Battles Christians Face – Tackling big issues with confidence – Vaughan Roberts

This book was first published in 2007 and has undergone a number of reprints, the latest in 2017. This may well be an indication of its popularity, as the issues it deals with are undoubtedly the challenges facing young, and not so young, believers in 2019.

The author, who has written other very practical books, is the rector of St. Ebbes Church in Oxford and Director of the Proclamation Trust. He has worked extensively with students, a work which has given him a clear understanding of the need for such a book as this.

Taking time to record relevant scriptures at the commencement of each chapter, the author then develops his subject based upon these and other scriptures. The reader is left in no doubt that the guidance, instruction and warnings given are not just the opinions of the author, but the clear teaching of the word of God.

Commencing with a chapter on ‘Image’, something which has become an obsession for many in today’s world, the writer continues with chapters on ‘Lust’, ‘Guilt’, ‘Doubt’ and ‘Depression’, among others. All of which find a responsive echo in the life of many who genuinely seek to follow their Lord, yet find their footsteps dogged by these unwanted companions.

In a chapter entitled ‘Keeping spirituality fresh’, Roberts ventures the suggestion that we all have an ‘Achilles’ heel’; a vulnerable point of weakness through which the adversary can cause us to fall and become ensnared by one, or more of the negative emotions dealt with in other chapters. There is no suggestion in the book that the writer is providing a ‘quick fix’ for the various afflictions facing the believer; rather, there is a constant need to maintain a closeness to the Lord Jesus, an awareness that we are indwelt by the Spirit of God, the need for prayer, and for regular reading, and studying of scripture.

This is a book which the reviewer found very helpful and would not hesitate to recommend to others.