Monday, November 12, 2012

Another kind of War

My Pastor asks me and Jeff to lead corporate prayer about once a month.  Each time he tells us what passage he is going to preach from and Jeff and I pray to ask God for His direction in the leading of the prayer time.  Yesterday David was preaching out of Mark 6:14-29. It is the story in which John the Baptist loses his head to the axe of King Herod.  Herod had his wife's daughter come in to do a seductive dance in front of him and his buddies and he liked it so much he told her he would do anything for her.  She asked her Momma what gift to request, and her Mom said she wanted the head of John the Baptist.  Disgusting gift, but why you ask.  John the Baptist had spoken truth and she didn't like it. She was in an adulterous relationship with Herod and the Baptizer rebuked them.

I prayed about how to lead a time of prayer on this passage and God led me to the fact that John was the first Gospel Martyr. He was killed because of his life message.  He called out in the wildernesss "repent and believe, make way the path for the Lord". I know that for most of us today in our comfortable safe homes in America we can't relate to John's martyrdom.  The only persecution most of us feel is social pressure to not share a message.  Do we say Merry Christmas? Do we admit to people that we think abortion is murder?  Certainly the Gospel message in our country is a stone that makes men stumble and a rock that makes them fall, but are we really seeing people stumble and fall over our lives?

The overwhelming sense that I had in prayer yesterday was that God is calling us as His church to stand in solidarity with our brothers and sisters around the world who are experiencing real persecution.  A friend of mine, "Jennifer" is about to travel to Afghanistan with the Gospel. She has colleagues in her mission organization who have been killed, kidnapped, and raped.  She knows the dangers of her trip and yet she goes.  We need to stand with our missionaries who go to these places where their lives are threatened.  We have brothers and sisters standing in front of brothels in South East Asia and praying the walls fall down to let the little enslaved girls go free. They are coming against evil men and the very gates of hell in a battle to rescue lives. 

My heart is not that we just stand with the missionaries we send, but that we see our connectedness with the national believers whose lives are threatened with torture and death.  Let God put them in your mind this morning so you can love them and go to battle in prayer for them today.  I am going to begin my morning with praying for Jennifer, and then I am going to ask God to lay on my heart the people she will meet, who if they convert to Christ from Islam may lose their earthly life days after they gain eternal life... but for them, it is so worth it.

I love you sweet family of God.  Yesterday we remembered our valiant soldiers who risked their lives to bring freedom, how about today we remember our missionaries and brothers and sisters who risk their lives everyday to bring freedom from sin and death.

4 comments:

  1. Standing with you and Jennifer and so many others. Thank you for your message!

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    1. Thank you so much Amanda. Yes, let's stand together...

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  2. Thankful that you aren't about fluff and stuff! It is SO important for us to stand in community with those who cannot fathom the freedom and luxury we live in here in the USofA. Praying for "Jennifer".

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    1. Katie, Thanks for the encouragement. I admit that at times I wonder if my message is too intense, or maybe I am too intense. It is nice to know that you are like minded.

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