Journey with David Brainerd

Indian takeaway

JOURNEY WITH DAVID BRAINERD
By Richard A. Hasler
Soli Deo Gloria. 120 pages
ISBN 1 57358 130 5

This is the reprint of a book first published in 1975 against the background of a spiritual awakening among young people in America, who came to be called 'the Jesus people'. It was designed to help such people assess the reality of their spiritual experience, and grow in understanding of what it means to seek God and be truly committed to his Son.

The book is made up of 40 brief sections which are ideal for reading as part of a daily devotional time. The sections are largely quotations from the extraordinary diaries of David Brainerd, the young 18th-century pioneer missionary to the American Indians, famous for his deep spirituality and unstinting devotion to Christ and his kingdom.

Each section ends with a thoughtful prayer, designed to apply the lessons that we can learn from Brainerd's experience.

The book is helpfully organised under the headings of 'personal commitment', 'pilgrimage for God's glory', 'the dark night of the soul', 'the Great Awakening' and 'union with God'. The quotations are well chosen and reveal the heart of Brainerd. They cannot fail to stir and challenge all who read them reflectively. Notwithstanding the occasional dated reference to the Christian scene in the 1970s America, the book is thoroughly recommended as an introduction to Brainerd and a profound examination of the readers' spirituality. This reviewer found himself by turns, humbled, distressed, reassured and delighted as the Lord used it to examine and lay bare his own heart. Above all, it was good to be goaded out of superficiality on one's daily walk with the Lord.

Graham Heaps, Dewsbury

© Evangelicals Now - January 2003
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Main Articles

• Which way for Anglicans?
  Peter Jensen, Archbishop of Sydney, on the future of the Church of England
• A day to remember - Anniversaries for 2003
  Joy Horn tells us when we should be commemorating John Wesley, Jonathan Edwards and others
• BBC's Ten Great Britons
• How do you spot a gospel minister?
  Vaughan Roberts of St Ebbe's, Oxford, expounds Colossians 1.24-29
• The gospel in student hands
  An interview with Lindsay Brown, IFES General Secretary
• Something's wrong
  Peter Comont visits an exhibition of Tracey Emin's work
• The devil's beatitudes
• Is evolution atheistic?
• An invisible notice board
• Monthly column on hymns and songs
  Going for a song
• Monthly column on the arts
  To the Great Omnibus in the sky
• Monthly column for youth leaders
  The Power Game - a Lord of the Rings talk
• A hiding to nothing?
  On the campaign to undermine the proper discipline of children
• Gap-Year Globe Trotters: More kindness than we could ever repay
• Monthly column on student work
  Studying theology?
• The Dhimmitude of the West

Other articles

• The Heavenly Man - Saved at 16, a leader in the house church movement in China during the 1980s and 90s, he suffered terribly in prison. Here he relates some of his story.
• The Heavenly Man - A second extract from his book
• Without looking down
• Discovering Christ in Genesis
• Meltdown
• God, Time & Stephen Hawking - An exploration into origins
• Encountering Religious Pluralism - The challenge to Christian faith and mission
• Can Evangelicals Learn from World Religions - Jesus, Revelation and Religious Traditions
• 90,000 Hours
• Journey with David Brainerd
• 365 Days with Spurgeon
• Good News For All Nations - Mission at the heart of the New Testament
• A Long Way East of Eden
• Himalayan Vision - 50 years in Nepal
• People My Teachers - Around the world in 80 years
• An Illustrated Survey of the Bible
• Know the Bible
• Transforming Communities - Re-imagining the church for the 21st century
• Faith Works - Lessons on spirituality and social action
• I Love My Work