an assistant to walk through the streets of New York City, along Broadway and Eighth Avenue or down 42nd Street and nearby "Crack Alley" on 41st Street. His mission is always to seek out the lost, the disoriented, and the addicted , to tell them of the power of the risen Christ to set them free.
David Wilkerson, born in Hammond, Indiana on May 19, 1931, was married in 1953 to Gwen Carosso. The Wilkersons' two sons are ministers, and their two daughters are married to ministers. They have 11 grandchildren. The Wilkersons served small pastorates in Scottsdale and Philipsburg, Pennsylvania, until Reverend Wilkerson saw a photograph in Life magazine of several New York City teenagers charged with murder. Moved with compassion he was drawn to the city in February 1959. It was at that time he began his street ministry to what one writer called "desperate, bewildered, addicted, often violent youth.