Don’t let anyone tell you—and don’t you ever tell anyone—that believers are exempt from tough times in life. There is an element in the broad range of “Christendom” that claims God intends for us to be problem free. Just fly away towards Heaven… they have created their own form of escapism. God never works that way. Note, God says, “When ye fall into…” not if!

For years I have written and spoken against being contentious. Yes, I’ve contended against contentiousness! A contentious, always-in-a-fight spirit will damage whoever it touches. A wrong spirit will kill any marriage, church, or movement. But make no mistake. The mark of a biblical leader is his willingness to contend for the faith. While we should not be contentious, we must contend.

It could certainly be said that the year after high school graduation marks the first part of one’s adult life. In fact, it is commonly stated at graduations that high school commencement is a threshold one crosses into adulthood. Based on the biblical principle of first things, it would certainly seem wise to dedicate at least this first year as a time for spiritual growth and grounding.

There were false prophets among the people of Israel in the Old Testament—that’s a matter of history, and those who falsely claimed to be prophets of God were to be stoned. But the Israelites rarely had the will to deal with them, so they multiplied, causing disaster to the spiritual life of God’s people.

There are times in the Christian walk when the Lord seems far away. The dew of His conscious presence no longer saturates the contemplations of our heart. The clouds of unbelief hide the Son from us and we feel all alone.

It’s not usually the great burdens of life that kill our joy. In fact, our joy often flourishes during these times because we are more likely to draw close to the Lord and experience His presence at a new level. What kills our joy are the subtle temptations that draw us from walking in the presence of God.

In the qualifications of a bishop, pastor, or elder, 1 Timothy 3:2 says he should be, “Apt to teach.” A pastor must be able to teach God’s Word. Have you ever wondered what makes the difference between great Bible teachers and average ones? It’s not the Bible—they are teaching the same one. It’s in their delivery.

The book of Second Peter was written as the final inspired statement of Simon Peter to Christians before his death. At the beginning of the letter, he says he is writing to remind us of important things so that we will remember them after he is gone. Many of the truths about real New Testament Christianity are easily and soon forgotten by Christians who once knew them, both by study and by experience.

If there is one thing we should model as Christians, and particularly as Christian leaders, it is the joy of the Lord. God designed the Christian life to be an abundant life. The fruit of the Spirit is joy. Although joy should be the norm for Christian ministry, we can go days, weeks, or months operating in “joyless mode”—diligent in going through the motions but empty inside.

Perhaps this has not happened in your church, but in our church we occasionally have a person who joins the choir and then decides not to live by the standards of behavior to which they had agreed when they came in. We’ll sometimes have a Sunday school teacher who seems to wish to continue teaching their class but no longer wants to visit, no longer wants to live in accordance with the church’s stand on separation from the world, or to be faithful to the services as they had agreed.