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The thoughts you have when you’re depressed come from the devil. The good news for you is that the devil is a liar. Do you feel weighed down all the time? Perhaps, although you are a Christian and know you’re going to heaven, your spiritual life seems mediocre at best. You know the Bible says to rejoice always, and you’d like to be living joyfully, but you just don’t know how. In this sequel to How to Be Free from Bitterness, Jim Wilson returns to talk about how to deal with (and get rid of) depression, feelings of guilt, and problems with self-esteem. Many Christians feel like they are enslaved to these sins, like there is no way out. But this is not true. The truth is that Christ has freed us from the penalty of sin and the power of sin. If you are a Christian, you are already free. Depression, guilt, low self-esteem—whatever your problem is, it can be put to death. “And you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free” (John 8:32). -
Join J.C. Ryle as he explains the benefits of reading (and rereading) the Bible, and find inspiration for your daily devotions in this classic work. Do you read the Bible? “I’m not a Christian, so what’s the point?” “I read it once – why do I need to read it again?” Why should you read the Bible? For eighteen centuries it has been studied and prayed over by millions of Christians and explained and preached by thousands of ministers. It meets the hearts and minds and consciences of Christians in the twenty-first century as fully as it did when it was first completed. It is still the first book which fits children’s minds when they begin to learn religion, and the last to which the old man clings as he leaves the world. It is the book for every heart, because God who alone knows all hearts dictated it. The Bible alone explains the state of things that we see in the world around us. There are many things on earth which a natural man cannot explain. The amazing inequality of conditions, the poverty and distress, the oppression and persecution, the failures of politicians and legislators, the constant existence of uncured evils and abuses—all these things are often puzzling. We see it, but do not understand. But the Bible makes it all clear. Do you read the Bible? Come and read the book whose teaching “turned the world upside down.” Come read the Bible. -
Africa was their home. Could they ever go back? Physical weakness coupled with civil unrest in the Ivory Coast had extended a six-month furlough to several years and threatened to derail the Leidenfrosts’ plans to return to their beloved Africa and continue mission work with the Bakwé people. But now they were finally going home to their village…or so they thought. “On top of all this, a subtle grief over the loss of Africa continued to grip my heart. In my dismal state, I felt the clouds part and God’s presence come down to touch His child. God saw the pain, the loneliness, the need, and was telling me that I was not forgotten. It was too easy to focus on my troubles. I needed to remember that His love is stronger, more real, than the pain I was suffering at that moment. Was I going to focus on His love, or on the pain?” Join Lisa Leidenfrost as she walks through trial after trial and learns to keep her eyes on God, whom she finds by her side through it all. This book is especially recommended for anyone experiencing a long-term health challenge or other hardship with an uncertain outcome. -
There have probably been times in your life when you could say that your joy was full. Jesus is interested in this being your normal state of affairs. “These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full” (John 15:9–11). “Though you have not seen Him, you love Him, and…you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory” (1 Peter 1:8). In this collection of short meditations, Heather Torosyan explores the theme of joy in Scripture and discusses how it applies to our daily lives. This is not an academic treatise, but a study meant to encourage the reader—that you also may be filled with inexpressible, overflowing joy. -
Jim Wilson prayed his first real prayer at a Youth for Christ meeting on the night of October 18, 1947. He was introduced to the Father through Jesus Christ, and his life was changed. He describes his prayer life since as sometimes strong, sometimes wavering, “but always to the God who is always faithful.” The quality of our spiritual life depends on the closeness of our walk with God. A major component of that walk is prayer. 1 Thess. 5:17 tells us to “pray constantly.” We are in a spiritual war, and God is our source of spiritual nourishment, protection, and direction. Via prayer we make our needs known, ask help for others, praise Him for victories, confess our defeats, and, most importantly, have fellowship with Him. In Answered Prayer: The Faithfulness of God Made Manifest, you will learn what the Bible teaches about prayer, study its examples of answered prayer, and read Jim’s personal stories from seven decades of walking with the Lord. “My prayer is that this book will help you get into the habit of praying. You may be surprised at the results. As I look back at my own history and all the answers God has provided, I wonder that I am not praying every minute of the day.” – Jim Wilson Have an Audible subscription? This title is also available on Audible here. -
The Christian faith has repeatedly been called a “religion of the book.” Along with the incarnate Word and the oral word of preaching, God has chosen the medium of books to proclaim His goodness to us. The Bible is the book per se, and it sets the standard for the Christian faith. The Protestant Reformation of the sixteenth century saw the dramatic power of the printed word to bring light out of darkness as literature changed the thought and life of nations. The Reformers used pamphlets and tracts extensively to bring about spiritual revolution—the printing press turned out to be the lever with which the enemy was lifted from his saddle. In A Religion of Books, Bockmuehl traces the role books played in the Reformation and through various movements of the Spirit in the following centuries. He also addresses how the written word shapes political movements and how Christians can continue to use literature to point people to Christ. -
Put on your armor—it’s time to fight. We are in a spiritual war, William Gurnall reminds us, and “the Christian’s safety lies in resisting. All the armour provided is to defend the Christian fighting, none to secure him flying; stand, and the day is ours; fly or yield, and all is lost.” This hard-hitting volume is packed with biblical wisdom for day-to-day Christian living, as helpful today as it was when first published nearly four hundred years ago. Although history left us little knowledge of William Gurnall’s life, it preserved this book—a legacy that has encouraged many generations of saints to fight sin, love Christ, and live holy and faithful lives as Christians who have clothed themselves in the complete armor of God. “Amongst all the Puritan writings that have come down to us, none…are more practical than this one.” – Hamilton Smith Have an Audible subscription? You can also get this title on Audible here. -
Do you feel weighed down by sin? Is there one area where you keep tripping up? Or perhaps although you know you are a Christian, your spiritual life seems mediocre. You’d like to be living joyfully, but you just don’t know how. In this sequel to How to Be Free from Bitterness, Jim Wilson returns to talk about how to get rid of those persistent “besetting sins.” Many Christians believe they are enslaved to particular sins. But this is not true. The truth is that Christ has freed us from the penalty of sin and the power of sin. If you are a Christian, you are already free. Anger, envy, worry, depression—whatever your problem is, it can be put to death today. “And you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free” (John 8:32). Have an Audible subscription? This title is also available on Audible here. -
“Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life” (Prov. 4:23). Whether we know it or not, all of us have had heart trouble. The good news is that Jesus Christ is the best heart specialist of all time. In this collection, Bessie examines the Bible’s references to the heart: what God says about our condition, and what provision He has made for us in Jesus Christ. It is no-nonsense Bible teaching with an emphasis on practical application. -
God is good, all the time. Jim Wilson was born in 1927 and raised in a Depression-era farming family. At the age of sixteen, at the height of World War II, he became the primary breadwinner for his parents and four younger siblings. At age seventeen, eager to fight for his country, he enlisted in the Navy. Germany surrendered while he was in the recruiting office, and the war was over by the time he entered boot camp. But God had a plan for Jim Wilson in the U.S. Navy…
Through adventures of sickness, poverty, hard work, and war, this is the story of God’s provision and protection in the life of one Nebraska farm boy turned ardent evangelist.
“For sixty years, Jim helped me apply my Christian faith to life—not through eloquence, power, or wealth but through a demonstrated commitment pointing the way to life’s Source. This is the story of an American life well lived.” - John Knubel, Lt. Cdr. USN Retired, Naval Academy Class of ’62.
"My Grandfather has been telling fantastic stories for as long as I can remember, and living them for far longer than that. His influence is a huge contributor to my own career as a story teller, and I’m incredibly grateful—for myself and my kids—that he found the energy to compile his life story in book form. Just one caution: don’t go thinking he’s a reliable narrator. He isn’t. He undersells himself constantly, but only because his eyes are so firmly locked on the true Author, the One who wrote every one of these Jim Wilson stories while the concrete for time’s foundation was still wet and churning in the trucks." - N.D. Wilson, author
Have an Audible subscription? You can also get this title on Audible here. -
“I had never read anything like this in the religious books of the Hindus.” After years of searching for something more than the hopeless existence her religion offered to those not born into a high caste, Pandita had at last discovered someone who could uplift the downtrodden women of India—and every land. “To me, who but a few moments ago ‘sat in the region and shadow of death, light had sprung up’ (Matthew 4:16).” In An Honorable Heritage, Pandita Ramabai tells her story of being born into the privileged Brahman caste and leaving tradition behind for something far better—the light and hope she found in Christ. -
Naval Academy midshipman Jim Wilson didn't cuss or smoke or chew or go with girls who do. When a friend asked him if he was going to heaven, Jim replied, "If someone like me can't make it, heaven is going to be thinly populated." It was a serious answer, but his friend laughed. Jim was in for a surprise: Turns out you have to be bad to go to heaven. -
During his time at Oxford, a friend asked Paget Wilkes one day, “I say, Paget, do you tackle everyone who comes into your rooms about his soul?” “Yes,’ answered Paget, “if he comes in alone.” Wilkes was convinced that even the humblest Christian is responsible for bringing men to Christ. “If we have been forgiven and know it, if we have been made new creatures in Christ Jesus, then we…are commissioned to minister this same salvation unto men and to witness of all these things which Jesus our Savior has revealed to us. Hallelujah!” The primary need of the mission field today, as it was in Wilkes’ time, “is not for a highly educated and cultured pastorate, but for red-hot evangelists, filled with the Spirit and with the Word.” Join Wilkes as he expounds the living Christ from Scripture and reveals the power of the Holy Spirit to uphold and enable converts and evangelists alike. -
“The unity of the Body is one of the most forceful apologetics for the divinity of Christ. Conversely, disunity is Satan’s most successful tool.” – Otto HelwegGod’s glory in us is the basic provision for Christian unity. “I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me” (John 17:20-23).
The primary assumption in this book is the authority and inspiration of the Scriptures. There are promises, prayers, and commands in the New Testament concerning the church’s unity in Christ. The Christian church is made up of individual members of the body of Christ. This book is written to those individuals. The church as a whole cannot obey God. Only the parts can.
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In a world of dysfunctional families, churches, and societies, professional counseling is in great demand as a solution to our problems. The weak link in this solution is the inability to determine a counselor’s qualifications apart from his professional accreditation. Academics can give you knowledge, but no learning or books can give you wisdom. There are no graduate degrees in love or compassion. You cannot get a PhD in virtue. However, these things are available to everyone freely through Christ. Counseling needs knowledge, but it needs wisdom even more. Wisdom comes from the Bible, from age and experience, from answered prayer. “If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you” (James 1:5). As Christians, our objective is to bring others up to maturity in Christ. To do this, we must have the same qualifications Paul had (the wisdom, the holiness, and the love). This book is for counselors and all Christians as they work “to present everyone perfect in Christ” (Col. 1:28). In Wisdom, Not Knowledge, Jim Wilson shares what he has learned from the Bible, personal experience, and answered prayer in more than six decades of counseling. With chapters on comforting, exhorting, rebuking, forgiving, and prayer as well as treatments of special subjects such as depression, false guilt, and self-esteem, this book is a great resource for any counselor, whether you're a professional or just trying to help a friend. Not a counselor? Learn how to grow in Christ and discover solutions to your own problems as you apply the wisdom in these chapters to your life. -
You love God. You love your kids. So why don’t they love Him? God promises lovingkindness to a thousand generations for families who love and obey Him (Deut. 7:9). Why are children who grew up in Christian homes leaving the faith, and how do we get them to come back? No matter how old your children are, there is a solution. With decades of pastoral wisdom, Jim Wilson identifies the common causes of rebellion and helps parents apply the eternal truths of Scripture to “turn the hearts of the parents to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous—to make ready a people prepared for the Lord” (Luke 1:17).
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Insist that Christ is Lord, and you divide the world. While most societies acknowledge God in some way or another, Christ as Lord is not so universally honored. For Christians, this matter should be settled. Christ is Lord and Savior — but many Christians have little or no idea of the meaning of this simple statement or its implications for our day-to-day lives. Sixty years after its first publication, the message of The Lordship of Jesus Christ is still needed. “In words of gentle, yet pointed, rebuke, Christ turned to His disciples with the very pertinent question, ‘Why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?’ (Luke 6:46). Holiness is not correct Christian phraseology, but an unreserved commitment to unquestioning obedience to whatever the Lord requires.” – Bill Pape, The Lordship of Jesus Christ Have an Audible subscription? This title is also available on Audible here. -
Disobedience. It’s normal, right? For hundreds of years, the Church has struggled with how to overcome sin in the Christian life. We know that the cross takes care of our past sins at salvation and assures us life after death. But what do we do with the time in between? Many Christians go through life sinning and confessing, sinning and confessing, but they never get beyond that. Is that better than sinning and not confessing? Absolutely: but it is not enough if you want to grow. Contrary to most evangelical teaching today, Christian obedience is meant to be glad-hearted, willing, and normal. In Dead and Alive, Jim Wilson discusses the neglected requirement of obedience and explains God’s provision for it from Scripture. May the thoughts in it lead you into a victorious, obedient life in Christ. "But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: 'Be holy, because I am holy.'” (1 Pet. 1:15–16) Have an Audible subscription? This title is also available on Audible here. -
Men were designed, created, and commanded to bear responsibility, but our history of failure in this area stretches all the way back to Adam. Today irresponsibility is considered normal, even a birthright. Jim Wilson outlines the causes and results of this failure, the biblical principles and characteristics that define a responsible man, and how men can apply them both in their own lives and in raising their sons.
Masculinity does not have to be proved with muscularity, sexual prowess, or bragging. True masculinity is established by taking up the responsibility God has given you.
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Bitterness often grows out of a small offense - perhaps a passing word, an accidental shove, or a pair of dirty socks left in the middle of the living room floor. Yet when bitterness takes root in our hearts, its effects are anything but small. In this collection of short articles, Jim Wilson and others discuss what it means to live as "imitators of God." As the Apostle Paul says in Ephesians, we have been called to leave the bitterness and anger of the world and instead embrace the love and compassion of our God. The authors remind us that we are to forgive others just as we have been forgiven, pointing to Scriptural admonitions and examples as they offer sound teaching on the trials and temptations of everyday life. Have an Audible account? Get this title on Audible here. Did you know we give away more copies of How to Be Free from Bitterness than we sell? These copies are paid for entirely by donations. Have you been blessed by this booklet? You can help fund copies for someone else by making a tax-deductible gift to the literature fund here. -
“Revolutionary love” sounds like an oxymoron. Revolution is usually a negative, violent, and destructive change, while love is positive, peaceful, and contented. But true love always changes people. And Christ’s love brings the most revolutionary change of all. Festo Kivengere (1919–88) experienced both kinds of revolution. He escaped Uganda when the brutal regime of Idi Amin seized power. But he could not escape the pursuit of Jesus, who came into his life with radically transformative grace. In Revolutionary Love, Kivengere tells his story of learning to freely receive Christ’s love and freely share it with others. Have an Audible subscription? You can also get this title on Audible here. -
We love our kids, but do we love like God loves....without conditions, reservations, or reluctance? In this excerpt from his popular book How to be Free from Bitterness, Jim Wilson identifies the troublesome consequences of insufficient parental love and points readers to the glorious fruit of superabundant kindness, and patience and helps parents apply the eternal truths of Scripture to grow peace and joy in their homes. -
In the study of warfare, great men have concluded that there are some overriding principles which, if followed, will always tend toward success in battle, and if neglected or ignored, will tend toward defeat or even destruction. These principles have been entitled the "principles of war." But not all warfare is waged on a battlefield: every Christian is called to be a soldier. Our fight is against Satan, our objective is the acknowledgment and fulfillment of God's commands, and our ammunition is the power of the Holy Spirit. In Principles of War, Jim Wilson outlines the time-tried, fundamental principles of war and explains how we can employ them in our daily spiritual battles as we fight a war which our commander in chief has already won for us.