October 21 Daily Devotional

‘The sea broke over ... and poured in between the decks.... The Germans [Moravians] calmly sang on. I asked one of them afterwards, “Were you not afraid?” He answered, “I thank God, no”.’

(Wesley’s Journal, 1736)

It is one thing to say that you subscribe to the Christian faith, it is one thing, having read your Bible ... to say, ‘Yes, I believe all that, it is the faith by which I live’. But it is not always exactly the same thing to find that faith triumphant and victorious and maintaining you in a state of joy, when everything seems to have gone against you and well nigh driven you to despair.... It is far removed from the realm of mere theory. You are in the position, you are in the situation, these things are happening to you, and the question is, what is your faith worth at that point? Does it differentiate you from people who have no faith? ... People today tell us that they are realists and practical. They say that they are not interested in doctrine, and not interested to listen very much to what we say, but if they see a body of people who seem to have something that enables them to triumph over life, they become interested at once. This is so because they are unhappy, and frustrated and uncertain, and fearful. If, when in that condition themselves, they see people who seem to have peace and calm and quiet, then they are ready to look at them and to listen to them. So that from the standpoint of our own personal happiness and our maintenance of the joy of the Lord, and also from the standpoint of our witness and our testimony in these difficult days, it behoves us to consider very carefully what the Apostle has to say in these masterly statements [Philippians 4:6, 7] about the way to deal with the tyranny of circumstances and conditions.

Spiritual Depression, pp. 262–3