Dear Friend,

Broken-hearted, Disappointed?

We continue the teaching "To heal the broken-hearted" (Luke 4:18) from a previous newsletter.

There are Bible examples and reasons for being broken-hearted, for discouragement, and these prove that it is a common human experience. The frustration that you've been feeling, that terrible thought that it's not going to work out, is not something that is peculiar to you, but it is common in human experience. In fact, it's so common that it has been around for thousands of years.

First consider the nation of Israel, whom God delivered from their captivity in Egypt and lead them to the promised land; a land of milk and honey. In Numbers chapter 21 they are part way on that journey. "From Mount Hor they set out by the way to the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom. And the people became impatient on the way [because of the way, KJV]. And the people spoke against God and against Moses, Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we loathe this worthless food' [which was God's manna that He had sent from heaven]" (Numbers 21:4-5 ESV). They didn't like the food, they didn't like the scenery, so they became discouraged "because of the way." It is often been said that life was not meant to be easy. You and I are trying to do something that has never been done before, as Ashley Brilliant has pointed out -- we are trying to live our lives, and the trouble is no-one has lived our lives before. Life is not fair; situations do not always go the way you want them to do.

These chosen people of God, who have had lavished on them all His care and attention, did not like the food, even though it was the most nutritious food ever known to man. They became very discouraged because of the way. I once met some folk in Hawaii who wanted to come to Australia to see the desert. People who live in Australia want to go to Hawaii and see the tropics. Fairer fields are always greener. So often we're just not satisfied with what we have. Discouragement comes to a lot of people because of their attitude to their situation. Now perhaps there are times when we can change our situation, but the problem is when you go somewhere else, you take your attitudes with you.

There's a wonderful story told about a man who was sitting at the bus stop and a couple who were also there asked him which bus they should board to go somewhere. He said, "Oh, you're new in town are you?" and they said, "Yes, we've only just moved here." And the young couple said to the old man, "What are the people like in this town? and the old man said, "What were they like in the town from where you came?" "Oh, they were wonderful, friendly, helpful people." He said, "Well, you'll find the folk here much the same." There's a lot of truth in that. The story goes on that another couple came to the bus stop and they too were new folk to town and they asked a similar question. The old man asked them the same question, "What were the folk like from where you came?" and they replied, "Well, that's the reason we moved. We couldn't stand those people. They were very difficult people to get on with." And he said, "Well you'll find the folk here much the same." When you change your location you take your attitudes with you.

We need to learn that God is right here to help us enjoy life right where we are. That is not to say that we shouldn't have the dream that we are going to retire in Tahiti or Hawaii. Let's not give away our dreams, but let's realise that until that dream becomes fulfilled we can enjoy life right where we are. So again we are talking about attitudes.

Later on, when the nation of Israel were forced into captivity in a foreign land because they didn't follow God's plan for their life, it says, "On the willows there we hung up our lyres. For there our captors required of us songs, and our tormentors, mirth, saying, 'Sing us one of the songs of Zion!' How shall we sing the Lord's song in a foreign land?" (Psalms 137:2-4). They'd given up singing, they'd given up the joy of life. Why? Because they were discouraged by their surroundings. Other people in that same captivity became leading men in the government hierarchy and so on. Other people prospered while they were captive. What was the difference? Attitude every time. Life can be hard, but that's no reason to get discouraged.

Much later, some of these people who were in captivity were given permission to go back to their native land and start rebuilding the city of Jerusalem. In Nehemiah chapter 4 they were ready to face the task of rebuilding the walls so that it would be a secure city. "In Judah it was said, 'The strength of those who bear the burdens is failing. There is too much rubble. By ourselves we will not be able to rebuild the wall.' And our enemies said, 'They will not know or see till we come among them and kill them and stop the work.' At that time the Jews who lived near them came from all directions and said to us ten times, You must return to us.'" (Nehemiah 4:10-12). They had a powerful case of discouragement, for the task appeared to be too great. Many people have been in that kind of situation, whether it's building a house or running a printing company or trying to meet a sales budget. Sometimes the task looks far too great for us or our resources and we get discouraged because of it. It's a common experience of life.

Here the discouragement was because they had only a certain number of laborers and they were tired. There was just so much rubble around that it appeared to be totally disorganised and impossible to really see any progress being made. And on top of that, every day there was the enemy who wanted to stop this whole project happening. The enemy did not want a secure wall around the city; they wanted the city themselves. So there were enemies without and discouragement within -- a fairly common situation. The government is against me, the city is against me, the opposition are poaching my customers!

When you have the time, read the rest of the story and find out how Nehemiah set people up on the wall at different parts and thoroughly organised it to the point that it is recorded that people set their hearts willingly to the job. He turned the whole thing around by getting their focus on the purpose of what whey were doing and not what we call the hack work that had to be done to produce the result. They had to see the end, the vision.

It was like the little boy who went into the place where they were building a new cathedral. He went up to a workman and said, "What are you doing?". The man said, "I'm cementing stones in the wall." And he went up to another man and said, "What are you doing?" he said, "I'm building a great cathedral." Discouragement will go when you see the final purpose in your heart. We often get discouraged because of the difficulty of the task. I know this very well from trying to run a church and run a ministry. It's very easy to get discouraged because of the difficulty of the task, but it is a common human experience that God knows all about and helps us change our attitude. -- Peter Wade

E-books are here!

When I told my wife the other evening that we had just published our first e-book, she said, "What's an e-book?" Well, in simple terms, it is the words of a book put into a computer file and read on a special reader like Kindle and others, or read on a smartphone or a tablet like iPad, or in a special program on a computer. The Kindle, for example, can store 1,000+ books and is small enough to take with you everywhere. It is reported to have sold 1 million in the week before Christmas, with an overall total of 500 million since its inception.

Who reads these e-books? Well, teens and young adults primarily, but really all ages, including our retired school teacher friend and one of Vivien's sisters. A lot of books are now first published as e-books and if they are relatively successful, then they become printed books. Yes, its a different world. It makes sense because publishing costs are low, they is no mailing and no waiting, and the books can be updated quickly.

So we have joined the world of e-books (electronic books). We have two titles already uploaded and available at Kindle (Amazon) and Smashwords (http://peterwade.com/go/ebooks ). Smashwords will eventually pass the titles on to the Nook, Sony, Kobo and Apple sites, and to Stanza on the iPhone and Aldiko on Android-based phone. The introductory price is US $0.99 and the titles are In Christ: A New Creation and En Cristo: Una Nueva Creacion. We chose to start with smaller books so we can learn how the transformation is done. And these books just happen to be perhaps our most important book that sets the stage for all the others. We will have more titles available as the weeks roll by. Thank you for supporting this move and for your prayers.

New article online

We are constantly recommending an audio teaching titled "When Prosperity and Health Seem Hard" to people who need these truths. Now we have made it available as an article on our website [http://www.peterwade.com/articles/wade/when-prosperity-and-health-seem-hard.shtml]. This will be more convenient for many people, and it can be translated right on the page into 58 different languages covering 93%+ of Internet users! If you haven't listened to the audio, then read the article and learn how to handle tough times in 2012.