Daily Devotional

June 10

A First Book of Daily Readings

by D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones (selected by Frank Cumbers)
Sourced from the OPC website

The fight of faith

These New Testament people had believed and had become Christian, and yet it was necessary for the Apostles Paul and Peter and John and others to write letters to them because they were in trouble in one way or another.  They were unhappy for various reasons, they were not enjoying the Christian life. Some were tempted to look back to the life out of which they had been saved; others were tempted severely, others per­secuted cruelly.

Thus the very existence of the New Testament Epistles shows us that unhappiness is a condition which does afflict Christian people. There is in this, therefore, a strange kind of comfort which is nevertheless very real. If anyone reading my words is in trouble, let me say this: The fact that you are unhappy or troubled is no indication that you are not a Christian; indeed, I would ... say that if you have never had any trouble in your Christian life I should very much doubt whether you are a Christian at all.... The whole of the New Testament and the history of the Church throughout the centuries bear eloquent testimony to the fact that this is a "fight of faith"; and not to have any troubles in your soul is, therefore, far from being a good sign.


It is, indeed, a serious sign that there is something radically wrong, and there is a very good reason for saying that. For from the moment we become Christians we become the special objects of the attention of the devil. As he besieged and attacked our Lord, so does he besiege and attack all the Lord's people. "Count it all joy," says James, "when ye fall into divers temptations" or trials. That is the way your faith is proved,... in a sense it is a proof that you have faith. It is because we belong to Him that the devil will do his utmost to disturb and upset us. He cannot rob us of our salvation, thank God, but ... he can make us miserable.

Spiritual Depression, pp. 65-6

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“Text reproduced from ‘A First Book of Daily Readings’ by Martyn Lloyd-Jones, published by Epworth Press 1970 & 1977 © Trustees for Methodist Church Purposes. Used with permission.”