Hope for the Troubled Heart: Finding God in the Midst of Pain

195 Pages·2006·0.83 MB·English

by  Graham

Contents
Foreword.. 7

1. 9 World in Pain.. 9

Pain of Wars. 10

Pain of Lawlessness. 10

Pain of Economic Collapse. 11

Pain of Family Failure. 11

Pain of a Ravished Earth. 12

Pain of Affluence. 13

Seen or Unseen Pain. 13

Me? What For?. 14

Mirror of Despair. 14

Walking Through the Rubble. 15

2. 16 His Unfailing Love. 16

What Is God Like?. 17

That Amazing Love. 18

Like Father, Like Son. 18

What God’s Love Can’t Do. 20

No Place to Hide. 21
3. 23 Into Each Life Some Rain . . . 23

Who Said Life Was Fair?. 23

The Popularity Cult 23

The Cost of Discipleship. 24

Gretchen’s Story. 26

Cross-Bearers with Long Faces. 27

Take Heart! 27

Suffering Is Not in Vain. 28

4. 30 Pain in Paradise. 30

The First Sinner Commits the First Sin. 30

The Way It Was. 31

The First Perfect Relationship. 31

Satan’s Tactics. 31

Beginning of Sorrow.. 32

What Is This Thing Called Sin?. 32

One Crisis After Another. 32

Confusion of Good and Evil 33

Pain in Paradise: Suffering at Home. 34

5. 36 Why Jesus Suffered.. 36
God Joined Us. 36

The Cross: Symbol of Suffering. 37

All Signs Point to the Cross. 38

Is God on Trial?. 38

6. 40 Who Sinned?. 40

Who Needs Job’s Friends?. 41

Mistaken Thinking About Suffering. 41

The Trials Come. 41

God Tells Us Our Faults. 42

Stronger Medicine. 42

Sex: Sin and Not Sin. 43

7. 46 Why God’s Children Suffer. 46

Tactical Errors. 46

Because We Are Human. 47

Because We Sin or Disobey God. 47

To Discipline Us. 48

Can We Profit from Pain?. 50

To Lead Us to the Bible. 50

To Deepen Our Fellowship with God. 51

Suffering Teaches Us Patience. 51
8. 54 What Do I Do When I Hurt?. 54

Resentment Is a Killer. 55

Suffering with a Sigh. 56

It’s All in the Attitude. 57

Closer My God to Thee or Farther Away?. 59

9. 61 When Your Heart Is Breaking. 61

Many Faces of Grief 61

Jesus is that friend. 63

Wounded Hearts. 63

Many Faces of Persecution. 64

Can You Relate to Paul?. 65

The Pain of Personal Failure. 67

10. 70 The Fourth Man in the Fire. 70

A Book of Promises. 70

God Promises Us a Refuge. 71

He Is Our Shield and Our Refuge. 72

God Is Our Strength. 72

He Promises to Shepherd Us. 74

When Jesus Was Jenny’s Shepherd. 74
He Promises to Provide Superabundantly. 75

When Do We Need Him?. 76

God Promises to Send His Angels. 76

He Walks with Us Through the Fire. 77

11. 78 How to Pray Through the Pain.. 78

Our Prayer Model 79

A Friend Who Cares. 79

Pattern for Prayer. 80

The Power of Prayer. 81

Pray, Don’t Panic. 83

Creative Silence. 83

Prayer Is a Place in Your Heart 84

Thy Will Be Done. 84

12. 86 Storing Up for the Storms. 86

What Would You Do?. 86

Will We Escape Religious Persecution?. 87

Persecutions of the Heart 87

God’s Storehouse. 88

Take Your Bible off the Shelf 89

Be a Prayer Warrior Before the Battle Begins. 90
Practice the Presence of Christ 90

Family Power. 92

13. 95 How to Help the Hurting People. 95

Are We Approachable?. 95

Are You Available?. 96

Don’t Add to the Hurt 97

Bear One Another’s Burdens. 99

Pray for Those Who Hurt 100

Pious Platitudes Don’t Help. 101

Who Are the Best Comforters?. 101

14. 103 Schoolroom for Heaven.. 103

I Don’t Want to Think About It 103

Is Your House in Order?. 104

Golden Minutes of Opportunity. 105

What an Opportunity! 106

What Is Death?. 106

How Do We Know There Is Life After Death?. 107

Death Is the Coronation of a Christian. 108

Death Is a Rest 108
Death Is a Departure. 108

Death Is a Transition. 109

Death Is Different for the Believer. 110

Jesus Gave Us the Key. 111

15. 112 No More Troubles. 112

Where Is Heaven?. 112

Beautiful Home and Gardens. 113

Happiness Is Heaven. 114

No Boredom.. 114

The Ultimate Family Reunion. 115

The Head of the House. 115

But I Love Earth. 116

Heaven Is a City. 116

Full Potential 117

Together Forever. 117

The Final Victory. 118

A Voice from Beyond. 118

Notes. 120
Foreword
In my travels over the decades, I have found that people are the same the
world over. However, in recent years I find that there is an increasing problem
that I would sum up in the word “hopeless.” It may be because we get news of
troubles, problems, disasters, wars, etc. instantaneously in comparison to years
ago when it might have taken weeks, months, or even years to hear of an event.
But there’s something else even more insidious. People in the most affluent
societies are feeling this sense of despair and hopelessness.
Perhaps the greatest psychological, spiritual, and medical need that all
people have is the need for hope. Dr. McNair Wilson, the famous cardiologist,
remarked in his autobiography, Doctor’s Progress, “Hope is the medicine I use
more than any other—hope can cure nearly anything.”
I remember years ago that Dr. Harold Wolff, professor of medicine at
Cornell University Medical College and associate professor of psychiatry, said,
“Hope, like faith and a purpose in life, is medicinal. This is not exactly a
statement of belief, but a conclusion proved by meticulously controlled scientific
experiment.”
Hope is both biologically and psychologically vital to man. Men and
women must have hope, and yet a great part of our world today is living without
it. The Apostle Paul wrote two thousand years ago to the Ephesians that the
Roman civilization of his day was “without hope.”
This is like so much of our world today. We are trying to live normal lives
without ultimate hope, and we are finding failures on every hand. I believe that
Hope for the Troubled Heart, which I have written with the help of several other
people, will not only be of help but will be life-transforming for many who may
read it. I send it forth with a prayer that it will bring new hope to thousands of
sufferers from this terrible disease of hopelessness.
This book has been written with the help especially of my longtime friend
Carole Carlson; my beloved wife, Ruth, who seems to have unlimited resources
for every subject that I write on; my friend Millie Dienert, who was kind enough
to go through the manuscript and make suggestions while on our way to
Moscow recently; and to my wonderful, small staff at Montreat, especially
Stephanie Wills who typed and retyped changes in the manuscript. For their
patience, I want to thank Word Publishing, who waited many long months while
I finished the book in the midst of other pressing demands.
May God bless this volume to the encouragement of thousands and give
hope to the despairing.
Billy Graham Europe, Summer of 1991