Nearly four hundred years ago, Pastor Thomas Shepard and Missionary John Eliot labored for Christ and the gospel in the early American colonies. 

Shepard, a well-known pastor in Massachusetts, was a founder of the town of Cambridge. His preaching and theological work had a profound impact on the colony’s religious life. Eliot was among the earliest American missionaries to the Native Americans. He would eventually translate the Bible into the Algonquian language. This Bible was the first to be printed in North America.

^{“Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marvelled; and they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus” (Acts 4:13).}

This verse is so familiar that sometimes we quote it without giving it real thought: “He must increase, but I must decrease” (John 3:30). But when these words can be spoken in true sincerity of heart, they mark the difference between an egocentric and a Christ-centered life.

When many of us think of courage, we envision great acts of faith—like David as a teenage shepherd going up against Goliath.

But there is another kind of courage that we don’t often recognize, and that is the courage to persevere in ongoing seasons of difficulty or discouragement. David exercised this kind of courage too. It’s recorded in 1 Samuel 30 as he faced the lowest moment of his life up to that point.

I am just a biblical counselor.” I have heard this statement made time and again. For some reason, biblical counselors at times feel inferior to their secular counterparts.

We need not feel this way. Rather, we have every reason to be courageous in our counseling, for we approach situations with the incredible resource of the powerful, sufficient, authoritative Word of God.

The Library of Congress has a small box labeled “Contents of the President’s Pockets on the Night of April 14, 1865.” This was the day Abraham Lincoln was assassinated. Inside the box is an embroidered handkerchief, a pocket knife, eyeglasses, and the president’s wallet. His wallet contained a $5 Confederate bill and, oddly enough, several newspaper articles reporting his great deeds.