J.B. Shepherd
God drew me before I was even born, bringing my grandparents and parents to faith in Jesus Christ. When I was young, I heard the precious gospel often, and the Lord drew me to run to Him and be saved as a six-year-old boy. He continued drawing me—giving me a hunger for the Bible. With help from my parents, I learned to spend time with God in His Word and in prayer every day, a habit that has become the backbone of my ongoing walk (run) with the Lord until this day.
The Lord drew me time and time again out of the ditches of sin back into fellowship with Himself through the cleansing of Christ’s blood. In high school, He drew me away from foolish friends into an amazing friendship with three who shared my desire to seek the Lord. One of them was especially influential in stirring my heart to long for revival. The four of us friends cried out to God regularly (and still do) for Him to do a mighty work of manifesting His glory in our day.
The Lord drew me out of my shell during those high school years, growing my courage little by little to share His love and His Word with the people around me. He taught me to speak openly about Him with my classmates, even though I was nervous at first. He drew me out to new places (such as New York City, Spain, and the Dominican Republic) where I could grow as His witness.
In ninth grade, I developed a great love for writing and dreamed of writing the greatest novel ever. However, as the Lord kept drawing me to study His Word and serve Him in my local church, I realized that I wouldn’t have time to focus on fiction and serving God whole-heartedly as well. By His grace, I set fiction aside and kept on following. God’s love and His calling were better than anything else.
To my great delight, many years later after I had finished seminary, He gave me back my delight in fiction and writing—only this time with a specific burden to glorify Him by writing an allegory. The result was Anger of the King, and, Lord willing, a few more books in that series. Writing gave me a way to try capturing for others the most exciting insights God was giving me of His glory. To this day, when He opens my eyes to see something amazing in His Word, my heart starts burning within me to get that into this series. I long to share with everyone—especially young people—the tremendous wonders of our great Savior.
Another way God keeps drawing me is in the area of prayer. During my teen years, my youth pastor gathered some of us in his home each week for a time of praying for revival. My three best friends and I also spent a lot of time in prayer together. During my college years, my time with the Lord in prayer became sweeter and sweeter, and even now, over a decade later, I continue to learn from God and grow in spending time with Him in secret.
I am convinced that one of the greatest needs in our time is what the disciples requested of Christ in their day: “Lord, teach us to pray” (Luke 11:1). No doubt the Lord has so much more of His glory to show us than what we typically experience. He has greater works to accomplish (John 14:12). We must learn to seek Him!
Out of that passion for God’s people to grow in prayer (and years of writing prayer letters and preaching about prayer), I’ve been allowed by God to write a new book, Hear Them Pray. This book shares some of the stories in Scripture that have had a profound impact on my prayer life. I’m asking the Lord to make it a huge encouragement and practical help to many.
The Lord has filled my life with godly influences from the time I was young—a gift I don’t deserve. I want to be a good steward of that grace by sharing His glory in turn with as many young people as I can. It has been a delight to minister to youth in churches and schools, and I hope to keep magnifying God’s Word at every opportunity.
The Lord keeps drawing me, and there is no greater adventure than to run with Him!