Our Father Is There to Help

GCD Newsletter – Monday, March 6, 2023

I’ve got a few friends who keep encouraging me to try to smoke meat. It’s the best, they say. So this weekend I tried my first pork shoulder. Actually, it was two of them—a huge amount of meat to cook on my little Weber grill. I had forty people coming over for lunch, so the pressure was on.

Smoking the meat involved ten hours of work. While it was enjoyable to make and to eat, I can also say it was super stressful. I’m thankful that my father is an expert at grilling meat. He lives five hours away, so he couldn’t supervise directly. But I must have texted and called him at least every hour!

That experience of needing help to make lunch and constantly communicating with my father for help made me think of a spiritual reality. I wonder why I so rarely ask our Heavenly Father for help.

At church, for example, we’re nine months away from planting a church. I’ve always heard other pastors tell me to do this, but I’ve never done it before. It’s the best, they say. So far, it’s been enjoyable work—but also stressful. We’re not a huge church, and sending away our most experienced associate pastor and fifty people seems like a big risk.  

The Psalms are full of people crying out to God for help. In one place, David says, “In my distress I called upon the LORD; to my God I cried for help. From his temple he heard my voice, and my cry to him reached his ears” (Ps. 18:6).

Moment by moment, God is there, and he wants to help. If you find yourself frazzled under the weight of ministry or some trial, call out to God. He’s there to help. He wants to help.

Thanks for reading,

Benjamin Vrbicek
Managing Editor for Gospel-Centered Discipleship

Last Week at GCDiscipleship.com

Forgiveness Without Limits: How the Cross Cured Me of My Performance-Driven Perfectionism — by Vicki Bentley

“Would you still love me if I didn’t tidy my room?” I look up at my five-year-old daughter in surprise, her question catching me off guard. “Of course I would,” I reply. Pondering this for a minute, she presses me further. . . “Mommy, would you still love me if . . . I didn’t love you back?” Her earnest question strikes me like a sucker-punch to the gut, yet I recognize a deeper heart issue at play here.

God Covers with Mercy All We Do in Faith: Faith Reflections from a Cancer Oven (#8) — by Tim Shorey

Tim Shorey, one of our staff writers, is journaling through his struggle with stage 4 cancer. In this entry he reflects on the way God covers with mercy all the mess that remains from our labors.

Convictionally Kind Christians — by Aaron Armstrong

In this excerpt from the recently released of I’m a Christian—Now What?, author Aaron Armstrong encourages new and mature Christians to follow Jesus in such a way that we are actually blessings to the world.

Jeremy Writebol, the Executive Director here at Gospel-Centered Discipleship, has a new book coming out this month call Pastor, Jesus is Enough. Here’s what Trevin Wax had to say about the book:

“Not often do I come across a book that lands squarely in my heart and covers me with conviction in painful but healing ways. Jeremy Writebol’s reflections on pastoring, in light of Jesus’ words for the seven churches in Revelation, are wise, measured, and profound, applying the heart of the gospel to the heart of the pastor.”

Trevin Wax
Vice President for Research and Resource Development
North American Mission Board

Check the book out here: